"If your company wants to improve the effectiveness of your control environment, I would encourage you to consider Mark as your next hire. Mark managed the Audit/Control and Sox function for Sprint Shared Services. He built an internal audit group within Shared Services that reviewed several billion dollars of disbursements each year. Mark's group prevented significant over/under payments and misapplied expenses by reviewing all payments made for Internal and External Commissions, Payroll and Accounts Payable.
Mark's approach was unique compared to most traditional transaction audit functions. Mark's group used forensic accounting techniques to perform continuous auditing over all of the company's disbursements. This method proved to be very effective in determining the source of the error to prevent future occurrences.
He created a control playbook to document all of the activities performed by the group with the current status of each control. The company's auditors found this approach to be very useful and helped them complete their audits more timely.
In addition to the audit group, Mark was a key contributor to building Shared Services at Sprint. Mark understood key Shared Services principles and helped determine the strategy for the group. As new groups joined Shared Services, Mark's group help build controls around their processes and systems. This was one of the key value propositions offered to new groups moving under the Shared Services umbrella. It was also a selling point for groups that had control issues in the past. Mark would be an outstanding addition to any company seeking a finance executive to lead an audit function or build and run a Shared Services operation."
— Bill Parker, Vice President, Shared Services, Sprint
As the head of the Internal Audit group, Mark did an excellent job of engaging LCC's senior management teams throughout the world in conducting audits, reviewing results, and driving recommended changes to further improve internal controls and overall profitability. Mark worked effectively with LCC's board of directors and external audit teams to focus on areas that were most beneficial to the company."
— John Buckholz, VP of IT, LCC International
Mark successfully was able to take the outsourced Internal Audit activity at LCC International and build an internal audit team within the company. He was also able to juggle a change in the external auditor during the transition to staffing the LCC internal audit team. He is detail-oriented and does not let anything fly by without due scrutiny."
— Riaz Ahmed, Internal Controls Consultant, Jefferson Wells
Mark led LCC's Internal Audit department with the following skills/qualifications: - Technically competent - strong accounting and auditing skills - Superb communicator - sets objectives and expectations and takes the time to be sure all interested parties are on-board - Supportive of operations - strikes a nice balance between audit requirements and practical business needs."
— Becky Stahl, Professional, Jefferson Wells
"Mark is a invaluable leader to any Audit and Finance organization. He successfully managed a unique audit group that specialized in SOX, compliance, forensic and operational audits for an enormous finance function. Mark was a pleasure to work with and a great ally in implementing strong controls, and driving remediation efforts."
— Mark Matheos, CPA , SOX/Fin'l Reporting Program Manager, Sprint Nextel
"Mark is a detailed, capable manager who organized the entire internal audit function for LCCI, and international company with operations spread throughout the US, Europe, and Middle East. He managed external and internal resources well, and built a loyal and talented team. I highly recommend Mark for his dedication and ability."
— Julie Dobson, Chairman of the Board , LCC International