46th Annual Accounting & Auditing Conference

Featured Speakers

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  Kurt Oestriecher

  Bio

  Kurt G. Oestriecher, CPA is a partner with Oestriecher & Company, CPAs of Alexandria, Louisiana and has been with the firm since graduating from The University of Louisiana in 1986 with a BBA in Accounting. He is partner in charge of accounting and auditing services, and is also involved in litigation support and small business consulting engagements.
  
  He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Society of Louisiana Certified Public Accountants (LCPA), and served as President of the LCPA in 2002–2003. He is currently chair of the LCPA Professional Ethics Committee, and has chaired the Louisiana Accounting and Auditing Conference Committee, Strategic Planning Committee, Budget Committee, and Nominating Committee.
  
  Kurt served a four-year term on the Accounting and Review Services Committee of the AICPA from 2000-2004, and served a six year term on the AICPA Joint Trial Board from 2005-2011. He also served a three year term as an elected member of AICPA Council and a one year term as Louisiana’s dedicated Council member.
  
  Kurt was the recipient of the 1998, 2006, 2010 and 2018 Outstanding CPE Discussion Leader Award from the LCPA, and was named the Outstanding CPE Discussion Leader for the AICPA for twelve consecutive years.. He has authored many educational courses on accounting and auditing topics, including the AICPA “Annual Update for Accountants and Auditors”. He has also served as an Adjunct Instructor of Accounting at LSUA and Northwestern State University.

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  Tracy Cooper

  Bio

  Tracy Cooper is a CPA and Certified Fraud Examiner with over 30 years of experience helping businesses make sense of their numbers, systems, and processes. After early roles at Price Waterhouse and a long tenure as a senior executive at ALLTEL, where she led financial planning, fraud, credit, collections, and IT system implementations, she founded tlb services, a boutique consulting firm based in Little Rock.
  Today, she works with clients across industries to streamline operations, improve reporting, investigate fraud, and build smarter financial infrastructure. Tracy also develops and teaches continuing education courses for CPAs nationwide on accounting systems, fraud, and data tools like Excel and Power Query. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

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  David Ashby

  Bio

  Dr. David Ashby worked as an accountant and even taught accounting classes before becoming a professor at SAU. His accumulated degrees took him to Ole Miss and eventually LA Tech, where he earned his doctorate. He later became a Certified Financial Planner professional and launched the first financial planning curriculum in AR at SAU. After teaching finance for many years, he co-founded Mustard Seed Wealth Management alongside former student Darla Williams in 2002. Now with nine employees and three locations, David is the Sr Advisor & Partner at our Magnolia Branch. David has built a team of advisors as passionate and dedicated as he is about guiding clients not only to retirement but through it. Though retired from SAU as a professor, David continues to teach at continuing education seminars and writes for several publications. David has always been fascinated with people's financial behaviors and enjoys seeing people exceed their goals. David continues to serve on area boards and committees while spending many volunteer hours working in the community. David works in the Magnolia office and his home Hot Springs. He enjoys spending his free time with his nine grandchildren and watching them play ball.

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  Thomas Johnson

  Bio

  Thomas is an Audit Manager at Forvis Mazars and member of the Financial Services Practice with seven years of experience in audit and assurance services. His experience primarily involves working with public and closely held financial institutions up to $24 billion in asset size, which includes SOX control testing. He has been trained in the unique laws and regulations that pertain to financial institutions. Thomas also provides audit services on employee benefit plans to public and non-public clients. In addition, he has experience using computerized audit tools and programs, including Microsoft Excel, Word, Outlook, OneNote, PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat, GPT-5 engine software, and a variety of audit software tools with significant experience in marketing and customer service.

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  Pattie Davidson

  Bio

  Pattie Davidson is a member (partner) of Landmark PLC. Pattie has over 30 years of experience in public accounting, and has focused the majority of her efforts over the past 20 years developing an industry expertise in 529 education savings plans, ABLE plans and state facilitated retirement plans. In addition to her work in the government savings industry, Pattie regularly consults with our clients on risk assessment, risk management practices, business process design and internal controls.

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  Ethny Ashcraft, CPA

  Bio

  Ethny Ashcraft is a manager of Landmark PLC. Ethny has 6 years of experience in public accounting, most of which has been devoted to serving for-profit entities. Ethny is a key member of the firm’s training team and has recently completed the AICPA’s COSO Internal Control – Integrated Framework Certification Program.

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  Tim Montgomery, CPA

  Bio

  Tim joined the Arkansas State Board of Public Accountancy as an investigator in 2013. He became Executive Director in May 2023. Tim graduated from the University of Houston – Downtown with a BBA in Accounting in 1992 and passed the CPA exam in 1993. Before joining the State Board, Tim spent most of his career in internal auditing, including Internal Audit Director for USAble Life and Dyersburg State Community College. He lives in Jacksonville, AR with his wife Charlotte. They have four children (ages 30, 29, 24, and 15), three daughters-in-law, and 2.6 perfect grandsons.

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  Sherry Chesser

  Bio

  Sherry Chesser is a member of Landmark PLC in their Little Rock, Arkansas office and serves on the firm-wide management team. She focuses most of her time in the assurance and bond arbitrage practice areas, with industry experience in tax exempt debt compliance, employee benefit plans and nonprofit organizations. In addition, she conducts numerous peer reviews throughout the year. Sherry has over 30 years of experience in public accounting providing tax and audit services to a broad base of clients and served as a controller for a nonprofit organization. In 2015, she was appointed to the Arkansas State Board of Public Accountancy for a five-year term serving as the president in 2020. In addition, she is a committee member of NASBA's Peer Review Compliance Committee, a committee member for the Partners in Peer Review with Alabama and a member of the AICPA's Auditing Standards Board.

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  Ashtyn Pike

  Bio

  Ashtyn G. Pike is a member of the Employee Benefits and Tax Law Practice Group, focusing on employee benefits, taxation, and executive compensation matters. Her practice areas include the design, implementation, compliance, and administration of tax-qualified retirement plans, nonqualified deferred compensation plans, and health and welfare benefit plans. Ashtyn also assists plan sponsors with ERISA regulatory compliance and state and federal tax issues.

  Ashtyn joined the firm following her work as a Regulatory Resolution Specialist at a local accounting firm, where she provided tax guidance and managed tax resolution projects.