JAMES B. YARD CPA CIA

Jim leads Schneider Downs’s Risk Advisory Services Department and serves as the market growth leader for the firm’s consulting practice. He specializes in providing risk management, internal audit, Sarbanes-Oxley, business process optimization and internal control consulting services. In addition, he has directed numerous process and control improvement projects at several financial service companies.

During the past 25 years, 19 of those in internal audit and risk management, Jim has directed the internal audit and governance aspects for several large public and private companies. In his current role, Jim is responsible for the delivery of internal audit and risk advisory services to several of Western Pennsylvania’s and Central Ohio’s largest public and private companies. In serving these organizations, he has provided services to clients in both a full internal audit outsource capacity, as well as in a co-source relationship.

Jim’s client portfolio consists of a high concentration of financial service companies for which he was responsible for planning, coordinating and managing internal audits and delivering services in the areas of enterprise-wide risk assessment, 404 Sarbanes-Oxley support, business process improvement and compliance reviews. Jim also held a position in internal audit with a large publicly held specialty metals company.

Education

B.S. – Business Administration, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Professional and Community Involvement

Member—American and Pennsylvania Institutes of Certified Public Accountants

Board Member—The Institute of Internal Auditors (The IIA), Pittsburgh Chapter

Past International Committee Member—The Institute of Internal Auditors

Member—The Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA)

Chairman of the Executive Board—Junior Achievement of Western Pennsylvania
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Who is your role model? 
My father

What is the best advice you ever received?
Work hard. Nothing in life is given, it is earned.

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to your college self?
Don’t be in such a rush to get into the real world. Enjoy every moment.

What was your first job?
I was a produce clerk for a local grocery store.

Do you have advice for young professionals?
Ask questions – you don’t know all of the answers. Don’t be afraid to seek the insight of those around you.

Our Thoughts On

FEATURED

Big Problem: Inefficiency In Data Extraction And File Conversion.


Big Thinking: Use Proprietary Software To Do What Once Took Days In Just Hours.

Shareholder TED PETTKO has extensive experience with public and privately owned companies from a diverse group of industries, and he’s been with Schneider Downs since 1997.
Ted's team implemented a solution for a client who had an ongoing need to extract data from one platform and enter it into another. The manual process they had in place was not only cumbersome and time consuming, but it also resulted in an unclean format. Using proprietary data analysis software, IDEA, the team helped the client extract an entire year of information into a clean format in a matter of hours. Previously, it had taken the client several days to perform the extraction. "Our efforts on behalf of our client enhanced their timeliness and efficiency," Pettko said. "Using data analysis software in the audit profession gives us the ability to extract information in a fraction of the time, summarize the data and produce high-level analytics to support our audit opinion. Ultimately it's a win-win." Schneider Downs provides Big Thinking and Personal Focus in delivering a variety of services for large and small businesses, both publicly and privately held, as well as nonprofit organizations, government entities and more. Through our commitment to thought leadership and knowledge management, we deliver the solutions our clients need with a personal commitment to service.

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