David Cotton, CPA, CFE, CGFM, is founder and Chairman Emeritus of Cotton & Company, Certified Public Accountants, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. Cotton & Company was founded in 1981 and has a practice concentrating in assisting federal and state agencies, inspectors general, and government grantees and contractors with a variety of government program-related assurance and advisory services.
Cotton served on the board of the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants and on the VSCPA Litigation Services, Professional Ethics, Quality Review, and Governmental Accounting and Auditing Committees. He is a member of the Association of Government Accountants and past-advisory board chairman and past-president of the AGA Northern Virginia Chapter. He is also a member of the IIA and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.
Cotton has testified as an expert in governmental accounting, auditing, and fraud issues before the United States Court of Federal Claims, the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, and other administrative and judicial bodies.
Cotton was the recipient of the ACFE 2018 Certified Fraud Examiner of the Year Award; AGA’s 2012 Educator Award and AGA’s 2006 Barr Award.
He received a BS in mechanical engineering and an MBA in management science and labor relations from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. He also pursued graduate studies in accounting and auditing at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He is a certified public accountant, certified fraud examiner and certified government financial manager.
