Internal Auditors are like detectives.
They search for clues that will guide them to finding issues within an organisation.
Whether it’s with the organisation’s risks, operational effectiveness, or compliance with laws and regulations
And like any good detective – at least, like the ones in TV shows – they need their trusty magnifying glass to spot all these little clues that others wouldn’t notice!
Now, that magnifying glass represents data analytics.
With that data analytics in hand, Internal Auditors are changing the way they work.
Meet Peter McLeod
Peter’s Role as an Information Leader at the University of Southern Queensland
Peter McLeod is a Director of Assurance Services at the University of Southern Queensland, where he oversees Risk, Compliance, and Internal Audit functions. The University of Southern Queensland is a regional University dedicated to providing quality degrees and programs in a flexible and supportive environment. In just over 50 years, the University of Southern Queensland has become a prominent teaching and research institution providing education worldwide from three Southern Queensland locations. For 3 years in a row, the university has been ranked No. 1 in Australia for graduate starting salary, and almost 80% of our students gain full-time employment on completing their degree.
Peter’s Other Work in Information and IT
Before becoming the University of Southern Queensland’s Director of Assurance Services, Peter took on the role of Associate Director of Finance, developing a Robotic Process Automation (RPA) Strategy and deploying it within the university’s Financial Services. Earlier on in his career with the university, Peter also took on the role of Project Manager of Travel Systems & Functional Analyst.
Previously, Peter has also been the Software Development Management Consultant of Ambush Security Systems, as well as the Manager of Strategic Projects and the Database Administrator & Release Co-ordinator at Practical Computer Services. Over the past 15 years, Peter has published numerous articles on the topics of Technology and Innovation.
Internal Audits, Data Analytics, and Innovation
In this exclusive analytics podcast episode, Peter shares:
- Accidentally becoming an Internal Auditor
- Encouraging Internal Auditors to get their name out there
- His role as the Director of Assurance Services at the University of Southern Queensland
- How risk and compliance come into play in his work
- What his work means for data and analytics professionals
- Whether more and more people are shifting to using data in internal auditing
- Advice for internal auditors in other universities in starting to use data analytics
- How Robotic Process Automation and data analytics changes the way his team works
- How he empowers his team to perform the functions using data analytics
- The risk if a functional team is not leveraging emerging technologies
- Encouraging innovation when a team is seen as a functional team rather than an R&D team
- His advice for other functional team leaders looking to encourage their teams to improve their work through the use of data analytics
If you are a functional team leader looking to encourage your team to improve their work through the use of data analytics, this is the episode you do not want to miss out on.
More Links:
Find out more about Peter
LinkedIn:
What is one book that he would gift to his younger self:
- How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
https://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671027034
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey
https://www.amazon.com/Habits-Highly-Effective-People-Powerful/dp/0743269519
Company Website:
Publications:
- https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203754184-15/australian-national-broadband-network-perceptions-regional-business-managers-aileen-cater-steel-wui-gee-tan-peter-mcleod
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6410717
- https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/S1469026811003203
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0957417409008823
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4761971
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4426577
- https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4496879
- https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/accidental-internal-auditor-peter-mcleod/?trackingId=j3g0cpCnR898NmjmxKu62A%3D%3D
- https://iia.org.au/sf_docs/default-source/technical-resources/2018-fact-sheets/fact-sheet—internal-audit-dashboard-reporting.pdf?sfvrsn=10
In the News:
Learn more with related episodes in our analytics podcast:
- E98 – Antony Ugoni – Getting a Seat at Decision-Making Tables as an Analytics Professional
- E78 – Stephen Fernando – Overcoming the Fear of Failure, Risk Management with Data Analytics
- E67 – Anu Kukar – 3 U’s of Data Security Risk Management
- E33 – Mark Monfort – Investing in Data Analytics to Compete with Blue-chip Companies
Now a word from our sponsor…
This episode is sponsored by a new program at Data Driven Analytics. It’s an embedded analytics leader program for senior managers and executives in the business team who want to integrate AI into daily business operations and drive customer experience excellence. Book an Unlimited Strategy Session for a Full Year and start embedding analytics into the business frontlines. For more information about this program, please refer to it here.
Are you using your company data to its full potential? Leading organisations like FAANG have moved beyond dashboards and embedded data science directly into their daily business operations. Take the free 3-minute Embedded Analytics Assessment to find out your score instantly.