Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation

Meet the instructors

 

Course 1: Forensic Accounting and Legal Elements of Fraud


James T. Schmid CPA, CFE

Jim Schmid is a Director in Grant Thornton’s Economic Advisory Services practice and Practice Leader for the Forensic Accounting & Investigative Services group located in Southfield, Michigan. He provides fraud investigation services and damage analysis as an expert witness and litigation consultant.

Jim’s background includes both industrial engineering and accounting/finance, and he uses both disciplines in his approach to evaluating damages. Additionally, he has acted as technical reviewer for the popular college accounting textbook, Accounting Principles, and has authored chapters for four books on construction.

Jim has served as an arbitrator for disputes involving construction costs and post acquisition adjustments and has testified in cases on lost profits, construction costs, post acquisition adjustments, asbestos damages, and patent and trademark values. He has conducted fraud investigations for SEC listed companies, closely held companies and government entities.


Education

Jim earned a B.S. Engineering at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan (1974) and an MBA from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan (1978)


Affiliations

Jim is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants and the Association of Fraud Examiners.
 

Course 1: Forensic Accounting and Legal Elements of Fraud


Deanna M. Arnott

Deanna Arnott is a Senior Manager in Grant Thornton’s Economic Advisory Services (EAS) practice located in Southfield Michigan. She specializes in providing economic and damage analysis as a litigation support consultant. Her background includes significant experience in both business advisory services audit and litigation support.

 

Deanna has over 13 years of business advisory experience, serving a variety of organizations ranging from middle market to Fortune 500 public registrants. Deanna has supervised significant aspects of several litigation support engagements, including fraud examination breach of contract cases.  She also manages the efforts of multiple client engagements and has extensive experience related to planning, project management, risk identification, documentation, controls evaluation and testing of internal audit engagements, including Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 at multiple global organizations. 

 

Prior to joining the firm, Deanna was a manager in the business risk services practice at a Big Four firm where she was responsible for providing internal audit, Sarbanes-Oxley, process improvement and business risk assessment services. She also served as a corporate lead auditor at a Big Three automotive company’s internal audit practice.

 

Education

Deanna earned a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Eastern Michigan University and a Masters in Managing Manufacturing Operations from Walsh College. 

 

Affiliations

Deanna is a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and a Six Sigma Green Belt. She is a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors.

 

 

Carol S. Esselink

Carol Esselink is a Manager in Grant Thornton’s Economic Advisory Services (EAS) practice located in Southfield, Michigan. She specializes in providing economic and damage analysis as a litigation support consultant. Her background includes significant experience in both audit and litigation support.

 

Prior to joining the EAS practice, Carol was a senior audit associate. She was responsible for supervising audits for clients in the construction, manufacturing and financial services industries. She also supervised aspects of several litigation support engagements, including a CPA malpractice case, construction breach of contract case and a restatement for a health care provider.

 

Carol began her career in the Litigation Support practice at Ernst and Young. She spent 12 years at Ernst & Young and Equity Partners, Ltd. (a boutique litigation firm) as an associate involved in developing detailed financial models for use as trial exhibits in patent and trademark infringement, breach of contract, professional malpractice, condemnation and other litigation cases.

 

Education

Carol earned both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Accountancy from Walsh College.

 

Affiliations

Carol is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants. She is also a Certified Fraud Examiner.

 

 

Course 2: Fraud Examination


Lance C. Siemen, CPA, CFE, CAMS

Lance C. Siemen, Senior Manager, joined Virchow, Krause & Company, LLP in 2007. He has more than 12 years experience and specializes in fraud and forensic investigations and risk management services. Prior to joining Virchow Krause, Lance was a senior manager with a large, national accounting firm where he provided fraud and forensic consulting services. He is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Fraud Examiner, and a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist.

 

Lance serves as the Detroit office’s lead for the Fraud and Forensic and Risk Services practice. He has extensive experience directing global investigations within a large multinational corporation on several continents, working with countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, India, Egypt, Turkey, Switzerland, Canada, Brazil and Argentina.

 

Education

Eastern Michigan University: Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting, Bachelor of Arts International Trade and Japanese Language

 

Affiliations

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants

Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

National Association of Compliance Professionals

Institute of Internal Auditors

Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists.

