From the Classroom to the Auditor's Desk

ACFE Member Profile


Lynn Bloom has been an Internal Auditor for Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS) for more than 15 years, but she hasn't always worked as an auditor. In fact, her career began well outside of the accounting field. Bloom has a master's degree in reading and was a teacher for 20 years, serving in Howard County and Baltimore County. She taught a variety of courses, including English, yearbook, remedial reading, remedial writing, SAT Prep, college study skills and keyboarding.

While teaching, Bloom decided she wanted to earn a PhD. Pursuant to that, she was required to take a statistics class -- a subject far from her proven expertise in reading and writing. She was warned that it would be difficult but, to her surprise, it was a great experience -- and would build the foundation for her future career.

"I loved it," Bloom said of the class. "It offered an entirely new set of challenges that I became engrossed in -- I spent a lot of time in the library!" Bloom followed this course with accounting classes and eventually became certified to teach business education, while also pursuing her certification of accounting.

Now fully immersed in accounting as an internal auditor at BCPS, Bloom has also cultivated an interest in fraud issues. "I'm very interested in anything legal and investigative," Bloom said. "I've uncovered a few fraud cases, and I enjoy that kind of work."

One of Bloom's co-workers, Deborah Stevens, CFE, encouraged her to join the ACFE and pursue certification. When Bloom joined the ACFE in 2006, she marked a major milestone for the association by becoming the ACFE's 35,000th member.

At that time, she set her sights on becoming a Certified Fraud Examiner: "I believe that earning the CFE designation will help me to assist in combating fraud," Bloom said. "The best way to combat fraud is to know how to find it and how to prevent it." Bloom achieved her goal, earning the CFE credential a year later.





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