#CPA Including Consulting Services CPE
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Certified Public Accountant - Purpose, Roles, and Path to Licensure

A license to practice as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is conferred upon individuals who meet stringent educational, experiential, and examination criteria in the accounting field. Licensure, administered by states and overseen by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), signifies an accountant’s adherence to established standards in the profession. The primary purpose of the CPA license is to ensure that individuals providing accounting services possess the requisite knowledge and ethical commitment to safeguard the public interest.
CPAs fulfill a variety of crucial roles across diverse sectors. In public accounting, they conduct audits, prepare financial statements, and provide tax services to businesses and individuals. Within corporations, CPAs may serve as controllers or chief financial officers, overseeing financial reporting and strategic financial planning. Their expertise extends to government entities, where they contribute to financial oversight and regulatory compliance. Moreover, CPAs are authorized to represent clients before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and prepare reports for submission to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), demonstrating their specialized knowledge of tax law and securities regulations. Beyond these core functions, CPAs offer consulting services, advising on financial matters, risk assessment, and business strategy. Their responsibilities often involve maintaining accurate financial records, identifying discrepancies, and implementing improvements to internal financial processes.
The path to obtaining a CPA license is rigorous and multifaceted. It begins with fulfilling educational requirements, which typically entail earning a bachelor's degree, although specific majors are not universally mandated. Many states require 150 semester hours of post-secondary education, necessitating additional coursework beyond the standard bachelor's degree. This requirement can be met through graduate studies or specialized programs.
Following the attainment of the required educational credits, candidates must pass the Uniform CPA Examination, a comprehensive assessment designed to evaluate their proficiency in financial accounting and reporting, auditing and attestation, taxation and regulation, and a chosen discipline area, which includes business analysis and reporting, information systems and controls, or tax compliance and planning. The examination is administered by NASBA and consists of multiple-choice questions and task-based simulations. Achieving a passing score of 75 on each of the four sections is mandatory.
In addition to educational and examination requirements, candidates must fulfill experience criteria, which typically involve one to two years of full-time, paid work in accounting-related roles. This experience must often be verified by a licensed CPA and may encompass work in public accounting, private industry, or government. Each state board of accountancy sets its specific requirements for licensure, and candidates must ensure that they meet the criteria of the state in which they intend to practice. Upon successful completion of all requirements, individuals are eligible to apply for a CPA license from their respective state board.
Maintaining the CPA license necessitates adherence to continuing professional education (CPE). These requirements, which vary by state, typically involve completing a specified number of CPE hours annually or biennially. CPE courses cover topics such as accounting standards, tax law updates, and professional ethics. Compliance with CPE requirements ensures that CPAs remain current with evolving accounting practices and regulations.
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This 3-hour course is designed to meet the 3-hour Ethics CPE requirement for Ohio CPAs. It provides an overview of ethical thought along with the core values of the CPA profession.
#Ohio Ethics#American Center for Continuing Professional Education#Accounting CPE | American Center For Continuing Professional Education | ACCPE#ACCPE#Ohio Ethics Texas#Continuing Professional Education for CPAs Texas#Continuing Education Texas#CPE Texas#Continuing Professional Education Texas#Continuing Education for Accountants Texas#CPA Including Consulting Services CPE#CPA Including Auditing CPE#CPA Including CPE For Accounting#Continuing Education For CPAs Ohio | Texas | New York | North Carolina#Continuing Education for Accountants Ohio | Texas | New York | North Carolina#Current Developments Accounting and Financial in Texas
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Virginia CPA CPE Requirements

Virginia CPA CPE requirements differ depending upon the "status" of the CPA and the number of years which have passed since successful completion of the CPA exam.
The Virginia Board of Accountancy is the governing body overseeing the requirements for the number and the type of CPE hours which a CPA must complete in order to renew his or her Virginia CPA license.
Please refer to these clarifications when reading the requirements that follow:
Referring to one's self as a Certified Public Accountant or CPA, includes the use of the "CPA" title on individual business cards, letterhead and all other documents (excluding a CPA wall certificate).
The performance of professional services to the public for purposes of CPE requirements include: accounting or auditing skills, issuing reports on financial advisory or consulting services, preparing tax returns, or giving tax advice.
For the purposes of this article, the terms "CPE credits" and "CPE hours" are used interchangeably.
CPE requirements for Virginia CPA's who use the CPA designation and perform services for the public.
General requirements:
Any person referring to himself or herself as a Certified Public Accountant or "CPA," and who is performing or offering to perform the professional services as listed above for the public must complete 120 CPE credits during each CPE reporting cycle with a minimum of 20 CPE hours per CPE reporting year. The CPA licensee may choose the specific courses and areas of study.
Timing of application for Virginia CPA license:
Any person applying for a CPA certificate three or more years after successful completion of the CPA exam, who intends to provide any of the professional services described above, must complete the 120 CPE hour requirement as though it had been applicable during the three years prior to the date of his application.
Any CPA certificate holder whose original application for CPA certification was received by the board less than three years after completion of the CPA exam, and who provides any of the professional services described above (after December 31, 2000), must have obtained 40 CPE credits within the 12 months preceding the date such services are first offered to the public. The CPA must complete the remaining 80 CPE hours by the end of the second CPE reporting year following the date of providing the indicated professional services. A minimum of 20 CPE hours must be completed in each of these two CPE reporting years.
CPE requirements for Virginia CPA's who use the CPA designation and perform services other than for the public.
General requirements:
Any person referring to himself or herself as a Certified Public Accountant or "CPA," and who is performing or offering to perform any professional services as listed above for an employer or other organization or as an educator in the field of accounting, and not for the public, must meet the following CPE requirements to renew a CPA certificate:
For the three-year reporting period beginning January 1, 2006, a minimum of 90 CPE credits with a minimum of 15 CPE hours per year
For the three-year reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2009, a minimum of 120 CPE credits with a minimum of 20 CPE hours per year.
Any person applying for a CPA certificate three or more years after successful completion of the CPA exam, who intends to provide any of the professional services described above, must complete the 120 CPE credit requirement as though it had been applicable during the three years prior to the date of his application.
If the CPA obtained his CPA certificate at a time when he did not intend to provide services for the public and later decides to provide for the public the services, then he or she must, prior to performing such services, meet the 120 CPE credit requirement.
Requirements for retaining records of continuing education.
It is the responsibility of the CPA to keep all evidence of completion of CPE credits for a period of three years. The documentation must be in the form of a sponsor provided certificate of completion or other verification or written statement from the provider of the CPE course.
The CPA certificate holder has the responsibility to provide documentation of completed CPE to the board only if requested.
Granting of continuing professional education credit.
The Virginia Board of Accountancy permits credit hours for CPE courses as follows:
One credit hour for each 50-minute period of classroom instruction.
CPE Credit for College Courses: One semester hour of college credit is worth 15 CPE credits. One quarter hour of college credit is worth 10 CPE credits.
CPE Credit for Instructors: A CPA certificate holder can also gain CPE credit for instructing courses that qualify for CPE credit. Instructors. The instructor must keep evidence to support the request for CPE credit and will be awarded two additional CPE credits for each CPE credit hour of instruction. The instructor will not be given CPE credit for "substantially identical" subject matter in subsequent sessions of the course. The CPE credit given for instructing is limited to 30 CPE credits per CPE reporting cycle.
Interactive vs Non-interactive Self study CPE: CPE hours for self-study courses should be established by the sponsor. Interactive self-study programs receive CPE hours equal to the average completion time. Non-interactive self-study programs receive CPE hours equal to one-half of the average completion time.My site here CPA San Diego
Comparing CPE Providers
Because the Virginia Board of Accountancy does not require registration of CPE providers, the following are some things to look for when selecting a CPE course.
* Does the provider specify written learning objectives for each course?
* Does the provider require a final exam with a minimum passing score at the conclusion of the course?
* Does the provider issue certificates of completion for each course?
The Virginia Board of Accountancy does not require that CPE providers be pre-approved or registered with the state board. Therefore, Virginia CPA's should be diligent in selecting a quality provider of CPA CPE.
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Some of Our Favorite Accounting People Put a Bow on 2018 and Talk Robots in 2019
As you guys know, the editorial team at Going Concern has no shortage of opinions. But this year, we wanted to do something a little different. We wanted to hear from professionals who we consider to be influencers in the accounting profession. Or maybe we’re a fan of their contributions to the industry, or maybe we admire their gusto. Whatever the reason, we value their thoughts and wanted to share them with you.
We asked them to look both behind and forward by answering two simple questions. We wanted their honest opinions. Here’s what they told us:
Jim Bourke
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Jim Bourke
The most difficult thing also happened to be the most rewarding. So far this year (and I have more flights still to come before the end of the year), I have had “butt in seat miles” of over 390,000. If you fly around the world (at the equator) that will get you 24,901 miles. So that means that I flew around the world about 15 ½ times. I don’t even want to share how many days I spent in metal tubes.
For all those who travel in connection with this profession, you know it can be a living hell! Time away from home and family, dealing with weather delays, dealing with irate passengers, dealing with frustrated flight attendants and crews, and the list goes on, not to mention servicing our clients while doing all of this, is really super difficult, but at the same time super rewarding. It’s rewarding because I get to meet so many interesting people, experience interesting cultures, and listen to so many cool stories about how they are all dealing with global technology challenges—and that’s my thing. I love preaching about technology and how it rules our world. Technology brings the world together and that resonates no matter where I go. Unlike tax and audit, technology is the same language around the globe.


