Speakers

Francis "Abe" Dymond, Chief of Staff
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
Plenary Session
Friday, January 18, 2019, 8:45 am - 9:45 am

Previously, Mr. Dymond was special counsel to Board Member Jeanette M. Franzel. He assisted her as she advanced, among other initiatives, the PCAOB's use of research and analyses; relationship with academia; outreach to audit committees; and focus on audit quality indicators and audit firm quality control systems.

Prior to joining the PCAOB in 2012, Mr. Dymond served as assistant general counsel and assistant director for auditing at the Government Accountability Office. He led audit and review engagements related to federal agency financial management and their programs.

Mr. Dymond provided legal counsel for a wide range of federal financial management and auditing issues, assisted the U.S. Congress in its oversight role, and provided advice to the comptroller general on government auditing standards. He also served as general counsel to the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board, which promulgates accounting standards for the federal government.

Before joining GAO in 2002, Mr. Dymond served on active duty in the U.S. Army as a judge advocate, a military lawyer, at various international and domestic posts, serving in various capacities including military prosecutor, special assistant U.S. attorney, contracts and fiscal attorney, and administrative lawyer.

Mr. Dymond earned a B.A. from Ripon College, a J.D. from Hamline University School of Law, an MBA from the University of Minnesota, and an LL.M. from The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School of the U.S. Army.

William R. Titera, CPA, Partner – Ernst & Young LLP (retired)
Excellence in Education Workshop
Thursday, January 17, 2019, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

William R. Titera retired after 35 years with Ernst & Young LLP. He spent the last third of his career leading EY’s audit technology initiative in the Americas and working in EY’s national Standards & Methodology group. Prior to that time he served in EY’s health care practice and worked with integrated health systems, managed care organizations and physician groups.

Experience
Bill has served many well known health care organizations, such as the Adventist Health System, Sutter Health, Intermountain Health Care, the Cleveland Clinic, and the Mayo Clinic; He has served as E&Y’s National Health Care Accounting & Auditing Director, National Director of Tools & Techniques and as a member of its Professional Practice auditing group.

Leader in the Profession
Bill has extensive experience in standard setting, and has chaired various professional committees. Most recently, he chaired the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’ (AICPA’s) Assurance Services Executive Committee, one of the Institute’s senior committees, where he focused on emerging issues, including strategic direction, legislative and regulatory concerns and enterprise risk management. He has also chaired the AICPA’s Health Care Committee and has experience with regulatory affairs, having led a special task force on fraud and abuse involving the HHS Office of the Inspector General. He is a leader in technology, having chaired the XBRL Assurance Task Force at the time the SEC mandated its usage. He was recently recognized by the AICPA as a “pioneer and Innovator.” He also is a former member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) Not-for-Profit Committee.

Education and Certifications
Bill earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration in 1976 from the University of Washington, where he graduated summa cum laude. He is a certified public accountant and is a member of the American Institute of CPAs, the California Society of CPAs, the Ohio State Society of CPAs, the Utah Association of CPAs, and the Washington State Society of CPAs. He has been a member of the Association of Fraud Examiners, an advanced member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Board Involvement
Bill currently serves on the Rutgers’ University Continuous Auditing & Reporting Advisory Board and the Nellie Martin Carmen Scholarship Board.

Personal
Bill and his wife, Dorothy, have five grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bill serves as a local leader in his Church and has been involved in other community activities. He enjoys being active and has run a number of marathons.

Roger O’Donnell, KPMG LLP, Partner, Global Head Data and Analytics, Audit
Excellence in Education Workshop Panelist
Thursday, January 17, 2019 1:00 pm – 5:30 pm

Roger O’Donnell is an Audit Partner in KPMG’s New York office and is the Global Head of Data and Analytics, Audit. In this role, he is responsible for the global development and execution of the firm’s strategy in using data and analytics in our audit practice. Working with KPMG’s global advisory and tax data and analytic leaders, as well as innovators from our Global Solutions Center in Montvale, Roger is identifying and helping teams create new capabilities for the global audit practice using data and analytics, process automation and cognitive capabilities to improve audit quality. His work includes our efforts with strategic alliance partners such as Microsoft and IBM. Prior to his current responsibilities, Roger served as the New York Metro Consumer and Industrial Markets Leader. In that role, he assisted in the coordination of tax, audit and advisory service offerings to KPMG clients in New York consumer and industrial markets. Roger continues to currently serve as the lead audit engagement partner and account leader for multi-national consumer market companies. He has served as the lead partner on multiple public audit clients.

