SMALL STATE, BIG IMPACT

One Word - Proactive

Proactive. That might just be the best way to describe the approach Rebeka J. Mazzone takes to her role as Director of Internal Audit at Johnson & Wales University, a position she assumed this past April.     

As Mazzone describes it, the university’s newly formed Office of Compliance, Internal Audit and Risk Management guides and supports a culture of ethical practices and compliance with the applicable laws and regulations governing higher education, industry standards and internal policies and procedures.

“The guiding principle is for institutional risks to be understood, managed and minimized to an acceptable level in a proactive manner,” said Mazzone.

There’s that word -- proactive.

It defines Mazzone’s determined approach to her work at Johnson & Wales, and also her efforts on the part of the AICPA to educate CPA colleagues across the country. On the local level, Mazzone, who spent seven years in public accounting with KPMG, finds the university to be an exciting place to work, with campuses in four states and hotels and restaurants as part of its portfolio. Her primary role, she said, is to act as an independent and objective advisor. The goal is to improve the effectiveness of risk management and internal controls and processes, while working to assure compliance, add value and improve operations.

“This is a more effective model than the old internal audit model of identifying problems and stopping there,” said Mazzone. “The idea is to be more proactive than reactive. Johnson & Wales sets the right tone at the top and we help the university community understand what they need to do -- or in some cases, they help us understand what can be done. We all know there are many ways to accomplish one objective. The idea is to make it as easy as possible to be in compliance and have strong internal controls, while balancing the reality that serving students comes before anything else.”   

Looking back, Mazzone sees all of her accounting experiences as invaluable. KPMG, she said, provided her with a strong basis for internal controls, reporting and accounting. Mazzone then spent eight years as a consultant, acting as a CFO or helping to turn around struggling nonprofit organizations.

“That experience allowed me to take the knowledge I had gained with KPMG and apply it to real life business decisions,” she said. “Board members and senior management need accurate financial reports, but more importantly they need someone to help them understand what those reports mean and what decisions are critical to run an effective and financially stable business.”

The consulting work, Mazzone said, helped her to improve her communications skills.

“It provided me the ability to take complex financial information and distill it in a way that allows all levels of staff and management to understand it and it allows them to make the right decisions for the business,” she said.  

And all of her experiences have allowed her to share her expertise with colleagues, as a discussion leader for the AICPA.  In this role, she travels the country, teaching CPE classes.

“It is important to be able to weave real life experiences into the classroom. I focus on classes related to nonprofit accounting and management,” said Mazzone.   

Mazzone’s experiences in Rhode Island provide her with an interesting perspective to share with her colleagues. There are unique lessons to be learned from working in the smallest state in the country.

“I see business colleagues at my local coffee shop, grocery store and gym,” said Mazzone. “In Boston, if you need a service, you perform a Google search for a local vendor. In Rhode Island, we phone a friend. As such, it is important to have integrity and honesty in everything you do and to do your best at all times. In a small state, news spreads fast. You want to make sure you are painting the right picture for your colleagues.”

Mazzone is a RISCPA Board member and part of the RISCPA Not-for-Profit committee (NFP).