Gabriella Soares

Gabriella is a director with over 18 years’ experience in providing Sarbanes-Oxley, external audit, advisory services, internal audit, governance, risk management and risks and controls transformation. Additionally, Gabriella has developed expertise pertaining to external auditing, assurance and systems and business process reviews for private and public sector clients. Prior to working with Protiviti Australia, Gabriella has worked at Vincents and a large consulting firm in both Australia and South Africa.

Gabriella has extensive knowledge of the workings across various industries and entities, the risks associated with these entities, and their regulatory and legislative requirements. Gabriella leads the co-sourced and outsourced program delivery for national and global clients across private and public sectors, including mining and manufacturing, not-for-profit, water, utilities, aged care, health, and education clients.  Gabriella is a risk committee member of the Risk Management Institute of Australia and an associate member of the Institute of Internal Auditors.

Major projects and accomplishments

• Complex business process and risk and controls transformation reviews.
• Advisory reviews for private sector clients, funded organisations, government agencies and other entities including governance, risk, strategy, performance.
• Advisory engagements in relation to risk management, development of risk appetite statements, fraud awareness, contract management and performance of service providers, governance and grant programs.
• Internal audits and operational audits of key operational functions.
• Special audit investigations and support.
• Regulatory audits of agency compliance with legislation, third party compliance with contract terms and conditions and statement of works, compliance by grantees with grant terms and conditions, regulatory examinations of corporations and other entities compliance with legislation governing their operations.
• Gabriella leverages her global Sarbanes-Oxley compliance experience in managing, coordinating and delivering simple to complex projects. Some of Gabriella’s day-to-day responsibilities include, managing relationships with key senior stakeholders, status reporting, liaising with various teams locally and globally.

Areas of expertise

• Internal audit and assurance
• Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX)
• Governance
• Risk management
• External audit
• Performance and compliance
• Grant management
• Fraud risk management
• Procurement and contract management
• Accounting and financial management
• Forensic reviews and investigation
• Risk and control transformation

Industry experience

• Mining and manufacturing
• Energy & utilities
• Government
• Health & aged care
• Education
• Not-for-profit

Professional memberships and certifications

• Associate Member of the Institute of Internal Auditors Australia
• Member of the Risk Management Institute of Australia

Education

• Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting, University of Pretoria