Helen Nguyen

Helen is a director at Protiviti Australia with over 14 years of experience and a strong track record in internal audit, program delivery and assurance and risk advisory across federal government, financial, publicly listed companies and private sector organisations. She has built a reputation for delivering trusted insights and strengthening performance in highly regulated and complex environments.

Helen has led independent assurance and internal audit engagements that drive improvements, build confidence and support strategic decision making, particularly in programs and services related to integrity, health and education. She brings a practical understanding of how Australian government programs operate on the ground, balancing strategic oversight with operational realities to add real value to executives, audit committees and operational teams.

Passionate about contributing to better public outcomes, Helen combines technical assurance expertise with a commitment to purpose-driven work.

Major projects and accomplishments

• Internal audit: Led and delivered high quality internal audit programs across multiple federal government agencies, driving compliance, improving operations and supporting strategic outcomes with strong stakeholder trust. This has also included delivering strategic internal audit plans, audit risk universes, and engaging with executives and audit and risk committees.
• Independent program assurance: Provided independent and objective assurance across complex government programs. This included providing assurance plans, live-assurance, gateway support, health checks and deep dive reviews aligned with the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) assurance framework ICT investment tiers, helping lift delivery confidence and realising intended benefits and outcomes.
• Business risk and controls optimisation and advisory: Partnered with the public sector and private businesses to optimise business risk and controls, guiding sectors and businesses to transition from current state to enhanced future state compliance, performance and resilience. This included identifying actions and improvement opportunities in relation to operational efficiencies, design and implementation of integrity-based frameworks, compliance, and fraud.

Areas of expertise

• Internal audit
• Program assurance
• Compliance and assurance frameworks
• Risk and controls optimisation
• Integrity and regulatory compliance

Industry expertise

• Government
• Education (government and industry)
• Healthcare
• Asset finance and brokerage 

Education

• Chartered Accountant
• Bachelor of Business (Accounting)
• Bachelor of Business (Banking and Finance)

Professional memberships and certifications

• Member, Chartered Accountants – Australia and New Zealand