A. Christine "Chris" Davis is a Bates Consulting and Testifying Expert in the areas of forensic accounting and economic damages. She works with attorneys and their clients, business, nonprofits, and public agencies.
Chris has over 30 years of combined professional experience in public accounting, financial accounting and reporting, management accounting, forensic accounting and litigation consulting, financial statement auditing, preparing corporate and partnership income tax returns, and calculating and reporting on the fair market value of privately held businesses. She holds professional credentials in public accounting, management accounting, financial forensics, and business valuation.
Chris's retention as a consulting and testifying expert are in the areas of forensic accounting, economic damages, financial accounting and reporting, and management accounting. She has led and participated in a wide range of matters involving public corporations, privately held companies, nonprofits, and individuals. She has been admitted as an accounting and economic damages expert at trials and other proceedings venued in California Superior courts and Federal District courts in the U.S, and at dispute resolution hearings at JAMS and FINRA. She has been a designated expert in many matters involving forensic accounting, complex accounting analyses, economic damages, such as lost business profits and lost earnings, partnership disputes, alleged accountant malpractice, alleged financial accounting and reporting violations, and shareholder lawsuits for violations of Section 10(b). She also has considerable experience in investigating allegations of asset misappropriation and financial improprieties, assisting in wage and hour disputes, explaining to the trier of fact an entity’s ability to pay punitive damages based upon its financial condition and related metrics, and preparing business valuations.
Whether testifying as an expert witness, presenting investigative findings to stakeholders, or providing CLE courses to attorneys, Chris’s primary goals are to be well-prepared, to inform, and to persuade. She excels at unraveling and explaining, in plain English, complicated financial analyses while efficiently instilling fundamental financial concepts. With decades of frontline experience from which to draw, Chris aims to communicate her expert conclusions and opinions with clarity, objectivity, impact, and care.
Commercial Damages; Complex Accounting Analyses; Valuation Methods and Estimates; Fraud
Financial Evidence Group, A CPA Firm, Founder and President, San Francisco, CA, 2020 – Present
Bates Group LLC, San Francisco, CA, 2020 – Present; Consulting and Testifying Expert, 2020 – Present; Managing Director of Forensic Accounting, Economic Damages & Financial Crimes and Member of the Firm, 2020; Director of Forensic Accounting, Economic Damages & Financial Crimes, 2018 –2019
OnPoint Analytics, Inc., Director of Forensic and Financial Accounting, Emeryville, CA, 2016 – 2018
DZH Phillips LLP, CPAs and Advisors, Director and Partner in Charge of Forensic Accounting and Litigation Consulting, San Francisco, CA, 2013 – 2016
StoneTurn, Managing Director, San Francisco, CA, 2012
Hemming Morse, LLP, Director, Forensic Accounting and Litigation Consulting, San Francisco, CA, 1997 – 2011
Banner Aerospace, Subsidiary Controller, San Francisco Bay Area, CA, 1995 – 1996
Bank of America, N.A., Financial Consultant, Financial Management Reporting and Analysis, San Francisco, CA,1995
Coopers & Lybrand LLP, Auditor and Tax Accountant, San Francisco Bay Area, CA, 1994 – 1995
Burr, Pilger & Mayer, Auditor and Tax Accountant, San Francisco Bay Area, CA, 1993 – 1994
Arthur Andersen LLP, Tax Paraprofessional (while in college), San Francisco, CA, 1988 - 1992
Bachelor of Arts (BA), Accounting, Golden Gate University, San Francisco, CA
Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
Certified in Financial Forensics (CFF), American Institute of Certified Public Accountants [AICPA] (#257), 2008
Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA), AICPA, 2014
Certified Valuation Analyst (CVA), National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts [NACVA] (#041850), 2008
Bar Association of San Francisco, Arbitrator Certificate, 2015
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
NERA Economic Consulting, Affiliated Industry Expert
National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA)
Practising Law Institute (PLI), Co-Chair and faculty member, Pocket MBA: Finance for Lawyers and Other Professionals, 2018 – 2023
Continuing Education of the Bar of California (CEB), CLE Speaker
Upon Request