Roger has served multinational companies for the majority of his career, dealing with the global issues facing his audit teams and clients. He has worked with global engagement teams in coordinating services provided by KPMG, dealt with all accounting and reporting matters raised at his clients. As the engagement partner on multinational clients, Roger works directly with each of the KPMG teams in their countries.

Roger has significant experience in working with clients on mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings and various registration filings. Roger was also a member of KPMG’s U.S. Capital Markets Practice assisting foreign companies in their registration with the SEC to sell equity or debt securities in the United States. As part of that position and the multinational companies that he has served, Roger has had extensive involvement with addressing significant financial reporting and accounting issues and matters with clients and the SEC staff.

Phillip Austin, BDO USA, LLP
Excellence in Education Workshop Panelist
Thursday, January 17, 2019 1:00 pm – 5:30 pm

Phillip Austin has over 27 years of public accounting experience, including client-facing service delivery, public policy, corporate governance, audit quality, and professional practice oversight. Phillip has provided services to entities in a wide range of industries with a primary focus on financial services, technology services, manufacturing and mining.

For a significant portion of his career, Phillip served in a client service partner role, providing audit and other attest services to a diverse mix of privately and publicly held clients. His experience includes auditing, ICFR attestation, IFRS and US GAAP technical accounting advisory. He has substantial experience in establishing strategy and instituting transformation programs that change the way audits are delivered, and improving the experience for clients and professionals executing audits.

Currently, Phillip serves as BDO’s National Managing Partner of Auditing. In this role, he oversees how BDO performs public and private company audits and attestation services, including the technical support functions for the nonprofit EBT and SOC practices. Phillip focuses on helping to refresh BDO’s audit strategy, leading the transformation of BDO’s approach to audit execution, and enhancing BDO’s approach to audit methodology consultations with the practice, further developing the reach and depth of BDO’s global and IFRS services, and leading the national audit team.

Phillip currently chairs BDO’s Assurance Committee, which sets firm policy governing the delivery of audit and attestation services. He participates in developing and implementing the firm’s plan for improving audit quality and contributed to the firm’s annual Audit Quality Report.

Phillip is a member of the AICPA, the Connecticut and Illinois CPA societies, and the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants. Phillip earned a BCompt. in accounting science with honors from the University of South Africa.

Greg Reynolds, Executive Director, Assurance, Ernst & Young
Excellence in Education Workshop Panelist
Thursday, January 17, 2019 1:00 pm – 5:30 pm

Greg is currently an Executive Director in the Southeast Audit Quality Network, serving as the Inspection Support Leader. Greg also serves as the Quality Network Digital Liaison for the Southeast Region. He has over 17 years of experience across a broad variety of industries. Greg spent the first seven years of his career in client service, primarily focused on the manufacturing industry, with other experience in software, real estate, banking and other industries. For the next six plus years, Greg worked with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board – more than 4 years in their Division of Registration and Inspections performing inspections of Big 4, regional, and international firms and more than two years in their Office of Research and Analysis. During his time in the Office of Research and Analysis, he supported various initiatives of the Board with a focus on the pharmaceutical/biotech, energy, utilities, mining, and paper product industries. Using his prior experience from both a client service and regulatory perspective, Greg joined EY in the Southeast Region’s audit quality function assisting with inspections support, team coaching, and other quality initiatives.

Greg received his Bachelors of Business Administration and Masters of Accountancy from the University of Georgia. He is a member of the AICPA and a licensed CPA in Georgia.

Ed Wilkens, Deloitte & Touche, LLP.
Excellence in Education Panelist
Thursday, January 17, 2019 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm

Ed is the national insurance Audit & Assurance leader, overseeing quality, operations, talent, and succession planning for Deloitte & Touche LLP. He is part of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners/American Institute of Certified Public Accountants task force and acts as one of the Firm’s statutory clearing consultation partners, assisting clients with complex statutory accounting issues. Ed has served some of the most prominent global insurance companies in the Deloitte portfolio. He is a frequent speaker at trade organizations such as the Insurance Accounting and Systems Association.

