Rob Shull

• Contract Compliance
• Investigations
• Litigation Support
• Damage & Lost Profit Calculations

Disputes & Economic Damage Quantification

• Engaged by joint venture constructors to calculate damages in relation to delay and cost overruns on the construction of a $150M waste facility. Reviewed change orders for supporting documentation and quantified extra costs for compliance with contracted prices and related interest and administrative charges.
• Engaged to assess a claim for construction delays and cost overruns totaling more than $500M related to the construction of a multifunction entertainment venue. Reviewed change orders and critical path activities to quantify the impact of owner- and contractor-caused delays while assessing the impact of provincial orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Engaged to assist the owner of a hydroelectricity generating facility in northern Ontario in dispute with the general contractor responsible for the construction of the plant. Responsibilities included reviewing historical costs, budget information, and detailed bid submissions to identify variances and reviewing operating contracts and construction cost estimates and projections to complete the construction project. Rob testified in this matter at the arbitration hearing and was accepted as an accounting expert.
• Engaged to assist an international financial institution and its law firm in assessing the damages related to the wreck of an oil tanker that capsized and spilled its cargo of approximately 31,000 tons of heavy fuel oil off the coast of a European country. Led the review of more than five years of remediation and cleanup costs associated with the incident.
• Engaged to assess the claims accrual related to contact disputes between general contractors and the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) related to cost overruns on the TTC Subway Expansion.
• Engaged to assist a national Canadian retailer in reviewing construction costs for new store builds in western Canada. Analyzed costs incurred to plan, monitored budget overruns, and evaluated charges and change orders to supply contracts and quotations.
• Engaged to assist a part owner of a property development in documenting the nature of disbursements made on behalf of the development. Reviewed source documents to collect evidence related to the nature of the disbursement, the treatment of the expense for accounting purposes, and the impact of the disbursement on the owner’s investment. Testified in this matter and was accepted as an accounting expert.
• Engaged by a renewable energy company in Ontario and its partners to conduct a review of expenses related to the construction of a wind farm. Reviewed and evaluated contracts, invoices, and other source documents to assess the appropriateness of approvals and payments. Used data analytics to identify anomalies and visualization software and techniques to illustrate findings.
• Engaged to assist in the assessment of damages on behalf of an international financing corporation in a class action suit. Responsibilities included industry research into the allegations set out in the statement of claim, analysis of historical trends in the finance industry, profiling of customers, and modeling of financial transactions that were used in developing the estimate of damages in this matter. Managed the team of professionals involved in the engagement, provided regular updates to the lawyers involved, and monitored concurrent class action lawsuits for insight into key issues affecting the case at hand.
• Engaged to assist a large Canadian bank in the quantification of losses related to insurance coverage stemming from a Ponzi scheme. Led a team in preparing a financial model illustrating the timing of investments made by participants, calculating the hypothetical returns attributed to the respective investors, and quantifying losses attributable to the scheme over key time periods based on multiple data sources and transaction records over several years.
• Led multiple engagements involving the quantification of business losses related to hotel and conference properties associated with forest fires and flooding in Western Canada. Responsibilities included analyzing financial data to isolate the impact of the disruptive events; quantifying the losses sustained; and reporting to the owners, their legal counsel, and their insurers.
• Engaged to assist a large Canadian national retailer in assessing losses related to expropriation matters in Ontario. Coordinated the analysis and expert reports submitted to support multiple claims related to access restrictions and other matters.
• Engaged by the purchaser of a mine site in South America in relation to a purchase price dispute involving the accounting treatment of certain financial statement items included in working capital. Oversaw the accounting research and prepared a report summarizing our conclusions and reasons for the recommended accounting treatment through the negotiation and arbitration stages.
• Engaged as an independent accountant to assist parties through the determination of the appropriate treatment of items disputed as part of a working capital adjustment on the purchase of a group of automotive dealerships. Responsibilities included directing the analysis of specific accounting and business issues and drafting a binding determination outlining the rationale.
