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QIAGEN senior manager speaks to students about auditing

By Matt Mulkeen

On April 20, 2011

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The Senior Manager of Internal Audit at QIAGEN talked to Global Business Society and International Economics and Finance Society members Tuesday about working in auditing and working internationally.

Robin Spahr, a 2004 alumnus of the Robert H. Smith School, does most of her auditing from QIAGEN's North American headquarters in Germantown, but makes about four or five trips per year around the world. QIAGEN is a public company that makes biotechnology products and is headquartered in Germany.

Spahr said she is in charge of auditing for portions of the company in the Americas, and that she helps with auditing branches in Asia as well.

"We need to make sure the financials are accurate," Spahr said. The importance of auditing has only grown since the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 increased standards for public companies in the U.S.

Spahr said that her job is basically to either make sure QIAGEN isn't violating Sarbanes-Oxley or to save the company money through her internal audits. When asked about her experiences abroad, Spahr said that she loves to travel and that was one of the reasons she took her current job. Spahr experienced pressure on her first international trip on the job, but said she has enjoyed her travels.

"It's intimidating your first trip, and then it gets progressively better," Spahr said. Spahr also gave advice to the students present on how to be successful in the field of auditing. She said that there's not much taught about auditing at Maryland, but that attending a business school still helps.

"I see a difference in people that come from business schools in how they act," Spahr said. She added that problem-solving skills are something important that students should take from their education.

Aside from education, Spahr said that people should really work somewhere that they believe in what they are doing.

"I truly believe in what audit stands for and what we do," Spahr said.