Instructor
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).
Instructor
Sherry Chesser, CPA, is a member of Landmark PLC, Certified Public Accountants in the Little Rock, Arkansas office and serves on the firm-wide management team. She has over 30 years of experience in public accounting providing tax and audit services to a broad base of clients and experience as a controller for a nonprofit organization. Sherry focuses on providing services to employee benefit plans, governmental entities, and nonprofit organizations. She also conducts peer reviews throughout the year. In 2020, she completed a five-year term on the Arkansas State Board of Public Accountancy and in 2024, she completed a four-year term on the AICPA’s Auditing Standards Board. Sherry currently serves on NASBA's Peer Review Compliance Committee, Partners in Peer Review with Alabama Administrative Entity, and AICPA's Peer Review Board.
Understanding the latest developments in Peer Review and recent activity from the Peer Review Board will help you ensure engagements under review meet professional standards. You’ll examine topics, including:
Staying up to date
You will also find out about the most common areas of noncompliance with professional standards. Areas you’ll explore include:
Who Will Benefit
Peer reviewers
Key Topics
Learning Outcomes
Quality Management standards
The quality management standards are in effect and in conjunction with those standards, peer reviewers are beginning to focus on a firm’s implementation of their quality management system. This course will briefly discuss the new quality management standards as well as recent peer review guidance. The primary focus will be a discussion of how a peer reviewer might navigate the testing of the system and complete the new peer review checklists efficiently and effectively.