Tennessee Specific Accounting and Auditing Issues - An Update from the Division of Local Government Audit

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.

Teryn McNeal, CPA is the Manager of Standards, Research, and Compliance for the State of Tennessee, Comptroller of the Treasury, Division of Local Government Audit. In her role as manager, she assists the division in developing professional compliance procedures and monitoring the division's quality performance under GASB, AICPA, OMB, and GAO accounting and auditing standards. Teryn also assists the division in supervising the peer review process and responding to professional public comment documents.

During her 15 years with the division, Teryn has served as an auditor, senior auditor, and training instructor. Teryn holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of North Alabama and a Master of Business Administration from Tennessee State University. She lives in Hendersonville with her husband and their three children.

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.