This photo was from a technology conference that I presented at in Amman, Jordan a few months ago. The people pictured may all look different on the outside, but on the inside, we are all the same and we all have a genuine passion for the same profession!
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No, although they could probably do a better job than some of the people that we know!
Jim Bourke, CPA.CITP.CFF.CGMA, is managing director of advisory services at Withum. You can follow Jim on Twitter @JimBourke.
Tom Hood
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?


Tom Hood
Most difficult was learning to ride the lime scooter for our holiday video.
Most rewarding was getting “traction” with the implementation of the MACPA-BLI Strategic Plan with our resident implementer, Bill Sheridan. He has taught us how to increase accountability and velocity of our strategy across our whole organization using the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS).
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Absolutely YES! What I mean by that is we will finally be liberated from being relegated to bookkeepers moving numbers from one application to another. The bots and machines (artificial intelligence) are actually here for small practices and small businesses, and if used properly can allow you to move into those higher and more valuable opportunities. Think of it as new superpowers available to all of us!
Tom Hood, CPA, CITP, CGMA, is CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute. You can follow Tom on Twitter @tomhood.
Chris Hooper
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Chris Hooper
I recently became a father, so trying to manage the competing demands of work and home was definitely a challenge.
The most rewarding thing was probably the continued expansion of Accodex internationally. I’ve racked up plenty of frequent flyer miles.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Not in 2019. Ask again next year.
Chris Hooper is CEO of Accodex. You can follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisHooper87.
Elizabeth Pittelkow Kittner
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?


Elizabeth Pittelkow Kittner
The most difficult and rewarding part of my professional career in 2018 has been working as the controller for a full year at a new company. I have learned new systems, led a new team, and worked on new projects. Our company is the result of several acquisitions over recent years, so we have integrated our financials, processes, and cultures. It has been exciting to contribute to molding our path for success.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No, robots will not take over the accounting profession in 2019. We will see an increase in the usage of artificial intelligence and machine learning, and we will still need accountants to review the integrity of data inputs and make decisions based on data outputs.
Elizabeth Pittelkow Kittner, CPA, CITP, CGMA, is controller at Litera Microsystems. You can follow Elizabeth on Twitter @Pittelkow or connect with her on LinkedIn.
Greg Kyte
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?


Greg Kyte
The most difficult thing to happen to my career in 2018 was fucking up my own taxes. I forgot to submit a new W-4 for myself in 2017, resulting in a massive tax liability in 2018.
The most rewarding thing to happen in my professional career in 2018 was averaging eight-hour workdays because I don’t work in public accounting.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Robots will not take over the accounting profession in 2019. I mean, they won’t take over my job. They will take over lots of jobs. But it will be gradual. Like boiling a frog. I’m also not going to boil a frog in 2019.
Greg Kyte, CPA, is founder of Comedy CPE and cartoonist for this dumb website. You can follow Greg on Twitter @gregkyte.
Mike McGuire
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?


Mike McGuire
The most rewarding part of my year was working with my colleagues here at Grant Thornton to launch our enterprise-wide “ideation platform.” Now, we can better collaborate and solve challenges—and that’s the very definition of rewarding.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Robots won’t take over, but they may make the mundane and repetitive work go away—allowing us to use our thinking skills to solve challenging business problems. My Grant Thornton colleague, JT Kostman, likes to say that robotics is about giving technology the ability to learn from humans so we can be even more creative and innovative with technology. In other words, robots will depend on us as much as we depend on them. They’re here to stay—and so are we.
Mike McGuire is CEO of Grant Thornton LLP. You can follow Mike on Twitter @mikemcguireCLT.
Francine McKenna
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?


Francine McKenna
The most difficult think to watch professionally this year was news of the indictments of the KPMG partners for the alleged theft of inspection data from the PCAOB. I am a KPMG Consulting and BearingPoint alum and this is the third strike for KPMG leadership in the last 15 years: KPMG tax fraud in 2005 and deferred prosecution agreement, Scott London insider trading case, and now this.
The most rewarding thing for me has been all the speaking engagements at MAcc programs this year. It gives me a chance to talk to students about the profession face to face, explain these stories that no one from the firms talks to them about, and answer questions, as well as lend my support as they embark on their careers in the Big 4. In 2018 I visited Ohio State University twice, Marquette University, Texas A&M University via Skype, Loyola Marymount University, and had Baylor University visit the Wall Street Journal newsroom in Washington, DC.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No. If robots took over, they would be able to do 100% sampling, and then the Big 4 would have no excuse to say that the audit was not designed to detect fraud. The firms will never let that happen. What would partners do if they couldn’t give clients an out via “judgment and discretion?” Since a judge told PwC that it was the auditors’ duty to design and perform an audit to detect fraud and handed down the biggest legal judgment ever against a firm after a bench trial for the Colonial Bank fraud this year—$625 million—I think we may see that argument less and less anyway.
Francine McKenna is a reporter for MarketWatch and the founder and managing editor of re: The Auditors. You can follow Francine on Twitter @retheauditors.
Caleb Newquist
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?


Caleb Newquist
At the risk of sounding obnoxious, one thing I found especially difficult this year was ceding creative control over my work. Don’t misunderstand, it’s not entirely a bad thing, and I still wield a large degree of control of what I’m working on and what I write. Before I left Going Concern, I basically did what I wanted, when I wanted, answering only to an audience of accountants who, to a large extent, understood where I was coming from.
Nowadays, I have a lot of non-accountants giving me feedback on my work and ideas about what they’d like me to do, including some stuff that isn’t writing about accounting. This is all happening within the confines of a growing business, so I no longer have the luxury of writing open letters to lazy taxpayers or bad poetry for auditors. Again, not in and of itself a bad thing, just something I had gotten used to not having to consider.
But listening to what other people think, including non-accountants, has forced me to approach work in a new way, and that’s forced me to … ugh … grow as a person and as a professional. I have to admit, that’s pretty rewarding! Sure, I don’t get to mock Big 4 firms or awful accountants on a daily basis, but I’m fine with that.
Also, I have a lot of meetings in my schedule after taking nearly a decade off from them. I’d be lying if I said that didn’t take some getting used to.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No, accountants will be fine, if only because a Butlerian Jihad is underway that will save the profession. I’m not saying the AICPA, IMA, et al. will be the ones to go guerrilla on the machines; no, the accountants will simply be unwitting beneficiaries of an anti-technological movement carried out by groups that are far more daring. A re-emboldened segment of accountants will cheer the return to hand-prepared tax returns, ledgers, and timesheets while the robots are led away in chains to their destruction. A dark age for technology, sure, but the redawn of a gilded age in accounting.
Caleb Newquist is the editor-at-large at Gusto and the founding editor of Going Concern. You can follow Caleb on Twitter @cnewquist.
Blake Oliver
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?


Blake Oliver
I finally got my CPA! As an accountant on the tech side, I managed to get away without having it for a long time. I ran my own small firm and made it to manager at a large firm not being a CPA. Plenty of people told me I shouldn’t even bother, especially since I left public to go work at FloQast. But I’m really glad I did. Despite all the doom and gloom from plenty of people in the profession about the declining value of the CPA, I’ve definitely felt my credibility rise in the community since adding CPA to the end of my name on LinkedIn. And I learned a lot along the way that’s been helpful to my career, even though I’ll never do tax or audit myself. If you’re already part of the way there, my advice is to push through to the end. It’s worth it.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No. We aren’t making enough new CPAs to replace the boomers who are retiring, which is good news for the rest of us. Even with the growth of automation, a recent report projects 140,300 new accounting jobs by 2026. In fact, accountants and auditors are No. 10 on their list of jobs projected to grow most. The only other white-collar professions ahead of us on the list are software engineer and operations manager. Now, that doesn’t mean our jobs won’t be disrupted; we’ll likely have to learn new skills to adapt. But those of us who can master tools like cloud ERP and close management software will have excellent career prospects.
Blake Oliver, CPA, is senior product marketing manager at FloQast. You can follow Blake on Twitter @BlakeTOliver.
Jody Padar
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?


