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News | May 5, 2020

Highlighting Teachers in DCAA

By DCAA Staff Writer

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of articles highlighting DCAA’s instructors in honor of National Teacher Day.

Did you know DCAA has its own school? The Defense Contract Audit Institute (DCAI), located in Atlanta, Ga., is where DCAA’s auditors learn everything they need to be successful as an auditor plus leadership skills to make them effective managers. This week we are highlighting our instructors in celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week.

Carol Plourde has been instructing at DCAI for over two years. Currently, she teaches DCAA’s new hires the Audit Applications course, which provides the foundation in audit skills required for every auditor. She also instructs the two part data analytics course, which is a class all auditors take to introduce them to methods and tools to more efficiently analyze data sets.

Before becoming an instructor, Carol was a supervisory auditor and wanted to instruct because she saw a need for better preparation of new auditors. As a graduate of DCAA’s Upward Mobility Program, which takes administrative personnel and gives them the skills to transition to an auditor, she felt she could bring a different perspective to her instruction and could connect with our new hires. As she explained, “I am very familiar with the ‘I just don’t get it face’ and wanted to help on a larger scale.”

Carol says the best part about teaching is the "Ah-Ha" or the "light bulb" moments. She enjoys making learning fun and keeps a tally on the board of those moments that bring a smile or laugh to the classroom. She is a very effective instructor as one of her students commented “Carol was really great at breaking down the objectives and giving advice on bringing everything all together effectively and efficiently.”

Instructors are assigned to DCAI for about three years and then return to the workforce. Carol recently left DCAI and returned to work full time at the DCAA General Dynamics Resident Office, Bath Iron Works Suboffice as a Supervisory Auditor.