Rob Frattasio

Tom O'Reilly: Rob, you are an intelligent, competent and capable person, and would be successful with any career you may have chosen. Why have you chosen to dedicate your career as a consultant for SOX Compliance and Internal Auditing?

Rob Frattasio: Sarbanes Oxley didn’t even exist when I started my career. When I made the switch to SOX Advisory, I realized I was good at it, and that made me feel good. So I continued to invest time and effort to improve on my skills, and I began to see more and more of my clients appreciating the value that I could bring to them because of my investment of effort.

Early in my career I thought I wanted to pursue financial statement auditing, but I realized that consulting and advising clients on SOX compliance and process risk was more fulfilling. I was helping them stay out of trouble, rather than looking back and telling them whether or not they accounted for something correctly. It was more forward-looking, which felt better to me. I found that I preferred the advisory work because I could genuinely help my clients.

The other thing that I've really liked about my career is being able to build and develop a team of leading Risk Advisory consultants who are client-centric, and experts in their field. I enjoy seeing them grow, as individuals and a team, and helping our clients succeed. As a result, today, we’ve got a team who cares about their clients' business as much as they do. And they seek to understand both what their clients want to achieve, and work hard every day to help them achieve that. That's the difference we bring, and it's one of the things I am most proud of in my career.  

Tom O'Reilly: To say that you’ve had a successful career in consulting and at RSM would be an understatement. When looking back, what are the one or two attributes you believe contributed most to your career success?

Rob Frattasio: Thanks Tom.

First and foremost, I am super competitive. It's not that I love winning, but I hate losing. I really, really hate losing at anything, so I've always worked hard to avoid losing in any situation. I’ve found that this drive causes me to bring focused energy to everything that I take on. And my ability to work with this focused energy is something that my clients and firm have found value in over the years.

I also believe that I have thick skin and strong emotional intelligence.  I've always had the ability to think on my feet and react to a situation by developing a customized solution. I think that's an important factor in your success in a career like this.

As I reflect, I think the final attribute that’s helped me throughout my career is that I’ve always been curious. I like learning new things and seek out opportunities to become an expert in something, where it makes sense. You have to be curious, to enjoy learning new things, and care enough to do it, too. 

Tom O'Reilly: In your roles at RSM, you've likely hired hundreds of SOX and Internal Audit consultants, and interviewed even more. When interviewing, what qualities do you look for in a staff member or senior that indicate they'll be a valuable addition to your team? 

Rob Frattasio: My objective in an interview is to assess whether I can trust the candidate to be a good teammate and to serve my clients with distinction. How they prepare, interact, and react during an interview will tell you an awful lot about how they will be in front of your clients and with your team. 

I have heard over the years that I interview differently, and at times will ask some questions that others don’t ask. I like to  throw a curveball question to see how the candidate will react. How a candidate answers and holds themselves in that situation is telling. When you think about the difficult conversations that may arise with an audit committee chair, a CFO, or any given stakeholder; you never know what's going to come at you, and how you react to that will make all the difference. A good internal auditor can stay poised, professional, and thoughtful in difficult situations. So, I like to ask different questions to see the how the candidate holds themselves when they are outside of their comfort zone. 

I also like to see that they answer my “different” questions  in a truthful, genuine, authentic way. In order to get our clients to talk to us about what they do and how they do it in an open and honest way, they need to trust you and like you. If you're not likable and trustworthy, nobody's going to show you where the skeletons in the closet are.

Tom O'Reilly: What do you look for when promoting people on your team? 

Rob Frattasio: First and foremost, the people who consistently demonstrate that they genuinely care to do a good job, care about their client's success, care about the team members and their success, and care about their own career. The people who are only trying to get ahead for themselves generally don't work well on a team and they don't come across well to their clients. I tend not to seek out people like that for my teams, but look for people who are in it for their clients, who understand they are part of a team, and want to do better and grow professionally.

I want future leaders on my team, and when they're trustworthy, people will run through walls for them. People who are always truthful, transparent, and genuine are the ones I want on my team, and I'll promote them faster than folks who are just really good at the technical skills required  but don't have those other attributes.

