Meet Elizabeth
Elizabeth is passionate about advancing and advocating for the internal audit profession and was recognized as one of the 2023 Internal Audit Beacons by Richard Chambers. In addition to training and consulting, Elizabeth is an adjunct Professor of Accounting at Front Range Community College.
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Elizabeth's motto is "Audit Smarter, not Harder" -- because we can all do so much more with the tools that we already have!
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Experience
Elizabeth McDowell, CPA, CIA has nearly 20 years of audit experience and is the founder of Audit Forward, an innovative internal audit consulting and training firm. In addition to training and consulting, Elizabeth is an adjunct Professor of Accounting at Front Range Community College and serves as a Non-Executive Independent Director for an internal audit firm in the UK.
Elizabeth’s most recent industry experience was at Achieve, where she was Sr. Director, Audit Strategy; prior to that, she held internal audit leadership roles at Elevations Credit Union, Fidelity Investments, and Xcel Energy after first starting her career at Ernst & Young.
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Training Philosophy
Do you want to attend a boring training where you watch the clock and just hope for it to end early?! Heck no!
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Elizabeth considers herself an "edutainer" (educator + entertainer!) and makes auditing and training fun (no, really!) with the help of her mascot, Audie the Internal Otteror. Elizabeth is a dynamic, engaging, and enthusiastic public speaker who presents virtually and in-person to IIA chapters, accounting societies, Association of Certified Fraud Examiner chapters, governmental groups, and more.
From developing hands-on activities and providing actionable examples, to making training fun with coloring sheets and Bingo cards, Elizabeth works hard to make sure attendees are engaged the whole time!
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Internal Audit Philosophy
Innovation is essential to advancement, especially in the internal audit profession. For too many years, Internal Audit was seen as the ‘police’ or the ‘gotcha’ department -- but those days are over!
At Achieve and Elevations, Elizabeth shaped the audit departments into trusted advisors that were proactively sought out for partnership and collaboration. This was done through quarterly one-on-ones with executives, enthusiastic promotion of the audit plan and department, and a transparent and collaborative audit process.
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Work Hard, Play Harder
When Elizabeth's not playing the role of "mom taxi" to her 15-year-old daughter, you can find her out walking her two dogs. You might also find her lifting weights or swimming!
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Elizabeth also loves jigsaw puzzles (and is an admitted Ravensburger puzzle snob), reading, and true crime podcasts.