2023 Financial Accounting and Auditing Conference

Paul Perry has been with the Firm since 2004 and is a Member and the leader of the Security and Risk internal control and information technology control related projects including SOC engagements. Paul is also responsible for general consulting projects for the Firm. Paul is the leader of the Firm’s Data Analysis Group, a team of individuals within the Firm who provide data analysis solutions to both internal and external clients. For more than 11 years, he specialized in auditing and assurance services. Paul has extensive experience serving clients in the nonprofit, governmental, financial, insurance and healthcare facilities/hospital industries. Paul has earned the Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP) certification. This credential is awarded to CPAs who possess both information technology and business expertise. Paul is also a published author, columnist and regular speaker on topics such as data analysis, internal controls and information technology for accountants and auditors.

Dr. John Stephen (Steve) Grice holds the following degrees and certification:

• Ph.D. in Accounting, The University of Alabama 1997
• MAcc., The University of Alabama 1994
• B.S. in Accounting, Troy State University 1989
• Certified Public Accountant (CPA) 1989

Dr. Grice currently serves as a scholar-in-residence for the Troy University School of Accountancy and for the accounting firm of Carr, Riggs, & Ingram, LLC. Previously, he served as the Director of Troy University’s School of Accountancy and the Botts Professor of Accounting. Prior to rejoining Troy University, he was the Director of the Master of Accounting program and a professor of accounting at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The Alabama Society of CPAs honored Dr. Grice with the Lifetime Member Award in 2022. In 2021, Dr. Grice was selected as the Sunbelt Conference Faculty of the year as well as Troy University Faculty of the Year by the Student Athletic Advisory Committee. Dr. Grice was the 2018/2019 Outstanding Accounting Educator awarded by the Alabama Society of CPAs. In 2016, he was a gubernatorial appointment to serve on the Alabama State Board of Public Accountancy and he was assigned to the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) Education Committee for 2019/2020. In 2020 he began serving on the AICPA Board of Examiners. In 2011, Dr. Grice was the recipient of the UAB President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. In 2010 he was honored as the Beta Gamma Sigma Professor of Year and in 2008 he was the recipient of the Loudell Ellis Robertson Teaching Excellence Award, both at UAB. In 2003, he was honored as the first recipient of Troy University worldwide system Wallace D. Malone, Jr. Distinguished Faculty Award. In 1998, he was honored as the Delta Sigma Pi Business Professor of the Year at Troy University. Dr. has also been named Faculty of the Semester by the Student Government Association on three occasions. Dr. Grice has authored more than 50 articles for various journals including Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Journal of Business Research, Advances in Accounting, The CPA Journal, Practical Tax Strategies, The National Accounting Journal, The Cooperative Accountant, The Journal of 21rst Century Accounting, Southern Business & Economic Journal, National Public Accountant, Ohio CPA Journal, Today's CPA, Business Quest, Tennessee CPA, and the TSU Business and Economic Review.

Dr. Grice has designed professional education courses on various accounting and auditing topics. He has taught more than 240 continuing professional education courses for the Alabama Society of CPAs, Mississippi Society of CPAs, and various CPA firms and organizations. He received the Alabama Society of CPAs Outstanding Discussion Leader Award in 2002 and 2005. He also has designed Internet based Executive Master of Business Administration accounting courses that are taught exclusively through Internet capabilities. Dr. Grice has provided technical consultation to various CPA firms and currently serves as the Scholar-in-Residence for Carr, Riggs, & Ingram, LLC.

Prior to earning a Ph.D. in Accounting from the University of Alabama, Dr. Grice was employed by the Accounting Firm of Coopers & Lybrand. While at The University of Alabama, he was the Doctoral Consortium Fellow at the American Accounting Association Doctoral Consortium in Tahoe City, California sponsored by the Accounting firm of Deloite & Touche. As a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, Dr. Grice received the highest honor awarded a doctoral candidate in the College of Commerce and Business Administration at The University of Alabama.

By nature, Bruce is a teacher. And not only does he have the knowledge to teach his clients and other CPAs, but Bruce also has the ability to make the learning experience interesting. With more than 30 years of diversified experience, Bruce provides accounting and auditing services to governmental entities, manufacturing and distribution companies, and not-for-profit organizations throughout both the Destin area and the greater North Florida region. As a part of the firm’s governmental audit team recognized throughout the Southern United States for its knowledge of government auditing standards, Bruce participates in municipal audits, county audits, and school district audits. He also offers accounting service specialization in the area of Employee Benefit Plan (EBP) audits with expertise gathered from delivering value-driven, innovative EBP audit solutions to plan types including defined benefit plans, defined contribution plans (401k and 403b), and employee stock ownership (ESOP).

Bruce currently serves as CRI's Accounting and Auditing Director and is a member of the Audit Quality Control Committee. He has also been recognized nationally as part of the American Institute of CPAs continuing education faculty and was honored as an Outstanding Discussion Leader by the Florida Institute of CPAs. Bruce is also a member of the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA), as well as the Florida Government Finance Officers Association (FGFOA). He is also an instructor for CRI's CPE Week.

Bruce also creates time to contribute to CRI's accounting blog. Be sure to visit Bruce Nunnally's blog posts for CRI highlighting a variety of accounting and auditing topics impacting businesses and governments across the South.

Michael L. Brand, CPA, CGMA is currently an A & A partner in the firm of BMSS, LLC CPAs and Advisors. He received his B.S. in accounting from the University of North Alabama and has been in the practice of public accounting for over 30 years. 

Known as a nationally acclaimed, accounting industry expert and speaker, Michael (Mike) has been involved in all aspects of public accounting, with an emphasis in providing accounting, auditing and review services to clients in the for-profit, nonprofits and governmental sectors.

He is also involved in various committees at both the state and national levels. He is a former member of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) Professional Ethics Executive Committee, is the past chair of the AICPA’s Accounting and Review Services Committee and the Alabama Society of CPA’s Peer Review Committee and is the current Chair for the ASCPA. Furthermore, Mike teaches continuing education classes across the country for state societies and individual firms and has received the AICPA’s Outstanding Discussion Leader Award multiple times along with the ASCPA’s Thomas A. Ratcliffe Outstanding Discussion Leader Award.

In addition to teaching, Mike regularly speaks at conferences nationwide and in various other countries. He conducts peer reviews across the United States and was formerly on the Peer Review Board, Joint Trial Board, and Quality Control Standards Task Force of the AICPA. He is the current co-chair of the Engage Conference (the AICPA’s largest conference held over multiple days with thousands of attendees).