AuditLink, the auditing and compliance division of CU*Answers, facilitated its third annual compliance symposium sponsored by Michigan Legacy Credit Union in Pontiac, Michigan. “This is the largest event AuditLink facilitates during the year, which has grown in popularity and this year included over thirty compliance professionals,” said Jim Vilker VP of Professional Services.
To start the day a presentation on the upcoming changes relative to the Bank Secrecy Act and new requirements for beneficial owners of accounts was presented by Veronica Madsen of Howard & Howard Attorneys. “This is on every BSA officer’s mind and the nuances and requirements of the regulation were explained extremely well,” added Vilker. Following Madsen, Vilker presented a regulatory update and status of the new service AuditLink and thirteen other credit unions built cooperatively for automating the vendor management process and requirements.
Jessica Hillborg of Frankenmuth Credit Union and Angie Szatkowski of Alpena Alcona Area Credit Union joined Vilker in an afternoon panel discussion that included the presentation of an audit plan that any credit union in the network can use as a template for managing their audit and compliance internal program. It was the result of over two months of work where the two credit unions and Amanda Craig from Honor Credit Union joined together and created a working template for all of the credit unions.
“Credit unions are now expected to create an annual plan, but struggle with what exactly that plan should include,” said Szatkowski. “In true cooperative spirit, we collectively created a template that calendarizes all events, including the role of an internal auditor, required risk assessments, the management of exams and third party audits, all the way through to the implementation of a solid set of internal controls.”
Connie Jones, VP of Internal Audit at Michigan Legacy Credit Union, attended the event and commented: “I always say that if I come away from a meeting/conference learning one or two valuable things, I believe it to be a good one. This conference was by far one of the most valuable that I have attended in a while. I am very excited about taking internal auditing to the next level at my credit union.”
To see the presentations and audit plan template go to https://auditlinksuite.cuanswers.com/.