Jody Padar
My husband just turned 50, and I’m not that far behind. Between my hot flashes, my daughter leaving for college, and my cloud accounting firm New Vision CPA Group becoming a teenager, it seemed that I needed to do something new and exciting with my life. So, I joined an accounting artificial intelligence-focused tech startup, Botkeeper, funded by Google. Now, I work for a 30-year-old!
OMG. I never saw that coming. Hello, midlife crisis? Or the next radical step in my journey to make a difference in the CPA profession.
How did this happen? Well, actually, I asked! Yes, I asked. When there’s something that intrigues you and you know you have the skills to do the job, step up to the plate and ask. That’s something I would have never had the confidence to do when I left my old-school firm almost 13 years ago. If there is one thing you learn as an entrepreneur and in building a business it is that nothing happens if you don’t ask.
When I saw the opportunity to build something new and utilize what I do best, I couldn’t resist. I am an accounting ambassador and bot advisor. Perfect role for me, right?!
What’s it like to work at a young tech startup? Fun! Exciting! Fast! Sometimes overwhelming! I feel like a “mentern”—part mentor and part intern—all at the same time. And I refuse to stay at the shared Airbnb—like the “Real World” house—when they travel to conferences. For sure, that reference carbon dated me!
What’s it like to work for a leader, a millennial, who could be my son? Awesome! Refreshing! I’ve spent the last decade fighting old-school baby-boomer partners and trying to get them to embrace the cloud and other new technologies.
However, those partners’ business model and retirement plans have locked them into broken firm models that are slowly dying, and it’s getting faster by the season. My career was spent looking up to and learning from older CPAs who were so busy that they couldn’t see the world around them changing. But the market has significantly changed, and now the old-school firm owners are hungry for tech out of fear they will be left behind.
Now, I can follow someone who sees the future as I do and isn’t stuck in “that’s the way we did it last year.” A leader who has skills built for the future. I can be a supportive leader utilizing my best legacy skills and learning new ones. Do you see why I’m so excited?
Watch out, 2019, it going to be radical!
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Absolutely they will. Quite frankly, they are already here. But you still need humans, too. It’s not all or nothing. Our firm of three people is utilizing them today!
But what’s a bot? As I’ve learned in my short time in technology, most accountants don’t know. They think they know, but they don’t. Basically, it’s an algorithm or a line of code, not a robot. You can copy and paste the code, so they multiply indefinitely to fill the talent shortage. Some of my bots have been smarter than my new hires.
Machine learning and AI is way harder to understand than that. The really cool part is you, as a CPA, don’t need to understand all of the details. All you need to know is that you want the bot “sitting in the cube next to you” doing some repetitive task with data. Then the technology folks take it from there. Finally, we can have time to do the work we really want to and be better advisors for our customers. Or, really, just go home early!
Jody Padar, CPA, MST, is CEO and principal at New Vision CPA Group and the author of The Radical CPA and From Success to Significance: The Radical CPA Guide. She is now the accounting ambassador and bot advisor at Botkeeper. You can follow Jody on Twitter @jodypadarcpa.
Kristen Rampe
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?


Kristen Rampe
The most rewarding thing that’s happened this year is that I found a way to link my love for improv with my love for professional development. It started with stepping out of my own comfort zone to facilitate a program for a networking event early in 2018. Since then, I’ve been honored to help over 250 professionals dip their toes into improv. We laugh, we learn, we make shit up. It’s great.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Yes, and they will all look like the stick figures in Greg Kyte’s cartoons.
Kristen Rampe is the owner of Kristen Rampe Consulting, and creator and facilitator of Slide Deck Improv. You can follow Kristen on Twitter @KristenRampe or @slidedeckimprov.
Tim Ryan
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?


Tim Ryan
This year, the coalition that I co-founded, the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, reached over 500 signatory members. CEO Action is the largest-ever CEO-led initiative to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and we recognize that in order to drive real change, we must create opportunities for CEOs and the workforce (current employees and the future workforce of students) to collectively create and participate in diverse and inclusive environments. As a co-founder, I raise the issue of diversity and inclusion in nearly every meeting that I have, and growing our signatory base has taken a tremendous amount of effort but is also incredibly rewarding when I think about what we can accomplish working together.
Seeing the signatory number grow from 150 to over 500 in just one year shows that business leaders are understanding the urgency and critical importance of creating more diverse and inclusive workplaces, communicating with their employees in more meaningful ways, and taking their place as not just business leaders but also leaders in the community.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
I hope not—who will I talk to all day? Although robots and artificial intelligence are a remarkably complex issue, they will not take over the accounting profession in 2019. Questions like these are something I hear often from our people—there is a real concern out there that technology will replace humans, and we as leaders need to help educate our people that we need both in order to be successful! Rather, robotics and AI will encourage a gradual evolution in the market that will allow us to augment humans’ role in business rather than restrict it. The partnership between man and machine will allow humans to do quicker, more efficient, and more brilliant work. Moreover, accounting work will have enhanced quality, consistency, and speediness, and accountants will be able to do more than ever before with available data.
All of this said, advancements to our industry brought about by robots and AI can only be harnessed to their fullest extent when we properly prepare our people to work with them. That is why at PwC we are upskilling all of our 55,000 U.S. employees through our PwC Digital Fitness App, which assesses each person’s digital fluency and provides them with on-demand training to help them learn skills in robotics, AI, machine learning, and other advanced technology. We’re also training thousands of our employees through a Digital Accelerators program, which gives select employees advanced digital and tech training so that they can become learning ambassadors with their colleagues and teach them their new tech-enabled skills.
Tim Ryan is U.S. chairman and senior partner of PwC. You can follow Tim on Twitter @Timothy_F_Ryan.
Bill Sheridan
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?


Bill Sheridan
The most difficult thing to happen to me in 2018 was my loss of time. I don’t have any. It’s all accounted for. I can’t do anything new anymore, because my calendar is filled. I’d love to help you out, but … take a look at my calendar. I’ve got no time. And I’m not alone. Everyone feels that way. The fact is, we MAKE time for the stuff that’s important to us, so if I’m not doing it, what does that tell you?
The most rewarding thing to happen in 2018 was, in my expanding role as Entrepreneurial Operating System implementer and business coach, I’m helping more leaders take their organizations to the next level. That’s rewarding in a way I never expected, and it’s intoxicating. I want MORE of it. This idea of helping people? It’s amazing. When you see it work, you want more of it. You want to keep doing it. And that’s what I want in 2019—more success for more clients.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
The short answer: Yes. The long answer: They’ll take over the mindless, tedious, number-crunching stuff that accountants have had to do for generations. We won’t have to do that stuff anymore. We’ll be able to focus on more value-added stuff, like helping our clients go beyond the numbers, and take their organizations to the next level because they can see the stories that the numbers are telling them. Robots won’t steal our jobs; they’ll free us up to do better work for our clients.
Bill Sheridan is chief communications officer and professional EOS implementer for the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute. You can follow Bill on Twitter @BillSheridan.
Donny C. Shimamoto
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?


Donny C. Shimamoto
2018 started off as an extremely difficult year with a large client that didn’t follow our advice on a practice management system migration, to which we then had to go into full firefighting mode to help get the converted data reconciled and fill in the gap for missing functionality. This also was one of the most rewarding challenges because it confirmed my ability to address the human side of these types of challenges, in giving the managing partner peace of mind that we could help fix the situation and also in giving the controller for the firm hope that we could get her through this. It is these types of human aspects to projects that I find the most rewarding about my career.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No, robots will not take over the accounting profession. They may take over the bulk of the bookkeeping, accounting clerk, audit staff, and tax staff tasks, but that is a good thing because it will allow accountants to focus on where we add the most value, which is in the analysis of information and identifying the insights to help support better decision-making.
Donny C. Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, is founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC. You can follow Donny on Twitter @donnyitk.
Dr. Sean Stein Smith
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?


Dr. Sean Stein Smith
The most challenging thing I faced this year was also the most rewarding, and that was being able to discuss, present, and engage so much about emerging technologies with fellow practitioners. In 2018 I had the great opportunity to present over 20 times across the country discussing blockchain and other emerging technologies, but that also presented me with a challenge as to 1) making sure I was keeping myself up on emerging trends in these areas, and 2) presenting and articulating these topics in a way that is understandable. That said, 2018 was an exciting time to be in the profession, with a lot of exciting debate and conversations going on, and 2019 is shaping up to be even better.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No, absolutely not. Will some tasks be augmented or automated with robots and other automation tools? Sure, but that will just open the door for proactive CPAs to engage in the strategic and advisory tasks that many have clamored to be doing for decades.
Dr. Sean Stein Smith, CPA, CMA, CGMA, CFE, is an assistant professor at Lehman College of City University of New York, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance. You can follow Sean on Twitter @SeanSteinSmith.
Ralph Albert Thomas
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?


