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PURPOSE

Audit Integrity research services support risk management practices that help investors, insurers and others lower risk and improve performance with objective ratings and reports. The Audit Integrity Accounting and Governance Risk (AGR®) rating is a measure of the overall risk related to corporate accounting and governance practices.

In addition to determining the overall risk, Audit Integrity provides analysis of the critical factors behind such risk. Services include:

  • In-depth Company Reports
  • Forensic Risk Analysis
  • Advanced Research Tools

The Cost of High Risk Behavior

As noted in a growing body of business and academic research, the impact of transparent financial reporting and good corporate governance has a tangible, measurable impact for corporations and corporate stakeholders in areas such as:

  • Stock Price
  • Class Action Litigation
  • Material Financial Restatements
  • Cost of Capital
  • Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance

Corporate stakeholders thus need to identify and proactively manage risks associated with financial reporting and governance practices. Across businesses large and small, AGR® ratings have been highly effective in identifying risk and predicting severe stock downturns, litigation and other major events of critical impact to stakeholders.

TEAM

James A. Kaplan, CFA - Chairman and Founder

Jim is a well known expert in quantitative financial analysis and a highly successful entrepreneur. In his early career as an analyst and portfolio manager, he became well known for his groundbreaking application of quantitative techniques to problem-solving in finance, and a leading proponent of Modern Portfolio Theory.

In 1979, Jim founded Capital Management Sciences (CMS), serving as President from 1979-1999 and establishing CMS as the world’s top purveyor of fixed income portfolio analytics, with more than 500 financial clients. During his tenure, the firm introduced CMS BondEdge, a recognized leader in investment technology and the chief independent source of research, analytics and valuation tools for the global bond market.

Following the sale of CMS, Jim has had a string of successful entrepreneurial ventures. As founding director of Marketwatch, Jim helped realize the Internet’s potential as a delivery mechanism for real-time market data information. Among other ventures, he founded the leading luxury travel destination site, Luxury Link.

In the wake of the notorious scandals in the early years of this decade, Jim once again recognized the potential to utilize quantitative techniques to drive insightful risk management services. He founded Audit Integrity in 2002 to identify risks in financial reporting and corporate governance practices, in support of corporate stakeholders at risk from inaccurate or misreported corporate information.

Jim received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Anthropology from the University of Colorado and a Masters of Business Administration from California State University. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Jack Zwingli - Chief Executive Officer

Jack has led businesses both large and small to notable success. Over a decade at Standard & Poor’s, Jack had overall management responsibility for many of S&P’s well-known business lines and products, achieving strong top-line growth and global expansion. Some of the many business information services Jack managed include the Compustat financial database services, the equity analytical group responsible for producing stock ratings and Stock Reports, and S&P global indices--including the company’s venerated "S&P 500 Index."

As CEO of Vantra Group, Inc, a software and ASP business providing online brokerage technology, Jack led the company to a market-leading position and successful sale.

Jack also held management positions in marketing and product development at Dun & Bradstreet and Automatic Data Processing.

Jack holds a BS in Marketing from Indiana University and an MBA from Rutgers University.

In Memoriam

David Stoner (1958-2007) - President and Co-Founder

Prior to co-creating Audit Integrity, Dave held a number of key development and technology positions for Wall Street and financial services firms. He began his career in the Management Information Systems division of Arthur Anderson & Co., before moving to Salomon Brothers to run the structured finance software development group. Moving to the front office, Dave held senior positions in structured finance at Shearson Lehman Hutton and Nomura Securities International in New York.

Following his work on Wall Street, Dave founded and ran Artisan Analytics, a structured finance software and analytics firm which developed major software products in support of several leading financial institutions. Dave was also Lead Database Architect of HelloBrain, an Internet company focusing on connecting engineers and developers with companies requiring new product development, and at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC).

Dave graduated from Harvard University in 1983 with a Masters degree in City and Regional Planning and from the University of California, Irvine, in 1981 with a Bachelors degree in Economics.

John Condon - Managing Director and Chief Sales Officer

With deep roots in the business and financial information services markets, John led sales teams at both Moody’s and its spin-off successor company, Mergent, Inc. for over 20 years prior to joining Audit Integrity.

John represented Moody’s Financial Information Services (FIS) Group, rising to Vice President – National Sales Manager. During his tenure as SVP-Sales at Mergent, Inc., John was instrumental in establishing brand awareness, recruiting and training sales and client services staff and driving new product revenue. John’s work had a significant impact on the successful emergence and subsequent growth of Mergent, Inc.

John holds a BS in Political Science from St. Michaels College Colchester, Vt.

Agnes Grunfeld, CFA - Senior Research Analyst

For the past 30 years Agnes has worked in the financial services industry and has specialized in quantitative analysis of fixed income securities, portfolio management, and associated software development and support. At Audit Integrity, Agnes is responsible for writing reports and analysis on companies and topics of interest, and contributing to the development and enhancement of our proprietary quantitative models.

Before joining Audit Integrity, Agnes had been with Citigroup Investments and Capital Management Sciences, providing advanced investment applications quantitative analytic support to fixed income traders, portfolio managers, credit research and risk managers. Earlier in her career, Agnes worked at L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg & Towbin as a credit analyst, and was an equity analyst for Goldman Sachs.

Agnes’ educational background is in mathematics. She holds a BA from Brooklyn College of CUNY and a Masters from Columbia University. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Daniel Wang - Chief Technology Officer

Before joining Audit Integrity in 2004, Daniel served as CTO and VP of Software Development at Xdrive, Inc., now an AOL company. He led Xdrive’s engineering and product management efforts to deliver storage and collaboration software for some of the world’s biggest telecom operators. At the same time, Daniel was responsible for the operations of Xdrive’s flagship consumer data service with over 10 million subscribers – the largest of its kind.

Prior to Xdrive, Daniel co-founded Lucerne Systems as a provider of hosted content management software for enterprises, managed the business from startup to profitability in less than a year, and engineered its eventual acquisition by Internet portal Business.com. Previously, at nCommand, Inc., Daniel led the development of a graphical workflow engine powered by XML technologies, an industry first.

In addition, Daniel has held senior engineering positions at Computer Associates and the Disney Internet Group.

Daniel earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science from UC San Diego and SDSU, respectively. Daniel is also a council member of the non-profit VSPR advisory group, where he focuses on technology and security issues surrounding electronic balloting.

Sarah Lee - Research Analyst

Sarah's background includes experience in credit analysis and industry research, covering the financial institution, municipal, and non-profit sectors. Prior to joining Audit Integrity, she was a Second Vice President within the Risk Office, Financial Institutions and Sovereigns Group at Bayerische Landesbank. She also held previous positions at Moody's Investors Service and UBS PaineWebber.

Sarah received a MBA from Yale School of Management, a certificate from Stanford University, and a BA from Wake Forest University.

CAREERS

Audit Integrity is a market-leading independent research firm that evaluates the transparency, reliability and risks of corporate accounting and governance practices. Our clients depend on us for our objective, thorough research and analysis and superior service. The Audit Integrity brand has achieved broad awareness and recognition for top quality research, and it is our internal team that makes this possible. As a young, growth company the opportunities are challenging and the potential virtually limitless. We are dedicated to identifying, recruiting and developing the highest quality people to join us in growing our business. Email us for more information regarding a rewarding career with one of the fastest growing forensic accounting research institutions in the country.

Email us your resume at careers@auditintegrity.com, or send us a hard copy to:

Human Resources
Audit Integrity, Inc.
11111 Santa Monica Blvd. Suite 350
Los Angeles, CA 90025