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J.S. Held Acquires Element Forensic Engineering, Expanding Insurance-Focused Capabilities for Mid-Market and Large Loss Property Claims Across Canada
Read MoreSumner Higginbotham specializes in forensic accounting and the analysis of economic damages, primarily in insurance losses. He evaluates loss claims for various industries, including manufacturing, apartment rentals, service industries, and restaurants, and has also worked as a forensic accountant on litigation projects, researching, validating, and quantifying key figures. Sumner has further assisted in litigation by preparing final reports, graphs, and visual aids.
Prior to joining J.S. Held, Sumner had 3 years of professional experience with Grant Thornton LLP, covering a variety of projects in commercial and federal financial consulting, including financial and I.T. audits, data analytics, risk assessment, and remediation of internal controls.
As a Director, Sumner has several responsibilities to several parties: supervising staff, serving as the lead accountant in preparing loss analyses for managers, and communicating with the insured, adjusters, and attorneys regarding document and work-product requests. He reviews final work products, validates calculations, prepares initial calculations, and assesses the reliability and completeness of documents provided by the insured. For litigation assignments, his tasks include assessing opposing reports, calculating damages, and researching the industry and comparable entities. In a leadership role, Sumner manages and supervises consultants and interns to complete these tasks and provides primary onboarding training for new hires and interns.
Sumner has also worked on litigation claims as a forensic accountant. His duties include researching comparable market or industry data, validating expert witnesses' financial claims, and calculating expected losses. He has worked on disputes regarding the valuation of acquired companies, revenue recognition for earnout provisions, and lost revenues due to patent infringement.
Sumner holds a Master of Accounting from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia and a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from the College of William and Mary.
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