Dating back to 1961, Arizona G&T Cooperatives (AzGT), a not-for-profit electric generation and transmission cooperative, has always focused on innovations that drive progress. Over the course of the last 10 years they’ve embraced new technologies, upgraded their operations, diversified energy resources, built a smarter grid, and strengthened their overall security. It was a decade that has laid a foundation for sustainable success.
Brett Bergeson (CIA) has been in the power industry for more than 20 years, focusing primarily on the financial, accounting, and internal audit end of the business before joining the Arizona G&T Cooperative team to manage their auditing department and Enterprise Risk Management program. Brett brought with him a vision and a set of goals with how he wanted the internal audit function to operate while, at the same time, ensuring that he would be able to consistently deliver value back to the organization.
A clearly defined goal
At the very start of his internal audit career, it was important to Brett that he establish a method of audit communications that would lean heavily on documenting the processes and standards so that the audit practice could be repeatable and consistent. In doing so, Brett was able to ensure that his work was never viewed as preferential; an initiative that has proven to be hugely important to his overall strategy.
Just as important was the need to codify the auditing processes and procedures. An early example of this was discovered while conducting one of his first audits specific to the use of employee PCard purchases. 70% of the employees had purchase cards, resulting in thousands of processed payments. Brett began an initial analysis of random data samples, a task that, in and of itself, did not yield any initial problems or concerns. But when transitioning to a more subjective data set, the number of red flags was an indicator that Brett needed to look at all the data to uncover not just the things he knew about but to also identify anything he did not. A more refined approach was clearly needed.
“I started doing some initial research. I talked to some people from the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), and asked what they were doing, what programs they were using, what software they were using. And as I went through that exercise, I landed on TeamMate Analytics right away because of it being so incredibly user friendly.” — Brett Bergeson, Internal Audit