Ralph Albert Thomas
The most rewarding thing to happen in 2018 was the progress that the NJCPA made as a thought leader in our state capitol. Three years ago, a member survey revealed support for being more active in Trenton, so the Society undertook an effort to leverage and capitalize on first-hand expertise of NJCPA members to shape policy issues that are important to CPAs and their clients. In 2018, we were active participants in supporting issues that we believe are good for business and the public interests. Two of our members proposed and helped draft legislation that will stimulate the New Jersey economy by saving Garden State business owners millions of dollars and promoting investment in startup companies.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Robots are NOT going to replace all humans in the accounting profession (at least not until the robot uprising). There will be changes in 2019, no doubt, but those changes won’t completely eliminate the need for human accountants; they will just alter their contributions. We’re still a long way from artificial intelligence providing the insight, interpretation, and explanation that a CPA can provide. You’re always going to need CPAs and accountants to interpret the information and present it to clients in a clear and concise format.
Rather than fear changes that AI will make to accounting tasks, it’s an opportunity for accounting professionals to be excited. The profession is going to become more interesting as repetitive tasks shift to machines. Not only will CPAs become more productive and proficient, but they will be able to handle more clients and deliver more value because they can determine actionable insight.
Ralph Albert Thomas, CPA, CGMA, is CEO and executive director of the New Jersey Society of CPAs. You can follow Ralph on Twitter @RalphAThomas.
Amy Vetter
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Amy Vetter
This year I went out on my own as a professional keynote speaker, corporate board member, and also developed The B3 Method Institute. It was definitely a scary decision to leave a corporate job that I enjoyed to start a business, not knowing how it would be received. I cannot begin to describe how grateful I am to this profession and how supportive people have been of my transition to speaking professionally. The outpouring of support was nothing I could have imagined when I made this decision. I have been so fortunate to speak all over the country this year, at accounting and financial professional conferences, as well as being invited to speak at firm retreats.
I have also launched online learning content to help people stay on this journey and implement real change into their lives, and now hold board positions to advise technology companies on their go-to-market strategies. Seeing people inspired to make a change in their personal or work lives, and hearing their stories they share with me, is so rewarding. It makes the work and effort that I put into my business all worth it, and I am excited to continue to grow the business in the coming year.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No. They are making their way into the profession, but we still have a long way to go. I do believe those that are figuring out how to implement it now in their workflow processes will get ahead of the pack and start setting a standard of what clients should expect. So, even if they won’t take over yet, it doesn’t mean not to make this a priority of learning more about these latest trends and how you can become more knowledgeable. Knowledge is power, and if you start becoming a subject-matter expert in something that not all people know about, you will find lots of opportunity for yourself in the future.
Amy Vetter, CPA.CITP, CGMA, is CEO of The B3 Method Institute. You can follow Amy on Twitter @AmyVetterCPA.
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Some of Our Favorite Accounting People Put a Bow on 2018 and Talk Robots in 2019
As you guys know, the editorial team at Going Concern has no shortage of opinions. But this year, we wanted to do something a little different. We wanted to hear from professionals who we consider to be influencers in the accounting profession. Or maybe we’re a fan of their contributions to the industry, or maybe we admire their gusto. Whatever the reason, we value their thoughts and wanted to share them with you.
We asked them to look both behind and forward by answering two simple questions. We wanted their honest opinions. Here’s what they told us:
Jim Bourke
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Jim Bourke
The most difficult thing also happened to be the most rewarding. So far this year (and I have more flights still to come before the end of the year), I have had “butt in seat miles” of over 390,000. If you fly around the world (at the equator) that will get you 24,901 miles. So that means that I flew around the world about 15 ½ times. I don’t even want to share how many days I spent in metal tubes.
For all those who travel in connection with this profession, you know it can be a living hell! Time away from home and family, dealing with weather delays, dealing with irate passengers, dealing with frustrated flight attendants and crews, and the list goes on, not to mention servicing our clients while doing all of this, is really super difficult, but at the same time super rewarding. It’s rewarding because I get to meet so many interesting people, experience interesting cultures, and listen to so many cool stories about how they are all dealing with global technology challenges—and that’s my thing. I love preaching about technology and how it rules our world. Technology brings the world together and that resonates no matter where I go. Unlike tax and audit, technology is the same language around the globe.
This photo was from a technology conference that I presented at in Amman, Jordan a few months ago. The people pictured may all look different on the outside, but on the inside, we are all the same and we all have a genuine passion for the same profession!
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No, although they could probably do a better job than some of the people that we know!
Jim Bourke, CPA.CITP.CFF.CGMA, is managing director of advisory services at Withum. You can follow Jim on Twitter @JimBourke.
Tom Hood
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Tom Hood
Most difficult was learning to ride the lime scooter for our holiday video.
Most rewarding was getting “traction” with the implementation of the MACPA-BLI Strategic Plan with our resident implementer, Bill Sheridan. He has taught us how to increase accountability and velocity of our strategy across our whole organization using the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS).
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Absolutely YES! What I mean by that is we will finally be liberated from being relegated to bookkeepers moving numbers from one application to another. The bots and machines (artificial intelligence) are actually here for small practices and small businesses, and if used properly can allow you to move into those higher and more valuable opportunities. Think of it as new superpowers available to all of us!
Tom Hood, CPA, CITP, CGMA, is CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute. You can follow Tom on Twitter @tomhood.
Chris Hooper
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Chris Hooper
I recently became a father, so trying to manage the competing demands of work and home was definitely a challenge.
The most rewarding thing was probably the continued expansion of Accodex internationally. I’ve racked up plenty of frequent flyer miles.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Not in 2019. Ask again next year.
Chris Hooper is CEO of Accodex. You can follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisHooper87.
Elizabeth Pittelkow Kittner
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Elizabeth Pittelkow Kittner
The most difficult and rewarding part of my professional career in 2018 has been working as the controller for a full year at a new company. I have learned new systems, led a new team, and worked on new projects. Our company is the result of several acquisitions over recent years, so we have integrated our financials, processes, and cultures. It has been exciting to contribute to molding our path for success.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No, robots will not take over the accounting profession in 2019. We will see an increase in the usage of artificial intelligence and machine learning, and we will still need accountants to review the integrity of data inputs and make decisions based on data outputs.
Elizabeth Pittelkow Kittner, CPA, CITP, CGMA, is controller at Litera Microsystems. You can follow Elizabeth on Twitter @Pittelkow or connect with her on LinkedIn.
Greg Kyte
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Greg Kyte
The most difficult thing to happen to my career in 2018 was fucking up my own taxes. I forgot to submit a new W-4 for myself in 2017, resulting in a massive tax liability in 2018.
The most rewarding thing to happen in my professional career in 2018 was averaging eight-hour workdays because I don’t work in public accounting.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Robots will not take over the accounting profession in 2019. I mean, they won’t take over my job. They will take over lots of jobs. But it will be gradual. Like boiling a frog. I’m also not going to boil a frog in 2019.
Greg Kyte, CPA, is founder of Comedy CPE and cartoonist for this dumb website. You can follow Greg on Twitter @gregkyte.
Mike McGuire
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Mike McGuire
The most rewarding part of my year was working with my colleagues here at Grant Thornton to launch our enterprise-wide “ideation platform.” Now, we can better collaborate and solve challenges—and that’s the very definition of rewarding.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Robots won’t take over, but they may make the mundane and repetitive work go away—allowing us to use our thinking skills to solve challenging business problems. My Grant Thornton colleague, JT Kostman, likes to say that robotics is about giving technology the ability to learn from humans so we can be even more creative and innovative with technology. In other words, robots will depend on us as much as we depend on them. They’re here to stay—and so are we.
Mike McGuire is CEO of Grant Thornton LLP. You can follow Mike on Twitter @mikemcguireCLT.
Francine McKenna
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Francine McKenna
The most difficult think to watch professionally this year was news of the indictments of the KPMG partners for the alleged theft of inspection data from the PCAOB. I am a KPMG Consulting and BearingPoint alum and this is the third strike for KPMG leadership in the last 15 years: KPMG tax fraud in 2005 and deferred prosecution agreement, Scott London insider trading case, and now this.
The most rewarding thing for me has been all the speaking engagements at MAcc programs this year. It gives me a chance to talk to students about the profession face to face, explain these stories that no one from the firms talks to them about, and answer questions, as well as lend my support as they embark on their careers in the Big 4. In 2018 I visited Ohio State University twice, Marquette University, Texas A&M University via Skype, Loyola Marymount University, and had Baylor University visit the Wall Street Journal newsroom in Washington, DC.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No. If robots took over, they would be able to do 100% sampling, and then the Big 4 would have no excuse to say that the audit was not designed to detect fraud. The firms will never let that happen. What would partners do if they couldn’t give clients an out via “judgment and discretion?” Since a judge told PwC that it was the auditors’ duty to design and perform an audit to detect fraud and handed down the biggest legal judgment ever against a firm after a bench trial for the Colonial Bank fraud this year—$625 million—I think we may see that argument less and less anyway.
Francine McKenna is a reporter for MarketWatch and the founder and managing editor of re: The Auditors. You can follow Francine on Twitter @retheauditors.
Caleb Newquist
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Caleb Newquist
At the risk of sounding obnoxious, one thing I found especially difficult this year was ceding creative control over my work. Don’t misunderstand, it’s not entirely a bad thing, and I still wield a large degree of control of what I’m working on and what I write. Before I left Going Concern, I basically did what I wanted, when I wanted, answering only to an audience of accountants who, to a large extent, understood where I was coming from.
Nowadays, I have a lot of non-accountants giving me feedback on my work and ideas about what they’d like me to do, including some stuff that isn’t writing about accounting. This is all happening within the confines of a growing business, so I no longer have the luxury of writing open letters to lazy taxpayers or bad poetry for auditors. Again, not in and of itself a bad thing, just something I had gotten used to not having to consider.