Charlie Bame-Aldred, Executive Professor in Accounting and Co-Founder of the HUB of Analytics Education
Excellence in Education Workshop
Thursday, January 17, 2019 1:00 pm – 5:30 pm

Charlie is the President, Chairman and Co-Founder of the HUB of Analytics Education. Charlie also serves as an Executive Professor at Northeastern University. Prior to joining the academic ranks, Charlie was a Senior Manager with KPMG and a Controller at First Union Capital Markets. In 2013, he began developing educational materials to infuse big data analytics into the business curriculum. These efforts led to the development of the HUB of Analytics Education, a provider of Open Educational Resources for faculty.

Chris Dinkel, PwC
Excellence in Auditing Education Workshop Discussion Leader
Thursday, January 17, 2019 1:00 pm – 5:30 pm

Chris Dinkel is a Partner in PwC’s National Office in Florham Park, New Jersey, working in the Auditing Services, Methods & Tools group. In that role, his primary responsibilities include supporting PwC’s PCAOB inspection process, authoring technical guidance related to the application of PCAOB and AICPA auditing standards, and consulting with engagement teams on a variety of technical auditing topics. Chris has been with PwC for 25 years, seven of which have been spent internationally, principally serving large, multinational public companies in the technology sector. In addition to Florham Park, New Jersey, he has worked in Austin, Texas, San Jose, California, Singapore, and Malaysia.
Chris joined PwC in 1993 after graduating from Southwestern University with a degree in accounting. He is a member of the AICPA, is a CPA in Texas and New Jersey, and currently serves on the CAQ’s Research Advisory Board.

Panel: The PCAOB’s New Strategic Plan: What Will It mean for the Auditing Profession?
Friday, 10:15 am – 11:45 am

Moderator
Cynthia M. Fornelli Executive Director Center for Audit Quality

Cindy Fornelli is the Executive Director of the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ). Ms. Fornelli serves on the Advisory Board of the Ira M. Millstein Center for Global Markets and Corporate Ownership, the Advisory Board of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, the Audit & Risk Oversight Committee Advisory Council of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the Disclosure and Transparency Committee of the International Corporate Governance Network, and the Markets Advisory Council of the Council of Institutional Investors. She previously served on the NACD's 2010 Blue Ribbon Commission on the Audit Committee and 2009 Blue Ribbon Commission on Risk Governance.

In 2018, Ms. Fornelli was named for the 10th time to the NACD Directorship list of the 100 most influential people in corporate governance. Additionally, she has appeared for 12 consecutive years on Accounting Today’s roster of the Top 100 Most Influential People. She has been named to CPA Practice Advisor’s list of the Most Powerful Women in Accounting, was included on Compliance Week’s “Top Minds 2017” list, and has received a Special Award of Merit from the American Accounting Association’s Auditing Section.

Prior to becoming the CAQ's Executive Director, Ms. Fornelli was the Regulatory and Conflicts Management Executive at Bank of America. Before joining Bank of America, Ms. Fornelli was Deputy Director of the Division of Investment Management of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where she was responsible for implementing SEC policy, rules, and regulations in the investment company and investment advisory industries.
Ms. Fornelli is a graduate of Purdue University and received her JD at The George Washington University. A former securities lawyer, she is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the American Bar Association.

Panelists

Francis “Abe” Dymond Chief of Staf Public Company Accounting Oversight Board

Abe Dymond was named chief of staff for the PCAOB by Chairman William D. Duhnke on January 2, 2018. He advises the board on all matters that come before the PCAOB, works closely with Board members and staff, and assists the chairman in his management and administration of the PCAOB.

Previously, Mr. Dymond was special counsel to Board Member Jeanette M. Franzel. He assisted her as she advanced, among other initiatives, the PCAOB's use of research and analyses; relationship with academia; outreach to audit committees; and focus on audit quality indicators and audit firm quality control systems.

Prior to joining the PCAOB in 2012, Mr. Dymond served as assistant general counsel and assistant director for auditing at the Government Accountability Office. He led audit and review engagements related to federal agency financial management and their programs.

Mr. Dymond provided legal counsel for a wide range of federal financial management and auditing issues, assisted the U.S. Congress in its oversight role, and provided advice to the comptroller general on government auditing standards. He also served as general counsel to the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board, which promulgates accounting standards for the federal government.

Before joining GAO in 2002, Mr. Dymond served on active duty in the U.S. Army as a judge advocate, a military lawyer, at various international and domestic posts, serving in various capacities including military prosecutor, special assistant U.S. attorney, contracts and fiscal attorney, and administrative lawyer.

