Sharon Hayes, CFE
Forensic Audit Manager
City of Virginia Beach
Sharon Hayes is the Deputy City Auditor over the Fraud Investigation Division for the City of Virginia Beach. She oversees the City’s Fraud Prevention and Detection Program. Sharon has served the City of Virginia Beach for over nineteen years. She is a Certified Fraud Examiner and has over 29 years of government auditing experience with 15 of those years concentrated in fraud examination.
Prior to working in the City of Virginia Beach, she worked with the federal government as an Auditor with the Office of the Inspector General for Tax Administration. She also taught for eleven years as an Accounting/Auditing Instructor at Bryant and Stratton College and developed curriculums in accounting, auditing, and ethics for 100 to 400 level courses.
Sharon has conducted many trainings on Fraud Prevention and Detection to City Departments. She assisted in developing the City’s Ethics Training Program where every City employee is required to attend. She trains the trainer for the program. She is a member of the City’s Ethics Steering Committee where she coordinates the meetings. She has also developed a fraud manual that has been shared with other localities in the development of their fraud prevention programs.
A local leader in the fraud investigation profession, she has conducted and supervised over 650 investigations. At the request of federal and state agencies, such as Federal Bureau of Investigation, Social Security Administration, Commonwealth Attorney’s Office and Medicaid, Sharon has provided information that assisted agencies with their investigations. She is considered a professional witness and has testified in many court and personnel board hearings that led to convictions and discipline actions being upheld.
Sharon holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Business Administration from Delaware State University. She holds Master of Science in Christian Counseling from Philadelphia Biblical University and in Accounting Information and Financial Management from Keller Graduate School.
