Inside AICPA

Gold Medal winners announced…Pecarich earns Dixon Award…
Tax Public Service Award recognizes CTA leaders

TWO WIN INSTITUTE’S TOP AWARD

Kathy Eddy, CPA, former chair of the AICPA Board of Directors, and Gary John Previts, CPA, Ph.D., former member of the governing Council and Board of Directors, received the 2007 Gold Medal for Distinguished Service.

The Gold Medal, the AICPA’s highest award, honors lifetime achievement by a member whose influence on the profession is distinguished when compared with other contemporary leaders.

Eddy and Previts accepted the award at the Institute’s fall Council meeting in Tampa, Fla.

Eddy, who served as chair of the AICPA Board of Directors from 2000 to 2001, also served on the governing Council and committees including Audit, Finance, Compensation, Strategic Planning, State Legislation and the Special Committee on Mobility. She was also the chair of the AICPA Special Committee on State Regulation.

Previts led AICPA teams reviewing the standard-setting process of the U.S. government as to the authoritative status of FASB and served on the Institute’s National CPA Financial Literacy Commission.

He is the president of the American Accounting Association and serves with the Accountability Advisory Council for the Comptroller General of the United States. He is also a past president of the Ohio Society of CPAs.

The award was presented by Doyle Z. Williams, chairman—AICPA Award Committee.

DIXON AWARD RECOGNIZES OUTSTANDING SERVICE TO TAX PROFESSION

Pamela J. Pecarich, CPA, received the Arthur J. Dixon Memorial Award, the highest award given by the AICPA in the area of taxation.

Pecarich has been chief policy analyst for the House Ways and Means Committee, staff director for the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, director of the Office of Policy and Planning at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, committee staff consultant to the California State Assembly’s Committee on Revenue and Taxation, and a member of the IRS Commissioner’s Advisory Group.

She was also a partner and director of tax policy for Coopers and Lybrand LLP, National Tax Services.

She served as chairwoman of the AICPA Tax Executive Committee as well as the Institute’s Tax Legislative Liaison Committee, the Tax Shelter Issues Task Force and the task force that updated the AICPA’s report on fundamental tax reform in 2005.

The award, given by the Tax Division of the AICPA, honors Arthur J. Dixon, chairman of the AICPA’s Tax Executive Committee from 1977 to 1980.

Robert Zarzar, a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, member of the AICPA Board of Directors and former chairman of the Tax Executive Committee, presented the award at the National Conference on Federal Taxes in Washington.

TAX AWARD HONORS PUBLIC SERVICE

Two leaders of Community Tax Aid, an organization that provides free assistance to low-income taxpayers, received the AICPA’s Tax Public Service Award at the National Conference on Federal Taxes in Washington.

Barb Mantegani, president of Community Tax Aid and a senior manager at KPMG LLP in Washington, has trained hundreds of volunteers to prepare returns for taxpayers in need. She has served as a return-preparer, site manager and board member of the organization.

Jeffrey Gold founded and served as chairman of Community Tax Aid in New York. He also helped found and worked for the organization in Washington.

The awards were presented by Jeffrey Hoops, chairman of the AICPA’s Tax Executive Committee.