Mr. Dymond earned a B.A. from Ripon College, a J.D. from Hamline University School of Law, an MBA from the University of Minnesota, and an LL.M. from The Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School of the U.S. Army.

Trent Gazzaway
National Managing Partner of Quality and Innovation for Audit Services
Grant Thornton

Trent Gazzaway is the national managing partner of Quality and Innovation for Audit Services at Grant Thornton. As a member of the firm’s Senior Leadership Team, he oversees all quality control functions for the firm’s Audit practice. His experience includes auditing public and private companies, and assisting companies in improving and evaluating internal control systems. Mr. Gazzaway previously served as the firm’s national managing partner of Professional Standards and its national managing partner of Public Policy and Corporate Governance. In addition to his audit experience, he routinely collaborates with members of Congress, regulators and key policy groups to help shape public policy that affects the accounting profession, investors, businesses and the capital markets.

In 2009, Mr. Gazzaway led the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) project team in developing guidance on effective monitoring of internal control (www.coso.org). He was also a member of the advisory committee for COSO’s 2013 update to the Internal Control — Integrated Framework.
Mr. Gazzaway earned a BS, Business Administration from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, and a MBA, Accounting, from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.

Joseph B. Ucuzoglu Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Deloitte & Touche LLP

Joe Ucuzoglu is the chairman and chief executive officer of Deloitte & Touche LLP.
As the leader of the US Audit & Assurance practice, Joe is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the organization including execution of our quality, innovation, growth, and talent strategies. He maintains significant audit client responsibilities, serving as the advisory partner for selected client engagements, and is a frequent speaker on issues impacting the audit profession and regulatory landscape. Joe also serves on Deloitte’s Global Board of Directors.
Recognized as a leader in the public accounting profession’s drive to continuously improve audit quality, Deloitte’s public company audit clients in the US total over $8 trillion in market capitalization and include 23 percent of Fortune 1000 companies.

Previously, Joe was Deloitte’s national managing partner for government, regulatory, and professional matters. In this role, he was responsible for Deloitte’s interactions with regulators and elected officials as well as overseeing the government affairs, public policy, independence, and ethics functions.

Prior to rejoining Deloitte, Joe served as senior advisor to the chief accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), advising on complex accounting, auditing, and public policy matters, and interacting frequently with other governmental agencies and Congress.

Joe is a graduate of the University of Southern California (USC). He serves on the board of directors of the US Chamber of Commerce, the board of trustees of the SEC Historical Society, and the executive committee of USC’s SEC Financial Reporting Institute. He is a member of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, an independent research organization dedicated to enhancing the competitiveness of US capital markets and ensuring stability of the US financial system, and is active in the Center for Audit Quality, an autonomous group devoted to fostering high-quality performance by public company auditors.

Panel: Are Universities Providing Accountants with the Skillsets Needed for “Accounting” Jobs of the Future?
Saturday, 10:15 am – 11:45 am
Moderator

Dr. Jay C. Thibodeau Professor Bentley University

Dr. Jay C. Thibodeau is a former auditor and a certified public accountant. He received his BS degree from the University of Connecticut in December 1987 and his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut in August 1996. He joined the faculty at Bentley in September of 1996 and has worked there ever since. Dr. Thibodeau’s off-campus commitments include consulting with the Audit Learning and Development group at KPMG. Dr. Thibodeau’s scholarship is focused on audit judgment and decision making and audit education. He is a co-author of two textbooks and has written over fifty journal articles and book chapters for academics and practitioners in outlets such as Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, Journal of Information Systems, Accounting Horizons and Issues in Accounting Education. Professor Thibodeau recently served as the President of the Auditing Section of the American Accounting Association. He has received national recognition for his work five times. First, for his thesis, winning the 1996 Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award presented by the ABO section of the AAA. Three other times, for curriculum innovation, winning the 2001 Joint AICPA/AAA Collaboration Award, the 2003 Innovation in Assurance Education Award and the 2016 Teaching Innovation Award from the Forensic Accounting Section. And finally, for outstanding service, receiving a Special Service Award from the Auditing Section of the AAA for his work in helping to create the “Access to Auditors” program.

