Welcome to A4A CPA Consulting

Integrity weathers any storm

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Services

Internal Audit Consulting

Audit plan development, implementation, and gap analysis
Policy and procedure development
Audit plan completion with existing departmental staff or independently
Temporary staff augmentation for: completing audit plan assignments, reviewing workpapers, managing department
Staff, management, and governance training
Project management leadership and staff assistance
Specialty reviews: quality assurance reviews, CEO/manager reviews, employee statement reviews

Risk Management Consulting

Program development, implementation and gap analysis for:  Business Continuity Plan (BCP), Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), Vendor Management, Information Security Governance, Fraud
Policy and procedure development
Project management leadership and staff assistance
Temporary staff augmentation for: ERM process/program risk assessments; vendor due diligence documentation collection and analysis; BCP program updating and testing, managing department staff; user access reviews
Develop and perform operational, compliance and technical risk assessments
Internal control assessments and consulting
Staff, management and governance training
Examination preparation, data collection and facilitation

Accounting Consulting

Temporary staff augmentation for following roles:  accounts payable clerk, staff accountant, senior accountant
CECL consult and validations
ICFR setup, performance, and gap analysis

Information Technology (IT) Consulting

Deploy tested and compliant methodology for the following risk assessments:
Information Technology
Information Security/Gramm-Leach Bliley Act
eCommerce
System user access reviews
IT General Controls Reviews
Disaster Recovery/BCP Planning
Security awareness training
Team

Meet the A4A CPA Consulting team

Ana Foret, CPA

Ana Foret is a certified public accountant, with over 20 years of experience within the financial
services industry. Ana has experience in risk management, internal audit and accounting
disciplines. She has over 15 years working for 2 billion+ asset sized credit unions in the
northeast.

Ana began her career as a financial statement auditor at RSM within the national credit union
division, where she serviced clients ranging from 10 million to 5 billion in assets. She then
worked for ten years as the Chief Internal Auditor at Service Credit Union where she
transformed a quality control function into a professional internal audit service line. She was
promoted to SCU’s first Chief Risk Officer where she built out the business continuity, vendor
management, information security and enterprise risk management (ERM) programs. Ana left
her risk post to consult for 3 years at CliftonLarsenAllen as an Audit Director. In this role, Ana
managed and provided services to a portfolio of 12-15 internal audit clients. The services
included a full outsourced internal audit function, managing credit union internal audit staff
and performing ad hoc audits for an established full internal audit function. Ana recently built
out the risk management function at Northeast Credit Union as their SVP/Chief Risk Officer.
Ana was responsible for physical security, fraud, business continuity, ERM, information security
governance, policy review and outsourced internal audit facilitation.

Ana has been a faculty member of the ACUIA/Cuna Mutual Certified Credit Union Internal
Auditor certification course for five years. Ana has also taught Audit 101/102 and other topics
for the Associate of Credit Union Internal Auditors while at CLA and Northeast Credit Union to
further the profession.

Ana graduated from the University of New Hampshire’s Peter T. Paul College of Business and
Economics, receiving a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration. Ana later attended
University of South Florida to fulfill the accounting course work to sit for the certified public
accounting exam. Ana is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the State of New Hampshire.

Susan Hannigan, CPA

Susan J. Hannigan, CPA is a consultant for community financial institutions providing expertise to assist in the evaluation of business strategies, corporate governance, manage projects, evaluate, and implement processes and controls, manage departments, access department organization, and train and develop employees. Successfully addressing client’s challenges that they wish to resolve or projects accomplished.

Previously, she served as a Chief Financial Officer in the credit union industry for institutions ranging from $1.2 to $2.1 billion where she was responsible for oversight of finance and accounting including ALM, risk management, compliance and corporate security. She provided organizational leadership and formulated corporate strategies and policies.
Prior to joining the credit union, she had over thirty years’ experience at Wolf & Company, P.C., a regional public accounting firm in Boston, Massachusetts. At Wolf she worked in the assurance services group with a concentration in financial institutions providing audit and consulting services in accounting and operations. Led change management effort with clients, implementing new accounting standards to ensure proper financial reporting and disclosure. Partnered with executive management teams to develop solutions for accounting and operational controls for key areas, including lending function, mortgage banking activities, and trust services. Susan advised clients on department structure, job content, and employee development to maximize productivity and ensure accurate financial statements.

Susan served as a Transition Resource Group (TRG) member for FASB’s CECL project and was a member of the AICPA Deposit Institution Expert Panel. She is a graduate of Stonehill College with a BS in Business Administration. She is a member of the AICPA and Massachusetts Society of CPAs. Susan serves on the boards of the Merrimack Valley Food Bank, and the Hanover Permeant Scholarship Fund and the Finance Committee of CBA (Coalition for a Better Acre). She was a past offices of the Financial Managers Society – Boston Chapter. She has been an instructor for EasCorp’s ALM Academy and served as a panelist for the AICPA Credit Union conference.