But listening to what other people think, including non-accountants, has forced me to approach work in a new way, and that’s forced me to … ugh … grow as a person and as a professional. I have to admit, that’s pretty rewarding! Sure, I don’t get to mock Big 4 firms or awful accountants on a daily basis, but I’m fine with that.
Also, I have a lot of meetings in my schedule after taking nearly a decade off from them. I’d be lying if I said that didn’t take some getting used to.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No, accountants will be fine, if only because a Butlerian Jihad is underway that will save the profession. I’m not saying the AICPA, IMA, et al. will be the ones to go guerrilla on the machines; no, the accountants will simply be unwitting beneficiaries of an anti-technological movement carried out by groups that are far more daring. A re-emboldened segment of accountants will cheer the return to hand-prepared tax returns, ledgers, and timesheets while the robots are led away in chains to their destruction. A dark age for technology, sure, but the redawn of a gilded age in accounting.
Caleb Newquist is the editor-at-large at Gusto and the founding editor of Going Concern. You can follow Caleb on Twitter @cnewquist.
Blake Oliver
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Blake Oliver
I finally got my CPA! As an accountant on the tech side, I managed to get away without having it for a long time. I ran my own small firm and made it to manager at a large firm not being a CPA. Plenty of people told me I shouldn’t even bother, especially since I left public to go work at FloQast. But I’m really glad I did. Despite all the doom and gloom from plenty of people in the profession about the declining value of the CPA, I’ve definitely felt my credibility rise in the community since adding CPA to the end of my name on LinkedIn. And I learned a lot along the way that’s been helpful to my career, even though I’ll never do tax or audit myself. If you’re already part of the way there, my advice is to push through to the end. It’s worth it.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No. We aren’t making enough new CPAs to replace the boomers who are retiring, which is good news for the rest of us. Even with the growth of automation, a recent report projects 140,300 new accounting jobs by 2026. In fact, accountants and auditors are No. 10 on their list of jobs projected to grow most. The only other white-collar professions ahead of us on the list are software engineer and operations manager. Now, that doesn’t mean our jobs won’t be disrupted; we’ll likely have to learn new skills to adapt. But those of us who can master tools like cloud ERP and close management software will have excellent career prospects.
Blake Oliver, CPA, is senior product marketing manager at FloQast. You can follow Blake on Twitter @BlakeTOliver.
Jody Padar
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Jody Padar
My husband just turned 50, and I’m not that far behind. Between my hot flashes, my daughter leaving for college, and my cloud accounting firm New Vision CPA Group becoming a teenager, it seemed that I needed to do something new and exciting with my life. So, I joined an accounting artificial intelligence-focused tech startup, Botkeeper, funded by Google. Now, I work for a 30-year-old!
OMG. I never saw that coming. Hello, midlife crisis? Or the next radical step in my journey to make a difference in the CPA profession.
How did this happen? Well, actually, I asked! Yes, I asked. When there’s something that intrigues you and you know you have the skills to do the job, step up to the plate and ask. That’s something I would have never had the confidence to do when I left my old-school firm almost 13 years ago. If there is one thing you learn as an entrepreneur and in building a business it is that nothing happens if you don’t ask.
When I saw the opportunity to build something new and utilize what I do best, I couldn’t resist. I am an accounting ambassador and bot advisor. Perfect role for me, right?!
What’s it like to work at a young tech startup? Fun! Exciting! Fast! Sometimes overwhelming! I feel like a “mentern”—part mentor and part intern—all at the same time. And I refuse to stay at the shared Airbnb—like the “Real World” house—when they travel to conferences. For sure, that reference carbon dated me!
What’s it like to work for a leader, a millennial, who could be my son? Awesome! Refreshing! I’ve spent the last decade fighting old-school baby-boomer partners and trying to get them to embrace the cloud and other new technologies.
However, those partners’ business model and retirement plans have locked them into broken firm models that are slowly dying, and it’s getting faster by the season. My career was spent looking up to and learning from older CPAs who were so busy that they couldn’t see the world around them changing. But the market has significantly changed, and now the old-school firm owners are hungry for tech out of fear they will be left behind.
Now, I can follow someone who sees the future as I do and isn’t stuck in “that’s the way we did it last year.” A leader who has skills built for the future. I can be a supportive leader utilizing my best legacy skills and learning new ones. Do you see why I’m so excited?
Watch out, 2019, it going to be radical!
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Absolutely they will. Quite frankly, they are already here. But you still need humans, too. It’s not all or nothing. Our firm of three people is utilizing them today!
But what’s a bot? As I’ve learned in my short time in technology, most accountants don’t know. They think they know, but they don’t. Basically, it’s an algorithm or a line of code, not a robot. You can copy and paste the code, so they multiply indefinitely to fill the talent shortage. Some of my bots have been smarter than my new hires.
Machine learning and AI is way harder to understand than that. The really cool part is you, as a CPA, don’t need to understand all of the details. All you need to know is that you want the bot “sitting in the cube next to you” doing some repetitive task with data. Then the technology folks take it from there. Finally, we can have time to do the work we really want to and be better advisors for our customers. Or, really, just go home early!
Jody Padar, CPA, MST, is CEO and principal at New Vision CPA Group and the author of The Radical CPA and From Success to Significance: The Radical CPA Guide. She is now the accounting ambassador and bot advisor at Botkeeper. You can follow Jody on Twitter @jodypadarcpa.
Kristen Rampe
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Kristen Rampe
The most rewarding thing that’s happened this year is that I found a way to link my love for improv with my love for professional development. It started with stepping out of my own comfort zone to facilitate a program for a networking event early in 2018. Since then, I’ve been honored to help over 250 professionals dip their toes into improv. We laugh, we learn, we make shit up. It’s great.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Yes, and they will all look like the stick figures in Greg Kyte’s cartoons.
Kristen Rampe is the owner of Kristen Rampe Consulting, and creator and facilitator of Slide Deck Improv. You can follow Kristen on Twitter @KristenRampe or @slidedeckimprov.
Tim Ryan
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Tim Ryan
This year, the coalition that I co-founded, the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, reached over 500 signatory members. CEO Action is the largest-ever CEO-led initiative to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and we recognize that in order to drive real change, we must create opportunities for CEOs and the workforce (current employees and the future workforce of students) to collectively create and participate in diverse and inclusive environments. As a co-founder, I raise the issue of diversity and inclusion in nearly every meeting that I have, and growing our signatory base has taken a tremendous amount of effort but is also incredibly rewarding when I think about what we can accomplish working together.
Seeing the signatory number grow from 150 to over 500 in just one year shows that business leaders are understanding the urgency and critical importance of creating more diverse and inclusive workplaces, communicating with their employees in more meaningful ways, and taking their place as not just business leaders but also leaders in the community.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
I hope not—who will I talk to all day? Although robots and artificial intelligence are a remarkably complex issue, they will not take over the accounting profession in 2019. Questions like these are something I hear often from our people—there is a real concern out there that technology will replace humans, and we as leaders need to help educate our people that we need both in order to be successful! Rather, robotics and AI will encourage a gradual evolution in the market that will allow us to augment humans’ role in business rather than restrict it. The partnership between man and machine will allow humans to do quicker, more efficient, and more brilliant work. Moreover, accounting work will have enhanced quality, consistency, and speediness, and accountants will be able to do more than ever before with available data.
All of this said, advancements to our industry brought about by robots and AI can only be harnessed to their fullest extent when we properly prepare our people to work with them. That is why at PwC we are upskilling all of our 55,000 U.S. employees through our PwC Digital Fitness App, which assesses each person’s digital fluency and provides them with on-demand training to help them learn skills in robotics, AI, machine learning, and other advanced technology. We’re also training thousands of our employees through a Digital Accelerators program, which gives select employees advanced digital and tech training so that they can become learning ambassadors with their colleagues and teach them their new tech-enabled skills.
Tim Ryan is U.S. chairman and senior partner of PwC. You can follow Tim on Twitter @Timothy_F_Ryan.
Bill Sheridan
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Bill Sheridan
The most difficult thing to happen to me in 2018 was my loss of time. I don’t have any. It’s all accounted for. I can’t do anything new anymore, because my calendar is filled. I’d love to help you out, but … take a look at my calendar. I’ve got no time. And I’m not alone. Everyone feels that way. The fact is, we MAKE time for the stuff that’s important to us, so if I’m not doing it, what does that tell you?
The most rewarding thing to happen in 2018 was, in my expanding role as Entrepreneurial Operating System implementer and business coach, I’m helping more leaders take their organizations to the next level. That’s rewarding in a way I never expected, and it’s intoxicating. I want MORE of it. This idea of helping people? It’s amazing. When you see it work, you want more of it. You want to keep doing it. And that’s what I want in 2019—more success for more clients.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
The short answer: Yes. The long answer: They’ll take over the mindless, tedious, number-crunching stuff that accountants have had to do for generations. We won’t have to do that stuff anymore. We’ll be able to focus on more value-added stuff, like helping our clients go beyond the numbers, and take their organizations to the next level because they can see the stories that the numbers are telling them. Robots won’t steal our jobs; they’ll free us up to do better work for our clients.
Bill Sheridan is chief communications officer and professional EOS implementer for the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute. You can follow Bill on Twitter @BillSheridan.
Donny C. Shimamoto
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Donny C. Shimamoto
2018 started off as an extremely difficult year with a large client that didn’t follow our advice on a practice management system migration, to which we then had to go into full firefighting mode to help get the converted data reconciled and fill in the gap for missing functionality. This also was one of the most rewarding challenges because it confirmed my ability to address the human side of these types of challenges, in giving the managing partner peace of mind that we could help fix the situation and also in giving the controller for the firm hope that we could get her through this. It is these types of human aspects to projects that I find the most rewarding about my career.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No, robots will not take over the accounting profession. They may take over the bulk of the bookkeeping, accounting clerk, audit staff, and tax staff tasks, but that is a good thing because it will allow accountants to focus on where we add the most value, which is in the analysis of information and identifying the insights to help support better decision-making.
