Certified Public Accountant

Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor

Certified in Financial Forensics

Has advised on public and private transactions involving stand-alone platform acquisitions, business segment carve-outs, and start-up and roll-up transactions

Has worked with private equity investors, independent sponsors, family offices, corporate acquirers and sellers, traditional lenders, and alternative capital providers

Provides financial advisory and litigation support services specializing in the areas of investigative and forensic accounting, including fraud investigations, accounting malpractice services, GAAP compliance, expert witness testimony services, and issues related to contract disputes

Prior to transferring into the Transaction Advisory and Dispute Resolution practices, Sharon was a member of the Accounting and Assurance practice for approximately twenty years

Led a team that provided buy-side due diligence to a steel processing company and identified that the target’s prior-year’s gross margin was exceptionally high; these results were caused by the target’s purchase of inventory prior to an industry-wide increase in raw materials and the sale of the finished product at current market rates. This artificial boost in gross margins was a non-recurring event. As a result, we recommended that our client reduce its purchase price considerably

CohnReznick served as financial advisors for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court-appointed examiner in the WorldCom bankruptcy proceedings, one of the largest bankruptcies in U.S. history. Sharon managed the investigation regarding allegations of fraud, dishonesty, and misconduct by management. She also managed the investigation related to the company’s mergers and acquisitions. Our findings: Company fraudulently manipulated its financial statements for four consecutive years, and the breakdown of internal control permitted the fraud to continue undetected for that long period of time; major responsibility for the fraud and the resulting injury to the company rested with the company’s CFO; and the company’s independent auditors committed professional malpractice

CohnReznick was engaged by a bank group to determine the validity and collectability of the company’s accounts receivable securing an asset-based loan (ABL). Our forensic investigation, led by Sharon, identified the existence of fictitious customers and sales, as well as forged bills of lading and invoices. We helped federal investigators prove that certain officers and employees were involved in a massive worldwide fraud by identifying the issues and tracing the movement of cash to related foreign entities totaling approximately $1 billion. Our involvement resulted in the arrest of the company’s chief executive officer on charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud

Our client engaged a CohnReznick team, led by Sharon, to perform a due diligence review of the target company.  Our due diligence review raised concerns about the reliability of the target’s financial statements, including the fact that the target could not provide support for a significant portion of its inventory recorded on its balance sheet and inter-company account balances on the books of the target’s parent did not reconcile to its subsidiary’s balances.  As a result of these and other findings, our client was able to successfully renegotiate the purchase price of the target

Has led numerous complex post-acquisition purchase price dispute matters, representing buyers, sellers, or serving as a neutral arbitrator