When I became chairman, I pledged to embrace change. But change can
happen to us, or we can make it happen. I prefer to make it happen. One
change I am pushing for is to welcome the fresh ideas and leadership
of new generations of CPAs. If we are to maintain our high standards
for excellence, we will have to continue to attract the highest quality
students to study accounting and ultimately become CPAs. Once they
join the profession, we should encourage them to take on roles as
leaders who will uphold our reputation and use their own talents and
experiences to expand our opportunities.
As far as bringing new people into the profession, I’m happy to tell
you that we continue to achieve great success. In the 2007-2008
academic year, 66,000 young people graduated with accounting
degrees, the most in our history. We clearly are doing a good job of
promoting the many benefits of becoming an accountant and attracting
students to accounting programs. We also have been successful at
encouraging accounting graduates to sit for the CPA exam and become
CPAs. In fact, in July 2009 the computer-based version of exam,
launched in April 2004, surpassed the milestone of one million exam
sections.
The next step is to encourage these new CPAs to become active and
involved in the profession. It’s important for younger CPAs to have a
voice in the process, because the decisions being made now will affect
their futures. I joined my first AICPA committee when I was 33, and I
believe it is vital to our profession that we include young people under
36 on committees. It significantly helped my career as well.
With that in mind, I’d like to remind members that the AICPA is
accepting applications for
the 2010-2011 committee year now through May 1. The appointment process
begins in July and the committee year begins in October. The spots open
include committees, expert panels, task forces and more. On volunteer central, our Web site
for applying, you can see how many vacancies and how many people have
applied for a volunteer group. In serving, young people have an
excellent opportunity to learn the ropes and understand how the work of
the profession is performed, as well as gain important visibility
among colleagues and prospects.
Those who aren’t selected for committees have other opportunities to
participate in leading the profession. For example, young people
working with small businesses might get involved in the Private Company Financial Reporting Committee
Resource Group or User Group. I
would also encourage young people to comment on exposure drafts that
will affect their companies or clients, write
articles for various AICPA publications or become active in state
CPA societies or local society chapters.
The AICPA Leadership Academy is another great opportunity for young
people. Last year, an inaugural group of 28 young CPAs came together in
Chicago to receive training and mentoring from some of the
profession’s brightest minds. I plan to continue the good work of this
academy, which was the brainchild of Ernie Almonte, my predecessor as
board chairman. In 2010, the Academy will be held October 5-7. You
will be able to apply starting later this month through May (visit www.aicpa.org/leadershipacademy
for more information). Many state societies have started their own
leadership academies, which will help us to reach an even wider group
of promising young professionals.
There are many chances to make a difference and to begin to take
part in our profession. I urge young CPAs to take that first step
toward getting involved.