For information for this month's program click here

To see the meeting calendar for FY2000 click here

We’re in for some big changes in 2000-2001, and I’m very excited about our evolving direction. Not only has our venue changed, but also our approach to programs is further geared to capitalizing on our opportunities to interact and learn from one another. These are big steps for our chapter – a paradigm change I hope we’ll all approach with an open mind and a sense of excitement for its potential.

We have the opportunity here to make our IIA chapter a forum for collaborative thinking that values the opportunity to share learnings and challenges that we experience in our Audit profession.

The most significant change is in our venue. The 2000-2001 meetings are all daytime meetings held during a portion of the workday, and at a selection of our larger and more meeting-conducive Company locations. Why did we do this? Well, for several reasons:

First, we want to recognize that IIA can, and should be, an extension of training, supporting our everyday jobs. The IIA Programs should be valued by our member companies and their respective audit managements as a place where auditors improve their audit knowledge and gain valued, low cost training in areas of importance to the profession. That was the challenge put forth to the Programs Committee, and I think we will meet expectations.

Second, daytime meetings will be more convenient and supportive of our Chapter membership. Evening meetings were yet another infringement on our valued personal time, recognizing that a large portion of our membership travel throughout the year because of the nature of the job. And, for those that don’t travel, as much, our workdays are certainly more hectic and stressful as we continue to experience downsizing and increased work responsibilities and demands. Daytime meetings respect our efforts to balance work and home life issues, and, matched with a valued program, will represent a better link to our workplace environment.

Thirdly, we expect to improve the meeting forum, using facilities that are set up for the type of meetings we want to have. We won’t be dealing with hotel and restaurant limitations that restrict attendance, that don’t allow for easy viewing of presentations and that involve high-cost meals of questionable desirability. We’ll be meeting where we have good audio-visual equipment, the flexibility to set up rooms to fit our needs, the program and socialization will have priority over when the food gets served, and, of course, we will have the opportunity to view some of the member Company locations.

Last, but not least, we’ll be dropping the cost to $20 per person per meeting – easily the best CPE/training value around!

Program

The challenge we put forth to our Programs Committee was to develop a slate of programs that we would want to attend – to address our current needs, both from an emerging issues and soft skills perspective.

We intend to develop a forum structured around information sharing that evokes and allows for rich, open and constructive dialogue around specific topics. We want to get away from long presentations where the dialogue is primarily only between the featured speaker and limited members of the audience posing questions. Presenters, mostly drawn from our own membership, will be challenged with getting us started, while facilitators will keep the dialogue flowing, so that attendees will share their knowledge and questions, informally, while others can provide ideas and solutions based on their personal work experiences. We want to create an open, collaborative work environment that our respective audit managements will view as a worthwhile and fulfilling experience that represents a fair tradeoff for lost work-time.

Through the year we plan to touch on a broad range of topics including how to create high performance work teams; eCommerce, fraud, contracting, and business process auditing; valuing diversity in our audit environment, managing stress, etc.

A call for participation…

We have some presenters identified already, as noted in the Membership directory and the schedule of Programs attached to this newsletter. The Programs schedule is still evolving so check this attachment to the newsletter frequently for changes. I want to challenge you all to identify topics where you could share in the limited presentation role – we envision a panel of presenters that can speak to the topical areas identified for the meeting. This means a brief introduction of an experience, approach or problem encountered that will provide the basis for the interactive discussion to follow. If you are interested, or want to explore other ways you might contribute, contact me and we can discuss the possibilities.

Table Talk is a new feature we plan to introduce in 2000, starting with our first meeting. These will be a series of small, limited discussions moderated at specific tables around separate topics of interest. It’s yet another, even more informal forum to interact with the membership and find out what others are doing in certain areas of our profession. Some of the topics we’ve brainstormed already include:

Table Talk should be an exciting element that can be added to any meeting. We’re anxious to try it out!

So that’s where we are. New time, new locations, and new directions. I hope you’ll join us in making this a success!

For information for this month's program click here