IAR26: Changes in Accounting Principles and Other GASB Topics

Shea Bryant has been the manager of financial reporting at Michigan State University for six years after over seven years at Plante Moran where he focused on higher education institutions. Bryant’s department is in charge of preparing the year-end financial statements and implementing new GASB standards as they are issued. Bryant is a member of the NACUBO accounting principles council.

Teresa Edwards, CPA, is an experienced accounting professional with over 35 years of experience issuing and compiling financial statements, analyzing accounting standards, reengineering business processes, testing accounting systems, and managing teams of professionals. Edwards has been the controller at the Texas A&M University system office since 2011. In this role, she is responsible for the oversight of the system office accounting operations, interpreting the impact of new accounting standards to the 24 Texas A&M institutions/agencies, compiling the consolidated annual financial report, assisting IT system enhancements on the accounting system and various other reporting requirements. Edwards also worked at the Florida Department of Financial Services and the Texas Comptroller’s Office. Prior to governmental accounting, she worked in corporate accounting and worked for a CPA firm in the Houston area. Edwards is a graduate of Texas A&M University.

Chris Leach is accounting policy analyst at NACUBO. Prior to that, he served for almost 20 years in associate vice president and controller positions at both Texas A&M University-San Antonio and Washburn University. Leach also has extensive experience in the private sector. He was assistant vice president for strategic planning and analysis at Security Benefit Group, a financial services company based in Topeka, KS. He began his professional career in the audit practice of Deloitte and Touche in Baton Rouge, LA. Chris left Deloitte in 1994 as an audit senior manager after time in the firm's national office and its Columbus, OH, office. Chris received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in professional accountancy from Mississippi State University. He has held certified public accountant (CPA) licenses in Mississippi (active), Louisiana (inactive), and Ohio (inactive). He and his wife, DeAnn, live in Columbus, MS, with their three dogs, two cats, and the occasional field mouse.

Sara Spicer is the Director of Financial Reporting at the University of Michigan, where she provides oversight for the application of US GAAP across the institution, including the implementation of all new GASB standards. Sara has held multiple leadership roles in higher education accounting, including Technical Accounting Director and also Assistant Controller at the University of Michigan Health System. Prior to her work at the University of Michigan, she gained valuable experience as an external auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers. A Michigan Certified Public Accountant since 2009 and an Adrian College graduate, Sara brings nearly two decades of experience and a passion for advancing the accounting profession.