Allyson d'Aquin

LSU News
January 29,2003

Allyson d' Aquin, a Baton Rouge native and a student in LSU's master of business administration program, posted the highest overall score on the Institute for Internal Auditors' 2002 Certified Internal Auditor exam. D'Aquin had not only the highest student score on the exam, but the top score of any of the 18,657 people worldwide who took the test, including professionals.

The Institute for Internal Auditors recently announced that d'Aquin will receive the IIA Certified Internal Auditor Student Highest Achievement Award for highest overall student score internationally, as well as the IIA's Gold Medal award for the highest overall score among both students and practitioners.

D'Aquin is the 13th LSU student to receive the Student Highest Achievement Award in the last 17 years. According to the IIA, this is the first time in the history of the 29-year-old exam that a student has made the highest overall score in the world.

"Allyson's performance is unparalleled and enhances LSU's leadership position in internal auditing," said Glenn E. Sumners, director of the LSU Center for Internal Auditing.

The student score award that d'Aquin will receive is officially titled the William S. Smith Student Highest Achievement Award. It is named in honor of William S. Smith, the IIA's first chairman of its Board of Regents, a former IIA chairman of the board and a driving force behind the development of the Certified Internal Auditor program. For achieving the best overall score, d'Aquin has been named the William S. Smith Gold Medalist. She will officially receive her awards at the IIA's annual International Conference in Las Vegas this summer

.D'Aquin is the daughter of Davis and Janet d'Aquin and attended Woodlawn High School. She received a bachelor's degree in accounting from LSU in May of 2001. She is a member of the LSU Internal Auditing program and is on track to receive her MBA in May of this year. In June, she will begin a job as a Downstream Internal Auditor for ExxonMobil. "It really has been a rewarding experience -- getting the certification and receiving the awards," said d'Aquin. "The CIA review process was the capstone of my education. I not only learned and reviewed internal auditing skills, but I solidified my knowledge of general business topics."

Six other LSU students successfully passed all four parts of the exam on their first attempt: Doug Paul, an MBA student from Norcross, Ga.; Ben Ortego, a business undergraduate from Carencro; Brian Nichols, a master's student in information systems and decision sciences; Xueping Xiong, an MBA student from Jiangxi, China; Mercedes Levy, an MBA student from Baton Rouge; and Shannon Williams of Hammond, a graduate of the master's program in accounting.

The Institute of Internal Auditors was established in 1941 and serves more than 80,000 members in internal auditing, IT audit, education, security and governance and internal control from more than 120 countries. The institute is the recognized leader in the field and serves as the profession's watchdog and resource on significant auditing issues around the globe.

LSU's Center for Internal Auditing has been an international leader in internal audit education since its inception in 1985, when the IIA designated the LSU program as the Internal Audit Pilot School to develop internal audit education. Since then, endorsed internal audit programs have been established at 43 colleges and universities throughout the world, including France, Jordan, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Norway, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Switzerland, Thailand and the United Kingdom.

Internal auditing is essentially a risk assurance and consulting function that serves the organization through operation, compliance and financial evaluations. It is a relatively new, multidisciplinary profession, and the LSU Center for Internal Auditing seeks students from backgrounds as varied as engineering, finance, information systems, management, marketing, accounting, economics, public administration and nonbusiness areas.

For more information on d'Aquin's awards or LSU's Internal Audit Program, contact Glenn E. Sumners, director of the LSU Center for Internal Auditing, at 225-578-6210.