Accounting for Success

GREG BINGHAM, A PARTNER and forensic accountant at HKA Global Inc., believes government contracts and procurement students could use a little help when it comes to practicing law involving accounting and damages, and he’s stepping up to help.

Bingham has funded the Greg Bingham Endowed Scholarship in Government Procurement, which will be awarded to a GW Law student focusing on government contract law with an interest or background in accounting.

“The practice of procurement law would be better if attorneys knew more about accounting,” says Bingham, who often works closely with attorneys but isn’t one himself. He has an MBA and a BS in electrical engineering.

A member of GW Law’s Government Contracts Advisory Council, he has 37 years of experience in government contracts and cost accounting in the Washington, D.C., area. GW Law students may be familiar with Bingham, whose videotaped lectures on pricing and cost issues were included in an online government contracts course. He also taught Pricing and Cost Issues in Government Contracts as an adjunct professor.

“Sometimes I’ll be in a conference room with attorneys, and we’ll be going over some cost issue, and the attorneys will say, ‘This is why I went to law school, so I didn’t have to learn math’,” notes Bingham. “It’s a nice icebreaker, but it emphasizes to me how knowing some basic accounting is extremely helpful when it comes to government contracts.”

Bingham says his hope is that the scholarship will help attorneys better interpret and negotiate contracts, as well as strengthen their abilities in overseeing government contracts that often require a broader knowledge of accounting.

“It will also make them better litigators,” Bingham adds. “The legal and cost issues are so intertwined in many contracts. You can’t put on blinders about cost issues and decide you’ll just focus on legal issues. If you do, you’ll miss a lot.”

– Sarah Kellogg

– Greg Bingham