2024 The Psychology of Fraud

David Cotton, Cotton & Company LLP

Dave Cotton has served as Cotton & Company’s managing partner since the firm’s founding in 1981 until July 2006. In July 2006, with the election of two new managing partners, he became the firm’s first chair. Dave served on the Advisory Council on Government Auditing 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. Dave also served on the American Institute of CPA’s (AICPA) Anti-Fraud Task Force and co-authored Management Override: The Achilles Heel of Fraud Prevention. He 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 also chaired the Fraud Risk Management Task Force, sponsored by COSO and the ACFE and is a principal author of the COSO-ACFE Fraud Risk Management Guide. He currently serves on the AICPA’s Performance Audit Standards Task Force. Dave served on the board of the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants (VSCPA), and on the VSCPA Litigation Services Committee, Professional Ethics, Quality Review and Governmental Accounting and Auditing committees. He is a member of the Association of Government Accountants (AGA) and is past-advisory board chairman and past-president of the AGA Northern Virginia Chapter. Dave 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 and auditing issues and fraud issues before the U. S. Court of Federal Claims and other administrative and judicial bodies. He makes frequent presentations on professional ethics and fraud topics. Dave has instructed for the George Washington University Master of Accountancy program (Fraud Examination and Forensic Accounting) and for the George Mason University Small Business Development Center (Fundamentals of Accounting for Government Contracts). Dave was the recipient of the AGA’s 2006 Barr Award and the AGA’s 2012 Educator Award.