 

Craig S. Siiro, CPA/ABV, CFE, CMA, MBA

Craig Siiro, Director of the Forensic, Valuation and Litigation Services Team, has been with Virchow, Krause & Company, LLP since 1985. He specializes in fraud examinations, forensic accounting services, and valuation. Craig has extensive training and experience in fraud examination, business valuations, bankruptcy, and restructuring, financial modeling, operational consulting, strategic thinking, and other advisory services.

 

Craig also appraises the value of closely-held businesses and develops financial models for merger and acquisition transactions, strategic planning, turnarounds, and budgeting.

 

Education

University of Minnesota-Duluth: Bachelor of Accounting

University of Minnesota – Twin Cities: Master of Business Administration in Operations Management,

Master of Business Administration in Management of Information Systems

 

Affiliations

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants

Institute of Management Accountants

Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors

Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

Minnesota Council of Quality – Evaluator 2002, 2003, 2004

 

 

Matthew D. Storlie, CFE

Matt Storlie, Senior accountant in Forensic, Valuation, and Litigation Services Team, specializes in fraud examinations and forensic accounting services. Matt has extensive training and experience in fraud risk management, fraud examinations, data mining and analysis, corporate investigation, internal audit processes, ad procedures, financial modeling and other advisory services.

 

Matt provides consulting services regarding assessing the effectiveness of or assisting in the implementation of fraud risk management programs. He performs fraud risk assessments to assist clients with identifying potential high-risk areas of fraud or misconduct within their organization.

 

Education

Iowa State University: Bachelor of Business Administration – Accounting

 

Affiliations

Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

Institute of Internal Auditors

The Reid Institute of Trained Investigators

 

 

 

Course 3: Fraud Investigation Techniques


Erik H. Lindquist CFE

Erik H. Lindquist founded Lindquist & Associates, LLC in the fall of 2003 to provide a resource for clients who are in need of expert assistance in addressing their fraud prevention and examination needs. He is also an adjunct professor of accounting at Lansing Community College where he teaches fundamentals of accounting and fraud examination, investigation and prevention.


Certified as a Fraud Examiner by Association of Certified Fraud Examiners in March 2004, Erik has met the stringent set of criteria established by the ACFE's Board of Regents. The successful completion of the Uniform CFE Examination requires extensive knowledge of criminology, legal issues of fraud, examination and financial statement audit, and transaction analysis.


Education and Experience

Erik H. Lindquist received his BS in Accounting from George Mason University in 1982 and launched his career in the corporate accounting world quickly thereafter. He has 25 years experience as a financial executive, including executive directorships of companies with annual revenues in excess of 15 million dollars.


Memberships

 

Course 4: Fundamentals of Computer Fraud & Investigation

 

Harry Megerian

Harry Megerian worked for the U.S. Treasury Department, IRS-Criminal Investigation Division for twenty-nine years as a Special Agent, consisting of seventeen years as a Management Official and the last three years as a Computer Forensic Specialist, before his retirement. During his tenure with the Criminal Investigation Division, Harry worked and oversaw large-scale financial and criminal tax investigations, as well as large-scale money laundering investigations. His experience and expertise with financial analysis, analysis of corporate books and records, and investigative knowledge and experience culminated in various Federal trials and convictions. His litigation support expertise is the direct result of his hours of trial preparation with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and testimony before Grand Juries and Trial Juries in Federal District Court.

Harry’s years of investigative and computer experience lead the way to his training and experience as a Computer Forensic Specialist for the Criminal Investigation Division. During his tenure, he conducted over several-dozen computer forensic examinations, consisting of data retrieval, restoration and decryption, both in the field and in the laboratory. He was responsible for the coordination of several very large operations, involving numerous Computer Investigative Specialists from around the country.

 

Harry has served on the Advisory Board for the National Security Institute of Eastern Michigan University, now known as CeRNS-The Center for Regional and National Security, as well as the Advisory Board for the U.S. Secret Service creation of the Michigan Electronic Crimes Task Force, in conjunction with Walsh College-A Center of Excellence in Computer Security and Cyber Crimes. He is also a member of the United States Secret Service Michigan Electronic Crimes Task Force.


Associations


Harry currently holds a Private Investigator’s License through the State of Michigan.