Gil Bohene, CISA, CISM, CRISC, COSO ERM Certified, CPA

Gil Bohene has over 30 years of Consulting, Banking, Credit Union, Information Technology Auditing, and Enterprise Risk Management experience. He focuses on complex and/or specialized issues, develops and maintains productive relationships with clients, and develops an audit strategy that complies with professional standards and appropriately addresses risk.
Gil has worked with clients on risk assessments of general Information Technology (IT) systems, Information Systems security control environment and Quality Assurance reviews of business processes. He also has performed reviews of the IT environment and evaluation of client strategic plans for Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery activities.  He works to understand their organization, procedures and internal policies; identifies client issues and conflicts; and communicates possible solutions to the client. 
Gil has vast experience in financial services consultation and has worked with local and international firms, assisted clients in developing internal audit programs and developing risk control analysis for improvement process implementation.  

Gil has participated in many speaking engagements to include:  100 Largest Financial Institutions CEO Roundtable – Advanced Enterprise Management in 2014 and Capital Area Compliance Roundtable – Fraud, Cybersecurity, Managing Risks in your IT environment in 2018.

Gil has a Bachelor of Science in Business Financial management from Auburn University.  He holds the designations of CISA – Certified Information Systems Auditor, CISM – Certified Information Security Manager, and CRISC – Certified in Risk and Information Systems Controls.   He is also IIA sponsored – COSO Enterprise Risk Management Certified.

Laura Faulkner, IT Risk and Compliance Leader

Laura Faulkner is an IT Risk and Compliance Leader with over 25 years of experience in
information security, risk management, and privacy. She excels in developing and implementing
innovative compliance solutions, translating complex regulatory requirements into actionable
strategies that enhance operational efficiency. With extensive experience in frameworks such as
ISO 27001, NIST, and COBIT, as well as global privacy laws like GDPR, Laura adeptly
navigates the complexities of the regulatory landscape.

Laura has substantial experience working with financial institutions, where she has managed
compliance and risk management programs tailored to the unique regulatory demands of the
sector. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated an exceptional ability to build and lead
high-performing teams while advancing clients’ compliance and risk management capabilities.
She is dedicated to continuous improvement and ensuring that organizations meet and exceed
their compliance and risk management objectives in a dynamic and evolving environment.
Since 2017, Laura has served as a faculty member of the Association of Credit Union Audit &
Risk Professionals (ACUARP)/America’s Credit Unions Certified Credit Union Internal Auditor
certification course, where she teaches IT Audit and Risk Management. Laura holds a
bachelor’s degree in business administration and several key certifications, including CISM
(Certified Information Security Manager), CIPM (Certified Information Privacy Manager), and
Lead Auditor for ISO 27001 and ISO 22301.

Testimonials

What our clients are saying

“Ana was a pleasure to work with from start to finish. Extremely knowledgeable about the areas we planned to review, Ana offered her expertise, guidance, and recommendations through scoping and planning conversations to tailor a solution to our needs. She continued to demonstrate excellent service throughout the engagement fieldwork and reporting, maintaining top-tier communication throughout. Ana’s audit served our co-sourcing needs well and the final deliverable was of an extremely high caliber. We are excited to work with her again in the future!”

—Eliza Cole, MBA, CCUIA
Director, Internal Audit and Quality Assurance
Wellby Financial

“I first met Ana at a conference where she was teaching on the topic of “Auditing,” and I
remember at one point, the class topic was on the importance of having an audit charter.
We were struggling with the task of implementing an audit charter and decided to hire Ana, with
A4AConsulting, to conduct a Quality Assurance Review to support the task of establishing an
audit charter, by providing an unbiased assessment to share with appropriate leaders.
Ana’s expertise and understanding of how the Standards are applied, has facilitated progress
towards moving in the right direction.

“You are not just a client with Ana. She builds lasting relationships and will go out of her way,
even after the engagement is concluded, to make herself available to take a call or respond to
emails.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Ana at A4AConsulting. She is very professional,
knowledgeable, and approachable. I would consider hiring Ana on upcoming projects and look
forward to working with her in the future.”

—Jane Place
MBA/ACC, CCUIA, CUCE, BSACS
Director, Internal Audit
Y-12 Federal Credit Union

“I was acting CEO of a small financial institution that was challenged with a long-
standing situation in which proper accounting procedures and practices were not in
place. To make matters worse we did not have a CFO in place, only an inexperienced
bookkeeper to ensure our financials were accurate for both board and regulatory
reporting. That is until we hired Ana Foret, owner of A4A CPA Consulting!

“Ana was able to get us to regroup financially, restoring our ability to provide sound
financial reporting, thus alleviating our regulatory concerns, and restoring both the board
and the regulator’s confidence in the underlying information they were receiving. Most
importantly, as their acting CEO I was able to receive the vital assistance which allowed
me to focus on other equally pressing needs, such as operations, staffing and strategic
concerns.

“Ana and her CPA team’s knowledge is up-to-date and meets all GAAP and accepted
regulatory practices. Her approach is refreshingly transparent, and I would not hesitate
to utilize her services again. I recommend A4A CPA Consulting without reservation.”

—Ron Draper
Chief Executive Officer
Somerville Municipal Federal Credit Union