This expert is a forensic accountant with over 20 years of experience in fraud and ethics investigations, vendor compliance, internal audit and corporate accounting in the transportation, forest products, and manufacturing industries. She has led vendor compliance investigations involving allegations of billing irregularities, conflicts of interest, and theft. She has led corporate investigations involving allegations of employee misappropriation of assets, conflicts of interest, harassment, violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, fraudulent acts, and internal controls irregularities. She is the Ombudsman for the company Ethics and Code of Conduct hotline and responsible for case management and reporting to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors. She has worked closely with human resources, internal and outside counsel to coordinate workstreams, deliverables, and anticipated litigation support as well as managed and directed staff on projects.
This expert worked in public accounting, providing tax, audit, and advisory services for individuals, professional associations, labor unions, credit unions, medical and health practices, construction firms and non-profit organizations. She has extensive experience with Sarbanes Oxley 404 internal controls reviews, process mapping, controls testing, and documentation.
- Internal Audit,
- Enterprise Risk Management,
- Sarbanes-Oxley, Internal Controls,
- Fraud Risk Assessment & Investigation,
- Vendor Compliance,
- Financial & Data Analysis,
- Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,
- Six Sigma, Lean,
Education, Credentials and Technology
- Masters, Business Administration, University of North Florida
· Bachelor of Science, Accounting, Jacksonville University
- Certified Public Accountant, Active Florida License
· Certified Internal Auditor, Institute of Internal Auditors
- Proficient in a variety of ERP and data analytic and visualization software tools including, Dynamics GP, JD Edwards, SAP, Oracle, Workday, Hyperion, QuickBooks Desktop/Online, ACL and Tableau
Professional Experience
RTI Group, LLC, Annapolis, MD, Forensic Accountant, January 2021 to present.
-Name redacted- Principal, (2016 - Present)
- Deliver internal audit and advisory solutions including financial, operational, safety and training vendor audits, internal controls, fraud and enterprise risk assessment, data analysis, process analysis/improvement, real estate analysis, cash flow and financial modeling, property accounting and project management.
-Name redacted- (2003 - 2018)
Various corporate accounting & finance roles, including appointment to Vice President, Internal Audit
Internal Audit responsibilities included:
- Develop and execute risked based audit plan, supervise/perform financial, information technology, operational and compliance internal audits, evaluate the effectiveness of internal control processes and IT general computer controls, and manage, mentor and coach internal and outsourced resources.
· Outsource and manage the Ombudsman ethics hotline, investigate allegations of violations of the company Ethics & Code of Conduct, including fraudulent, extremely sensitive, and confidential matters.
· Integrate and facilitate the annual internal audit and enterprise risk assessment processes to increase engagement across the corporation and improve the quality of reporting to the Audit Committee.
· Coordinate with Legal on corporate governance and compliance related activities.
- Multiple presentations to C-Suite and Audit Committee of the Board of Directors.
Other corporate roles included:
- Project Manager, Transformation –
Lead $25MM transportation procurement transformation project, managing a cross-functional team of ten.
Develop the implementation plan for the financial shared services global transformation project resulting in the consolidation of accounting operations across global offices.
Lead corporate software implementations and associated training.
- Sr. Manager, General Accounting & Controls -
Lead benchmarking of finance and accounting functions in support of shared services consolidation.
Lead finance shared services domestic accounting and finance consolidation.
Lead regional ERP software implementations and associated training.
Maintain and update corporate and financial policies.
Manage corporate accounting, including general ledger close, consolidatoion and accounts payable.
-Name redacted- (1996 – 2003)
Project Supervisor/Six Sigma Black Belt:
- Identified $1.2 million in rebillable claims using the Six Sigma methodologies to define, measure, analyze, improve, and control process improvements and reduce expenses.
- Managed a department of transportation billing audit, including developing and communicating recommendations for process improvement, negotiating implementation schedules with various levels of management and across departments, and implementing new processes to ensure billing and collection of $8 million.
- Recovered over $3 million performing various operational audits and investigations to reduce transportation and clerical overtime and taxi expenses, improve locomotive utilization, collect outstanding credits from vendors, identify duplicate payments and ensure vendor and employee compliance with the company Code of Ethics, Federal
Railroad Administration and federal laws regarding governmental billing.
-Name redacted- Associate, (1990 – 1996)
· Independent auditor for federal and state-chartered credit unions, labor unions, private, and non-profit organizations.
· Maintained general ledger and prepared financial statements, quarterly payroll and sales tax returns, federal and state tax returns for non-profits, sole proprietors, partnerships, and corporations.
