Clara Tang on Internal Control and Her New Position as Senior Compliance Analyst

Clara and her children

“I missed finance!” Clara Tang said when asked what drew her to her current position in UVAFinance. She was previously working as a Senior Internal Auditor for the Health System, which she enjoyed, but she had very few opportunities to use her financial background. Clara, a CPA with almost nine years of experience in finance, says that her role as Senior Compliance Analyst perfectly combines finance with what she liked about being an auditor.

In this role, Clara will primarily work with a team to improve the University’s internal control of fiscal processes. “I will be looking at policy & procedure, business process, transactions, systems, and data analysis to assess our internal control under the COSO framework and to seek opportunities for improvement.” She is also responsible for facilitating risk assessment, transaction-level testing, and document compilation which will be forwarded to Augie Maurelli and President Ryan for final review and submission to the Agency for Risk Management and Internal Control Standards (ARMICS).

While the idea of internal control might seem a bit vague to some people, Clara knows it is essential to any business. “The internal control of an organization is like the immune system of a human body,” Clara explains. “And during a pandemic, there is no need to emphasize the importance of a healthy immune system, right? With a robust immune system, we don’t get sick as easily, and if we do, we recover faster. This is similar to what robust internal controls can provide: an improvement to operational efficiency and the furthering of our objectives to safeguard assets, an increase in the reliability of financial statements, the promotion of compliance, and the realization of other goals.”

Clara is already diving in and looking forward to all the challenges and opportunities ahead of her. “The AMRICS certification was changed this year," Clara says, providing an example of a current challenge she is working through. "I have been working closely with Lynn Galasso to figure out the new certification. She’s been sharing her extensive knowledge and experience with me without reservation!” In addition to working with Lynn, Clara is glad that her role will allow her to be involved with lots of business processes and teams.

She is particularly interested in what the implementation of Workday Financials means for internal control. “While making improvements to our business operations, we need to consider internal control throughout the design, testing, and implementation process,” she explains. “I’ve sat in a series of Workday meetings; it is impressive to see how much the team has already achieved. And I'm glad that I can contribute to the UVAFinance team by working with everyone to strengthen UVA’s internal control.”

Outside of work, Clara is kept busy by her nine-year-old daughter and seven-year-old son. When she does find time for herself, she enjoys reading and learning new things. She particularly loves non-fiction books about parenting, business, and data analysis.