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Webcast Replay

Winter Seminar January 2020


Total Credits: 7

Speaker:
David L Cotton, CPA, CFE, CGFM
Duration:
7 Hours 32 Minutes
Format:
Audio and Video
License:

Dates


Description

Session# 1: 90 full minutes. Managing Versus Leading (75-90 min)
Most of us studied accounting, finance, business administration, or some other specific discipline in college.  We were successful in our jobs and got promoted to a management position.  Did anyone ever actually teach us how to manage?  Most of us aspire to be leaders.  If you are a successful manager, does that mean you have good leadership abilities?  This session explores the differences between managing and leading from both a theoretical and practical perspective and looks at some great and some terrible leaders from history.

 

Session #2 60 minutes Performance Auditing Made Easy (60-75 Minutes)
Unlike a traditional financial audit objective (Are the financial statements materially misstated?), performance auditing can address a wide variety of objectives (Is this program working? Can it be improved? Where can we save money? How can we operate more efficiently and effectively?).  This  session will explain what a performance audit is, describe the standards that must be followed, and provide examples that indicate the value of a performance audit.  Performance audits can add value to any entity and practitioners can profit from adding these assurance services to their practices.

 

Session #3 90 min. Ethic Traps: Let’s Examine Some Recent Real World
Cases (90-100 minutes)
This participant-interactive session will examine some recent real-world ethics cases.  Participants will weigh in on: 

  • What ethical principles were involved (and why are they important)? 
  • Were the “right” decisions made?
  • Were there better solutions?
  • Why were those involved blind to the ethical conundrums?
  • What are the lessons for CPAs from the case? 

These cases should illustrate why it is sometimes easy to fall prey to ethical transgressions and how we, as CPAs, can train ourselves to avoid ethics traps.

 

Session 4 120 min.Fundamentals of Accounting for Government Contracts and Grants (120-240 minutes)
Getting a large government grant or contract is exciting and can mean very positive things for both the procuring party and the performing party to the exchange transaction.  Tragedy can result, however, if proper accountability rules are not followed.  This session will cover the following fundamental topics:

  • Financial Accounting vs. Cost Accounting
  • Job or Process Costing
  • Charts of Accounts
  • Direct vs. Indirect Costs
  • Contract Types and Contract Cost Principles
  • Accounting for Particular Costs
  • Cost Allocations, Indirect Cost Pools and Rates
  • Costing vs. Pricing and Cost and Pricing Data Requirements
  • Internal Controls
  • Common Problems Areas

Procurements can be win-win transactions for both parties if the rules are known and followed.

 

AM Session - 8:30 to 12:00
Lunch - 12:00 to 12:45 
PM Session - 12:45 to 4:15

Handouts

Speaker

David L Cotton, CPA, CFE, CGFM's Profile

David L Cotton, CPA, CFE, CGFM Related Seminars and Products

COTTON & COMPANY LLP


Dave Cotton is chairman of Cotton & Company LLP, Certified Public Accoun­tants, headquartered in Alexan­dria, Virginia.  The firm was founded in 1981 and has a practice concentration in assist­ing Federal and State government agencies, inspectors general, and government grantees and contractors with a variety of govern­ment program-related assurance and advisory services.  Cotton & Company has performed grant and contract, indirect cost rate, financial statement, financial related, and performance audits for more than two dozen Federal inspectors general as well as numer­ous other Federal and State agencies and programs. 

Cotton & Company’s Federal agency audit clients have included the U.S. Government Accountability Office, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Capitol Police, U.S. Small Business Administration, U.S. Bureau of Prisons, Millennium Challenge Corporation, U.S. Marshals Service, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  Cotton & Company also assists numerous Federal agencies in preparing financial statements and improving financial management, accounting, and internal control systems.

Dave received a BS in me­chanical engineering (1971) and an MBA in management science and labor rela­tions (1972) from Lehigh University in Bethle­hem, PA.  He also pursued gradu­ate studies in accounting and auditing at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (1977 to 1978).  He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM).

Dave served on the Advisory Council on Government Auditing Standards (the Council advises the United States Comptroller General on promulgation of Government Auditing Standards—GAO’s yellow book) from 2006 to 2009.  He served on the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Anti-Fraud Programs and Controls Task Force and co-authored Managing the Business Risk of Fraud: A Practical Guide.  He served on the American Institute of CPAs Anti-Fraud Task Force and co-authored Management Override: The Achilles Heel of Fraud Prevention. Dave is the past-chair of the AICPA Federal Accounting and Auditing Subcommittee and has served on the AICPA Gov­ernmental Accounting and Auditing Com­mit­tee and the Government Technical Standards Subcom­mittee of the AICPA Profes­sional Ethics Execu­tive Commit­tee.  Dave chaired the Fraud Risk Management Task Force, sponsored by COSO and the ACFE and is a principal author of the COSO-ACFE Fraud Risk Management Guide.  He is presently serving on the AICPA’s Performance Audit Standards Task Force.

Dave served on the board of the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants (VSCPA) and on the VSCPA Litigation Services Committee, Professional Ethics Committee, Quality Review Committee, and Governmental Accounting and Auditing Committee.  He is a member of the Association of Government Accountants (AGA) and past-advisory board chairman and past-president of the AGA Northern Virginia Chapter.  He is also a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Dave has testified as an expert in governmental accounting, auditing, and fraud issues before the United States Court of Federal Claims and other administrative and judicial bodies. 

Dave has spoken frequently on cost accounting, professional ethics, and auditors’ fraud detection responsibilities under SAS 99, Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit.  He has been an instructor for the George Washington University masters of accountancy program (Fraud Examination and Forensic Accounting), and has instructed for the George Mason University Small Business Development Center (Fundamentals of Accounting for Government Contracts). 

Dave was the recipient of the AGA’s 2006 Barr Award (“to recognize the cumulative achievements of private sector individuals who throughout their careers have served as a role model for others and who have consistently exhibited the highest personal and professional standards”) as well as AGA’s 2012 Educator Award (“to recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to the education and training of government financial managers”).