Susan Weiss Budak is a consultant and author. As a consultant, she works
primarily with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA),
the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO)
and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Annually, she helps the
AICPA update its audit guide and disclosure checklist for not-for-profit
organizations. Susan is a co-author of the NACUBO Emerging Issues Updates
newsletter and FARM, NACUBO’s financial accounting and reporting manual. At the
FASB, she has served on many of the recent projects about not-for-profit
organizations, including managing a portion of the project on combinations of
not-for-profit organizations (SFAS No. 164) and the project about not-for-profit
organizations that raise or hold contributed resources for others (SFAS No.
136).
As an author, Susan annually contributes to three Practitioner’s Publishing
Company Guides, Guide to Nonprofit Contributions, Guide to Nonprofit Expenses,
and Nonprofit Financial Statement Illustrations and Trends. In recent years, she
was one of the authors of John Wiley & Sons annual publication, GAAP. She
also co-authored the FASB course materials, Accounting and Reporting by
Not-for-Profit Organizations: A Comprehensive View of Statements 116, 117, and
124 and the FASB Special Report, Results of the Field Test of the Proposed
Standards for Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Organizations and
Accounting for Contributions. Susan Weiss Budak received the 2008 Daniel D.
Robinson Accounting Award, which is presented by NACUBO to a volunteer who has
demonstrated a continuous commitment to the advancement of college and
university accounting and financial reporting. Prior to becoming a consultant,
Susan worked for the FASB and Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) as
a project manager on the research and technical activities staff. Her work at
FASB included the standards on contributions (SFAS No. 116), financial statement
display (SFAS No. 117), and investments (SFAS No. 124) for not-for-profit
organizations. At the GASB, she worked on the GASB reporting model for public
colleges and universities. Prior to joining the FASB staff, Susan held positions
as assistant controller and director of accounting services at Northwestern
University in Evanston, Illinois and senior accountant at Deloitte & Touche
in Chicago, Illinois. Susan received her M.M. from the Kellogg Graduate School
of Management and her B.B.A. from Loyola University.
Paula
serves as general or lead counsel for many national associations that represent
prominent economy-drivers, industries and professionals. A
selection
of her clients includes the American Architectural Manufacturers Association,
American College of Surgeons, Bank Administration Institute,
National
PTA and the American Library Association. In representing a wide variety of
nonprofits, she has developed the ability to focus on solutions when analyzing
the problems, issues and challenges of her clients.
Paula
personally strives to consistently bring creativity and insight to structural
and governance initiatives. Her guidance includes advising nonprofits on entity
formation and tax issues, as well as strategic development and regulatory
compliance. Paula is a frequent lecturer and has authored many articles on
nonprofit and association topics including governance, antitrust, copyright
issues, lobbying by exempt organizations, human resource issues, legal status of
chapters and the unrelated business income tax. Regardless of the matter at
hand, Paula is dedicated to renderingimpactful and productive counsel for
charitable organizations and associations. Given her decades of practice, Paula
knows from hands-on and hard-earned practical experience what nonprofits need to
remain viable and successful.
Jennifer
Casacchia, CPA, is a director with Sikich LLP’s not-for-profit and higher
education practices team at the firm’s headquarters in Naperville, Illinois. She
has more than 20 years of experience working extensively with not-for-profit
organizations, including associations, cultural organizations, educational
institutions, social service organizations, and a variety of other
not-for-profit organizations. Jennifer is a member of the American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants and the Illinois CPA Society. Jennifer serves as a
member of the AICPA Not-for-Profit Advisory Council, the ICPAS’s Not-for-Profit
Content Advisory Group and the ICPAS’s Not-for-Profit Organizations Committee.
Jennifer holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from North Central College. She
is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the state of Illinois.
Contact
Jennifer Casacchia at [email protected]
Sarah
Hughes is a Sr. Manager in the Chicago office of the Audit and Assurance
Services practice of Deloitte & Touche LLP. Sarah has spent 15 years
specializing in private company audits, primarily in the public sector, not for
profit and higher education industries. Serving as the lead senior manager on
her clients and as a specialized public sector and not-for-profit industry
expert, Sarah leads her teams through the successful execution of financial
statement audits, single audits under OMB Uniform Guidance, and other various
attest and agreed-upon-procedure engagements. Sarah is directly involved in the
desgining and execution of the firm's industry trainings and events, with a
focus on single audit and other compliance auditing
Megan
Angle, CPA has been with Porte Brown LLC for 13 years. Prior to joining the
Porte Brown team upon her graduation from Judson University, Megan had 4 years
of industry experience working for a Not-for-Profit organization while
completing her college education. As such, she brings a unique perspective to
her audit work. Megan serves as a board president for the Tri-Town YMCA as well
as a board member of her local chamber of commerce. Megan also serves as a Chair
of the Illinois CPA Society's Not for Profit Committee and a member of the
Committee Structure & Volunteerism Task Force. Megan is also a member of the
Association of Professional Fundraisers.