Taylor A. Mitchell

Background

About Taylor A. Mitchell

In a changing risk and compliance landscape, the need for a specialized practice residing between operational responsibilities and those with audit responsibilities has become glaring. To fill this role, there has been an emergence of specialized, knowledgeable and most importantly, flexible teams comprising what the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) refers to as the 2nd Line of Defense. At Avnet, we are working on the leading edge of implementing a robust 2nd Line of Defense to provide best in class support to our management resources by designing and implementing risk mitigation activities, taking compliance roles within key initiatives, and supporting executive management’s oversight of our financially significant processes. Regulation is considered by most to be tedious, monotonous and often considered wasteful. By not settling for this standard, we are working to pioneer a new approach to internal control. Rationalize and operationalize is the mantra to ensure our process owners and our auditors are able to execute their responsibilities timely and effectively, addressing material risks while providing insight into operational performance of our organization. We believe in the idea that strong control does not have to mean wasteful time and expenses but, if done right (a very big if), tremendous value can be extracted and a foundation of trust can be formed, from which the organization can blossom. Personally, I have a background within the Big 4 and significant Fortune 500 experience working within external financial audit, external IT audit, internal audit in numerous capacities and risk management consulting. My educational background in Accounting and Finance has allowed me to keep a strong focus on operationalizing controls for dual purposes so that they provide as much value as possible while maintaining structure and discipline. Further experience resides in RPA, Data Analytics, Process Improvement, and Technical Accounting oversight.