• Engaged to assist a large Canadian retailer in relation to a purchase price dispute involving the accounting treatment of certain purchased assets. Assessed historical accounting policies and practices in relation to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and the terms of the purchase agreement. Prepared the submissions to the arbitrator in the matter, setting out the analysis, accounting references, and conclusions.
• Engaged to assist parties in resolving items disputed as part of a working capital adjustment on the purchase of a group of automotive dealerships. Responsibilities included directing the analysis of specific accounting and business issues and drafting a binding determination outlining the rationale.
• Led the review of material costs and rebates for goods used in the manufacture of telecommunication devices on behalf of a technology company. Also assessed the licensing fees received from parties using proprietary technology in the manufacture of other products for compliance with licensing agreements.
• Led an engagement to assist a federal government agency in the assessment of damages with respect to a lawsuit filed against the department for breach of contract. Responsibilities included collecting evidence, developing financial models to assess possible damages in the matter, critiquing the report prepared by the plaintiff’s expert, and participating in discussions with opposing counsel and their accounting experts to discuss key issues.
• Engaged to assist a fashion garment manufacturer in defending an action brought by the Competition Bureau of Canada related to improper use of the “Made in Canada” claim. Assisted in assessing the costs of manufacture of various garments and determining the indirect costs allocated to these garments under different allocation models. On the evidence presented, the action brought by the Competition Bureau was dropped.
• Engaged by an international pharmaceutical company to assess compliance with contractual sales agreements. Assessed the contract terms with reference to payments made under the contract for compliance and prepared the report to the parties setting out errors for resolution.
• Engaged by a global pharmaceutical company to evaluate compliance with contractual supply agreements. Assessed the contract terms with reference to amounts charged for various inputs under the contract for compliance and prepared the report to the parties setting out errors for resolution.
• Engaged by an international retailer to assess compliance with contractual distribution agreements with a third party. Reviewed historical charges under the contract for various shipping routes in North America, considering discounts and rebates for volume, and prepared the analysis to demonstrate discrepancies in the charges over the term of the contract.
• Engaged by a software manufacturer to evaluate compliance with contractual sales agreements for various software titles. Developed an electronic pricing model to validate the charges to customers under the agreements for software titles, as well as discounts and rebates related to software bundling. Also prepared the report to the publisher that was used to support the charges to its customers.
• Engaged by a private sector incubator firm to assess compliance with a funding agreement entered into with one of its funding recipients. Led the analysis of the software development to determine the existence of derivative products triggering repayment of funding and prepared the report to the incubator firm that was used to support its claim for full repayment of funding under the agreement.
• Engaged to assist a federal government department in assessing various business and accounting processes used in determining cost allocations in relation to a class action commenced against the department. Responsible for the day-to-day management of the engagement and served as the primary contact with the department and with the Department of Justice. Also conducted interviews with federal government personnel and developed cost allocation models based on existing business and accounting processes.
• Engaged to assist an international energy company in collecting, reviewing, and producing documents related to a federal government agency regulatory review. Managed a document review team tasked with reviewing in excess of five million electronic and hard-copy documents to identify those relevant to the regulatory review and those protected by privilege.
• Engaged to assist an insurance provider in assessing a claim for losses sustained at a mine site in South America. Evaluated the validity of certain claimed losses through inquiry and review of supporting documentation for claim amounts that were not covered or supported.
• Engaged to assist a federal government department in assessing damages in a class action. Led various aspects of the assessment, including review of protected documents and client files for a period of more than 80 years, demographic and financial profiling of class members, modeling of financial transactions, and calculation of pre- and post-judgment interest under various scenarios. Directly contributed to the development of several expert reports that were tendered as expert opinions in this matter in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and the Supreme Court of Canada.

