About The Instructor
Chairman
Cotton & Company LLP
Dave Cotton is chairman of Cotton & Company LLP, Certified Public Accoun¬tants, headquartered in Alexan¬dria, Virginia. The firm was founded in 1981 and has a practice concentration in assist-ing Federal and State government agencies, inspectors general, and government grantees and contractors with a variety of govern¬ment 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 numer¬ous 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. Transportation Command, 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 me¬chanical engineering (1971) and an MBA in management science and labor rela¬tions (1972) from Lehigh University in Bethle¬hem, PA. He also pursued gradu¬ate 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 Gov-ernmental Accounting and Auditing Com¬mit¬tee and the Government Technical Standards Subcom¬mittee of the AICPA Profes¬sional Ethics Execu¬tive Commit¬tee. Dave chaired the Fraud Risk Management Task Force, sponsored by COSO and ACFE and is a principal author of the COSO-ACFE Fraud Risk Management Guide.
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 and currently serves on the AGA Professional Ethics Board. He is also a member of the Institute of Internal Auditors and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.