Rebecca D. Cowan

***** **** **** *******, **** Smith, AR 72916 479-***-**** ad1nsx@r.postjobfree.com

Experienced, results-oriented Internal Audit professional with a demonstrated history of working in the healthcare, retail and logistics industries. Skilled in Enterprise Risk Management, Internal Audit, Standards Compliance, Process Improvement, Project Management, Data Integrity, Leadership, Coaching and Team Building. With 17+ years of experience, demonstrated successes in process improvement and enhancements to internal controls. Passionate about helping others and a champion for working smarter. Actively pursing CPA licensure to further enhance my contributions to your team. Employ my expertise to make an immediate and significant contribution to your compliance, internal audit and operational success.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

October 2020– Present

Team Member – Partner Aadvisory Network (PAN), Fort Smith, Arkansas

Partnered with network of professional consultants to provide internal audit services and support on various topics including medical record audits, training development, research and feedback on various guidelines primarily within the healthcare services industry.

September 2019 – October 2020

Internal Audit Manager – Walmart, Bentonville, Arkansas

Led US Market FY21 SOX testing program as US Market Project Management Office (PMO) including development of documentation and testing guidelines, documented guidance on mandatory fields within AuditBoard (SOX HUB), providing structure and creating access to required information sources, status reporting and knowledge transfer for future testing periods. Led team of 30+ staff (Staff Auditor through Senior Manager), provided coaching as needed to support alignment with program leadership goals and initiatives, external audit team (EY) and staff augmentation teams (Deloitte). Led training for the business unit process and control owners on the use of AuditBoard to facilitate documentation requests, drafted FAQs and shared across the business and internal audit teams to ease the transition of the new users to this new platform.

Served as the Canadian Market Liaison for the FY20 annual SOX testing by supporting Canada SOX team with guidance on methodology and reporting

Assisted with completion and documentation of all phases of annual SOX testing (walkthrough, interim, roll forward and year-end) of the more difficult processes – specifically payroll (FY20) and leases (FY21).

Led an audit of the company’s wire payments process ($9B annually) recently outsourced to a third party (GenPact). Led meetings with leadership and department staff to develop and document an process flow of the highly manual process, developed a risk and controls matrix to identify gaps and deficiencies, drafted report and delivered feedback to executive level leadership with recommendations for capital investments to support automation and enhanced control and oversight.

Accomplished:

oDeveloped sustainable structure and reference material to support quality and consistency in the execution and documentation of SOX testing going forward

oSuccessfully increased efficiency by 20+% by providing single source reference location for all SOX related data sources and information, streamlining the documentation to single entry, developing a method for knowledge capture and sharing across team members, centralizing periodic reporting and follow up, providing self-service option for process and control owners to resolve new user questions and issues.

oEnhanced the consistency of the global SOX footprint by aligning with other markets (Canada and the UK) on methodology and knowledge sharing

oProvided wire payments process leadership with information needed to support executive level decisions to make significant capital investments to support technology solution to support a highly manual process with a significant enhancement of the control structure.

January 2016 – June 2019

Senior Internal Auditor – ArcBest, Fort Smith, Arkansas

Annual testing of the company’s Discretionary Contribution and Exempt/Non-exempt Annual Incentive Plan payment schedules, including detailed analysis of the full population of employees for all affiliated companies to determine eligibility and subsequent calculation of eligible earnings and respective payments.

Initial and follow-up audits of spousal eligibility for primary medical coverage offered through the company sponsored ABC Choice Benefits health insurance plan in response to the newly implemented $200 per month spousal surcharge.

Extensive quarterly analytical procedures related to ABF Freight workers’ compensation (“WC”) claims reserves and bodily injury/property damage (BI/PD) reserves to determine whether reserve amounts were properly accumulated, recorded in a manner consistent with the actuarial methodology in place, and accurate.

Initial and follow-up audits of the company’s tobacco shipments, Form W-9 and Form 1099 processes, and lease reporting data migration tool in response to heightened or changing regulations and related litigation and penalties for non-compliance.

Assisted with both interim and year-end SOX testing – primarily the more difficult processes – specifically Payroll which is governed largely by union contract terms.

