Director, Internal Audit

Thank you for your interest in working at William Paterson University.

We invite you to join William Paterson University: a wonderful community to learn, work, grow, and thrive.

Spanning more than 400 wooded acres in suburban Wayne, New Jersey – just 20 miles from New York City – our campus is one of the most diverse in the nation and it ranks in the top 4 percent of colleges for social mobility: a measure of how well we graduate economically disadvantaged students into good-paying jobs.

Your work as a member of our team is important to our students and to the progress of our University. What you do here matters, and we value every contribution.

Reporting with dotted line responsibility to the President and solid line responsibility to the Board of Trustees, the Director of Internal Audit assesses organizational and operational risks, based on the development of an annual Enterprise Risk Management audit plan supplemented by departmental audits.  The Director provides independent and objective risk assessment of the operation and effectiveness of internal controls, processes and procedures in academic as well as administrative offices and departments. S/he also provides support to University’s external auditors in the conduct of annual Financial Statement audits. The Director also serves as the University’s Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA) Officer, investigates, and reports on issues to the University President and Board of Trustees, as appropriate or necessary.

Responsibilities include:

• Schedules, prepares, and conducts internal audits in accordance with standards promulgated by the Institute of Internal Auditors; evaluates University internal controls and the control environment.

• Evaluates the effectiveness and efficiency of operations, the reliability of financial reporting mechanisms, and institutional compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

• Prepares annual internal audit/risk assessment schedule based on Enterprise Risk Management standards e for detailed reviews of academic and administrative offices and departments.

• Conducts pre-audit meetings with department heads prior to the start of every audit.

• Conducts exit meetings and reviews audit reports with department heads at the conclusion of each audit.

• Prepares formal audit reports, which detail audit findings, recommendations for corrective actions, and management responses. 

• Develops and recommends policies, procedures, practices, and systems designed to enhance internal controls; communicates same to the department head, Senior Administration, and the Finance, Audit, and Institutional Development Committee of the Board of Trustees.

• Prepares the quarterly Recommendation Follow-up Matrix for all completed audit and tracks corrective actions taken for all audit recommendations.

• Completes, documents and issues formal report on special projects as assigned.

• Serves as the University’s Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA) officer; receives and reviews complaints while maintaining strict confidentiality.

• Verifies the veracity of CEPA complaints, conducts investigations as appropriate or necessary, and reports findings to the President; updates the Finance, Audit and Institutional Development Committee of the Board of Trustees on the status of CEPA reviews on a quarterly basis.

• Performs other duties as assigned that are appropriate for the position.

Minimum qualifications include:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Management Information Systems, Business or related field, with major course work/emphasis in Accounting and or Finance and an MBA or other relevant advanced degree is required.
• CPA, CISA or CIA certification strongly preferred. 
• Ten (10) years of relevant professional experience in progressively responsible positions within a public or private college or university, state or federal agency, accounting/auditing firm or corporation.
• Extensive knowledge of the principles and practices of accounting and internal auditing is required, as is the thorough understanding of corporate and/or university compliance programs.
• Strong critical thinking skills and the ability to analyze, summarize and effectively present information.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Excellent computer skills with advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office.
• High ethical standards and values are required, as are excellent leadership and management skills and the ability to organize, prioritize and multi-task.

This description indicates the general nature and level of work performed by employees in the above job. It is not intended to be a comprehensi