Governmental Accounting and Auditing Conference

Marci Thomas, MHA, CPA, CGMA, licensed as a CPA in Georgia and North Carolina, is an author and nationally recognized speaker on various accounting and auditing topics to companies, nonprofits, CPA firms, and state societies of CPAs around the country. She is the Director of Audit Content for Surgent Accounting & Financial Education. Marci writes and teaches courses in governance, grants accounting, grant compliance, auditing, internal control and not-for-profit accounting.

She is an adjunct professor in the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also works with numerous accounting firms, performing quality control and efficiency reviews; and with boards on strategic planning, internal control, and governance issues. Marci serves on the Not-for-Profit Committee for the North Carolina Association of CPAs. She is a frequent speaker at local, regional, and national conferences. Marci is an author of a book published by Jossey Bass in 2020, Health Care Financial Management. Her book Best of Boards: Sound Governance and Leadership for Nonprofit Organizations was published by the AICPA and Wiley Publishing in 2018, and is on its second printing.

Marci received her Bachelor in Business Administration with a concentration in accounting from the Georgia State University and her Masters in Health Administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Scott Anderson is a practice fellow with the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) in Norwalk, Connecticut. His current project assignments include Revenue and Expense Recognition, Omnibus, and Risks and Uncertainties Disclosure.

Prior to joining the GASB in 2020, Scott worked for fifteen years in public accounting for Cherry Bekaert LLP, most recently as a Director overseeing audits of local governments (primarily municipalities, school boards, and airports) in North Carolina and Florida.

Scott received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting from Utah State University and a Master of Accounting degree from North Carolina State University. Scott is a certified public accountant in the states of North Carolina and Florida.

Dr. Glenn L. Helms was the Arthur Young Fellow in IT Auditing at the University of Houston and has served as Director of Certification for the International Certified Information Systems Auditor program. He has served on numerous national and international academic and professional committees, including the American Institute of Certified Public Accountant's Auditing Standards Board's Computer Auditing Subcommittee and its Specialized Accreditation Board.

He has recent and numerous years' experience in public accounting and serves as a consultant to various organizations. He has provided consulting services to Fortune 100 firms, Big Four CPA firms, and financial institutions throughout North America, Europe, and the Pacific Rim. Some of his experience includes assisting a publicly held company in establishing an IT auditing department, performing audits of local governments, and designing accounting systems for a variety of types of entities

He has presented over 2,000 professional seminars and conferences. He has published over 50 articles in a wide range of practitioner and academic journals. He has served on the editorial advisory boards of several national and international journals. His over twenty-five books address security, fraud, and internal controls (for small and public entities) in a variety of systems, including Cloud based and E-commerce systems. His recent works include several books on forensic accounting.

Glenn is a multiple year recipient of the outstanding Discussion Leader Award from the AICPA. He has received similar awards from several state societies and universities.

Nathan Abbott, CISA, CFE, EA, is a Senior Information Systems Specialist with the Comptroller's Office Division of Local Government Audit. Nathan has been with the office for 25 years and works with the audit team providing technical support to the audit staff. Mr. Abbott holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from Freed Hardeman University and is an active member in the Association of Government Accountants and the Middle Tennessee Chapter of Certified Fraud Examiners. Mr. Abbott has conducted training in the areas of computer forensics, Excel, Word, and computer applications. For the past three years Nathan has dressed up as Santa Claus for the office-wide Christmas party. Nathan resides in Franklin, Tennessee, with his lovely wife Amy and two beautiful twin girls Ellie and Sophie.

Jerry is an Assistant Director for the State of Tennessee, Comptroller of the Treasury, Division of Local Government Audit. The division has statutory responsibility for audits of approximately 1600 local governments and related organizations in Tennessee. Many of these governments are subject to the Single Audit Act and OMB's Uniform Guidance.

A 37-year veteran of the division, Jerry has served as an auditor, audit supervisor, training instructor, technical manager, and assistant director. In his role as assistant director, he is responsible for developing professional compliance procedures and monitoring the division's quality performance under GASB, AICPA, OMB, and GAO accounting and auditing standards. Jerry also has responsibility for supervising the peer review process, responding to professional public comment documents, and the contract audit review process within the division.

Jerry was selected for the AGA National Educator award for 2019. In addition, Jerry teaches the Yellow Book and Audit Findings training classes for the Tennessee Department of Audit. Jerry has been selected as Department of Audit Instructor of the Year four times.

Jerry has made training presentations for numerous professional organizations including NASACT, GFOA, AGA, and others; state auditor and state accounting organizations; and local governments. He currently serves on several working committees for professional organizations.

Mary Foelster is a Senior Director at the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants in Washington, DC, where her primary responsibility is to address governmental auditing and accounting matters, including compliance audits. Mary oversees the AICPA's Governmental Audit Quality Center and its Executive Committee and is actively involved in the AICPA's efforts to enhance the quality of single audits and other types of governmental audits. Mary also directs the AICPA's governmental accounting efforts, including the activities of the AICPA State and Local Government Expert Panel, related interactions with the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, and commenting on GASB due process documents.

Mary is also responsible for monitoring and analyzing federal regulatory and legislative developments affecting auditing or accounting in a governmental or compliance audit environment. Mary and her team help members understand the implications of standards and regulation on governmental audits. This includes significant involvement with the development, issuance, and annual update process for the Audit and Accounting Guide, Audits of State and Local Governments, and the AICPA Audit Guide, Government Auditing Standards and Single Audits.

Mary has been with the AICPA for over 25 years. She is a graduate of the University of Maryland and is a certified public accountant.