Donny C. Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, is founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC. You can follow Donny on Twitter @donnyitk.
Dr. Sean Stein Smith
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Dr. Sean Stein Smith
The most challenging thing I faced this year was also the most rewarding, and that was being able to discuss, present, and engage so much about emerging technologies with fellow practitioners. In 2018 I had the great opportunity to present over 20 times across the country discussing blockchain and other emerging technologies, but that also presented me with a challenge as to 1) making sure I was keeping myself up on emerging trends in these areas, and 2) presenting and articulating these topics in a way that is understandable. That said, 2018 was an exciting time to be in the profession, with a lot of exciting debate and conversations going on, and 2019 is shaping up to be even better.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No, absolutely not. Will some tasks be augmented or automated with robots and other automation tools? Sure, but that will just open the door for proactive CPAs to engage in the strategic and advisory tasks that many have clamored to be doing for decades.
Dr. Sean Stein Smith, CPA, CMA, CGMA, CFE, is an assistant professor at Lehman College of City University of New York, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance. You can follow Sean on Twitter @SeanSteinSmith.
Ralph Albert Thomas
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Ralph Albert Thomas
The most rewarding thing to happen in 2018 was the progress that the NJCPA made as a thought leader in our state capitol. Three years ago, a member survey revealed support for being more active in Trenton, so the Society undertook an effort to leverage and capitalize on first-hand expertise of NJCPA members to shape policy issues that are important to CPAs and their clients. In 2018, we were active participants in supporting issues that we believe are good for business and the public interests. Two of our members proposed and helped draft legislation that will stimulate the New Jersey economy by saving Garden State business owners millions of dollars and promoting investment in startup companies.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Robots are NOT going to replace all humans in the accounting profession (at least not until the robot uprising). There will be changes in 2019, no doubt, but those changes won’t completely eliminate the need for human accountants; they will just alter their contributions. We’re still a long way from artificial intelligence providing the insight, interpretation, and explanation that a CPA can provide. You’re always going to need CPAs and accountants to interpret the information and present it to clients in a clear and concise format.
Rather than fear changes that AI will make to accounting tasks, it’s an opportunity for accounting professionals to be excited. The profession is going to become more interesting as repetitive tasks shift to machines. Not only will CPAs become more productive and proficient, but they will be able to handle more clients and deliver more value because they can determine actionable insight.
Ralph Albert Thomas, CPA, CGMA, is CEO and executive director of the New Jersey Society of CPAs. You can follow Ralph on Twitter @RalphAThomas.
Amy Vetter
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Amy Vetter
This year I went out on my own as a professional keynote speaker, corporate board member, and also developed The B3 Method Institute. It was definitely a scary decision to leave a corporate job that I enjoyed to start a business, not knowing how it would be received. I cannot begin to describe how grateful I am to this profession and how supportive people have been of my transition to speaking professionally. The outpouring of support was nothing I could have imagined when I made this decision. I have been so fortunate to speak all over the country this year, at accounting and financial professional conferences, as well as being invited to speak at firm retreats.
I have also launched online learning content to help people stay on this journey and implement real change into their lives, and now hold board positions to advise technology companies on their go-to-market strategies. Seeing people inspired to make a change in their personal or work lives, and hearing their stories they share with me, is so rewarding. It makes the work and effort that I put into my business all worth it, and I am excited to continue to grow the business in the coming year.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No. They are making their way into the profession, but we still have a long way to go. I do believe those that are figuring out how to implement it now in their workflow processes will get ahead of the pack and start setting a standard of what clients should expect. So, even if they won’t take over yet, it doesn’t mean not to make this a priority of learning more about these latest trends and how you can become more knowledgeable. Knowledge is power, and if you start becoming a subject-matter expert in something that not all people know about, you will find lots of opportunity for yourself in the future.
Amy Vetter, CPA.CITP, CGMA, is CEO of The B3 Method Institute. You can follow Amy on Twitter @AmyVetterCPA.
The post Some of Our Favorite Accounting People Put a Bow on 2018 and Talk Robots in 2019 appeared first on Going Concern.
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Some of Our Favorite Accounting People Put a Bow on 2018 and Talk Robots in 2019
As you guys know, the editorial team at Going Concern has no shortage of opinions. But this year, we wanted to do something a little different. We wanted to hear from professionals who we consider to be influencers in the accounting profession. Or maybe we’re a fan of their contributions to the industry, or maybe we admire their gusto. Whatever the reason, we value their thoughts and wanted to share them with you.
We asked them to look both behind and forward by answering two simple questions. We wanted their honest opinions. Here’s what they told us:
Jim Bourke
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Jim Bourke
The most difficult thing also happened to be the most rewarding. So far this year (and I have more flights still to come before the end of the year), I have had “butt in seat miles” of over 390,000. If you fly around the world (at the equator) that will get you 24,901 miles. So that means that I flew around the world about 15 ½ times. I don’t even want to share how many days I spent in metal tubes.
For all those who travel in connection with this profession, you know it can be a living hell! Time away from home and family, dealing with weather delays, dealing with irate passengers, dealing with frustrated flight attendants and crews, and the list goes on, not to mention servicing our clients while doing all of this, is really super difficult, but at the same time super rewarding. It’s rewarding because I get to meet so many interesting people, experience interesting cultures, and listen to so many cool stories about how they are all dealing with global technology challenges—and that’s my thing. I love preaching about technology and how it rules our world. Technology brings the world together and that resonates no matter where I go. Unlike tax and audit, technology is the same language around the globe.
This photo was from a technology conference that I presented at in Amman, Jordan a few months ago. The people pictured may all look different on the outside, but on the inside, we are all the same and we all have a genuine passion for the same profession!
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No, although they could probably do a better job than some of the people that we know!
Jim Bourke, CPA.CITP.CFF.CGMA, is managing director of advisory services at Withum. You can follow Jim on Twitter @JimBourke.
Tom Hood
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Tom Hood
Most difficult was learning to ride the lime scooter for our holiday video.
Most rewarding was getting “traction” with the implementation of the MACPA-BLI Strategic Plan with our resident implementer, Bill Sheridan. He has taught us how to increase accountability and velocity of our strategy across our whole organization using the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS).
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Absolutely YES! What I mean by that is we will finally be liberated from being relegated to bookkeepers moving numbers from one application to another. The bots and machines (artificial intelligence) are actually here for small practices and small businesses, and if used properly can allow you to move into those higher and more valuable opportunities. Think of it as new superpowers available to all of us!
Tom Hood, CPA, CITP, CGMA, is CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute. You can follow Tom on Twitter @tomhood.
Chris Hooper
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Chris Hooper
I recently became a father, so trying to manage the competing demands of work and home was definitely a challenge.
The most rewarding thing was probably the continued expansion of Accodex internationally. I’ve racked up plenty of frequent flyer miles.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Not in 2019. Ask again next year.
Chris Hooper is CEO of Accodex. You can follow Chris on Twitter @ChrisHooper87.
Elizabeth Pittelkow Kittner
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Elizabeth Pittelkow Kittner
The most difficult and rewarding part of my professional career in 2018 has been working as the controller for a full year at a new company. I have learned new systems, led a new team, and worked on new projects. Our company is the result of several acquisitions over recent years, so we have integrated our financials, processes, and cultures. It has been exciting to contribute to molding our path for success.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No, robots will not take over the accounting profession in 2019. We will see an increase in the usage of artificial intelligence and machine learning, and we will still need accountants to review the integrity of data inputs and make decisions based on data outputs.
Elizabeth Pittelkow Kittner, CPA, CITP, CGMA, is controller at Litera Microsystems. You can follow Elizabeth on Twitter @Pittelkow or connect with her on LinkedIn.
Greg Kyte
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Greg Kyte
The most difficult thing to happen to my career in 2018 was fucking up my own taxes. I forgot to submit a new W-4 for myself in 2017, resulting in a massive tax liability in 2018.
The most rewarding thing to happen in my professional career in 2018 was averaging eight-hour workdays because I don’t work in public accounting.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Robots will not take over the accounting profession in 2019. I mean, they won’t take over my job. They will take over lots of jobs. But it will be gradual. Like boiling a frog. I’m also not going to boil a frog in 2019.
Greg Kyte, CPA, is founder of Comedy CPE and cartoonist for this dumb website. You can follow Greg on Twitter @gregkyte.
Mike McGuire
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Mike McGuire
The most rewarding part of my year was working with my colleagues here at Grant Thornton to launch our enterprise-wide “ideation platform.” Now, we can better collaborate and solve challenges—and that’s the very definition of rewarding.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Robots won’t take over, but they may make the mundane and repetitive work go away—allowing us to use our thinking skills to solve challenging business problems. My Grant Thornton colleague, JT Kostman, likes to say that robotics is about giving technology the ability to learn from humans so we can be even more creative and innovative with technology. In other words, robots will depend on us as much as we depend on them. They’re here to stay—and so are we.
Mike McGuire is CEO of Grant Thornton LLP. You can follow Mike on Twitter @mikemcguireCLT.
Francine McKenna
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Francine McKenna
The most difficult think to watch professionally this year was news of the indictments of the KPMG partners for the alleged theft of inspection data from the PCAOB. I am a KPMG Consulting and BearingPoint alum and this is the third strike for KPMG leadership in the last 15 years: KPMG tax fraud in 2005 and deferred prosecution agreement, Scott London insider trading case, and now this.
The most rewarding thing for me has been all the speaking engagements at MAcc programs this year. It gives me a chance to talk to students about the profession face to face, explain these stories that no one from the firms talks to them about, and answer questions, as well as lend my support as they embark on their careers in the Big 4. In 2018 I visited Ohio State University twice, Marquette University, Texas A&M University via Skype, Loyola Marymount University, and had Baylor University visit the Wall Street Journal newsroom in Washington, DC.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No. If robots took over, they would be able to do 100% sampling, and then the Big 4 would have no excuse to say that the audit was not designed to detect fraud. The firms will never let that happen. What would partners do if they couldn’t give clients an out via “judgment and discretion?” Since a judge told PwC that it was the auditors’ duty to design and perform an audit to detect fraud and handed down the biggest legal judgment ever against a firm after a bench trial for the Colonial Bank fraud this year—$625 million—I think we may see that argument less and less anyway.
