Government Conference Springfield (C41566)

Dave Cotton is chairman of Cotton & Company LLP, Certified Public Accountants. Cotton & Company is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. The firm was founded in 1981 and has a practice concentration in assisting United States 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 (including the Department of State, the Department of Justice, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Department of Homeland Security) 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, the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Small Business Administration, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and the U.S. Marshals Service. Cotton & Company also assists numerous Federal agencies in preparing financial statements and improving financial management and accounting systems.

Dave received his 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, Certified Fraud Examiner, and Certified Government Financial Manager. 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 is a member of the Advisory Council of the Academy for Government Accountability.

He is also a member of the advisory board of the Institute for Truth in Accounting. 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 AICPA's Anti-Fraud Task Force and co-authored Management Override: The Achilles Heel of Fraud Prevention. He is the past-chairman 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 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 member of the Greater Washington Society of CPAs (GWSCPA) and is serving on the GWSCPA Professional Ethics Committee. He is a member of the Association of Government Accountants (AGA) and is 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 and auditing issues and fraud issues before the United States Court of Federal Claims and other administrative and judicial bodies. Dave has also spoken frequently on professional ethics and auditors' fraud detection responsibilities under SAS 99, Consideration of Fraud in a Financial Statement Audit. He currently teaches at George Washington University (Fraud Examination and Forensic Accounting), and the George Mason University Small Business Development Center (Fundamentals of Accounting for Government Contracts).

Scott Reeser is a senior project manager with the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) in Norwalk, Connecticut. He is currently working on GASB projects related to the reexamination of the financial reporting model and capital assets. Previously, he has worked on several projects, including those leading to statements on accounting and financial reporting for postemployment benefits, fiduciary activities, and transactions reported as deferred outflows of resources and deferred inflows of resources.

Before joining the staff of the GASB in 2010, Mr. Reeser spent ten years working for the Office of the Comptroller in the State of Illinois. During that time, Mr. Reeser was responsible for the coordination and preparation of the state’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and the development of statewide accounting policies. His previous experience also includes over five years with a public accounting firm performing financial and compliance audits of not-for-profit entities and governmental agencies.

Mr. Reeser is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Illinois CPA Society.

John Naglick, Jr. Bio

John Naglick is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Walsh College and the Finance Director for the City of Detroit, reporting to the Emergency Manager appointed by the State of Michigan.  He has taught a number of classes at Walsh College over a span of more than three years.  Prior to his current position, he was Finance Director for the City of Pontiac, Michigan from April, 2010 to October, 2013 and was a member of the adjunct faculty at the University of Detroit Mercy.  Mr. Naglick earned BBA and MBA degrees from the University of Detroit.  He is a licensed CPA in the State of Michigan and earned the Certificate in Financial Forensics (CFF) from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.  In addition to his work with troubled units of government, he served as a Director with AlixPartners, LLP from 2007 to 2010, an international turnaround and financial advisory consultancy.  He has also served in the role of Chief Financial Officer for a number of for-profit corporations.  He was also an audit manager with Price Waterhouse following his undergraduate course work.  Naglick has also been a member of the Board of Directors for Ominicare, Inc, a NYSE listed company and for Preferred Health Plan, a predecessor organization to Health Alliance Plan and part of the Henry Ford Health System.  He is also a past President of the University of Detroit Mercy National Alumni Board.

Rebecca Hendrick received her Ph.D. in political science from Michigan State University (1986) and is currently a Professor in the Department of Public Administration at the University of Illinois at Chicago.      

Her current research merges the four subject areas of financial management, organizational behavior, public finance, and governance focusing on local governments in a regional context.  She is the author of the book entitled Managing the Fiscal Metropolis: The Financial Polices, Practices and Health of Municipalities,  (2012, Georgetown University Press).  The book examines how suburban municipal governments in the Chicago metropolitan area manage their finances during recessions and in response to a range of fiscal threats and opportunities.   The book pays particular attention to how these governments manage their finances within the fragmented system of local governance that exists in this region and the rules of local finance established by state government in Illinois.   

Professor Hendrick’s other research examines subjects such as tax competition, strategic management of state and local government, and the measurement of local government financial condition.  She has published widely in journals in public administration, political science, and public finance.

Professor Nugent received his Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness, Farm, and Financial Management and Master of Accounting Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his Juris Doctorate from the John Marshall Law School, now the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Law. Before coming to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, Mr. Nugent spent over 14 years working for the Auditor General of the State of Illinois performing complex financial audits, Single Audits, and compliance attestation examinations of the State's agencies, bonding authorities, universities, and retirement systems. He quickly rose from a staff auditor to the individual responsible for personally signing opinions, including rendering the various opinions within the State's Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR). At the end of his tenure, he served as the Auditor General's Technical Specialist, responsible for advising the Auditor General on the intersection of technical accounting, legal, and auditing matters encountered by his staff auditors and public accounting firms working under his authority.

At the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, Mr. Nugent teaches Intermediate Accounting, Auditing, Governmental and Nonprofit Accounting, and Business Law and is the faculty advisor to the Accounting and Finance Club. He researches and develops case studies, including recent case studies on § 280A of the Internal Revenue Code and non-profit frauds.

Jim White bio

Jim White has been a Senior Manager in the Public Sector Practice Group of Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP, since 2007. He has worked in accounting and auditing related roles for almost 20 years and has held positions with an international accounting firm and top Fortune 500 companies in both public accounting and internal audit roles.

In Jim’s current role, he develops engagement plans, identifies and evaluates significant internal control systems, determines reporting requirements, and assesses an organization’s compliance with laws and regulations with a focus on governmental and single audits.  Jim currently serves a wide-range of governmental entities throughout Illinois.