Gerry has been with the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, Division of State Audit, since January 1995. He is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM), and a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA). He was a Legislative State Auditor for five years before becoming State Audit's Technical Manager. As a Legislative State Auditor, he served as an audit in-charge for three of the five years primarily on college and university audits. As the Technical Manager, he is primarily responsible for monitoring GASB, FASB, AICPA, OMB, and GAO accounting, auditing, and compliance standards relating to financial statement and financial-related audits. He reviews financial statement audits for adherence to the above principles and standards, as well as to AICPA and GAO auditing standards. He is responsible for responding to all due process documents of the above standard setters, as applicable. He serves as a representative of the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers, and Treasurers (NASACT) by observing and writing an account of the GASB meetings.

He was a member of the AICPA's Auditing Standards Board for a three-year term (January 2015-January 2018) and its Audit Issues Task Force (AITF). He has served and currently serves on various GASB, NASACT, GAO, and AICPA task forces and working groups. He represents State Audit on the National State Auditors Association's Single Audit Committee; Auditing Standards and Reporting Committee (ASRC); and Peer Review Committee. He has served as a Vice Chair for both the Single Audit and ASRC committees. He is also an active member in the Association of Government Accountants (AGA). He currently serves on the AGA National Governing Board (NGB) as AGA National President. He was the Nashville AGA Chapter President for the 2006-07 program year. He served on AGA's Professional Certification Board (PCB) for seven years (2007-2014) and as the Chair of the PCB for four of those years. He was also a member of AGA's National Executive Committee (now NGB) as a result of being the PCB Chair. He served on AGA's Governance Committee July 1, 2015, through June 30, 2019, and as Chair for the 2017-18 program year. He served as AGA's Southeast Regional Vice President (RVP) during the 2015-16 program year and as a result served on AGA's national Nominating Committee. He served as a member of the Government Finance Officers Association's (GFOA) Committee on Accounting, Auditing, and Financial Reporting (CAAFR) for two three-year terms (2004-2009) and serves on the Special Review Committee for its certificate of achievement program. He is also a 2011 alumnus of the Tennessee Government Executive Institute.

He has a BA degree in accounting with a German minor from Murray State University (MSU) in Murray, KY. He is a 1994 graduate of MSU. He is married to Melissa Boaz. He enjoys playing golf.

Christy N. Tennant is Deputy Director with the Tennessee Comptroller's Division of Investigations. Christy is responsible for overseeing and directing investigations involving fraud, waste and abuse in local governments, state agencies, and other publicly funded entities. Christy has worked with the Comptroller's Office for over 23 years. She has directed investigations, resulting in the discovery of fraud, waste and abuse and the prosecution of public officials and employees. Christy has also worked closely with the TBI, the FBI, local District Attorneys General and local law enforcement groups. A graduate of Tennessee Technological University , Christy is also a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Financial Government Manager and a Certified Fraud Examiner. She provides training to professional groups related to internal controls and fraud.

Chris Pembrook, MBA, CGAP, CPA, CRFAC is a Shareholder at Crawford & Associates, P.C., in Oklahoma City. Prior to joining the firm, he served as the Chief Financial Officer of the Oklahoma Police Pension & Retirement System and the Deputy Director of the Local Government & Special Services Division of the Oklahoma State Auditor & Inspector's Office.

He is currently serving as a committee member of the AICPA State and Local Government Expert Panel and the Oklahoma Society of CPA's Government Accounting & Auditing Committee. He also was selected to serve on the joint COSO-ACFE Task Force for the development of the group's Fraud Risk Management Guide.

Lisa Bellar is a Senior Contract Audit Review Specialist in the Tennessee Comptroller's division of Local Government Audit. She is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the division's contract audit review team. In her role she performs technical reviews of audited financial statements for Tennessee's local governments and certain not-for-profit agencies and assists in the review of audit working papers.

Lisa first joined the Comptroller's Office with the division of State Audit after graduating from Austin Peay State University where she majored in accounting and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration. After moving out-of-state, she held accounting positions at a university, equipment rental company, and tile manufacturing company. She returned to the Comptroller's Office in 2005 and has 18 years of service with the Comptroller's Office.

Shannon is the Chief Executive Officer at Cempa Community Care, a health center based in East Tennessee. She holds a master's in Business Administration, is a Certified Public Accountant in Tennessee, and has participated in numerous continuing education programs, including the Health Care Executive Program offered by the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Under her leadership, the organization has expanded access to the medically underserved, enhanced operational efficiency, achieved numerous programmatic goals, and was named Nonprofit of the Year and Best Place to Work in 2022.

With an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for people impacted by the work that Cempa provides, she continues to make an impact by serving on local, regional, and national boards, educating around compliance, and providing mentorship and training opportunities across the country. As a doctoral candidate at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Shannon is currently working on her dissertation, which focuses on the financial impact of health policies on safety net providers.

Jean is the contract audit review manager with the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, Division of Local Government Audit. She is responsible for the contract audit review process of more than 1,700 entities including municipalities, county-related entities, utility districts, public housing authorities, internal school funds, charter schools, quasi-governments and certain nonprofit and for-profit entities. Her daily responsibilities include providing technical assistance to CPA firms and local government officials regarding accounting and auditing issues, as well as related laws, regulations and other compliance requirements.

Jean graduated from Seoul National University with a B.S. degree in Horticulture and studied accounting at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and the Tennessee Technological University. Jean is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), and Certified Government Financial Manager (CGFM). She is a member of the Association of Government Accountants (AGA), and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE). She is a graduate of Lead Tennessee and the Tennessee Government Management Institute. She likes to play the piano and make fresh flower arrangements in her free time.