Michael J. Barone directs an office in charge of picking through the University's financial messes.

So it can be jarring to meet Barone, Harvard's director of internal audit, a laid-back but disciplined version of the proverbial eldest child.

As an auditor, Barone is someone who must be finely attuned to nuances and rules, and he himself has lived life by the book.

He majored in accounting, is involved in several professional organizations and, at age 36, has already been head of Harvard's Internal Audit Department for eight years.

"He works very hard. He works long hours," Managing Auditor Joseph J. Casarano says of his boss. "And he's picky, very nit-picky."

But there is one major difference between Barone and most first children--Barone is satisfied.

"Life's Pretty fulfilling. I don't think there's much missing," Harvard's top auditor says. "I don't think there's anything that I have hanging out there. I'm a pretty happy guy, actually."

Barone is essentially the University's financial troubleshooter. He works as a liason of sorts between auditors and Harvard's top management, bringing problems turned up by his office to the attention of administrators. The auditing office also researches and proposes solutions.

Barone says administrators tend to be open to his suggestions, but there are exceptions.

"Sometimes it takes prodding and nudging," he says.

Barone says he decided to go into auditing after majoring in accounting at Siena College in upstate New York "Because the letters 'CPA' sounded better than some other kind of an accountant in a corporate environment."

He worked for an international accounting firm for several years and then for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

In 1985, he came to Harvard as director of financial services for the sponsored research office and moved to his current position about eight months later.

He says that working at Harvard has contributed in large part to his current satisfaction.

"I've worked for excellent people. I think Harvard is an excellent organization to work in and work in and people to work with," Barone says. "This place draws the type of quality individuals that far exceeded my expectations."