150 South Wacker Dr., Suite 2300
Chicago, Illinois 60606
Phone 312-237-4828    Print   Email   CV
Fax 312-237-4868
Email sburns@natomapartners.com
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Steve has over 25 years of accounting and consulting experience. He specializes in complex, data intensive forensic accounting issues. Most recently, Steve has been involved in several multi-billion dollar tax disputes between large multinational corporations and the Internal Revenue Service. Prior to that, Steve was involved in a major restatement project at a large U.S. truck manufacturer. He has also worked on a number of high profile bankruptcy cases, where he led teams of consultants that assisted clients in the reconciliation of the creditor’s claims to the books and schedules and the analysis of the executory contracts.

Prior to founding Natoma Partners, Steve was a managing director at Huron Consulting Group. Steve started his career as an auditor at a Big Five accounting firm. Steve has worked in a wide range of industries including manufacturing, utilities/telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, medical products, consumer products, building products and technology.

Representative examples of Steve’s engagement experience include the following:

• Assisted the U.S. subsidiary of a large foreign based multinational company in a dispute with the IRS regarding the IRS’s assertion that intercompany debt incurred by the U.S. entity in the financing of a multi-billion dollar transaction should have been characterized as equity, rather than debt.
• Assisted a large multinational medical supply company in a dispute with the IRS regarding the IRS’s assertion that the company’s international transfer pricing policies resulted in insufficient income being recorded in the United States.
• At a large U.S. truck manufacturer, led various teams of up to 25 people that assisted the company in the course of an accounting restatement. The work included reconstructing and documenting its accounting for fixed assets for a six year period. This work spanned over 10 manufacturing locations with over $2 billion in fixed assets. The scope of the work covered all aspects of fixed assets accounting.
• In the Northwest Airlines, Inc. bankruptcy proceeding, led a team of up to six people that assisted the company and its attorneys with the preparation of financial information required for the various stages of bankruptcy, including first day orders, schedules of assets and liabilities and statements of financial affairs.
• In the Worldcom, Inc. bankruptcy proceeding, led a team of up to 15 people that assisted the company in reconciling and resolving more than 38,000 bankruptcy claims filed against 220 debtor companies. Also provided various consulting services, including developing processes for paying claims and assisting in various due diligence projects as they related to the bankruptcy claims.
• In the Global Crossing, Ltd. bankruptcy proceeding, led a team that assisted the telecommunications company in reconciling and resolving more than 11,000 bankruptcy claims filed against 80 debtor companies. Also, led a team that coordinated the company’s process of analyzing and assuming or rejecting more than 300,000 executory contracts.
• Managed a team of ten consultants assisting one of the world's largest multinational food manufacturers in a tax dispute involving the valuation of various intangible assets including goodwill and several of the world's best known trademarks.
• Assisted clients in numerous litigation cases, including multinational tax disputes and anti-trust disputes.