Ozarks Profile: Angela Morelock

What is your job?

Managing consultant, Baird, Kurtz & Dobson, CPAs. Morelock is a certified public accountant and a certified fraud examiner. She is responsible for assisting BKD clients with a wide range of fraud and embezzlement issues. Her duties include performing fraud investigations, interviewing suspect employees, determining and documenting embezzlement losses, preparing reports on findings, working with law enforcement, prosecutors and attorneys in criminal and civil trials, providing expert witness testimony and assisting clients with preparing and filing fidelity bond/employee dishonesty insurance claims.

Tell us about your organization.

BKD is a regional accounting firm, providing a full range of accounting and consulting services to a wide variety of industries and businesses. Morelock has worked for BKD for eight years. The firm reported 166 employees, including 71 CPAs, in September 2000.

What is your educational background?

Morelock graduated summa cum laude from Southwest Missouri State University with a bachelor of science degree in accounting. In addition, she completes 60 hours of continuing professional education each year on fraud and accounting issues.

What jobs led you to your current one?

"I chose to join BKD right after graduating from college ... I started with BKD doing financial statement audits, primarily for financial institutions. After several years as an auditor, I moved into BKD's consulting division to do business valuations and litigation support work. I obtained my designation as a certified fraud examiner in 1999 and now fraud is virtually all that I do."

Give us some personal information.

Morelock is 33 and grew up in Springfield, graduating from Central High School. She is married to Robert Morelock and they have three children: Amanda, 15, Kathryn, 10, and Robert Jr., 4 weeks. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her family, reading and boating at Bull Shoals Lake. She is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Missouri Society of Certified Public Accountants. She also serves on the board of directors of the Springfield chapter of the American Diabetes Association and is a member of the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce Workforce Development Council.

What is the best part of your job?

"As the old adage indicates, variety is the spice of life, and there is plenty of variety in the kind of work that I do. I particularly enjoy the variety of people, businesses and industries that I have the privilege of working with and the various situations that arise." Morelock said her favorite part of the fraud-related work that she does is helping clients prevent fraud. "I would much rather help a client prevent a problem in the first place than to clean it up after the fact. I am a big believer in fraud prevention."

What is your favorite business lunch spot?

Springfield Brewing Company.

by Melissa Wilson