Alex Psarras

Alex is an Associate Director in Internal Audit and Financial Advisory at Protiviti UK. Since 2010, he has been working closely with clients to align Internal Audit and GRC functions with their objectives, helping them bridge the gap between risk, data, and technology. Alex is an expert in implementing Data Mining, Visualisation, Artificial Intelligence, Process Mining and Robotic Process Automation solutions and has considerable experience leading data-driven engagements.

Alex is driving the innovation with audit and risk functions by using enabling technologies and is Protiviti’s UK Process Mining Lead for Internal Audit. He is responsible for establishing a clear vision and communication for the group with the purpose of delivering high-quality, innovative and impactful solutions.

Alex has experience in delivering client IA Analytics workshops which include reviewing the function’s current use of analytics, benchmarking against similar groups, aligning their IA Analytics vision and developing a path forward structured around People, Process and Technology. Alex has extensive experience in developing CCM solutions, particularly in the cycles of Purchase to Pay and Order to Cash.

Major Projects

• Multinational Universal Bank: NextGen Internal Audit – Alex supported the client’s internal audit department in driving its transformation and technology enablement. He led a team of audit analysts, process miners and digital audits to build a relevant set of analytical tools for internal audit that “data enables” its methodologies, planning and audit execution and helps align teams around the “future of audit”. As part of the programme, several reusable assets were created to drive audit automation, offer full population testing and create an improved understanding of end-to-end business processes, key risks and controls.
• British Telecommunications Company: P2P Audit Review – Alex implemented a series of Audit Analytics, Process Performance Indicators and Value Indicators focusing on the Purchase-to-Pay cycle within the client’s Oracle ERP system. Working with the client’s Audit and Finance stakeholders, Alex and Protiviti’s process mining team identified potential control failures and highlighted bottlenecks and areas of improvement within the P2P process.
• Multinational Telecoms: Continuous Controls Monitoring Programme – as part of a four-year co-source engagement, Alex worked closely with the IA function of a multinational telecoms company to provide data analysis expertise. This included managing resources to support selected audits and SAP data projects. Additionally, Alex assisted in defining the client’s IA Analytics strategy and methodologies.
• Multinational Universal Bank: Remediation QA Programme – Alex worked on the remediation programme of a multinational universal bank over the space of three years. His role within the Population QA team was to review the completeness and accuracy of the population and redress identified by the project teams. Each review involved inspecting project documentation and conducting walkthroughs; developing code to re-perform the population and total redress value calculated based on source data; and documenting the work performed and the conclusions reached.
• Internal Audit Analytics Publication – prior to joining Protiviti, Alex published a report highlighting the current use of IA Analytics, barriers preventing teams from delivering more data-driven audits as well as future direction and strategy. The report was based on interviews he conducted with over 50 UK Internal Audit functions. Alex produced a report of his key findings and hosted a webinar to present the insights to a global audience of Internal Audit practitioners.

Areas of Expertise

• IA Analytics & Automation
• Governance, Risk and Controls ​
• Process Mining
• IA Technology Enablement

Industry Expertise

• Financial Services
• Technology, Media and Telecoms
• Consumer Products
• Public Organisations

Education

• BSc (Hons) Computer Science, The University of Leeds

Certifications

• Celonis Data Engineer and Analyst
• Nintex RPA Practitioner
• Advanced ACL Certified Data Analyst
• Tableau Desktop Qualified Associate
• Querying with Transact-SQL, Microsoft
• Data-Driven GRC Education Program, ACL Services