Tom O'Reilly: What do you look for when promoting people into leadership positions in your firm? 

Rob Frattasio: Two things. One,

The other thing I've seen is that great leaders don't make assumptions. They don't think they know everything. They really seek to understand their stakeholder's motives, needs, and most  importantly, what they want and they adjust accordingly. 

Tom O'Reilly: In your career, you’ve also had the opportunity to work with many different Audit Committees as a SOX Advisor. In your experience, what do you feel Audit Committees want and need from their CAE and SOX leaders? 

Rob Frattasio: I believe Audit Committees have several key expectations from their SOX leaders.

First and foremost, Audit committees seek assurance that management is fulfilling their responsibilities regarding internal controls over financial reporting. They expect their leaders to keep them informed and assist in addressing significant deficiencies and material weaknesses when they occur.  Those are the base expectations.

However, I’ve also seen that

‍

In my experience, the exceptional SOX and Audit leaders I admire excel at this. They invest time in truly understanding their Audit Committee Chair and meticulously prepare for meetings. They  work hard to understand what the Audit Committee truly wants from the internal audit function, beyond just meeting basic requirements.

I’ve also experienced that the best audit committee chairs want a relationship with you. They want you to feel comfortable coming directly to them in their fiduciary role. They want a direct, honest assessment of the controls. They really appreciate that objectivity and transparency. They expect that I have a good working relationship with management and the financial statement auditors, while remaining objective and able to provide insights into the control environment and they expect me to be brave when needed.. 

Tom O'Reilly: You’ve led SOX programs and internal audit teams. What is the hardest part about leading a SOX program that a lot of people may not be aware of who are aspiring to be in that role?  

Rob Frattasio: In my opinion, the hardest part of leading a SOX program is the breadth of stuff you need to know and do. You've got to know accounting, internal controls, financial reporting, regulations, process improvement, and cyber security. And then, in addition to technical skills, you need writing skills, executive presence, the ability to build and manage a team effectively, manage vendors. And with all of these aspects, you also need to be keenly aware of the culture of your company, and how your team and SOX work is perceived by the business. To be a really good SOX Program leader, you have to be highly proficient in all of these areas. And I think that is very hard to do. 

Tom O'Reilly: Over the years working with your clients, how have you observed Internal Audit and SOX leaders best use their co-source partners? 

Rob Frattasio: I think you get the most value out of tapping into their experience. You may need to hire a co-source partner  for things like  IT control SMEs  or to help accomplish everything on your plan and hit deadlines. Sure, without a doubt, a co-source partner can help maintain your team’s output. 

But in my experience, the top SOX Leaders use and leverage their consultants as advisors. They are speaking with their firm’s SOX experts, unpacking how to interpret and tackle new regulatory requirements or guidance. There’s also immense value tapping into the broader network of their subject matter experts across various disciplines (think tax, technical accounting, innovative IT solutions, etc), or even other clients the firm has, to get first hand perspective on developing a new strategy, or executing complex projects. The good SOX leaders are constantly evolving, and a great co-source partner can help bring both information and a network for you to tap into to help you grow and achieve more.. 

Tom O’Reilly: What’s one thing that your colleagues and those in our industry don’t know about you that you’d like to share?  

Rob Frattasio: I love Jeopardy. I watch Jeopardy every day, and if I miss it, I record it. I enjoy this show so much, I get grumpy when I miss it. I enjoy following the current champions, and I get excited when newcomers make a mark. 

In fact, I was at a Red Sox game with my daughter two years ago, and we ran into a former champion, Matt Amodio, who had just completed the third longest winning streak of all time. 

And if you were with me, you would have thought I ran into the biggest celebrity on the planet. I was like this giddy little kid. I was so awestruck I could barely control myself. But it was great. We had a nice little chat, despite the fact that he was rooting for the other team, and I walked away having met one of my favorite players of all time. 

It was too funny and a great time. Even though my daughter was wicked embarrassed.

‍