ACPEN Signature 2023-2024: Business Fraud Update and Managing the Risk of Fraud

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

Chairman Emeritus

Cotton & Company

David L. Cotton, CPA, CFE, CGFM, is an accountant with Cotton, a Sikich Company, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. He 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.

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).

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 ACFE and is a principal author of the COSO-ACFE Fraud Risk Management Guide. 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. 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 ACFE 2018 Certified Fraud Examiner of the Year Award (“presented to a CFE who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of 2 fraud examination … based on their contributions to the ACFE, to the profession, and to the community”).

Paul E. Coggins, JD Related Seminars and Products

Paul Coggins, JD, is a partner at Locke Lord LLP, where he co-chairs the firm’s national White Collar Criminal Defense and Internal Investigations practice. Paul served as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas from 1993 to 2001 and as the president of the National Association of Former United States Attorneys from 2019 to 2021. He received his B.A. in Political Science from Yale University and both a B.A. and a Diploma in Law from Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, before graduating from Harvard Law School.

Paul is a former radio host, a published author, a frequent speaker, and is involved in numerous public service organizations. Paul’s most recent novel (The Eye of the Tigress) was released in August 2021. His third Cash McCahill book (Chasing the Chameleon) is due out next year.

Sandra Johnigan, CPA Related Seminars and Products

Sandra Johnigan is a CPA, Certified in Financial Forensics, and a Certified Fraud Examiner. She currently serves as an Editorial Advisor to the Journal of Accountancy. She served a four-year term, completed in 2016, as a member of the Auditing Standards Board of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). She is also one of the principal authors of the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission’s (COSO) Fraud Risk Management Guide. The Guide is intended to serve as best practices guidance for organizations when implementing the COSO fraud risk assessment principle.

Ms. Johnigan is engaged by public companies in civil litigation involving internal controls, disclosures, fraud and accounting issues in SEC filings. Engagements by accounting firms have included the application of auditing standards and accounting principles to a wide variety of issues, including internal controls, allowance for loan losses, financial instruments, revenue recognition and detection of fraud. She has also been engaged by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Prior to her current consulting, Ms. Johnigan was an audit partner with EY, where she served as the National Office Chair of both the Thrift Industry Group and Real Estate Industry Group, and Co-Chair of the Financial Services Group. She previously was chair of the AICPA Forensic & Litigation Services Committee and served on the AICPA Council and the AICPA Forensic and Valuation Services Executive Committee.

John D. Gill, JD, CFE Related Seminars and Products

John D. Gill, J.D., CFE, graduated from the University of Arkansas with a Bachelor’s Degree in English. In 1990, he received his J.D., with honors, from the University of Texas School of Law.

Prior to working for the ACFE, Mr. Gill was an attorney in the Austin, Texas office of the law firm of Bragg, Smithers and Curry, where he was involved with civil fraud, insurance, and deceptive trade practices cases. He was the editor of the DTPA Forms and Practice Guide, written by David Bragg and Michael Curry.

In 1995, Mr. Gill joined the ACFE and served as both its general counsel and the manager of the Research Department for nine years. When the Research Department expanded in 2003, he took on the role of Research Director where he oversaw the development of dozens of educational products. In 2009, he was promoted to Vice President – Education. In that capacity, he continues to assist in the production and development of books, manuals, self-study courses, seminars, and conferences produced by the ACFE.

He serves on the faculty of the ACFE and is a co-instructor of the CFE Exam Review class. He is a co-author of The Fraud Examiners Manual. He is the publisher of and a contributing author to Fraud Magazine.

Mr. Gill is a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the Austin Chapter of ACFE, Phi Beta Kappa, and the State Bar of Texas.

Katherine Miller, JD Related Seminars and Products

Assistant

United States Attorney Northern District of Texas

Katherine Miller is an Assistant United States Attorney and Chief of the Economic Crimes and Public Corruption Section in the Dallas Office of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.  