Accomplished:

oSuccessfully resolved data integrity issues encountered in prior years by identifying a more reliable source file format that served multiple annual incentive plan audits.

oIndependently automated routine aspects of quarterly analytical procedures by leveraging MS VBA.

oConsistently supported senior leadership by providing historical revenue and quantifiable risk data to support their collective decisions regarding shipments of tobacco products and cost allocation.

oIdentified approx. $25K in uncollected healthcare premiums and recoverable company paid healthcare claims for ineligible employees.

oIdentification of formula programming error in third-party data migration tool used to support compliance with new lease reporting requirements.

oDeveloped and led staff training to facilitate consistency in SOX documentation using SOXHUB.

July 2015 – December 2015

Accounting Compliance Manager, USA Truck, Van Buren, Arkansas

Deep dive analysis and audit of the existing Driver Payroll process including all pay types for both company and contracted drivers.

Accomplished:

oLeveraged higher level Excel functions and formulas to automate calculations to increase efficiency and accuracy of driver pay calculations.

oIdentified various data integrity issues including a legacy purge process that was creating inaccuracies in the driver pay reports used in management decision making.

January 2014— October 2014

Internal Audit Director, Golden Living/Beverly Enterprises, Fort Smith, AR

Establish and develop an Internal Audit (IA) function/team of 3 staff.

Develop a risk based 3-year Internal Audit Plan.

Lead completion of each project within the plan.

January 2003— January 2014

Internal Audit Services Manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Houston, Texas

Serve as lead engagement manager on Golden Living/Beverly Enterprises (healthcare client) outsourced internal audit engagement:

Perform Annual Risk Assessment and development of 3-year risk-based Internal Audit Plan.

Lead planning and completion of various internal audits for a publicly and privately held healthcare client under a Corporate Integrity Agreement (CIA) with focus on CIA requirements, applicable state and federal regulatory requirements and core business operations.

Lead and supervise a team of 9+ individuals and coordinate efforts of subject matter experts of various staff levels.

Match staff skill sets to engagement tasks while providing opportunities for staff to develop new skills; providing both formal and informal feedback on staff performance.

Establish and manage time and expenses within the overall engagement budget of $1,450,000 by adjusting staff roles and schedules accordingly.

Draft audit report findings and recommendations, lead exit conferences with client process owners and conduct periodic follow-up on issues tracking.

Respond to client inquiries and requests

Regulatory Compliance based IA Plan Development for American Red Cross Blood Services Division

Regulatory Compliance Risk Assessment and project management office (PMO) support for Baylor College of Medicine (Medical Training College)

IA Core Curriculum development, PMO support for global SOX Testing and IA External Quality Assessment (EQA) for Hewlett Packard

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science in Accounting Associate of Arts

Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR University of Arkansas - Fort Smith, Fort Smith, AR

AFFILIATIONS, ASSOCIATIONS, AND HONORS

Institute of Internal Auditors (2003 – Present)

Board Member – Grace Place Pre-school – 2014 to 2016

Church Council Member – Grace Community Church – 2015 – 2016

PwC Internal Audit Delivery Suite Champion - Greater Houston Market - 2011 to 2013

PwC Internal Audit Service Star Award -- Outstanding coaching and development of others – 2004

RANGE OF INTERNAL AUDIT HEALTHCARE EXPERIENCE

Corporate Integrity Agreement Requirements:

Covered/Relevant Covered Persons training requirements plan and compliance monitoring

Skilled nursing facility business offices - including compliance with policies and procedures; specific procedures for HIPAA privacy and security compliance

Minimum Data Set 10% - accuracy of data and existence of supporting medical record documentation

Medicaid Cost Reports - classification of costs from the general ledgers to the cost report.

Regulatory Compliance:

Medicaid Denial of Payment New Admissions Sanctions

Rehabilitative therapy service patient revenue cycle, Medicare documentation compliance and clinical justification for services

Hospice service patient revenue cycle, Medicare documentation compliance and clinical justification for services

Home Health OASIS and billing process

Skilled nursing facility standards review process

Therapy RUGs and MDS Data Analytics

Warehouse HIPAA Security Assessment

Core Operations:

Skilled nursing facility accounts receivable central billing offices development and operations

On-boarding and licensure verification processes for outpatient therapy service, home health service, healthcare staffing service, skilled nursing facility service and corporate office

New line of service policies and procedures development

Skilled nursing facility accounts receivable charge capture, bad debt allowances and credit balances

Procure to Pay Process Design Assessment

Treasury

Physical Security

Tracking of Clinical Training

Medical Director Credentials and Time Sheet Compliance

Sarbanes Oxley 404

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