Panelists

Dr. Tina D. Carpenter Associate Professor University of Georgia

TINA D. CARPENTER, PH.D, CPA is an Associate Professor of Accounting, and EY Faculty Fellow in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. Her research investigates the prevention and detection of fraudulent financial reporting. She was awarded the AAA Auditing Section Outstanding Dissertation Award for her dissertation on fraud brainstorming, and was recently awarded the AAA Deloitte Wildman Medal Award. Three of her other papers have been awarded the AAA ABO Section Outstanding Manuscript. Her research is published in journals such as The Accounting Review, Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, Accounting Horizons, Behavioral Research in Accounting, Journal of Business Ethics, and Issues in Accounting Education. Her research contributes to theory and practice. As a result, Dr. Carpenter has been invited twice to serve on a fraud panel at the PCAOB, and her research has been cited by the PCAOB, the SEC, and in TIME magazine. KPMG, PwC, The Institute of Internal Auditors Foundation, and The Institute for Fraud Prevention have all provided grants to support her research. Dr. Carpenter was recently interviewed by the United States Department of Defense for her expertise in fraud. She was also recently selected by the AAA and PCAOB to serve on a research team to synthesize fraud research, and was invited to write a fraud chapter in the Routledge Companion to Auditing book. She has been recognized for teaching excellence with awards at the department, college, and university levels. Prior to obtaining her Ph.D., she was a senior auditor with Arthur Andersen.

Mark E. Peecher Professor University of Illinois

Mark E. Peecher, CPA, PhD is a Professor of Accountancy and holder of the Deloitte Professorship in Accountancy at UIUC’s College of Business. He also serves as Associate Dean of Faculty at the Gies College of Business, and as Academic Director of the Center for Professional Responsibility in Business and Society in the College of Business and holds courtesy appointment with UIUC’s College of Law. He specializes in behavioral auditing and financial accounting research and focuses on topics such as the detection of deception, professional skepticism, materiality, and investor valuation of high-quality financial reporting. After earning three accountancy degrees from UIUC, he joined the faculty at the University of Washington before returning to his alma mater. In the AAA, Mark has served as the Audit Section's President, on the Pathways Commission, and most recently on the Audit Section’s Nomination Committee. His business-press writings have appeared in CFO.com and The Wall Street Journal, and his academic articles have appeared in Accounting, Organizations & Society (AOS), Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory (AJPT), Contemporary Accounting Research (CAR), International Journal of Auditing (IJA), Journal of Accounting Research (JAR), Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes (OBHDP), and The Accounting Review (TAR). He has presented his work at numerous venues, is an Editor-in-Chief for AOS, and a former Editor at TAR. An award-winning instructor, Mark enjoys teaching undergraduate, masters and doctoral students and is a prior recipient of Audit Section’s Innovation in Auditing and Assurance Award. He particularly likes supervising doctoral students, six of whom have won outstanding dissertation awards. He and his wife Tracie reside with their three sons Ben, Eli and Zac in Urbana, IL.

Joseph H. Schroeder Assistant Professor Indiana University

Joe Schroeder is an Assistant Professor at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. Joe earned his Ph.D. in Accounting from Michigan State University in 2013 and his B.S. and M.S. in Accounting from Ball State University in 2003 and 2004, respectively. Joe is also a Certified Public Accountant licensed in the State of Indiana. Prior to his academic career, Joe worked five years as a senior auditor with the Indianapolis office of EY, LLP. Joe’s research examines the impact of auditing on financial reporting and disclosure quality, as well as the impact of regulation on the auditor/client dynamic. His work has appeared in The Accounting Review, Contemporary Accounting Research, Review of Accounting Studies and Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory. He has also been the recipient of many teaching awards at the IU Kelley School of Business including the Harry C. Sauvain Teaching Award, the Trustees Teaching Award, and the Innovation in Teaching Award.

Melissa Stanton Director of National Audit Solutions Team KPMG

Melissa Stanton is a Director with KPMG’s National Audit Solutions team and has been with KPMG for over 17 years. Melissa currently serves as the Project Lead for the KPMG Master of Accounting with Data and Analytics Program.
Melissa has eight years of experience providing professional audit services primarily within the financial services – Insurance industry. She also has experience with government and higher education audits. Melissa spent eight years with KPMG’s Business School-Audit and was responsible for leading the teams that created various core audit training programs including Insurance for Partner/Manager, Private Markets Group, Associate and Senior Associate National Training Programs. Melissa was responsible for designing, developing and leading the team that created eAudIT training during its initial deployment.

