Leadership

Autumn Kraus has spent more than a decade providing expert testimony on accounting, tax, financial, and business valuation issues in litigation cases in both state and federal courts.

Before joining Whitley Penn, Autumn began her career as an auditor with a Fortune 100 company serving as the Foreign Operations Audit Manager and then spent 10 years serving as a Controller for a regional financial institution. Her previous work experience provides Autumn with a unique skill set that allows her to effectively assess financial and accounting records to assess fraudulent transactions, develop lost profit models and as well as business valuations in a variety of industries. Her legal education provides additional skills in understanding the legal issues of a case that allows her to provide a perspective that addresses both accounting and legal aspects.

To request more information regarding industry expertise, please click here.

For a copy of Autumn’s CV, click here.

• Attorney at Law
• Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
• Accredited in Business Valuations (ABV)
• Certified Management Accountant (CMA)
• Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) (Inactive)

• American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
• Texas Society of Certified Public Accountants (TXCPA)
• ABA Member
• Dallas, Tarrant and Houston County Bar Association – Family Law Section
• Financial Consulting Group, L.C.
• Annette Stewart American Inn of Court
• Texas Bar Foundation Fellow – 2013
• National Association of Federal Equity Receivers
• ProVisors

• Love for Children Volunteer, Dallas, TX
• Nacogdoches Junior Forum – Board Member (1997-2003)
• First United Methodist Church, Nacogdoches, TX – Board Member (1999-2003)
• YMCA, Dallas, Texas – Board Member (2015-Present)
• Empowering Women as Leaders (EWL) – Board Member, Treasurer (2016-Present)

• B.S. in Accounting and Marketing, Millikin University
• M.B.A., Stephen F. Austin State University
• J.D., Texas Wesleyan School of Law

Before joining Whitley Penn, Autumn began her career as an auditor with a Fortune 100 company serving as the Foreign Operations Audit Manager and then spent ten years serving as a Controller for a regional financial institution. Her previous work experience provides Autumn with a unique skill set that allows her to effectively assess financial and accounting records to assess fraudulent transactions, develop lost profit models and as well as business valuations in a variety of industries. Her legal education provides additional skills in understanding the legal issues of a case that allows her to provide a perspective that addresses both accounting and legal aspects.

• TAPS 2007 – Speaker– ” Ins and Outs of Financial Statements in a Divorce”
• 2008 Dallas Summer Bench Bar – Speaker – “Protecting your Client & Yourself When Giving Tax Advice”
• 2009 New Frontiers in Marital Property Law – Panelist – “Revamping Your Approach to Divorce Settlements: Valuation, Risk Assessment, Discount Rates, Interest Rates and Inflation Rates in the New Economic Environment”
• 2011 FEI Presentation – Speaker – “U.S. Sentencing Guidelines”
• 2011 Advanced Family Law Course – Speaker/Author – “Understanding Business Valuations”
• 2011 TCFLBA – Speaker – “Understanding How Appraisers can Differ in Business Valuations”
• 2012 TEXPO 2012 – Speaker – “Faces of Fraud – A Workshop on Detecting and Mitigating Internal Fraud”
• 2012 Dallas CPA Society Convergence – Speaker – “Marriage & Divorce – Preparing for Rough Seas During Smooth Sailing”
• 2012 Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law – Guest Speaker – “Marital Property Characterization”
• 2013 Advanced Family Law Course – Speaker/Co-Author – “Employment Contracts”
• 2014 Annette Stewart American Inn of Court – Speaker – “Business Valuation Court Cases in Divorce”
• 2014 Gulf Coast Family Law Specialists – Speaker – “Buy-Sell Agreements”
• 2014 UTD 9th Annual Fraud Conference – Speaker – “What Happens to the Business when Fraud or Other Illegal Activities Occur”
• 2014 Advanced Family Law Course – Speaker/Co-Author – “Employment Contracts and the Valuing Pension Benefits”
• 2014 The X’s and O’s of Employment Benefits – Speaker – “Cheaters Never Win – Faces of Fraud”
• 2014 Annette Stewart American Inn Court – Speaker – “Valuing Pension Benefits”
• 2014 Advanced Business Law Course – Speaker/Co-Author – “Representing the Growing Family-Owned Business”
• 2015 FEI Presentation – Panelist – “Death – Are You Prepared”
• 2015 Advanced Family Law Course – Speaker/Co-Author – “Dissecting Tax Returns”
• 2015 TCFLBA – Co-Presenter – “Reading Tax Returns” and “Direct & Cross of Financial Experts”
• 2015 New Frontiers in Marital Property Law – Panelist – “The Role of Experts in Characterizing and Tracing”
• 2016 Advanced Family Law Course – Speaker/Co-Author – “Tax Implications of the Divorce”
• 2018 Co-Presenter- Dallas Bench Bar – “Tax Returns and Business Valuation on a Shoestring”
• 2018 Mock Trial- TAFLS – Financial Expert Witness
• 2018 Speaker/Co-Author Advanced Trial Skills for Family Lawyers – “Expert Witnesses: Preparation & Direct of a Financial Expert”