Robert Half's Protiviti Puts "Command Central" at Hacienda

By George Walsh, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

New Firm to Provide Internal Auditing and Risk Consulting Services

In the world of corporate outsourcing and temporary professional and management services, few organizations have the resources and reputation of Robert Half International Inc. (RHI). Founded in 1948, the company operates a variety of different divisions, each serving distinct markets including accounting and finance, administrative support, information technology, legal support, creative, advertising, and marketing. There are more than 325 RHI locations in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, but the company's corporate headquarters is here at Hacienda.

The newest division of RHI, Protiviti, is also at Hacienda, currently at 5735 W. Las Positas Boulevard. Protiviti specializes in internal audit and business risk consulting. Internal auditors work within a company to get financial records and documents ready for examination by auditors outside the company, making sure that every "t" is crossed and every "i" is dotted in their financial statements. A company can outsource the entire internal auditing function and have Protiviti come in and act as an internal auditor; set up a joint situation where a few people from Protiviti come in and work with their internal auditing staff; or contract auditors from Protiviti on a project basis. All in all, the idea is to have a consultant from outside the company involved in examining the financial records to be sure that everything is accurate.

Protiviti's Pleasanton facility includes the transition team, which is working to integrate new employees and services into the overall business. "Getting them up and running, accounting functions, the payroll function, the IT function, the leasing and real estate function, that's all happening out of our Pleasanton location," says Reesa Staten, vice president of communications for Robert Half International. The tasks facing Protiviti's transition team are certainly not trivial. The new company intends to have offices all over the country in about 25 different markets. "What we're looking to do is to enter new cities, expand internationally, and build a strong international presence for the company," Staten says. "Certainly, centralized operations will be in Pleasanton. That's where command central will be for Protiviti."

Protiviti came into being as a result of Robert Half International's employment agreement with Arthur Andersen, which became final on May 23 of this year. Out of this agreement, RHI developed Protiviti into an organization with expertise in internal auditing. In addition to internal auditing, Protiviti also provides business risk consulting; going into a company and assessing their risks. "It might be anything from being a manufacturing plant in an earthquake zone to risks that are facing a particular industry," Staten says. "How secure are the company's networks? Is the software up to date? Are they at risk for a security breach? We go in and assess all the risks that a company might face and consult with them to try to mitigate some of those risks."

Knowing what risks they face can help a company to eliminate them-if possible-or learn to work with the risks using the most practical approach. With the expertise and experience gained from its agreement with Arthur Andersen, it's clear that Protiviti will continue the RHI tradition of providing peerless professional contracting in both of its new service areas.

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