This issue’s InfoTech Update profile spotlights Kathryn Birn, CPA.CITP, CISA, MBA, managing director of Global Risk and Audit Services (RAS) for NYSE Euronext in New York, NY.
InfoTech Update: Your position with the NYSE is very interesting. Tell us about it.
Kathryn Birn: I share responsibility for leading NYSE Euronext’s U.S. business and financial audit group. This includes managing audits and risk projects, and covering a wide range of areas. This includes Global Tax, Global Procurement, Service Delivery and Relationship Management, Executive Compensation, Contract Management, Public Company Reporting, PeopleSoft to Oracle Integration (Pre- and Post-), and Accounts Payable. I have, with one of my European colleagues, co-managed the company’s Sarbanes-Oxley testing team. I also share responsibility for developing the annual risk assessment and audit plan, and manage our group’s Quality Assurance program.
ITU: As a CPA.CITP, what kind of perspective do you think you bring to your work at the NYSE?
KB: Besides being a global market, NYSE Euronext is fast becoming an IT company, providing connectivity, market data and other services worldwide. As an auditor, I need to understand the technology behind the business, especially since technology really IS the business. I think being a CPA.CITP is crucial, since I focus on our company’s business challenges and risks; where being a CPA is important. These are all directly related to the IT that drives or underlie them, where being a CITP pays off.
ITU: How has the internal audit function changed over the last several years?
KB: Here at NYSE Euronext, one of the biggest changes we’ve made this past year was incorporating our Risk group into the Audit group. Risk had been a part of the business, but our chief audit executive understood that often Risk and Audit performed overlapping functions. As a combined group, we would be better able to address the risks the company faces and deliver more value to NYSE Euronext’s management. RAS now creates a variety of deliverables, including traditional audit reports, risk heat maps, and pre-implementation reviews.
In addition, we have moved to more prospective work and away from more traditional, retrospective work. In this changing environment, there is more value in looking at things as they occur or when they are planned in order to address risks more timely. For example, we perform pre-implementation reviews of new system rollouts so that management can incorporate appropriate controls during the development stage. We are also developing CAATTs (Computer Assisted Auditing Tools and Techniques) to help us perform continuous monitoring.
In the past, auditors could specialize in one area – for example, IT or finance. In today’s environment, auditors need to at least understand, if not be proficient in, several specialties. A financial auditor needs to understand the risks in IT underlying financial transactions, and an IT auditor needs to understand the business implications of software projects, including cost benefit and ROI.
ITU: I understand you sing opera. Are you still doing that and why did you make the transition from opera to accounting?
KB: Opera is a full-time job and a singer needs to continually practice, like an athlete, to keep in shape and maintain strength and flexibility. So, no, I’m not singing opera, although I do sing some arias for my 5-year-old triplets. They think it’s hilarious! I also usually sing at our department’s holiday party.
A successful opera singer has a very difficult lifestyle – lots of travel and time away from home. Having a stable family life is extremely difficult. I knew I wanted a family and a career after my opera career, not just a job, which meant going back to school; I attended Baruch College and received my MBA in Accountancy in 2000.
I had always loved math – I originally planned to go to MIT in engineering, when I was “discovered” in high school and ended up at a conservatory. Also, when I was a singer, I was known as the “Corporate Soprano,” teaching little master financial-oriented classes when I was on the road to my singer colleagues. Many of them didn’t understand the financial aspects of being in the “opera business” – taxes, insurance, investing and other areas. I guess it was only natural that I ended up as a CPA!
ITU: How do you think the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) will affect the NYSE?
KB: As we speak, NYSE is developing plans to move to IFRS. Several of our European business units already follow IFRS. Many of us in Finance and Audit are taking training classes and are seeking IFRS certification. I also think that NYSE likes to lead the way in these initiatives, since our listed companies will all be following suit. And, as auditors, it all means more work for us!
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