California Society of CPAs president and CEO Anthony Pugliese will be succeeding the longtime leader of the Institute of Internal Auditors, Richard Chambers, as the IIA’s new president and CEO at the end of March.
The IIA announced Tuesday that Pugliese will be taking the reins of the Lake Mary, Florida-based organization when Chambers steps down March 31. Chambers announced his retirement last year after leading the IIA for 12 years, and the institute engaged executive search firm Korn Ferry to find a replacement (
Apart from his experience leading CalCPA -- the largest state CPA society, with 45,000 members -- Pugliese was also a longtime official at the American Institute of CPAs and later the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants. From 1997 through 2018, he held important leadership positions at the AICPA, including chief operating officer; executive vice president of membership, technology and learning; senior vice president; and vice president of business reporting and member innovation. Among other things he oversaw the AICPA’s $50 million relocation from New York to North Carolina.
Pugliese initially plans to meet with other officials and members at the IIA to hear about their concerns as he works closely with Chambers during the transition period. He sees opportunities ahead for the organization, even as it adjusts to new ways of working during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve seen a deepening of the role for internal audit,” Pugliese told Accounting Today. “It’s understanding the trajectory of internal audit and continuing a broadening role across the profession. There’s just so much going on. We’re looking at a whole range of new risks and opportunities for the profession right now. Our primary goals are growth and to make sure we’re doing the advocacy that’s necessary for the changing times.”
He is seeing more advanced technology being used by auditors and wants to encourage early involvement of students in the profession. “We have a digital transformation that we’re working on not just at IIA, but also the transformation that has to occur across the profession,” said Pugliese. “By that I mean blockchain, AI, modernization of systems, etc., and making sure we've got our eyes set on the next generation of internal auditors, beginning in high school and early college years.”
As CEO of the IIA, Pugliese will manage the nearly 80-year-old organization, which boasts more than 200,000 members, 156 chapters and 112 affiliates in nearly 200 countries and territories. He plans to focus on improving membership services, creating new approaches to learning and competency development programs, completing the IIA’s multimillion-dollar digital transformation initiative, and enhancing the value of internal audit, especially when it comes to addressing organizational risks and opportunities.
“We are thrilled to welcome Anthony to the IIA,” said IIA global chair Jenitha John in a statement Tuesday. “He is an articulate, well-informed, passionate and results-driven leader with a consistent track record of great successes that inspire and benefit not only his organizations but, importantly, the members they serve. His strategic direction, coupled with his insight of internal audit’s evolution and the instrumental role technology holds for its future, will help the IIA grow and build value for our members and customers around the world.”
Pugliese has been frequently recognized as one of the Most Influential People in the profession by Accounting Today. He holds the AICPA's Chartered Global Management Accountant and Certified Information Technology Professional credentials, and is licensed as a CPA in California, Georgia and North Carolina.
Priorities for the future
He has worked on encouraging more diversity, equity and inclusiveness in the profession at both the AICPA and CalCPA. At CalCPA, he has also been working on a project with the Institute of Management Accountants on a study of diversity and inclusion in the profession. He and IMA president and CEO Jeff Thomson plan to discuss the topic during an
“All facets of the profession today are facing this problem,” said Pugliese. “The problem maybe has gotten better as far as underrepresented populations moving into the profession. But what we're seeing now is those that do are leaving at a disproportionate rate, so that would lead us to believe the problem is still in existence. The goal of the research with the IMA is to really get down to not just strategies on how to improve diversity within the profession, but really what's causing the problem to begin with. A lot of people have different ideas and a lot of companies with the best intentions tend to approach the problem by making sure they hire enough people that have backgrounds in underrepresented populations. But that really doesn't get to the root of the problem, which is feelings of inclusiveness and so forth. We’re looking at that now, and I'm really excited to look at it within the internal audit profession soon after I get started.”
Another priority for Pugliese will be educating members about the latest audit technology. “A lot of the time internal audit is acting as a complement to external audit,” he said. “They're going to be using a lot of the tools that external audit uses. That’s one angle where we need to have education across the profession so our members understand what’s being done on the external audit. For the most part they do, but technology continues to change.”
The Institute of Internal Auditors partners with other organizations besides the IMA. It’s part of an initiative called the Anti-Fraud Collaboration with the Center for Audit Quality, Financial Executives International and the National Association of Corporate Directors. Together, they released a
“Internal audit is always focused, at least in my experience, on fraud and fraud prevention, making sure to be alerted to the risks that are present there,” said Pugliese. “I oversaw the internal audit function for 15 years at AICPA. When I left, it had actually evolved into a pretty large team and that was one of their primary goals. I think where internal audit became even more valuable in that experience for me was when AICPA went global in 2016. Companies that are global have such a range of controls and regulation concerns that they have to deal with. As we become more and more global as a community across the planet, I think there is a much wider role for internal audit, and they’ve probably been operating in that for a long time.”
Pugliese has already begun working with Chambers during the transition. “We intentionally have about a month of overlap,” he said. “But Richard and I have already started our calls on a regular basis, so I think it’s a bit more like three months of us being able to work together and gain from his vast knowledge.”
He has been reading Chambers’ books, such as “Lessons Learned on the Audit Trail.”
“I'm beginning to get more and more entrenched into what he’s learned and his perspectives,” said Pugliese. “That’s been very helpful. Richard and I are going to be working closely. I'm sure he'll be OK if I call him after his last days. He’s been a fixture in the profession for over 12 years, and before that. He's been a great mentor.”
