As the Chief Audit Executive at a large academic medicine nonprofit association, Bill is no stranger to challenges.
When he found himself needing a partner with niche expertise to support his internal team, he knew exactly who to call – his friend Rich Compton, Managing Director, Business Development at Clearview Group.
Creating Organization-Wide Impact Through a Dependable Partnership
Bill is always up for a challenge, and with his extensive career in internal audit, challenges are certainly something he is no stranger to.
Before his current role, Bill branched into a consulting role which allowed him the opportunity to help clients and tackle new challenges while cultivating positive business relationships, such as the one he forged with Rich Compton, Managing Director, Business Development at Clearview Group.
When Bill joined the large academic medicine nonprofit association to lead their Internal Audit team, he found himself facing a variety of IT Risk-related issues. Since most of the business is in web-enabled applications with private and highly sensitive information, the organization’s technology needs to maintain the highest security standards.
Without specific IT expertise on his internal team, Bill knew he needed help from consultants he could depend on. He picked up the phone and called Rich.
“I went to Rich because I trust he knows how to get me the help I need. Clearview knows how to be good consultants,” Bill explains.
Working Together, Solving One Problem at a Time
Since that first phone call in 2015, the two organizations have worked together on over twelve Internal Audit projects, in which Clearview provided subject matter expertise in anything from IT audits and data privacy assessments to general accounting and sales and use tax. Here’s a look at a few projects that stand out in Bill’s memory.
Problem 1: Phishing & Patching | Solution: IT Audit
Early on, the association was having challenges with phishing and called on Clearview’s Risk team for an IT audit. Internally, this audit caught a lot of attention with Bill’s colleagues and helped their team progress on the same page. As a result of this engagement, the nonprofit association was able to lower their phish-prone likelihood and initiated internal training, which is still in place today.
This led to another IT audit, which focused on patching. Following this audit, the nonprofit association generated monthly reports on the status of patching completed. Software patching data actually helped lower their cyber-insurance premiums!
Problem 2: Cybersecurity | Solution: Cybersecurity Framework Assessment
As a proactive step, Bill’s team reached out to Clearview’s Risk team for another important engagement. This project evaluated their cybersecurity management program against the NIST Cybersecurity Framework v1.1. The teams were able to identify where the nonprofit association is demonstrating a number of leading practices, and also identify areas to further reduce cybersecurity risk and in turn, strengthen their cybersecurity posture.
Problem 3: Sales & Use Internal Controls | Solution: SALT Audit
When the nonprofit association needed help assessing their sales & use tax controls, there was no question who they would call. This time, however, they worked with Clearview’s State and Local Tax (SALT) team, who were able to provide expertise on a niche tax topic. Through this SALT audit, Bill learned that he can depend on Clearview for many needs, even outside of IT Risk.
A Long-Term Partnership Built on Mutual Trust and Understanding
“Under the direction of Bill, this Internal Audit Department is an absolute pleasure to work with. They fully understand and provide information and access to people we need in a timely manner, allowing Clearview to provide the best results in the most cost-effective manner.”
“We always receive tremendous value when working with Clearview,” shares Bill. “With every engagement, we know they will come up with an effective solution and offer thoughtful advise without pressure so that we can make the best decisions for our organization.”
Throughout the years, Bill has been able to rely on the Clearview team for the needs that he and his internal team could not cover. This partnership started with the mutual trust and respect between Bill and Rich and grew into a steadfast partnership between the academic medicine nonprofit association and Clearview that still exists more than eight years later. When you have that type of dependable, trustworthy partnership that creates organization-wide impact, why go anywhere else?
“It’s refreshing to work with a client who really understands how to maximize the value consultants bring to the table,” explains Rich.
