What is 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy?

In May 2004, the CPA profession launched a unified financial literacy initiative: 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy. The effort brought together the AICPA, the state CPA societies and individual CPAs to address a growing public issue: financial illiteracy. With bankruptcies and credit card debt skyrocketing and savings plummeting, CPAs stepped in to volunteer their time and expertise to help Americans get on the right financial path.

The initiative sends the message that financial education should be a lifelong endeavor—from encouraging children to save their allowances to helping adults plan for a secure retirement. Program information focuses on what people need at each stage of their lives, including:

Childhood
College
Career
Military & Reserves
Marriage & Couples
Parenthood

Home Ownership
Small Business
Life Crises
Sandwich Generation
Retirement

Leadership

National CPA Financial Literacy Commission: Chaired by Carl R. George, CPA, the commission is leading the profession in a national effort to advance the financial literacy of Americans. Toward this end, they are working to increase awareness of the importance of financial literacy education, build liaisons within the financial literacy community, and promote efforts involving CPAs.

Consumer Resources

360 Degrees of Financial Literacy Consumer Web site: The AICPA’s award-wining financial literacy Web site is the centerpiece of the campaign, where consumers can find extensive free resources to help them make sound financial decisions. The site is free from all advertising, sales, promotions and branding—a feature that brought recognition in a recent Newsweek article. The article cited the 360 Web site saying, “360financialliteracy.org: basic financial education from the nation's CPAs. Impartial and solid.” Visit www.360financialliteracy.org.

360 Degrees of Financial Literacy for Women: The AICPA's 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy for Women program is an enhancement of the 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy effort. It focuses on educating and empowering women to take control of their personal finances and achieve greater financial well-being.The program includes a dedicated section of the 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy consumer Web site, www.360financialliteracy.org/women, and educational outreach to women and women business owners through a partnership with the Department of Labor Women's Bureau and Employee Benefits Security Administration.

National Public Service Advertisement Campaign with the Ad Council: In October 2006, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) extended the reach of the 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy initiative by partnering with the Ad Council to implement Feed the Pig™ (FTP), a national public service announcement (PSA) campaign. The campaign sends a wake-up call that Americans aged 25-34 need to start making smart financial decisions or they will find their long-term financial security at risk. Featuring Benjamin Bankes, an adult-sized pig who evokes memories of the piggy bank, the campaign delivers a strong message about the importance and benefits of saving. A dedicated Web site, www.FeedthePig.org, provides free financial information and tools to help young career builders take control of their finances and build long-term financial security.

Weekly Reader: AICPA teamed with Weekly Reader to create a free educational program, Budget Buzz: Be Smart about Saving, to provide basics of financial literacy to 4th grade students and their teachers. The program materials include a poster and two hands-on activities designed to help students understand financial concepts in a fun, interactive way. The program was distributed with the Weekly Reader Grade 4 magazine and reached 665,000 students.

Disaster Recovery and Preparedness Guides: To help Americans regain financial balance following disaster or to establish a plan to prepare for one, the AICPA and the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE), with support from the AICPA Foundation, jointly developed two guides: Disaster Recover: A Guide to Financial Issues and Disaster Planning: A Guide to Preparedness.

PBS TV Shows: Two television programs funded by the AICPA Foundation aired on PBS YOU in summer 2003. Penny Wise and Business Building Blocks focused on teaching middle and high school students, respectively, about personal finance, basic money management and the accounting profession. Watch them at http://www.360financialliteracy.org/Life+Stages/Childhood/.

CPA Resources

CPA Financial Literacy Resource Center: CPAs and the state CPA societies can find information to use in educating consumers at a Web resource center. It features a free CPE course and toolkits created by the AICPA and California Society of CPAs that are tailored to each life stage and include a PowerPoint presentation and fact sheets. Visit www.aicpa.org/financialliteracy.

CPA Mobilization Kits: All the tools a CPA needs to engage in community discussions are included in these kits. Created by the AICPA and the California Society of CPAs, each kit focuses on a particular life event and includes a PowerPoint presentation with notes and fact sheets of pertinent issues. To view all mobilization kits, visit http://www.aicpa.org/financialliteracy/life_cycle_resources.asp.

Free Continuing Education for CPAs: To make sure CPAs are prepared to be successful volunteers in their communities, the AICPA has created an online Continuing Professional Education course, offered to AICPA members free of charge to review crucial financial literacy issues. It is available on the CPA Financial Literacy Resource Center. Visit: http://www.aicpa.org/financialliteracy/CPEcourse.asp for more information.

Certificate for Volunteer Financial Literacy Service: To qualify for the certificate, a CPA must be either a member of the AICPA and a state CPA society and have 5 volunteer financial literacy occurrences (e.g., present a speech at a local community group, hold a brown bag luncheon session at a firm, author an article in local newspaper, etc.) or perform 7 or more hours of volunteer service leading or presenting financial literacy programs or serving as a leader of an AICPA or state society committee/group/task force whose main focus is on financial literacy.