New Friends

Today I’m making some new friends. I’m going to spend the day hosting two auditors at my house. They’ll be combing through my company to make sure everything is on the up and up (which it is).

As an owner of a financial advisory firm in Texas, I am regulated by the State Securities Board. I spend a lot of time documenting compliance procedures, verifying trading and billing accuracy, and ensuring privacy and security. This takes up much more time than I thought it would!

I’ve heard from other advisors that about a year after you receive your initial approval from the State, the Securities Board comes and audits you. So no, I didn’t do anything suspicious. It’s just standard operating procedure for them.

Now many of you may hear the word “auditor” and start to panic. Many of us think of auditors as scary people who just want to nitpick everything. But, I have a different view.

Some of you may know that my first career out of college was as an auditor. In 2004 I had just graduated from Texas A&M University, and I moved back to my hometown of Austin. That was an easy decision since Kaimey and I were already engaged, and she had a job she loved here already.

Throughout my last year of college I interviewed with a lot of different firms. One stood out as the most difficult interview I have ever been through. It was for an auditor position with the Texas State Auditor’s office. After two separate hour long interviews, a case study, a presentation, and a writing sample (seriously), I was offered the job and happily accepted.

Over my 7 years at that job I traveled to most of the universities in the state auditing financial aid processes. I spent months underground at the Comptroller’s office reviewing the State’s financial statements, and I learned some things that they never prepared me for college.

Do you know how elevator inspectors are licensed? I do, from my audit at the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Have you ever been taught how to use a white cane by a blind student? I have, during my audit of the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Do you know how to embalm a person before they are buried? I know, from my audit of the Texas Funeral Service Commission. Afterall, I am a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), which is something I try not to go around bragging about at dinner parties.

I learned a lot during my time as an auditor. But the most valuable thing I learned was how to walk into a situation I’ve never been in and master the details quickly. I use that skill all the time now as a financial advisor. A new client will tell me about their company that just got bought out, their child who needs special education, their brother-in-law who is always asking for money, and how they want to retire one day by the ocean. I have to take all of that information and puzzle piece it together into a comprehensive plan.

I did a lot of audits in my 20s, but one of them sticks out today in my mind.

In 2007, I had just been promoted from Auditor to Senior Auditor. This meant that I could now take on leadership roles on the audits I worked on. My first chance was on a “performance measures” audit.

Each state agency reports on certain performance measures to the legislature, and as a state auditor we would go in and verify that they were reporting accurate information.

I was thrilled to be assigned as an Assistant Project Manager on our next performance measure audit. Can you guess where it was?

The Texas State Securities Board! The same agency I’m spending the day with today. Don’t believe me? Here’s the report! That’s me on page 10: Scott Ela (Assistant Project Manager).

So today I’m excited to meet some new people. I’m excited to be sitting across from auditors instead of being the auditor. I’m excited to show off my “auditor mindset” in the documentation I’ve already gathered up for them.

But I’m most excited to tell these auditors that 12 years ago I audited them!