John Ahern, Cpa, Cfe Email & Phone Number

Arlington, Virginia, United States

My primary role has been to serve as an audit specialist with a focus on IT audits for the Audits, Evaluations, and Cyber team.- Supported the FISMA Auditor In Charge for one off opportunities to support the FY 2022 FISMA audit- Used Data Analytics to examine trends in FDIC's POA&M processes which led to FDIC updating POA&M data to address concerns identified by my analysis- Supported efforts to increase the use of data analytics at FDIC OIG by exploring new lines of work, sharing my knowledge with others, and meeting with various components to discuss new ideas and best practices- Made external and internal presentations to organizations such as GAO, OIG CCL, and FDIC OIG management to share my expertise in data analytics- Quickly and thoroughly referenced FDIC OIG reports to support quality assurance while ensuring that the engagement team hit their desired report release dates- Drafted a section on Organizational Governance for the FDIC OIG's 2023 Top Management and Performance Challenges Report- Reviewed complaint data provided to FDIC to help an FDIC OIG engagement team identify complaints submitted to FDIC related to the cryptocurrency space- Assisted our contracting process by updating RFI and RFP documents for a new FISMA contract

Key AccomplishmentsProposed an engagement to identify foreign applicants to SBA's Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and ran key analysis to identify tens of thousands of applications from non-US IP addresses worth nearly $1 billionReviewed supporting information provided by the Department of Treasury's Do Not Pay ProgramDrafted an initial policies and procedures document to help stand up our data analysis team by documenting key roles, responsibilities, and objectives of the teamBuilt a fraud model to support potential investigations related to the inappropriate receipt of multiple loans and/or grantsSupported investigative seizures and other activities by running queries against PPP and EIDL data in coordination with the SBA COVID Desk OfficerPrimary DutiesCollaborates with auditors, investigators, contractors and outside third parties to identify risks that can be investigated and or mitigated through data analytics.Develops fraud and risk scenarios related to SBA loan and contracting assistance programs. Identify and evaluate the system and procedural controls of SBA programs.Models complex agency problems, developing insights and identifying opportunities using statistical, algorithmic, mining and visualization techniques.Analyzes user needs, performs system analysis and design, and trains developers and end users in data mining/data warehousing/data visualization techniques.Creates and oversees the application of a diverse set of models, tools, and risk and decision science techniques to develop and enhance program operation analytic capabilities.Uses data management tools to control the organization's storage, retrieval, security, and integrity of data.

Bethesda, Md

Duties:Planning, directing, & completing simple and complex Audit Data Analytics projects;Developing and managing a team of approximately 20 analytics staff by providing technical on-the-job training, feedback on audit data analytics work, and supporting their career growth related to analytics;Supervising analytics work at a portfolio level to ensure all open projects are completed in a timely manner and meet all departmental metrics;Screening incoming support requests to identify potential data reliability issues and clarify requester needs;Automating recurring analyses at a firm-wide and client level;Developing and assisting in the delivery of the firm’s audit data analytics core curriculum for professional staff and part-time data analysts;Managing the assembly, maintenance, and finalization of working papers that support audit and consulting engagements.Accomplishments:Finalist for Withum's 2019 Innovation award;Performed or reviewed over 500 of journal entry analytics to and drawn more than 100 samples to assist on client audits;Developed and enhanced new methodologies for testing client revenues;Trained dozen of staff members on the use of analytics in financial audits via classroom training and daily mentoring;Created a suite of reasonableness test visualizations for client revenue transactions;Built reusable scripts that reduce time needed in subsequent audits to improve the efficiency of dozens of audits.Skills:Knowledge of audit standards, particularly related to supervision, review, and documentation of work that meets quality standards;Extensive experience with audit data analytics software packages such as Excel, IDEA and ACL;Additional experience with data science friendly programs including SAS and R and PowerBI for visualizations;Experience supervising staff on analytics projects, including performing technical and quality control reviews;Ability to work effectively with all levels of staff as part of a team or independently.

AboutSenior Analyst, March 2008 – present, United States Government Accountability Office, Washington, DCResponsibilities included auditing and evaluating large federal agencies to identify fraud, waste, and abuse; authoring concise audit reports that highlighted control deficiencies, fraud vulnerabilities, and other weaknesses while at times offering recommendations; managed small teams and coached junior employees to accomplish GAO’s objectives; led a team to develop ideas for new GAO engagements.Examples of specific GAO contributions and accomplishments:Co-analyst in charge for one of GAO’s highest profile engagements examining duplication, overlap, and fragmentation in the federal government. I drafted key sections of the 2017 and 2018 annual reports (GAO-17-491SP, GAO-18-371SP and GAO-19-285SP) and led efforts to improve GAO’s online Action Tracker. My efforts contributed in a 20 percent reduction in time spent creating GAO's work on duplication for savings that could amount to $800,000 annually. Led an engagement examining elder abuse perpetrated by court appointed legal guardians. Our report used open source information to provide examples of abuse and discussed steps stakeholders can take to prevent and respond to abuse (GAO-17-33).Supported an engagement examining Medicaid pharmacy fraud by mining prescription drug claims data from four states to look for questionable prescribing and dispensing patterns to identify and eliminate Medicaid prescription drug fraud (GAO-15-390).Supported an engagement examining passport fraud by matching State Department passport issuance data with death, incarceration, and fugitive warrant databases. My team and I then used the match results to examine the State Department’s controls and identify instances where State may have inappropriately issued passports (GAO-14-222).

Renton, Wa

Customer Accounts Analyst, September 2004 – March 2008, Boeing, Renton, WAResponsibilities and accomplishments included collecting of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of unpaid receivables, managing customer credit limits, supporting dispute negotiations, participating on hiring panels, and training new employees.

Master Of Business Administration - Mba, Business Administration And Management, General

Bachelor'S Degree, Accounting