Colleen Waring

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Education:
B.A. in&nbsp
Communications,&nbsp
Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma City (1986)
Professional Certifications
Certified Government Auditing Professional, Certificate No. 0009 (2000)
Certified Government Financial Manager,&nbsp
Association of Government Accountants (1997)
Certified Internal Auditor, Certificate No. 019779 (1992)

Colleen Waring is self-employed as a government auditing consultant. She retired in 2006 from the job of deputy city auditor of Austin, Texas after 23 years in public sector auditing. During her auditing career she planned, oversaw, led, and conducted scores of performance audits of a wide variety of government programs.

While working for the City of Austin, Colleen oversaw the work of 24 to 30 auditors and administrative staff, and had responsibility for completing scores of performance audits and special projects. During a five-year break from local government, Colleen worked as director of internal audit for the Texas Youth Commission--the state’s juvenile prison system.

Since retiring, Colleen has expanded her consulting business, training government auditors and managers around the world. A highlight of her training work was to develop and present “Tools and Techniques for the Beginning Government Auditor,” to a group of senior auditors from countries in Eastern Africa, sponsored by the Institute of Internal Auditors and the World Bank. The course premiered in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and has since been taught by the original class participants on numerous occasions in Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya.

Colleen participated on the Institute of Internal Auditors’ (IIA’s) initial Steering Committee that created the Certified Government Auditing Professional (CGAP) designation. After its launch, she was invited to serve as a member of the IIA’s Board of Regents, where she chaired one of its sub-committees—the steering committee responsible for oversight of the CGAP’s expansion from a North American to a global certification. Previously, she served on and then chaired the IIA's International Government Relations Committee. Having left a position as Board Member of the Association of Local Government Auditors (ALGA) at retirement, she served two terms as a member of ALGA's Long-Term Conference Planning Committee.

In June, 2007, Colleen received a Lifetime Membership Award from the Association of Local Government Auditors, recognizing her contributions to the auditing profession.

In addition to her contributions to professional organizations, she has written about auditing and audit techniques. She co-authored "Public Sector Performance Auditing in Developing Countries," a chapter of the World Bank publication on Performance Accountability and Combating Corruption.  Colleen was the principal author of the initial edition of the IIA publication The Role of Audit in Public Sector Governance. She has also authored a number of articles and co-authored several research papers on the audit uses of evaluation and operations research methodologies.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication from Oklahoma City University.

When she’s not contributing to the improvement of the government auditing profession, Colleen can be found trying to beat back the brush on her farm northeast of Austin, Texas.  

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