Francine McKenna is a reporter for MarketWatch and the founder and managing editor of re: The Auditors. You can follow Francine on Twitter @retheauditors.
Caleb Newquist
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Caleb Newquist
At the risk of sounding obnoxious, one thing I found especially difficult this year was ceding creative control over my work. Don’t misunderstand, it’s not entirely a bad thing, and I still wield a large degree of control of what I’m working on and what I write. Before I left Going Concern, I basically did what I wanted, when I wanted, answering only to an audience of accountants who, to a large extent, understood where I was coming from.
Nowadays, I have a lot of non-accountants giving me feedback on my work and ideas about what they’d like me to do, including some stuff that isn’t writing about accounting. This is all happening within the confines of a growing business, so I no longer have the luxury of writing open letters to lazy taxpayers or bad poetry for auditors. Again, not in and of itself a bad thing, just something I had gotten used to not having to consider.
But listening to what other people think, including non-accountants, has forced me to approach work in a new way, and that’s forced me to … ugh … grow as a person and as a professional. I have to admit, that’s pretty rewarding! Sure, I don’t get to mock Big 4 firms or awful accountants on a daily basis, but I’m fine with that.
Also, I have a lot of meetings in my schedule after taking nearly a decade off from them. I’d be lying if I said that didn’t take some getting used to.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No, accountants will be fine, if only because a Butlerian Jihad is underway that will save the profession. I’m not saying the AICPA, IMA, et al. will be the ones to go guerrilla on the machines; no, the accountants will simply be unwitting beneficiaries of an anti-technological movement carried out by groups that are far more daring. A re-emboldened segment of accountants will cheer the return to hand-prepared tax returns, ledgers, and timesheets while the robots are led away in chains to their destruction. A dark age for technology, sure, but the redawn of a gilded age in accounting.
Caleb Newquist is the editor-at-large at Gusto and the founding editor of Going Concern. You can follow Caleb on Twitter @cnewquist.
Blake Oliver
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Blake Oliver
I finally got my CPA! As an accountant on the tech side, I managed to get away without having it for a long time. I ran my own small firm and made it to manager at a large firm not being a CPA. Plenty of people told me I shouldn’t even bother, especially since I left public to go work at FloQast. But I’m really glad I did. Despite all the doom and gloom from plenty of people in the profession about the declining value of the CPA, I’ve definitely felt my credibility rise in the community since adding CPA to the end of my name on LinkedIn. And I learned a lot along the way that’s been helpful to my career, even though I’ll never do tax or audit myself. If you’re already part of the way there, my advice is to push through to the end. It’s worth it.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No. We aren’t making enough new CPAs to replace the boomers who are retiring, which is good news for the rest of us. Even with the growth of automation, a recent report projects 140,300 new accounting jobs by 2026. In fact, accountants and auditors are No. 10 on their list of jobs projected to grow most. The only other white-collar professions ahead of us on the list are software engineer and operations manager. Now, that doesn’t mean our jobs won’t be disrupted; we’ll likely have to learn new skills to adapt. But those of us who can master tools like cloud ERP and close management software will have excellent career prospects.
Blake Oliver, CPA, is senior product marketing manager at FloQast. You can follow Blake on Twitter @BlakeTOliver.
Jody Padar
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Jody Padar
My husband just turned 50, and I’m not that far behind. Between my hot flashes, my daughter leaving for college, and my cloud accounting firm New Vision CPA Group becoming a teenager, it seemed that I needed to do something new and exciting with my life. So, I joined an accounting artificial intelligence-focused tech startup, Botkeeper, funded by Google. Now, I work for a 30-year-old!
OMG. I never saw that coming. Hello, midlife crisis? Or the next radical step in my journey to make a difference in the CPA profession.
How did this happen? Well, actually, I asked! Yes, I asked. When there’s something that intrigues you and you know you have the skills to do the job, step up to the plate and ask. That’s something I would have never had the confidence to do when I left my old-school firm almost 13 years ago. If there is one thing you learn as an entrepreneur and in building a business it is that nothing happens if you don’t ask.
When I saw the opportunity to build something new and utilize what I do best, I couldn’t resist. I am an accounting ambassador and bot advisor. Perfect role for me, right?!
What’s it like to work at a young tech startup? Fun! Exciting! Fast! Sometimes overwhelming! I feel like a “mentern”—part mentor and part intern—all at the same time. And I refuse to stay at the shared Airbnb—like the “Real World” house—when they travel to conferences. For sure, that reference carbon dated me!
What’s it like to work for a leader, a millennial, who could be my son? Awesome! Refreshing! I’ve spent the last decade fighting old-school baby-boomer partners and trying to get them to embrace the cloud and other new technologies.
However, those partners’ business model and retirement plans have locked them into broken firm models that are slowly dying, and it’s getting faster by the season. My career was spent looking up to and learning from older CPAs who were so busy that they couldn’t see the world around them changing. But the market has significantly changed, and now the old-school firm owners are hungry for tech out of fear they will be left behind.
Now, I can follow someone who sees the future as I do and isn’t stuck in “that’s the way we did it last year.” A leader who has skills built for the future. I can be a supportive leader utilizing my best legacy skills and learning new ones. Do you see why I’m so excited?
Watch out, 2019, it going to be radical!
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Absolutely they will. Quite frankly, they are already here. But you still need humans, too. It’s not all or nothing. Our firm of three people is utilizing them today!
But what’s a bot? As I’ve learned in my short time in technology, most accountants don’t know. They think they know, but they don’t. Basically, it’s an algorithm or a line of code, not a robot. You can copy and paste the code, so they multiply indefinitely to fill the talent shortage. Some of my bots have been smarter than my new hires.
Machine learning and AI is way harder to understand than that. The really cool part is you, as a CPA, don’t need to understand all of the details. All you need to know is that you want the bot “sitting in the cube next to you” doing some repetitive task with data. Then the technology folks take it from there. Finally, we can have time to do the work we really want to and be better advisors for our customers. Or, really, just go home early!
Jody Padar, CPA, MST, is CEO and principal at New Vision CPA Group and the author of The Radical CPA and From Success to Significance: The Radical CPA Guide. She is now the accounting ambassador and bot advisor at Botkeeper. You can follow Jody on Twitter @jodypadarcpa.
Kristen Rampe
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Kristen Rampe
The most rewarding thing that’s happened this year is that I found a way to link my love for improv with my love for professional development. It started with stepping out of my own comfort zone to facilitate a program for a networking event early in 2018. Since then, I’ve been honored to help over 250 professionals dip their toes into improv. We laugh, we learn, we make shit up. It’s great.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Yes, and they will all look like the stick figures in Greg Kyte’s cartoons.
Kristen Rampe is the owner of Kristen Rampe Consulting, and creator and facilitator of Slide Deck Improv. You can follow Kristen on Twitter @KristenRampe or @slidedeckimprov.
Tim Ryan
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Tim Ryan
This year, the coalition that I co-founded, the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, reached over 500 signatory members. CEO Action is the largest-ever CEO-led initiative to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and we recognize that in order to drive real change, we must create opportunities for CEOs and the workforce (current employees and the future workforce of students) to collectively create and participate in diverse and inclusive environments. As a co-founder, I raise the issue of diversity and inclusion in nearly every meeting that I have, and growing our signatory base has taken a tremendous amount of effort but is also incredibly rewarding when I think about what we can accomplish working together.
Seeing the signatory number grow from 150 to over 500 in just one year shows that business leaders are understanding the urgency and critical importance of creating more diverse and inclusive workplaces, communicating with their employees in more meaningful ways, and taking their place as not just business leaders but also leaders in the community.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
I hope not—who will I talk to all day? Although robots and artificial intelligence are a remarkably complex issue, they will not take over the accounting profession in 2019. Questions like these are something I hear often from our people—there is a real concern out there that technology will replace humans, and we as leaders need to help educate our people that we need both in order to be successful! Rather, robotics and AI will encourage a gradual evolution in the market that will allow us to augment humans’ role in business rather than restrict it. The partnership between man and machine will allow humans to do quicker, more efficient, and more brilliant work. Moreover, accounting work will have enhanced quality, consistency, and speediness, and accountants will be able to do more than ever before with available data.
All of this said, advancements to our industry brought about by robots and AI can only be harnessed to their fullest extent when we properly prepare our people to work with them. That is why at PwC we are upskilling all of our 55,000 U.S. employees through our PwC Digital Fitness App, which assesses each person’s digital fluency and provides them with on-demand training to help them learn skills in robotics, AI, machine learning, and other advanced technology. We’re also training thousands of our employees through a Digital Accelerators program, which gives select employees advanced digital and tech training so that they can become learning ambassadors with their colleagues and teach them their new tech-enabled skills.
Tim Ryan is U.S. chairman and senior partner of PwC. You can follow Tim on Twitter @Timothy_F_Ryan.
Bill Sheridan
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Bill Sheridan
The most difficult thing to happen to me in 2018 was my loss of time. I don’t have any. It’s all accounted for. I can’t do anything new anymore, because my calendar is filled. I’d love to help you out, but … take a look at my calendar. I’ve got no time. And I’m not alone. Everyone feels that way. The fact is, we MAKE time for the stuff that’s important to us, so if I’m not doing it, what does that tell you?
The most rewarding thing to happen in 2018 was, in my expanding role as Entrepreneurial Operating System implementer and business coach, I’m helping more leaders take their organizations to the next level. That’s rewarding in a way I never expected, and it’s intoxicating. I want MORE of it. This idea of helping people? It’s amazing. When you see it work, you want more of it. You want to keep doing it. And that’s what I want in 2019—more success for more clients.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
The short answer: Yes. The long answer: They’ll take over the mindless, tedious, number-crunching stuff that accountants have had to do for generations. We won’t have to do that stuff anymore. We’ll be able to focus on more value-added stuff, like helping our clients go beyond the numbers, and take their organizations to the next level because they can see the stories that the numbers are telling them. Robots won’t steal our jobs; they’ll free us up to do better work for our clients.
