County clerk's internal auditor earns certification

CRAWFORDVILLE — The Wakulla County Clerk of Court and Comptroller Greg James has announced that Katrina Cromwell, CPA, CIA, the internal audit director for the comptroller, is now a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA).

In March 2022, James officially formed the Internal Audit Department for the Comptroller. Cromwell was originally hired at the Comptroller’s office in July 2018 and became an important part of the Accounting & Finance Department. Katrina brought with her a vast set of knowledge, skills and abilities since she worked as an external auditor with two audit firms. Katrina was licensed as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in February 2018 and is only the third CPA to work for the Comptroller’s office. After only a few years in the Accounting & Finance Department, Katrina was hired as the new Internal Audit Director in March 2022.

In February 2023, Katrina passed the CIA exam and becomes the first CIA employed by the Comptroller’s office. Her office is guided by the professional standards of the Institute of Internal Auditor’s (IIA) International Professional Practices Framework, commonly referred to as the “Red Book” as well as the professional standards of the United States Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) Government Auditing Standards, commonly referred to as the “Yellow Book.”

“Katrina understands the importance of formal certifications and the impact it can have on one’s view or perception of the professionalism and work output of the Internal Audit Department,” said James. “Normally, the CIA exam is a series of three exams that is taken over a period of time due to the difficult nature of each one.

“Since Katrina was already a CPA, the Institute for Internal Auditors permitted Katrina to take the ‘CIA Challenge Exam’ that encompasses all of the exams at once, which is a very difficult challenge. The exam that Katrina took only has a 40 percent pass rate so Katrina’s passing grade on the first attempt is very impressive but I never doubted that she would pass!”

Katrina is already showing the value of the Internal Audit Department, has completed two reports and is in the process of audit work on several others. Visit https://wakullaclerk.org/internal-audit/ to learn more about this Internal Audit Department, our Fraud Hotline, and the reports of the Internal Audit Department.