Cotterell, Odom and Sweetwood Honored

State Board Report

November 2015

NASBA’s 2015 awards for promotion of effective regulation of the accounting profession were presented by Awards Committee Chair Gaylen R. Hansen (CO) and NASBA Executive Vice Chair Emerita Lorraine P. Sachs at the Annual Business Meeting to:

• Samuel K. Cotterell, CPA (ID) – William H. Van Rensselaer Public Service Award
• Kenneth R. Odom, CPA (AL) – NASBA Distinguished Service Award
• Daniel R. Sweetwood (NE) – Lorraine P. Sachs Standard of Excellence Award.

Mr. Cotterell, NASBA Chair 2007-2008, said he always felt like "an impostor," because his undergraduate degree was in Spanish and he turned to accounting when he decided he needed to find a way to make a living. He thanked NASBA for giving him personal and professional opportunity: "It was opportunity when you take someone from Idaho to rub shoulders with those in D.C. to contribute to the establishment of the PCAOB." He recalled his involvement in the development of the computer-based Uniform CPA Examination and in the internationalization of the Examination. Mr. Cotterell said when he was studying auditing standards in college, he never thought he would one day sit in a room discussing every coma and parsing every portion of those standards to make sure they said what they meant. "My motto for life has been: Work hard; Be kind to others; And do what is right," he explained.

"It is a difficult job to navigate state government, and with the assistance of NASBA we are able to work together," Mr. Sweetwood said upon accepting his award. He compared his early work as a police officer with his current position of Executive Director of the Nebraska State Board of Public Accountancy: "Both are really about public service and removing those who shouldn’t be in the profession."