Ralph is the
author and instructional designer of the popular Accounting and Auditing Clinic™ presented
annually across the U.S. for scores of firms and thousands of attendees.
He is a sought-after conference speaker and course facilitator throughout the
U.S. and internationally.
Ralph has served the accounting profession for over 45 years in a variety of
capacities including audit partner, quality control director, and external peer
reviewer. He also served as a partner in the National Office of Accounting and
Auditing of the fifth largest international accounting firm, the U.S. Chief
Learning Officer for American Express Tax and Business Services, Inc., an
adjunct lecturer in accounting, finance, and economics at Northwestern
University in Evanston, Illinois, and the co-author, for a ten-year stint, of
the annual updates to the popular handbook, Wiley GAAP: Interpretation and
Application of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
In his current capacity, Ralph also serves as a technical quality control
consultant and pre-issuance financial statement reviewer for U.S.-based CPA
firms.
Linda Poeschel received her B.S. in Accounting from the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1996. She currently is a
Senior Manager in the Assurance Professional Practice group at Crowe Horwath LLP
(Crowe).
Linda spent the first twelve years of her accounting career as an auditor,
primarily focusing on commercial entities (manufacturers, distributors, and
service companies). Since 2008, Linda has been part of Crowe’s national
accounting and auditing practice. In this role, her activities include
performing quality control reviews over interim and annual financial statements,
reviewing consultations on complex transactions related to accounting and audit
standards, conducting training on new accounting and audit standards, reviewing
and commenting on exposure drafts for potential new standards, updating firm
methodology in response to new standards, and issuing practice and
implementation guidance related to new accounting and audit standards.
Linda also reviews engagements conducted under review and compilation
standards.
Linda was active in the firm’s acclimation to the FASB’s Accounting Standards
Codification (ASC) when it was launched in 2009 as the single source of
authoritative nongovernmental U.S. generally accepted accounting
principles. Linda has had a primary role in Crowe’s evaluation of the
Financial Reporting Framework for Small- and Medium-Sized Entities recently
issued by the AICPA, as an alternative non-GAAP accounting and financial
reporting framework. Further, she has been active in the evaluation
of draft and final standards issued by the FASB as a consensus of the PCC
(Private Company Council), including providing implementation tools, guidance
and examples for Crowe’s audit personnel.
Linda also participates as Crowe’s representative on a committee established
by The Center for Audit Quality and the Auditing Section of the American
Accounting Association. The committee was established to evaluate and
execute a program designed to facilitate accounting and auditing academics’
ability to obtain access to audit firm personnel to participate in their
research projects.
Linda’s industry areas of focus include general commercial entities,
dealership entities, construction entities, investment companies, and employee
benefit plans, including SEC registrants.
Morris Oldham is currently the CEO and principal of
Oldham Advisory Services, LLC, a limited liability company he formed to provide
consulting services to the business community upon his retirement from McGaldrey
& Pullen, LLP (“McGladrey”) on April 30, 2012. He was a Partner and
Director in the National Real Estate Group (Great Lakes Region) of McGladrey and
was formerly a Managing Director in the Real Estate Advisory Group of American
Express Tax & Business Services’ Chicago Metropolitan office from January
1999 (when American Express Company acquired the non-attest practice of
Altschuler Melvoin and Glasser LLP-“AM&G”) through September 30, 2005 when
the practice was acquired by RSM McGladrey Inc.. Through October 31, 2006,
he also was a partner in Altschuler, Melvoin and Glasser LLP.
Todd Shapiro
- Former President and CEO, Illinois CPA Society | [email protected]
Todd Shapiro is the former
President and CEO of the Illinois CPA Society. Mr. Shapiro also serveed as
President and CEO of the Illinois CPA Foundation, CPAs for the Public Interest
as well as ex-officio board member of the CPA Endowment Fund of Illinois.
Mr.
Shapiro joined the Society in 1998 and served as CFO for 14 years. Prior to
joining the Illinois CPA Society, Mr. Shapiro amassed 20 years of financial and
managerial experience as Director of Finance for Unilever, a multi-national
consumer package goods company, as well as with Helene Curtis, Quaker Oats,
Zenith Electronics and Continental Bank. Mr. Shapiro has a bachelor of science
degree in finance from the University of Illinois and a master’s in business
administration from DePaul University. He has held various elected offices
dating back to 1987. He is a current board member and past President of the
Lyons Township High School Board of Education and a former board member and
President of the La Grange Park Library District. Mr. Shapiro also serves on the
Accountancy Advisory Board for the University of Illinois Champaign–Urbana and
on the AICPA’s Future of Learning Task Force.
The Illinois CPA Society, with
more than 23,000 members, is one of the largest state CPA societies in the
nation. For more than a century the Society has advanced the highest ethical and
financial standards of the profession, and remains a leader in educating the
public on financial issues. The Society focuses on four key initiatives in
serving its members and the public: advocacy, information, education and connections.
Mark V. Hogan, Director of the NIU CPA
Review Department, is an Illinois CPA, attended the University of Illinois-
Champaign (BS Accountancy) and Northwestern University (MBA-Finance and
Accounting). He has worked in public accounting (Ernst&Young), and has
directed accounting, financial analysis, and internal audit departments at
several multi-billion dollar companies, recently serving as Controller and
Treasurer at Nicor National.
Mark has taught Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting, and Auditing at
several local universities, including Elmhurst College, Benedictine University,
Loyola University, and NIU.