She has handled primarily criminal white collar matters for over seventeen years as a federal prosecutor.  She previously served as an Assistant District Attorney in North Texas following several years of private practice at a Dallas firm.  She earned her undergraduate degrees from Southern Methodist University and her law degree from the University of Texas School of Law. 

Kevin M. Rockecharlie, CISA Related Seminars and Products

Principal

CohnReznick

Kevin M. Rockecharlie, CISA, A former Partner/Principal of Information Technology Assurance Services for CohnReznick, LLP in Dallas, TX. Kevin has more than 20+ years of experience providing assurance and consulting services to a wide range of industries working with both public and privately held companies. Kevin’s expertise includes implementing technical accounting guidance such as ASC 606 (Revenue Recognition), implementing artificial intelligence in financial audits, configuration of financial systems, development of data analytics, evaluating and recommending cybersecurity controls as well as performing information technology audits. Kevin has held positions at Accenture, Protiviti, Alcatel-Lucent (Nokia) and Dell Computer. Kevin graduated from Texas Tech University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems. He also holds a Master of Science in Accounting and Information Management as well as a Master of Business Administration.

Vincent M. Walden, CPA, CFE Related Seminars and Products

CEO

Kona AI

Vincent Walden, CPA, CFE, is CEO of KonaAI, specializing in forensic data analytics, continuous controls monitoring, anti-bribery & corruption analytics and compliance. His primary area of concentration is in providing leading technology and perspectives on both proactive compliance programs and reactive investigations and is 2022’s CFE of the Year by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Prior to leading KonaAI as their CEO, he was a managing director at Alvarez & Marsal, and a partner at Ernst & Young’s Forensic & Integrity Services Practice in Dallas, New York and Atlanta. Before EY, he worked at KPMG and Arthur Andersen. During his career, he also served as President and CFO of a privately-funded Internet company, which was subsequently sold to a Fortune 500 Company.

As an industry thought leader, Mr. Walden sits on Compliance Week’s Advisory Board and is featured in many publications including Internal Auditor Magazine, Compliance Week, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review and The Economist. He is a regular columnist for FRAUD Magazine and writes about anti-fraud innovation. As part of COSO’s Anti-Fraud Task Force, Mr. Walden co-authored its “Fraud Risk Management Guide”, which was released in September 2016 and is being updated in 2022. He also hosts a bi-weekly podcast show, “The Walden Pond”, which focuses on compliance innovation and is an Adjunct Professor at Fordham Law School teaching on compliance technology & innovation.

Mr. Dennis F. Dycus, CFE, CPA, CGFM Related Seminars and Products

Dennis F. Dycus, CPA, CFE, CGFM, is retired, after 39 years in the Office of The Comptroller of the Treasury of the State of Tennessee as the Director of the

Division of Municipal Audit where he was responsible for the audits of all local governments in Tennessee. His responsibilities included conducting investigations related to fraud, waste and abuse in local governments.

For the last several years, Dennis has developed and/or conducted training programs in all fifty U.S. states and in various countries for the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and many state CPA societies and associations. In addition, Dennis has provided training for the United States, GAO, Department of Labor, the Environmental Protection Agency, the GAO and the OMB. He has also worked with numerous state audit organizations and individual professional firms.

Mary O'Connor, CPA Related Seminars and Products

Ms. O’Connor is Partner, Forensic and Valuation Services of Sikich LLP specializing in forensic consulting in litigation and fraud matters for corporations, municipalities, and schools.
Ms. O’Connor has provided litigation consulting and expert witness testimony to Federal, State, and local jurisdictions across the United States and internationally. She routinely works with companies and organizations to solve issues related to employee dishonesty and to provide independent support for insurance claims, civil litigation, and restitution matters.
Becoming a Partner of Sikich LLP in 2010, she was formerly employed by the international forensic accounting firm of RGL, Inc., and Deloitte. She holds a B.A. from the University of Illinois, Urbana, and an M.B.A. with a concentration in finance from Georgia State University, Atlanta. She also holds a certificate in internal controls from the University of Georgia, Athens.