Construction Industry Conference Recap

“I found the 2007 conference to be the best.” was a comment from one of the attendees at least week’s FICPA Construction Industry Conference. Held at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando on October 19, this year’s conference had almost 200 attendees, most of which are members of the FICPA, AGC, ABC, and/or CFMA.

The conference was packed with great speakers from across the country discussing a variety of construction related topics, including:

• SAS 99 - Uncovering Fraud in Financial Statements by Andrew Copeland
• Surety Underwriting by Dave Pesce
• Succession Planning by Kevin Carmichael
• Construction Contract Accounting & Analytical Procedures by Robert Davidson
• Calculating Lost Productivity Claims by Anthony Lee
• Construction Industry Federal Tax Update by John Armour
• Construction Software Comparison by John Reed and Nathan Bailey
• Compliance in the Post-Enron Age by Hayes Hunt and John Mullen
• A&A Update to include FIN 48 by Eric Wallace

Eric Wallace presents an A&A update to finish the conference on Friday

Attendees at the conference were also able to visit with vendors, including:

• Insurance Office of America
• Foundation Software
• Alliance Solutions Group

Attendees chat with a representative from Alliance Solutions Group

A special thank you goes out to our sponsors for supporting the conference and providing information to our attendees that can enhance their practice through industry specific products and services.

Also, a special thank you goes to the Conference Planning Committee for its efforts throughout the past year in creating the agenda and securing top-notch speakers. They are:

Bill Thomas, Chair
Mike Balter, Vice Chair
Emilio Alvarez
Nathan Bailey
Randall Basso
Bob Benson
Ron DiCrescenzo
Philip Fechtmeyer
Adam Firestein
Thomas Ford
Robert Ingham
Manny Lax
Dan Levine
Christopher Marrie
Christopher Milan
Vince Palazzolo
Ray-Lyn Price
Mindy Rankin
John Reed
Joseph Schortz
Carole Stewart-Heron
Frank Teets

Chairman Bill Thomas (middle) speaks with co-presenters Hayes Hunt and John Mullen who spoke on Compliance in the Post-Enron Age

Finally, a super big thank you goes out to the attendees for coming to this year’s conference. Everyone was a great sport when the meeting room was transformed from general session, to breakouts, back to general session, and breakouts again. Overall, the program was well received, based on attendee comments, and we hope you will join us again at next year’s conference.

Almost 200 attendees were at this year’s Construction Industry Conference

Be sure to check the FICPA Web site at www.ficpa.org/cpe in the near future for the 2008 conference date and location.