One of the most frequently asked questions I get is how to advance within a public accounting firm, a company and/or the profession. In this column, I will explore how to leverage personal branding, emotional intelligence (EQ) and other leadership skills and strategies to advance by sharing advice from personal experience, feedback, research and interviews with several leaders within our CPA profession.
Mary T. Washington Wylie in 1943 became the nation’s first Black woman to earn the CPA license, a notable achievement in a remarkable life filled with many accomplishments. Washington Wylie also made it her life’s mission to hire and mentor Black aspiring CPAs. Her story illustrates the importance of early Black CPAs’ success and the advances they made for future generations of accountants.
This article looks at the life and legacy of two great CPAs - Chauncey Christian and Cary Lewis.
“African-Americans struggled against incredible barriers in order to become CPAs and were virtually invisible,” said Theresa A. Hammond, CPA, Ph.D., accounting professor at San Francisco State University’s Lam Family College of Business. The first CPA law was passed in New York 1896. It would be another 25 years before a Black person joined the profession. The primary blockers that made licensure essentially impossible for many aspiring Black CPAs included education, experience, and exclusion. John W. Cromwell, Jr., the son of a former slave, overcame many obstacles in his life to earn his place in history as the nation’s first Black CPA in 1921. His story is an inspiration and lesson in tenacity for future generations of Black accountants.
Deloitte announced June 2, 2021 the establishment of Making Accounting Diverse and Equitable (MADE), a commitment to generate more advisory, auditing, and tax career opportunities and leadership pathways for the next generation of certified public accountants (CPAs). MADE represents a bold vision for the accounting profession, both in terms of increasing racial and ethnic diversity, and helping students of color see and realize their future in business through the prism and possibilities of accounting.
Remember “grunge”? Did you once sport a look featuring Doc Martens, dark flannel shirts and torn jeans while listening to Pearl Jam and Nirvana? If so, you are right in style for the return of 1990s economics. It really has been almost twenty years since we have had to deal with anything approaching real inflation and now it has once again reared its very ugly head. There are many people in business that have never really encountered an inflation spike but they are learning all about it now. There are three pillars as far as inflation is concerned.
This is the final report in a series of benchmarking collaboratives conducted by Avenue M Group (Avenue M) on behalf of more than a dozen state CPA societies from across the United States. At the end of April through early May 2020, 18 CPA societies took part in the first round of a COVID-19 Quick Pulse Survey, and 14 of the societies elected to participate in a second round of the survey in September of 2020. The third and final round of the survey was fielded in January of 2021, and 15 state CPA societies partook in the research. The following report is an analysis of the continued impact of COVID-19 on the CPA profession based on the data collected from these surveys.
CPA Evolution is a joint initiative of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). The initiative is transforming the CPA licensure model to reflect the rapidly changing skills and competencies the accounting profession requires today and will require in the future. It will put in place a flexible and adaptable licensure approach that will serve as the foundation for future-proofing the CPA profession.
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) created a new lending program, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), under Section 7 (a) of the Small Business Act (15 USC 636) to provide low-interest loans to certain small businesses. PPP loans are eligible for forgiveness if the requirements specified in the CARES Act regarding use of funds, employee retention and maintenance of salaries are met. The question becomes, during these unprecedented times: How is PPP loan forgiveness reported on financial statements?
New CPE requirements began on January 1, 2021. If you need further clarification, please contact the Kentucky State Board of Accountancy at cpa@ky.gov or visit cpa.ky.gov.
