The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Accountant of the Year

Louis Wright
Louis Wright

Wright named Beta Alpha Psi Accountant of the Year

Louis Wright, Administrator of Finance for Hamilton County Government, was named the Accountant of the Year by the honorary accounting society at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Beta Alpha Psi. Beta Alpha Psi is a national scholastic and professional fraternity, established to encourage and give recognition to scholastic and professional excellence in the business information field.

An active member of both the Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants (TSCPA) and the Chattanooga Chapter of the TSCPA, Wright currently serves as Vice President of both organizations. Wright has been recognized for his work with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Association of Government Accountants. He has served as an officer in various capacities for the Government Finance Officers Association of the US and Canada.

Among his numerous public service achievements was Wright’s induction to the Volunteer Hall of Fame for the Chattanooga Ronald McDonald House. Wright has also served on the Security for Public Deposits Task Force, the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union and the League Central Credit Union, the Board of Governors, and as President of the Hamilton County Chapter of the UT-National Alumni Association.

Hamilton County was the first county in Tennessee and the third governmental entity in the state to receive the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) Certificate of Achievement, and Wright was instrumental in the process. The county has consistently received the certificate for nineteen years.

Wright has served as Hamilton County Administrator of Finance for 28 years. His contributions to government organization include:

  • assisting in the original conversion from a bookkeeping system to a computerized accounting system and then years later was instrumental in the selection and implementation of a full customized governmental accounting system;
  • designing and implementing the county’s initial fixed asset accounting system, including the initial countywide inventory of fixed assets;
  • supervising the county’s conversion from the old “County Pension System” to the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System, including the records conversion and interviewing of all county employees for the conversion;
  • designing and implementing the county’s first self-insurance program and self-insurance fund;
  • designing and establishing the county’s risk management department and risk management program including the direct supervision of that during its early years;
  • and writing and implementing the county’s on-the-job injury program (OJI). This is a program similar to the state’s workers compensation program but has proven to be much more efficient for county government and has resulted in estimated average savings of $100,000 per year.