Cynthia Mburu

Cynthia Mburu is a Manager at A&K’s Forensics and Investigations department. She has extensive experience in forensic investigations, fraud risk management, regulatory compliance, loss quantification, employee misconduct and ethical compliance.

• Association for Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE)
• Institute of Certified Secretaries (ICS)

2017: International MBA, IE Business School-Spain

2011: Bachelor of Commerce, University of Nairobi

2010: Certified Public Secretaries of Kenya, CPS (K)

2009: Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)

Jan 2019 – Date: Manager, A&K Forensics LLP, Nairobi

Jun 2018 – De 2018: Principal Associate, Anjarwalla & Khanna, Nairobi

Aug 2013 – Nov 2016: Senior Consultant, Risk Advisory (Forensics), Deloitte East Africa, Nairobi

Aug 2011 – Aug 2013: Associate Audit, Deloitte East Africa, Nairobi

• Advising a leading oil company with presence in East Africa in connection with a forensic audit conducted over stock discrepancies, including a detailed analysis of the affected stocks, a quantification exercise to determine the resultant financial loss incurred an assessment of the internal controls to establish any weaknesses that had been exploited and provide recommendations to remediate control gaps.
• Acting for a leading insurance firm in East Africa in connection with a forensic investigation of its broker on boarding and commission payment process, including the assessment of the adequacy of internal controls during on-boarding agents and brokers, ascertaining whether commissions paid to brokers or agents were incurred in a proper manner, identifying conflicts of interest and assessing the extent of management involvement in the sourcing of clients, establishing whether there was infringement of the U.K Anti-Bribery and Corruption Act and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act through bribes or kickbacks through its agent.
• Acting for an insurance company in Kenya in connection with an investigation of substantial fund investments made by the fund manager on behalf of the insurance company including, establishing whether the investments were reasonable and justifiable, establishing whether the underlying assets were managed in accordance with the investment agreement and determining whether the investment were properly accounted for and valued in the monthly management reports.
• Acting for a public sector retirement benefit scheme in East Africa in connection with a land acquisition due-diligence, including the review of the land acquisition process, legal documentation, sale agreement and process, fair pricing and reports of the advisors to the Trustees.  The final deliverable was a comprehensive report detailing findings of the transaction process.
• Acting for a leading airline operator in Africa in connection with a forensic audit to evaluate its system of internal controls, including, a review of financial systems and statements, quantification and assessment of loss and reporting. In addition, digital forensics was conducted by imaging, processing and analysing electronic devices (computers and mobile phones) of relevant custodians.  As part of the digital analysis, key word searches were performed to corroborate key information for the investigation. Advice on strengthening the corporate governance & internal control environment was provided for firm implementation.
• Acting for a Pan-African housing agency in connection with a forensic audit, including the investigation of manipulation of financial statements by restructuring non-performing loans, funds misappropriation, irregular hiring processes and claims of employee harassment and intimidation by Senior Management.
• Acting for a telecommunication company in connection with Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance procedures for a regional telecommunications company with integrated mobile money services in Africa.  A gap analysis was performed to assess the process gaps. Advice was provided on the implementation of stronger internal controls to counter money laundering.
• Acting for a public utility company in Kenya in connection with a fraud risk assessment of the billing, inventory and third party contracting processes. The engagement entailed a business process review, operational risk analysis, development of a fraud risk register and test of details on the risk areas. We also provided a governance framework to guide the internal control structure.
• Acting for a health Non-Governmental Organisation in Kenya in connection with a forensic audit of the payroll and operational expenses, including an investigation into allegations of ghost workers, non-compliance with statutory deductions and misappropriation of grant money. Recommendations for robust internal controls on payroll and operational expenses were provided.
• Acting for a USAID donor funded agency in Tanzania in connection with a ‘Value for Money’ audit on procurement and operational Expenses in health sector. The engagement comprised supplier due diligence reviews, value for money on high value assets, financial management by the sub-grantee organisations, beneficiary impact assessment and internal control reviews on procurement and petty cash expenses.
• Acting for an oil and gas company in Kenya in connection with a forensic review of the oil inventory stocks for a three year period, including an independent reconciliation of the stock movement with third party distributors, establishing causes of the discrepancies in stock values and conducting interviews with staff involved in the inventory process.
• Acting for an airline in Tanzania in connection with a forensic investigation of financial misappropriation by Senior Management staff, irregular asset acquisition, unfair recruitment practise and financial statement fraud.
• Acting for a global non-governmental organisation in connection with a forensic investigation on allegations of bullying, intimidation and harassment by a Senior Official, and  breach of Kenyan labour law.
• Acting for an International non-government organisation based in Kenya in connection with a forensic audit of fraudulent transactions including, misappropriation of funds, conflict of interest, procurement fraud, misrepresentation of statutory deductions and non- Compliance with the Tax Procedures Act, 2015.