Panel: What Exactly ARE Internal Controls? Navigating the Mystery for Research and Teaching.
Friday, 3:45 pm – 5:15 pm
Moderator

Patricia Johnson Professor D’Youville College

Pat is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner. She has a broad variety of experience – education, public accounting, and industry. Her most recent experience has been in higher education, teaching at Canisius College in Buffalo for over 20 years. While at Canisius, she served as the Program Coordinator for the Master of Science in Forensic Accounting, a degree program that she was instrumental in establishing at the college. Pat also maintains an accounting practice that focuses on small businesses and not-for-profit entities. Currently she is an Adjunct Professor at D’Youville College and provides consulting services for local companies.

Pat is currently the chair of the American Accounting Association’s Auditing Section Education Committee and previously served as vice-chair. She is also active in the Forensic Accounting Section of AAA., currently serving as treasurer.
In addition to teaching courses in auditing, fraud examination and forensic accounting, she teaches a variety of financial accounting courses. Pat is the 2015 recipient of the Mark Chain/FSA Award for Innovation in Graduate Teaching.

Pat currently serves on the board of the Buffalo Chapter of New York State Society of CPAs, the New York Council of Nonprofits and The Arc of Erie County, where she is currently the treasurer. She is a past chair of the Higher Education Advisory Committee of the ACFE and authored the bi-monthly FraudEDge column in Fraud magazine.
Pat is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and received her MBA from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Panelists

Brian Fox President & Founder Confirmation.com

Brian is president and founder of Confirmation, the trusted global provider of digital confirmations, as well as an industry thought-leader and frequent speaker on accounting and fraud issues. Brian is recognized as the creator of electronic confirmations, and he received the first seven patents granted on the process. He is also one of the founders and a board member of Rivio, a joint-venture between the AICPA and Confirmation that ensures the secure exchange of private-company financial data.

Brian was instrumental at writing electronic audit confirmations into the world’s auditing standards. Confirmation has 10 offices around the globe and processes more than U.S. $1 trillion of financial data for customers in more than 160 countries.

Brian is a five-time winner of the accounting profession’s “Top 40 Under 40 CPA in America,” is recognized as one of Accounting Today’s “Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting,” and was named “Innovator of the Year” by the Nashville Technology Council.

Brian has appeared on Fox Business News, Business News Network,and MarketsWiki TV. He has authored articles and been quoted in the Financial Times, Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, New York Times, Compliance Week, CNBC, The CPA Journal, andmanymore.

Brian is a member of the AICPA, where he served as a member of the Task Force for the Future, and is a member of The Tennessee Society of CPA’s. In addition to being on the board and advisory board of several private companies, Brian is also on the advisory board for Southern Methodist University’s Masters in Accountancy Program and the Alumni Council for Vanderbilt’s Owen School of Business. He serves as a mentor in the Inc. 500 Military Entrepreneurs Mentor Program, the Jumpstart Foundry, and the Nashville Entrepreneurship Center and is on the advisory board for the Nashville Capital Network.

Prior to founding Confirmation, Brian worked at Ernst & Young in the audit group and then in mergers and acquisitions for PriceWaterhouseCoopers.Brian completed his MBA at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management with a dual concentration in Finance and Electronic Commerce and received a BBA in Accounting from Southern Methodist University’s Cox School of Business.

Josh Jones EY Partner, National Professional Practice Group picture

Josh Jones is a Partner in EY’s US Professional Practice Department and is based in McLean, VA. Josh specializes in public company audit matters, including the interpretation and application of the standards and guidance of the PCAOB.
Josh rejoined EY after serving more than three years on the staff of the SEC. As a former Senior Associate Chief Accountant in the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant, he specialized in the SEC’s guidance related to the evaluation of internal control over financial reporting and auditing matters related to public companies. He also played a key role in many of the SEC’s activities with respect to its oversight of the PCAOB.

Previously, Josh spent one year as a Senior Director, Professional Practice, Policy & Research at the CAQ, where he led member services, professional practice, and public policy activities. Prior to serving on the staff of the SEC, Josh spent 10 years in public accounting where he performed audits of public and private companies of varying size, primarily in the consumer products industry.

Josh has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Wake Forest University.

