David Cottrell named Alaska Small-Business Person of the Year.

• Author: PARMELEE, CATHERINE

This president of Mikunda, Cottrell & Company Prevails

The U.S. Small Business Administration named Anchorage's David Cottrell, president and managing partner of Mikunda, Cottrell & Company, Certified Public Accountants, the 2001 Alaska Small Business Person of the Year.

Cottrell's selection was based on the criteria of staying power, growth in sales and employees, financial stability, innovativeness of products and services, response to adversity and contributions to the community, said Frank Cox, Alaska district director for the SBA.

"David Cottrell has demonstrated the initiative, perseverance and management ability to help his firm grow to be a leader in the CPA profession in Alaska," Cox said.

Cottrell was nominated for the award by First National Bank of Anchorage. Betsy Lawer, First National's vice chair and chief operating officer, cited the bank's longstanding relationship with Cottrell's firm in deciding to make the nomination. "Our bank has enjoyed an excellent working relationship with Mr. Cottrell and his firm since 1991," she said. "This has allowed us to witness first hand Mr. Cottrell's many contributions to his profession, his business and his community."

Cottrell grew up in Palmer, and then traveled to California to obtain an accounting degree. He passed the national exam to become a CPA on his first attempt-an exceptional feat achieved only by about 10 percent of accountants. "Usually the test has to be taken three to four times," Cottrell explained.

Because he was raised in Alaska and because a lot of his immediate family lives in the Great Land, the lure of the north was strong. "I felt the differences between opportunity in California and Alaska were clear-cut," Cottrell said. "In the 1970s, it was who you knew and where you were from," he said. "In California I was just like one pebble on a big sand beach."

He returned to Alaska to start his accounting career at the Alaska State Legislative Audit Division. Later he moved to Anchorage to join a national CPA firm as a senior accountant, and there he met his future partner, Robert Mikunda.

Cottrell saw a better way to provide accounting and auditing services to Alaska businesses and institutions, a way that would make those services more affordable. His way would also make a small, homegrown CPA firm more competitive with the national firms that dominated the accounting profession in Alaska. His idea was to pare down on nonessential audit procedures followed by the large...