About Cathy Allen

Cathy Allen, CPA helps CPA firms understand their ethical responsibilities so they can manage their risks more effectively and enhance the quality of their professional services. She consults on independence, ethics and related quality controls and designs and delivers education and training. Cathy also provides litigation support and expert witness services.

Cathy was a Managing Director in the Independence Office of a Big 4 accounting firm and formerly served as staff to the AICPA Professional Ethics Executive Committee (PEEC), where she was instrumental in developing standards and tools for the profession like the AICPA Plain English Guide to Independence and the Conceptual Framework for Independence. She authors several AICPA ethics courses. As a consultant, she helped lead the AICPA’s project to restructure the AICPA’s Code of Professional Conduct, which resulted in an online Code that was more user-friendly, understandable and accessible to members.

Cathy started her career as an accountant and auditor and taught accounting as an adjunct instructor at Queens and Bernard M. Baruch Colleges of the City University of NY (CUNY). She has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Accounting and Information Systems from Queens College (CUNY) and is a CPA in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland.

Cathy serves on the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy’s (NASBA) Board of Directors as Northeast Regional Director and chairs the NASBA Ethics Committee. She has been a member of the NYS Board for Public Accountancy since 2011, chairs its Ethics Committee, actively contributes to the AICPA PEEC's Information Technology and Cloud Services Task Force and is a sitting member of the Committee's Codification Task Force. In 2017, she became a member of the Accountants Club of America's Board of Governors.

Speaking and Panel Events

Catherine Allen speaks, instructs and serves as a panelist on professional ethics and auditor independence. Below is a list of recent and upcoming events:

December 4, 2018

Baruch College - Newman Vertical Campus, 55 Lexington Ave New York, NY 10010

Baruch College - Ensuring Integrity: The 13th Annual Audit Conference

The conference provides a forum for interaction between business, public accounting, academics, and policy setters from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB).

more info

October 25, 2018

CPA Academy (Webinar / CPE)

Ethics: Pressures & Perceptions

Webinar 10 AM EDT (2 credits regulatory ethics)

more info

October 9, 2018

AICPA Virtual Webinar

Ethics and Professional Conduct: Updates

Video Webinar 9 am - 1 pm EDT (4 credits regulatory ethics)

more info

Clients

Some of the clients Audit Conduct serves or has served include:

American Institute of CPAs (AICPA)
Arkansas State Board of Public Accountancy
BDO (formerly BDO Seidman, LLP)
Briggs & Veselka Co.
Cherry, Bekaert & Holland, LLC (now Cherry Bekaert, LLC)
CliftonLarsonAllen, LLC (previously Clifton Gunderson, LLP)
Commerce Clearing House (Wolters Kluwer)
CPAacademy.org
Elliott Davis, LLC (previously Elliott Davis Decosimo, LLC)
KPMG, LLC
Lurie, LLP previously Lurie, Besikof, Lapidus & Co, LLP )
MarksNelson, LLC
McGladrey & Pullen, LLP (now RSM US, LLP)
National Credit Union Administration (NCUA)
New York State Society of CPAs - Foundation for Accounting Education (FAE)
PricewaterhouseCoopers - Canada
Rea & Associates, Inc.
Rehmann Robson, LLC
Richey May & Co.

What Clients Say

I really appreciate having Cathy Allen as a resource and sounding board on independence matters. It’s great to have such an experienced independent consultant to call upon for fresh perspectives and sound advice when unique or challenging issues arise.

Anita Ford, CPA, CFE

Chief Practice Officer-Clifton Gunderson

I have worked with Cathy Allen over the years – initially while she was a Senior Manager in the Ethics Division of the AICPA and I was a member of the AICPA Professional Ethics Executive Committee and, more recently, as an independent consultant after she started her own business, Audit Conduct. Cathy not only has deep knowledge of the ethical and independence standards governing the public accounting profession – she know how to explain them in plain English. She has been an excellent resource to our firm, helping us communicate our independence and ethical policies more clearly and effectively to our professional staff. In each case, she has delivered quality products to our firm on time and on budget

Bruce Webb

Executive Partner, National Office of Audit and Accounting-McGladrey & Pullen, LLP

We’ve worked with Cathy twice over the years. She is competent and professional. I look forward to working with her in the future.

Larry Shapiro

National Independence Director-BDO Seidman, LLP

Cathy has worked on various ethics-related projects for the AICPA Professional Ethics Division. She is diligent, meets all deadlines and produces quality work products. I would recommend Cathy for all aspects of ethics related matters.

Lisa A. Snyder, CPA

Director-Professional Ethics Division, AICPA

Knowledgeable, thorough, accurate.

Howard Wilensky, CPA, CFE, CGMA

Partner, Lurie, LLP

I first met Cathy when she was Senior Manager at the AICPA and I was a member of the AICPA Professional Ethics Executive Committee. I had the opportunity to work with Cathy on some technical projects including the “modernization” of the AICPA independence rules back in 2001. Through those interactions I gained an immediate appreciation for her knowledge of the independence rules. Currently our firms uses Cathy as our outside independence consultant. Cathy has been very responsive to our inquiries which is greatly appreciated as often these are very time sensitive. She is a valuable resource for consulting on AICPA, DOL and SEC/PCAOB independence topics. We appreciate her perspective as someone who is outside of our firm.

Chris Piché , CPA

Managing Principal, Ethics; CliftonLarsonAllen, LLC

I had the pleasure of working with Cathy Allen in connection with her engagement as an expert witness. The case involved novel issues of ethical standards to be applied to accountants. We also were under strict time pressure. Cathy was resourceful and provided a prompt, thorough and thoughtful analysis of the issues. She was a real asset and I would not hesitate to use her services again.

Peter Goodman

Smith, Gambrell & Russell, LLP