Anita Ison

Experience

• 

  Crowe

  Oct 2005 - Jan 2018

  Senior Manager

  • Established, grew, and managed the local Benefit Plan Services (BPS) specialist group including engagement budgeting (staffing, hours and fees), fee negotiations, client relationship development, billing, projecting seasonal resource needs, and monitoring of engagement budgets against actual experience.• Directed annual audits of 50+ qualified employee benefit plans with up to 22,000 participants and $4 billion in assets consisting of defined benefit and cash balance pension plans, 401(k) profit sharing plans (including 11-k filers), employee stock ownership plans, and health and welfare plans.• Managed large, complex engagements consisting of multiple plans with unique issues from initial planning to timely completion. Executed these engagements through the utilization of 30+ local and remote team members from multiple practice areas and office locations. • Maintained leadership roles of supervision, training, evaluating staff performance, performance coaching, ongoing staff development and informal mentoring.• Served as a local office and firm-wide expert for employee benefit plan audits and taught internal courses such as annual training updates.• Worked with sales and senior leaders to cultivate new business by gaining an understanding from a prospect of their needs and concerns and developing and presenting service proposals to address those matters efficiently and effectively.• 2017 Crowe Exceptional Client Service Ambassador, a distinction earned within the firmwide audit practice to those receiving the highest client service ratings on client engagement surveys.• Co-led two initiatives to redesign the audit process and tools for employee benefit plan audits.• Authored sections of internal “plain English” audit manual for employee benefit plans providing guidance on understanding, auditing, and reporting of complex plan components including defined benefit and health and welfare plan benefit obligations, census data, and funding arrangements. Show less

• 

  Ison Contractor Management Services, LLC

  Jan 2018 - Jun 2021

  Business Manager

  • Manage operational aspects of a small business including accounting, billing, contract negotiations, annual regulatory reporting, and preparation of information for annual tax returns.

• 

  Kruggel Lawton CPAs

  Jul 2021 - now

  Senior Manager

  • Conduct annual audits of qualified employee benefit plans with up to 12,000 participants and $2 billion in assets. Clients range from small plans to large, multi-plan engagements. • Perform technical review of virtually all firm employee benefit plan audits to ensure audits are complete and compliant with firm, industry, and GAAP requirements. • Primarily responsible for developing and teaching firm training for all experience levels.• Lead improvement initiatives including annual updates to firm tools for employee benefit plan audits, annual staffing and scheduling, and audit process changes to improve efficiency and risk management. Show less