ACPEN Signature: The Risk of Fraud in State and Local Governments

Daniel Porter, CFE, has conducted civil and criminal investigations for over 20 years as a licensed private investigator, a loss prevention manager, and as an investigator with the State of Tennessee. Currently, he is an investigative auditor in the Special Investigations Unit in the Office of the Comptroller of the Treasury, of the State of Tennessee where he investigates fraud involving public funds.

He is a Cum Laude graduate from Middle Tennessee State University's Criminal Justice Program and a CFE. He has provided training at AGA, AASHTO, CFE, GFOA, IIA, and NASACT conferences as well as for governmental agencies and professional organizations in various states including the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the Kentucky League of Cities, the Indiana CPA Society, the Oregon Society of CPAs and the Florida Institute of CPAs. He is a guest lecturer at Middle Tennessee State University and the Vanderbilt University School of Law.

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.

Cindy Byrd, CPA, is Oklahoma's 13th State Auditor & Inspector and the first woman elected to serve as the taxpayer's watchdog.

A CPA with over 25 years of government auditing experience, Cindy began her journey as an auditor in 1997.

Throughout her tenure, Cindy has moved through the ranks and conducted every type of government audit possible across Oklahoma. Her audits have identified millions of dollars in misappropriated tax dollars and waste of public funds at every level of government.

Cindy took on the role of County Audit Division Director in 2011. Through her leadership, the Division eliminated a five-year backlog of county audits.

In 2013, Cindy was appointed Deputy State Auditor over Local Government Services and served in that capacity until her election as State Auditor in 2018.

By the end of her second term, Cindy will have published over 3000 audits.

David L. Cotton, CPA, CFE, CGFM, is chairman of Cotton & Company LLP, Certified Public Accountants, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. The firm was founded in 1981 and has a practice concentration in assisting 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 as well as numerous other Federal and State agencies and programs. 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 mechanical engineering and an MBA in management science and labor relations from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA.  He also pursued gradu-ate studies in accounting and auditing at the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business.  He is a CPA, a Certified Fraud Examiner, and Certified Government Financial Manager. Dave served on the Advisory Council on Government Auditing Standards that advises the United States Comptroller General on promulgation of Government Auditing Standards—GAO's yellow book.  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 served on the board of the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants and on the VSCPA's Litigation Services Committee, Professional Ethics Committee, Quality Review Committee, and Governmental Accounting and Auditing Committee.  He is also a member of the Greater Washington Society of CPAs and serves on the GWSCPA Professional Ethics Committee.  He is a member of the Association of Government Accountants and 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, auditing, and fraud issues before the United States Court of Federal Claims and other administrative and judicial bodies.

Frank Crawford, CPA, is President of Crawford & Associates, P.C., Certified Public Accountants, an accounting firm located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The firm specializes in providing auditing, consulting and accounting services solely to governmental entities.

Over the last 25 years, Crawford & Associates has provided a variety of audit and accounting services to all sizes of government, including, but not limited to many types of financial audits and attestation services, planning and executing GASB 34 implementation plans, fraud investigations, internal control analysis, accounting policy and procedure development, contract internal auditing and internal monitoring, the development of management anti-fraud programs and controls, quality assurance reviews, training, capital asset record development and expert witness testimony.

Mr. Crawford has served as the Chair of the AICPA Government Expert Panel and the Oklahoma Society of CPAs Government Accounting and Auditing Committee, and has also been involved in a number of other AICPA committees and task forces as they relate to governmental accounting and auditing, including the AICPA Governmental Accounting and Auditing Committee, the AICPA Government and Not-For-Profit Expert Panel, the AICPA Government Performance and Accountability Committee, and the AICPA GASB 34 Audit Guide Revision Task Force. Mr. Crawford is also currently the Chairman of the AICPA National Governmental Accounting and Conference Planning Task Force, and is also a member of the Planning Committee of the AICPA's Government and Not-For-Profit Training Conference.

Over the years, Mr. Crawford has assisted both the AICPA and GASB in the development of several implementation guides as a member of an advisory group, task force or technical content provider. His experience with GASB 34 implementation and audit issues dates back to June 30, 1999, as auditor of the first general-purpose government in the United States to implement the requirements of GASB 34. Mr. Crawford is also currently working with many of the U.S. territories, commonwealths and freely-associated states on audit finding resolution and financial analysis projects.

Frank is a frequent lecturer, trainer and discussion leader for numerous groups, including U.S. Federal Government Agencies, CPA Firms and State Societies, and has appeared in several AICPA continuing professional education videos and live satellite CPE broadcasts and Webcasts produced by the Accounting Continuing Professional Education Network related to governmental accounting and auditing.