Investigations

• Engaged to assist a provincial government department in conducting a forensic review of expenses submitted for reimbursement by elected officials. The investigation involved handling confidential documents, reviewing historical policy and practice, evaluating claims for reimbursement, and participating in discussions with senior government officials. Served as the project leader on the engagement and as the primary contact for the law firm and the provincial Department of Finance. Prepared the export report detailing the findings from the investigation and quantifying the inappropriate spending amounts.
• Engaged to assist a federal government department in conducting a forensic review of contracts entered into with suppliers for professional services. The investigation involved handling of Protected A and Protected B documents. Responsible for the day-to-day management of the engagement, including serving as the primary contact with the Special Investigations Directorate (SID), conducting interviews with persons of interest in the investigation, and preparing the report on findings and presentation of findings to senior federal government individuals.
• Investigation into the conduct of certain employees at a healthcare facility related to allegations of payroll fraud. The scope included conducting interviews with management and employees, performing data analytics to assess the integrity of key source documents, assessing internal controls related to the payroll process and bank reconciliation function, and interacting with the management team regarding the remediation of weaknesses in a sensitive environment.
• Investigation into the activities of management and employees in international construction companies involved in earnings manipulation schemes. Activities included interviewing accounting and project management staff, evaluating revenue recognition practices, interviewing management, and recalculating contract revenue earned.
• Investigation of allegations of improper and excessive spending on the part of elected members of the provincial government. The scope included reviewing historical policy and practice, evaluating claims for reimbursement, and participating in discussions with senior government officials.
• Investigation of the activities of management and employees in an international manufacturing company, including interviewing witnesses, evaluating accounting entries and supporting documentation for authenticity, and liaising with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
• Assist management in an international telecommunications company with a financial statement restatement, including communicating with the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), interviewing senior management, analyzing email messages, reviewing accounting transactions and restatement of financial results, and documenting business processes over a five-year period.
• Review of the conduct of senior management and directors in the stewardship of corporate funds in a provincial gaming organization for the provincial gaming authority. Activities included investigating allegations of inappropriate spending, interviewing executive management and members of the board of directors, reviewing corporate policy and business processes, and liaising with the provincial gaming authority.
• Review of the conduct of senior management and directors of a not-for-profit healthcare facility. The scope of the assignment included investigating allegations of unauthorized spending and inappropriate accounting treatments, interviewing executive management and members of the board of directors, and reviewing corporate policy and business processes.
• Review of the conduct of employees of a not-for-profit healthcare facility related to procurement of goods and services. Activities included evaluating the procurement process and policies, performing a detailed analysis of expenditures on selected contracts over a period of five years, interviewing senior management and employees, and reporting to the board of directors.
• Review of the process for evaluating submissions under a competitive bidding process within a large Canadian municipality. The scope included interviewing senior administrators and representatives from the entities submitting proposals, reviewing documents related to the evaluation process, and conducting independent assessments of proposals against predetermined scoring criteria.
• Review of senior management conduct related to procurement and administration policies for a federal government agency. Activities included investigating contract awarding and evaluation policies and service verification and payment approval practices, evaluating reports prepared by internal investigators and external consultants, conducting interviews with government staff and contractors, and reviewing related documents.

Stewardship, Governance & Risk Management

• Assessment of risk related to internal controls at a large Canadian financial institution. Analyzed electronic computer access logs, performed focused data analytics to identify anomalies in electronic files, and interviewed senior management to assess the potential impact of various control circumvention scenarios on the organization.
• Delivery of fraud risk awareness training to the North American internal audit team at a large Canadian financial institution to assist auditors in understanding the risks and warning signs of fraud.
• Assessment of the anti-fraud risks and anti-fraud program at a Canadian asset manager. Activities included performing a comprehensive risk assessment across business lines; reviewing existing policies, procedures, and training; and evaluating incident reports. The engagement also included presenting findings and recommendations related to the anti-fraud program to senior management.
• Assessment of risk related to internal controls at a large Canadian financial institution, including analyzing electronic computer access logs, performing focused data analytics to identify anomalies in electronic files, and interviewing senior management to assess the potential impact of various control circumvention scenarios on the organization.
• Assessment of the anti-corruption risks and anti-corruption program at an international energy company. Evaluated policies, practices, and training content and developed recommendations for improvement.
• Assessment of process risks in an international firm, including review of litigation portfolio, determining and reporting on underlying causation, formulating recommendations for process improvement through discussions with senior management and risk management teams, and developing training initiatives to address the developmental needs of employees.
• Assessment of stewardship risks involved in large-scale national construction program of a leading Canadian retailer. Interviewed project managers and general contractors, reviewed accounting records and project management and billing documents, and developed a comprehensive exposure analysis encompassing illegal commissions and other misappropriations.
• Assessment of risks of loss through irregular conduct in a federally owned producer of precious metal products, including the development of a comprehensive exposure analysis encompassing the physical security of assets and accounting weaknesses. Other procedures included interviewing management, accounting, and production staff and liaising with the security director.

• Member, Association of Certified Forensic Investigators (ACFI)
• Member, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
• Member, Illinois Certified Public Accountants Society (Illinois CPA Society)
• Member, Chartered Professional Accountants of Ontario (CPA Ontario)