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Elaine Lehnert

Managing Director

Photograph of Elaine Lehnert

485 Lexington Avenue, 10th Floor
New York, NY 10017

+1.732.766.4409 Mobile

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Elaine Lehnert is a Managing Director at Ankura with more than 25 years of experience in internal control assessments, financial accounting, and reporting.

Experience

She performs assessments of internal control over financial reporting based on the criteria established in the COSO framework and/or plans of remediation across multiple industries, including in connection with forensic accounting investigations and FCPA monitorships.

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 based out of New York and, before that, at Veris Consulting, where she specialized on 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 GAAP standard-setting activities.  She also coordinated with industry groups, including the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and state insurance regulators.

She 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 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.
  • Assessment of Remediation of Internal Controls
    • 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 restating its financial statements
  • Outsourced Internal Audit Provider – Led a team that served as the outsource 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.
  • Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 Assistance – Provided Sarbanes-Oxley assistance services to the management team at a publicly traded car rental and equipment leasing company. Assistance included the assessment of company prepared risk and control documentation of 12 key processes and reviewing and evaluating documentation against COSO.
  • 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 – Provided assistance to the chief risk officer 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 which 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 OFAC 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.
Education
  • BS, Accounting, Rider University
Honors & Awards
  • Board Member, Society of Insurance Financial Management
Certifications
  • Certified Public Accountant
  • Certified in Financial Forensics
Affiliations
  • American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
  • New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants
  • Board Member of the Society of Insurance Financial Management (SIFM)
  • Chair Women of SIFM
  • Institute of Internal Auditors, Member

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