John Owens is an expert in auditing, financial accounting, financial reporting, and cost accounting. His expertise spans a broad range of topics that arise in investigations, complex litigation, and regulatory enforcement matters brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB).
As a former audit partner at KPMG, Professor Owens has extensive experience leading audits of public and privately held clients in a variety of industries, including energy, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, and consumer and industrial products. He served as lead engagement partner in the audits of several prominent multinational corporations, including a Fortune 500 energy company and a Fortune 500 metals company, and in an International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) audit for a $25 billion consumer products company.
At KPMG, Professor Owens also served as a consultant to public and privately held companies, analyzing issues of corporate strategy; production and inventory management; and business processes. He consulted on the re-engineering of a major medical research and education institute, as well as the European distribution system of a U.S.-based international pharmaceutical company. In addition, he assessed the integration of a Europe-based global pharmaceutical company in its acquisition of a U.S. biotech company.
For over a decade, Professor Owens has served on the faculty in the USC Leventhal School of Accounting, teaching classes on financial accounting, auditing, and strategy and operations. He developed and teaches a course called “Strategy and Operations through a CFO Lens,” and developed USC’s MAcc D+A program, which fosters expertise in accounting, auditing, and business with a data and analytics focus. In addition, Professor Owens is academic director of the Marshall School of Business’s degree program for the Master of Accounting with Emphasis in Data and Analytics.
