Five Questions With: Ernie Almonte

"MY ROLE will be to lead a team of professionals in the Northeast Region in its federal, state and local government, higher education and the nonprofit industry practice."

Ernie Almonte, Rhode Island’s former auditor general, has landed a partnership with Boston-based McGladrey LLP. The firm, a provider of assurance, tax and consulting services focused on the middle market, has 550 employees in Boston and announced the addition of Almonte last month. Almonte most recently ran as the Independent candidate for General Treasurer last year and he has a long history in accounting serving both the private and public sectors.
He discussed his new role with Providence Business News, talking about McGladrey, what his involvement will be with the Ocean State and whether he has any political plans for the future.

PBN: How did you connect with Boston-based McGladrey LLP?
ALMONTE
: In my role as chairman of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), an organization of approximately 400,000 members, I had the opportunity to meet many of the accounting and consulting firm’s national leaders. I was exposed to the culture of the firms and the quality of their services. In this capacity, I was always impressed with the leadership and the high quality work performed by McGladrey LLP.
After the November election in 2014 for State Treasurer, I was at a cross road in my career in terms of what I wanted that next step to be and where I thought I could use my background to have the most impact. I was happy as CEO of my own firm and could have easily settled back in that role full time. However, I have the innate need to want to give back, so I started to look at much broader opportunities on a national level to see where there was opportunity to leverage my technical skills with my industry expertise around the public sector to bring real value. After leveraging my strong network and meeting with many firms, I decided to take a role at McGladrey LLP, the fifth largest Accounting, Tax and Consulting firm in the United States and the nation’s leading provider focused on the middle market.
This was the perfect fit as it gives me the opportunity to take my education, experience, and ethics to help expand the firm’s presence and to also help mentor the next generation of our industry’s professionals. My role will have me focus on the Rhode Island [market], but will also expand my role throughout the Northeast to include Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
PBN: With an illustrious career in both the private and public sectors, it appears you’re now working in the private sector and providing services for the public, what exactly do your new responsibilities entail?
ALMONTE
: At McGladrey, my role will be to lead a team of professionals in the Northeast Region in its federal, state and local government, higher education and the nonprofit industry practice. Our services include, but not limited to, providing financial statement audits, information technology solutions, and financial decision making consulting services. Our goal is to provide strategic advice to some our client’s most pressing issues.
My background as the Rhode Island Auditor General, Chairman of the Department of Defense Audit Committee at the Pentagon, and Trustee at Colleges and Universities has provided me with significant firsthand experience that I will be able to share with our clients and prospects. My 37 years working with these organizations has provided me the toolset to evaluate client issues and provide meaningful solutions to help them take their businesses to the next level. At McGladrey, they strive to understand our client’s issues, trends in their industry, and to be pro-active in providing insights and solutions. So for me, it was an easy decision to make my new home there.

PBN: When people think of assurance services “auditing” often jumps to mind, is it more than just that?
ALMONTE
: We approach the audit as a service for the benefit of all the organizations stakeholders – the board, shareholders, customers and bankers – all who need to trust the quality of your financial statements. The financial report also serves as intelligence to help the business operate better, now and in the future. McGladrey’s assurance services include reviews of financial documents or transactions such as loans, or financial operations, employee benefit plan audits, global audits, SOC attestation and services for our SEC-specific clients.
Additionally, we also provide a range of services as the registrant’s “Second Service Provider.” In this role, we provide the services that the registrants audit firm cannot provide due to independence concerns such as accounting for income taxes (ranging from the review of the registrant’s computations to complete outsourcing of these services), internal audit, SOX consulting, valuations and IPO readiness, to name a few.
McGladrey’s commitment to audit quality was the biggest draw in my decision to join the firm.

PBN: What level of involvement will you have in the Rhode Island market?
ALMONTE
: As you already know, I have a lifelong commitment to Rhode Island. In my new position, I will play a key role in expanding McGladrey’s footprint in the Rhode Island market. We hope to not only increase our consideration from Rhode Island businesses but also to continue to build upon our trusted brand and reputation in the Rhode Island market. I have joined at the right time as our firm invests in its commitment to our state.

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PBN: Knowing your passion for public service, can Rhode Island expect to see your name on any future ballots?
ALMONTE
: I am a new grandfather of a beautiful baby girl, a father of five fantastic sons and have an awesome wife. I now have a great position at an industry leading national firm. At this point my life is pretty full, so I will focus on helping our state in out other ways.
Public service can be performed in many ways. Right now, the best way for me to help the citizens of our state and others is by applying my skills to help the public sector and [nonprofit] entities solve their complex problems. I will always continue to provide public service through my involvement with various boards, charitable donations and volunteerism. I will also use my new role at McGladrey to help spread some of their great corporate citizenship to organizations in Rhode Island.
I also continue to serve on the boards of Operation Stand Down, (for homeless veterans), Home and Hospice Care of RI, and the Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce. I have a strong passion for public service and that will never die.

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