Todd Ravin Audit Partner KPMG

Todd is an Audit Partner in KPMG’s Nashville office. He has over 14 years of audit and accounting experience with KPMG serving both public and private companies. Todd provides professional audit services to clients in the transportation and logistics market, retail and consumer markets, manufacturing and industrial products, and healthcare organizations. He has planned, staffed and directed engagement teams providing audit and Sarbanes-Oxley services to public companies. In addition, he has been involved in several debt offerings. Todd has experience in coordinating and executing international audits including timely completion of SEC and statutory audits. He has significant experience in working with large SEC audit engagements

Recently Todd completed a rotational assignment in the Department of Professional Practice (DPP) within KPMG’s National Office. DPP provides technical support to domestic and international operating offices and their clients in addressing and resolving complex accounting, auditing, reporting and SEC related issues. DPP is also responsible for developing firm positions on accounting and audit related matters, and is the principle vehicle for enhancing the professional development of KPMG partners and employees.

As part of his rotation, Todd served as a member in the DPP Audit Group where he assisted in drafting and updating the KPMG audit methodology in accordance with AICPA and PCAOB standards. In addition, he assisted with responding to audit-related inquiries from the field and informing audit professionals of the auditing standards.
Todd also served as a member of the Accounting Standards Group where he assisted in drafting accounting guidance and trainings primarily related to the new revenue recognition and leasing standards.

Todd is a Certified Public Accountant in New York, North Carolina and Tennessee and earned a Bachelor of Science from Vanderbilt University and Master of Accounting from University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.

Dr. Jay C. Thibodeau Professor Bentley University

Research Panel: “Publishing in Difficult to Publish Areas”
Friday, 1:45 pm – 3:15 pm

Moderator

Jamie Schmidt Associate Professor University of Texas

Jaime Schmidt received her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University and her B.S. and M.Acc. from Kansas State University. Prior to pursuing her Ph.D., she worked as CPA and financial statement auditor for BKD LLP in Kansas City, Missouri. Jaime teaches Studies in Auditing in the Texas MPA program. Her research interests include audit policy, audit quality, and auditor litigation and has published in The Accounting Review, Contemporary Accounting Research, Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, and Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory.

Panelists

Jeffrey Cohen Professor Boston College

Dr. Jeffrey Cohen's major research streams are in the areas of corporate governance, auditor independence, corporate social responsibility and in accounting and business ethics. His work is behavioral based using controlled experiments, surveys, and interviews. Jeff has approximately 30 LFT (London Financial Times) ranked publications with 15 of them coming just since 2010.

He has been a recipient of the Notable Contributions to Auditing Literature Award as well as twice receiving the Innovations in Auditing and Assurance Education Award. In 2017, he was recognized as the outstanding auditing educator by the American Accounting Association’s auditing section. Jeff is the past Senior Editor of Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory (AJPT). He has previously served as an Editor at Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory and an Associate Editor at Accounting Horizons and for two terms at Issues in Accounting Education. Jeff is currently an Editor at Contemporary Accounting Research (CAR).

His teaching interests focus on auditing, management and cost accounting, and strategic cost management.
Professor Cohen received a B.A. from Bar Ilan University, a M.B.A. from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts.

Kim Westermann Assistant Professor Cal Poly

Dr. Kim Westermann is an assistant professor of Accounting in the Orfalea College of Business. She grew up in Southern California and graduated from Cal Poly with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting in 2000. She worked for Ernst & Young in San Jose, Calif. as an audit senior. Dr. Westermann subsequently relocated to New York City, taking a job with PricewaterhouseCoopers, ending her career in public accounting as a full time instructor in PwC’s Learning and Education division. In 2006, she entered the inaugural cohort of the Bentley University Ph.D. program and was selected as the Henry E. Rauch Doctoral Fellow recipient. She has also been awarded the PwC INQuires Grant for proposals in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, Dr. Westermann was a visiting scholar and lecturer at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. After graduating in 2011, she spent four years as an assistant professor in Miami at Florida International University.

She serves on the editorial review boards for Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, Issues in Accounting Education, and Accounting and the Public Interest. Dr. Westermann was selected to serve as a national co-chairman for the Deloitte Trueblood Seminar for Professors.

Dr. Westermann is interested in a variety of qualitative methods and conducts research examining auditor perspectives within their social context. Dr. Westermann has published in Contemporary Accounting Research, Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, and Issues in Accounting Education. Her in-process research is rooted within sociology and organizational behavior literatures, examining both audit practitioners and clients about their perspectives on current issues (e.g., professional skepticism, PCAOB standards) in auditing.