Samantha Petersen

Samantha Petersen is a managing director and the West region Unclaimed Property practice leader for KPMG’s State and Local Tax practice. With more than 19 years of diverse and dedicated unclaimed property experience, Samantha is a recognized authority and trusted business advisor for bringing companies into compliance with their unclaimed property reporting responsibilities. Samantha focuses on assisting clients with audit defense negotiations, managing voluntary disclosure programs and implementing compliance process improvements aimed at mitigating exposure.

Samantha began her unclaimed property career in industry at a large corporation  in Memphis, Tenn., where she was instrumental in implementing the company’s unclaimed property reporting processes, as well as drafting comprehensive policies and procedures. In doing so, Samantha holds the distinction of being one of the first to fully implement and integrate the Tracker™ reporting software with a company’s existing ERP systems.

With a career spanning more than 16 years in public accounting and unclaimed property consulting, Samantha has represented many FORTUNE 500 clients in the defense of unclaimed property audits, quantifying unclaimed property exposures, voluntary settlements, and identifying planning opportunities and process improvements to address unclaimed property at the root cause. Samantha has extensive experience in the use and implementation of various unclaimed property reporting systems and the development of unclaimed property policies and procedures customized to meet a company’s needs.

Samantha regularly speaks before trade and industry groups such as the Unclaimed Property Professionals Organization, Tax Executives Institute, American Payroll Association and the Institute of Management Accountants on the subject of unclaimed property. She received a BS degree in accounting from Christian Brothers University and a masters of business administration degree from Colorado Christian University. She is a certified fraud examiner with the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.