2021 Northern Chapter Chair Tour – The Long and Winding Road: Navigating the Changing Landscape of ESG

Northern Chapter Lunch and Conversation with the
COCPA Chair, Randy Watkins, CPA, CGMA, CCIFP
Partner, BDO USA, LLP, Greeley

About Randy:

Randy literally grew up in the accounting profession, watching his father Lee Watkins build Watkins & Schommer, Inc., a local CPA firm, in Greeley, Colo., with partner Dan Schommer. Rolling beyond graduation from Wiggins High School and the University of Northern Colorado with a B.S. in Business Administration – Accounting emphasis, Randy developed his technical skills with several organizations before returning to Greeley to work in the family business. When his Dad retired in 2008, Randy purchased the firm. In 2010, he merged it into Anton Collins Mitchell LLP (ACM) – the firm with which he’d worked two years earlier.

Today, Randy is an assurance partner in BDO USA, LLP’s (BDO) Northern Colorado office, ACM having merged with BDO in late summer 2020. He focuses on auditing and financial reporting services for exempt organizations, construction, manufacturing and distribution, and software and technology companies.

A member of the COCPA and AICPA, Randy has served in a variety of roles including a term on the COCPA Board of Directors and in his current position as Vice Chair and Budget Committee Chair. He is a former member of the AICPA Governmental Audit Quality Center (GAQC) Executive Committee and the AICPA annual Government Accounting and Auditing Conference planning committee. He regularly presents on technical topics at AICPA Government and Construction conferences.

Randy belongs to the Associated General Contractors of Colorado, Colorado Government Finance Officers Association, and Construction Financial Management Association.

A firm believer in giving back to his community, Randy is heavily involved in charitable organizations throughout northern Colorado. He chairs the United Way of Weld County Board; is past president of the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) Alumni Association Board; and president of the Board for United for Youth (UniFY – formerly Northern Colorado Active 20/30).

At the top of the priority list for Randy is “maintaining relevance in the Information Age, establishing our relevance in providing assurance on ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) reporting, and attracting diverse top talent from the next generation.”

When he’s not immersed in professional activities, Randy spends his time with family – wife Nicole, who also is a CPA, and daughters Lennon and McCartney; playing golf, boating, camping, learning new songs on the guitar, and watching sports. Randy is a diehard Beatles fan, too. And, yes, that’s why his daughters are named after two of the Fab Four.