Elaine Lehnert

She performs assessments of internal control over financial reporting based on the criteria established in the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission framework and/or plans of remediation across multiple industries, including in connection with forensic accounting investigations and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) monitorships. She has been retained as an expert on various matters involving internal controls.

In addition, she advises on financial reporting issues specific to insurance and reinsurance companies and has served as a consulting and/or testifying expert on various matters involving insurance and reinsurance companies.

She joined Ankura in 2016 from FTI Consulting, where she was a Managing Director in the forensic and litigation services practice and, before that, at Veris Consulting, where she specialized in matters involving insurance and reinsurance companies.

Before joining Veris Consulting, she was a member of the staff of the Accounting Standards Division of the AICPA. At the AICPA, she was responsible for the development of the audit and accounting guides for insurance companies and was involved in other Generally Accepted Accounting Principles standard-setting activities. She also coordinated with industry groups, including the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and state insurance regulators.

Elaine started her career as an auditor with a Big Four public accounting firm. She worked on financial statement audits and related assessments of internal control over financial reporting for entities across multiple industries and participated in the firm’s internal insurance training program.

Elaine’s insurance experience includes:

• Whistleblower allegation of stair-stepping reserves. Assisted counsel with an internal investigation of alleged stair-stepping of professional and general liability claims. Evaluated the process of setting the initial reserves for malpractice claims. Analyzed patterns in the claims and reserves data to identify whether characteristics of improper stair-stepping existed.
• Big Four Audit Malpractice Defense: Assisted counsel in the defense of a Big Four accounting firm in several high-profile auditor malpractice cases involving complex accounting and financial reporting issues, including special purpose entities, reinsurance risk transfer, intercompany transactions, and loss reserves.
• Big Four Audit Malpractice: Assisted counsel in a large audit malpractice case arising out of a finite reinsurance fraud involving two large Japanese pool members.
• Assisted counsel with an internal investigation of a public life insurance company’s unclaimed property procedures as a result of a subpoena from the New York Attorney General.
• Assisted counsel with an internal investigation of a public life insurance company’s accounting for certain long-duration insurance policies.
• Defense of Investment Analysis: Assisted counsel in defense of two investment analysts and a prominent hedge fund company in a high-profile securities fraud suit involving an international insurance holding company with a market capitalization in excess of $15 billion.
• Reinsurance Claims Analysis: Provided assistance to counsel in a number of disputes on behalf of London reinsurers. Claims-related work included the measurement of the validity of reinsurance claims through the determination of the applicability of coverage and verification of documentation supporting the nature and amount of those claims. Arbitration testimony provided.
• Retained as an expert by an insurance receiver to perform a forensic review of a managing general agent’s records to determine compliance or non-compliance with the books and records provision of its contract. Testified in a three-party arbitration, which resulted in a successful outcome for the receiver.

Elaine’s internal controls professional experience includes:

• Internal Controls Whistleblower Action: Retained by counsel to provide an expert opinion in connection with the allegations brought by a whistleblower action. Opinion included the mechanics and purpose of internal controls over financial reporting and the appropriateness of the actions taken by the plaintiff in reporting the violations of the company’s internal control environment.
• Independent Fiduciary Review: Retained by counsel on behalf of a board of directors to perform an independent fiduciary review of a pension fund’s assets, liabilities, system of internal controls, and the related financial reporting as a result of a whistleblower action.
• Retained by counsel on behalf of a special committee of the board of directors of a healthcare company to assess internal controls that the company implemented in the aftermath of restating its financial statements.
• Retained by counsel on behalf of a special committee of the board of directors of a pharmaceutical company to assess internal controls that the company implemented in the aftermath of restating its financial statements.
• Outsourced Internal Audit Provider: Led a team that served as the outsourced provider for the internal audit function of a mid-sized company. On an annual basis, Elaine developed and executed the annual audit and reported directly to the audit committee. Further, Elaine served as the sounding board for management in its assessment and development of internal controls throughout the company.
• Assessment of Internal Controls in the Aftermath of Fraud: Retained by counsel on behalf of an audit committee of a global publicly traded company to assess the internal controls designed to ensure safeguarding of certain assets/cash disbursements that were the center of fraudulent transactions originating out of its international subsidiary.
• Internal Audit Co-Sourcing: Led a team supplementing the internal audit department of a publicly traded international property and casualty insurance company. Elaine partnered with the company’s internal audit department to ensure its annual audit plan was fully executed by year-end, as additional capacity was required due to unforeseen staffing issues.
• Assistance to Chief Risk Officer (CRO): Provided assistance to the CRO of an international underwriter of specialty insurance and reinsurance products in areas of the property and casualty market. Projects included assistance with Enterprise Risk Management projects, such as developing a risk taxonomy, developing risk registers that identified risks of the organization, assistance with the preparation of the quarterly presentations to the board of directors and performing an assessment of the company’s Office of Foreign Assets Control Sanctions Compliance Program.
• FCPA Monitorship Internal Control Review: Provided support to a team of forensic accountants by conducting an internal control assessment in conjunction with several Department of Justice FCPA monitorships of global corporations.