Expert profile
Highlights
- Seasoned forensic accountant and expert witness.
- Over 40 years of experience with major firms including significant leadership roles.
- Proven as a credible expert witness under cross-examination.
- Acted as an expert for disputed values in excess of $10 billion.
- Frequently assists in post-transaction disputes on behalf of a party and in a neutral role.
- Recognised as a leading investigations expert by Lexology Index.
Industries
Financial Services | Industrial & Manufacturing | Transportation Infrastructure | Healthcare & Life Sciences | Power & Utilities | Technology, Media & Telecoms
With over 40 years of experience in forensic accounting, Steven Stanton is a highly respected and sought-after expert witness for securities litigation, M&A disputes and damages analyses across a wide range of industries.
Lexology Index - Commercial Litigation
Expertise
Steven F Stanton is a forensic accountant with more than 40 years of experience. He has been appointed as an expert on more than 30 occasions.
Steve has provided expert witness testimony in federal and state courts and arbitrations and has served as an arbitrator in post-transaction accounting disputes. He has served as the lead accounting expert in a $1.4 billion post-sale dispute in the pharmaceutical industry and as a consultant in a $2 billion post-acquisition dispute involving electric power plant construction. In addition, he has been an expert witness for the nation’s largest hospital company in a $650 million dispute and led a team in defending a large hospital system in landmark litigation alleging that healthcare costs and insurance premiums were inflated due to anticompetitive practices.
Steve specializes in forensic accounting investigations and financial statement audits. This includes planning and supervising fieldwork, testing transactions, evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies, and reviewing financial statement presentations and disclosures. His work has often involved performing agreed-upon procedures testing, and testing compliance, with contracts and agreements such as loans, leases, royalty agreements, and government grants. He has served as a fraud specialist supporting audit teams and coordinated with outside counsel and other forensic firms in internal investigations of allegations of accounting fraud. Steve has been engaged in complex high-profile dispute and investigative issues (including SEC and US Department of Justice [DOJ] enforcement matters) in which there are alleged accounting irregularities and related shareholder litigation. He has also assisted several well-known companies with SEC investigations into revenue recognition practices and related disclosures.
Professional recognition
Lexology Index
Investigations – Forensic Accountant
Commercial Litigation
Consulting – Forensic Accountant
Steven F Stanton earns plaudits across the market for his forensic accounting practice, underpinned by his specialist experience in enforcement matters and shareholder litigation.
Lexology Index - Consulting - Forensic Accountant
Background
Steve began his professional services career at Arthur Andersen where he progressed to become an audit partner. In addition to client service, he has held several dispute practice leadership positions in international consultancies and has also served as an independent monitor for companies in connection with the resolution of US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and healthcare enforcement matters.
Steve is a certified public accountant, certified in financial forensics, and certified fraud examiner. He has frequently spoken on accounting, dispute consulting, and forensic investigations, including at conferences sponsored by the University of Southern California (USC) and Georgetown University law schools, CLE programs at law firms, and the DC Bar Association.
Qualifications
BA
CPA
CFF
CFE
Contact Steven
Email: stevenstanton@hka.com
Tel: +1 202 729 6317
Location:
2020 K Street, NW
Suite 650
Washington, DC 20006