Bill Sheridan is chief communications officer and professional EOS implementer for the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute. You can follow Bill on Twitter @BillSheridan.
Donny C. Shimamoto
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Donny C. Shimamoto
2018 started off as an extremely difficult year with a large client that didn’t follow our advice on a practice management system migration, to which we then had to go into full firefighting mode to help get the converted data reconciled and fill in the gap for missing functionality. This also was one of the most rewarding challenges because it confirmed my ability to address the human side of these types of challenges, in giving the managing partner peace of mind that we could help fix the situation and also in giving the controller for the firm hope that we could get her through this. It is these types of human aspects to projects that I find the most rewarding about my career.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No, robots will not take over the accounting profession. They may take over the bulk of the bookkeeping, accounting clerk, audit staff, and tax staff tasks, but that is a good thing because it will allow accountants to focus on where we add the most value, which is in the analysis of information and identifying the insights to help support better decision-making.
Donny C. Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA, is founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies LLC. You can follow Donny on Twitter @donnyitk.
Dr. Sean Stein Smith
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Dr. Sean Stein Smith
The most challenging thing I faced this year was also the most rewarding, and that was being able to discuss, present, and engage so much about emerging technologies with fellow practitioners. In 2018 I had the great opportunity to present over 20 times across the country discussing blockchain and other emerging technologies, but that also presented me with a challenge as to 1) making sure I was keeping myself up on emerging trends in these areas, and 2) presenting and articulating these topics in a way that is understandable. That said, 2018 was an exciting time to be in the profession, with a lot of exciting debate and conversations going on, and 2019 is shaping up to be even better.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No, absolutely not. Will some tasks be augmented or automated with robots and other automation tools? Sure, but that will just open the door for proactive CPAs to engage in the strategic and advisory tasks that many have clamored to be doing for decades.
Dr. Sean Stein Smith, CPA, CMA, CGMA, CFE, is an assistant professor at Lehman College of City University of New York, and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Wall Street Blockchain Alliance. You can follow Sean on Twitter @SeanSteinSmith.
Ralph Albert Thomas
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Ralph Albert Thomas
The most rewarding thing to happen in 2018 was the progress that the NJCPA made as a thought leader in our state capitol. Three years ago, a member survey revealed support for being more active in Trenton, so the Society undertook an effort to leverage and capitalize on first-hand expertise of NJCPA members to shape policy issues that are important to CPAs and their clients. In 2018, we were active participants in supporting issues that we believe are good for business and the public interests. Two of our members proposed and helped draft legislation that will stimulate the New Jersey economy by saving Garden State business owners millions of dollars and promoting investment in startup companies.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
Robots are NOT going to replace all humans in the accounting profession (at least not until the robot uprising). There will be changes in 2019, no doubt, but those changes won’t completely eliminate the need for human accountants; they will just alter their contributions. We’re still a long way from artificial intelligence providing the insight, interpretation, and explanation that a CPA can provide. You’re always going to need CPAs and accountants to interpret the information and present it to clients in a clear and concise format.
Rather than fear changes that AI will make to accounting tasks, it’s an opportunity for accounting professionals to be excited. The profession is going to become more interesting as repetitive tasks shift to machines. Not only will CPAs become more productive and proficient, but they will be able to handle more clients and deliver more value because they can determine actionable insight.
Ralph Albert Thomas, CPA, CGMA, is CEO and executive director of the New Jersey Society of CPAs. You can follow Ralph on Twitter @RalphAThomas.
Amy Vetter
What has been the most difficult and/or rewarding thing to happen in your professional career in 2018?
Amy Vetter
This year I went out on my own as a professional keynote speaker, corporate board member, and also developed The B3 Method Institute. It was definitely a scary decision to leave a corporate job that I enjoyed to start a business, not knowing how it would be received. I cannot begin to describe how grateful I am to this profession and how supportive people have been of my transition to speaking professionally. The outpouring of support was nothing I could have imagined when I made this decision. I have been so fortunate to speak all over the country this year, at accounting and financial professional conferences, as well as being invited to speak at firm retreats.
I have also launched online learning content to help people stay on this journey and implement real change into their lives, and now hold board positions to advise technology companies on their go-to-market strategies. Seeing people inspired to make a change in their personal or work lives, and hearing their stories they share with me, is so rewarding. It makes the work and effort that I put into my business all worth it, and I am excited to continue to grow the business in the coming year.
Will robots take over the accounting profession in 2019? Yes or no?
No. They are making their way into the profession, but we still have a long way to go. I do believe those that are figuring out how to implement it now in their workflow processes will get ahead of the pack and start setting a standard of what clients should expect. So, even if they won’t take over yet, it doesn’t mean not to make this a priority of learning more about these latest trends and how you can become more knowledgeable. Knowledge is power, and if you start becoming a subject-matter expert in something that not all people know about, you will find lots of opportunity for yourself in the future.
Amy Vetter, CPA.CITP, CGMA, is CEO of The B3 Method Institute. You can follow Amy on Twitter @AmyVetterCPA.
The post Some of Our Favorite Accounting People Put a Bow on 2018 and Talk Robots in 2019 appeared first on Going Concern.
from Accounting News https://goingconcern.com/some-of-our-favorite-accounting-people-put-a-bow-on-2018-and-talk-robots-in-2019/
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We offer Certified Completion course which must be e-course challenges of learning to apply knowledge regarding the Ohio Ethics Law, including: conflicts of interest, public contracts, nepotism, post-employment and representation. your completion of this e-course fulfills your Ohio Ethics Law training enable you to improve your skills and provide increased value to your clients and employers throughout your accounting career. We explain the enforcement procedures for the Code and present case histories.
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Certified Public Accountant Not to be confused with Chartered Accountant, Certified Practising Accountant, or Chartered Professional Accountant. Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. In the United States they will have passed the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination and will have met additional state education and experience requirements for membership in their respective professional accounting bodies and certification as a CPA. Individuals who have passed the exam but who have lapsed their continuing professional education or have requested to be converted to inactive status are, in many states, permitted the designation "CPA Inactive" or an equivalent phrase. In most U.S. states, only CPAs are legally able to provide to the public attestation (including auditing) opinions on financial statements. Many CPAs are members of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants or their state CPA society. In many circumstances, a CPA licensed in one state is prohibited from using the CPA designation in a second state until a license or certificate from the second state is obtained. Texas additionally prohibits the use of the designations "accountant" and "auditor" by a person not certified as a Texas CPA, unless that person is a CPA in another state, is a non-resident of Texas, and otherwise meets the requirements for practice in Texas by out-of-state CPA firms and practitioners. Many other countries also use the title CPA to designate local public accountants. Services provided The primary functions performed by CPAs relate to assurance services. In assurance services, also known as financial audit services, CPAs attest to the reasonableness of disclosures, the freedom from material misstatement, and the adherence to the applicable generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) in financial statements. CPAs can also be employed by corporations—termed "the private sector"—in finance functions such as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) or finance manager, or as CEOs subject to their full business knowledge and practice. These CPAs do not provide services directly to the public. Although some CPA firms serve as business consultants, the consulting role has been under scrutiny following the Enron scandal where Arthur Andersen simultaneously provided audit and consulting services which affected their ability to maintain independence in their audit duties. This incident resulted in many accounting firms divesting in their consulting divisions, but this trend has since reversed. In audit engagements, CPAs are (and have always been) required by professional standards and Federal and State laws to maintain independence (both in fact and in appearance) from the entity for which they are conducting an attestation (audit and review) engagement. However, most individual CPAs who work as consultants do not also work as auditors. CPAs also have a niche within the income tax return preparation industry. Many small to mid-sized firms have both a tax and an auditing department. Along with attorneys and enrolled agents, CPAs may represent taxpayers in matters before the Internal Revenue Service. Whether providing services directly to the public or employed by corporations or associations, CPAs can operate in virtually any area of finance including: Assurance and attestation services Corporate finance (merger and acquisition, initial public offerings, share and debt issuings) Corporate governance Estate planning Financial accounting Governmental accounting Financial analysis Financial planning Forensic accounting (preventing, detecting, and investigating financial frauds) Income tax Information technology, especially as applied to accounting and auditing Management consulting and performance management Tax preparation and planning Venture Capital Financial reporting Regulatory reporting CPA exam Main article: Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination In order to become a CPA in the United States, the candidate must sit for and pass the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination (Uniform CPA Exam), which is set by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and administered by the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA). The CPA designation was first established in law in New York State on April 17, 1896. Eligibility to sit for the Uniform CPA Exam is determined by individual state boards of accountancy. All states have adopted what is known as the "150 hour rule" (150 college semester units or the equivalent), which usually requires an additional year of education past a regular 4 year college degree, or a master's degree. (As such, universities commonly offer combined 5-year bachelor's/master's degree programs, allowing a student to earn both degrees while receiving the 150 hours needed for exam eligibility.) The Uniform CPA Exam tests general principles of state law such as the laws of contracts and agency (questions not tailored to the variances of any particular state) and some federal laws as well. Other licensing and certification requirements Although the CPA exam is uniform, licensing and certification requirements are imposed separately by each state's laws and therefore vary from state to state. State requirements for the CPA qualification can be summed up as the Three Es—Education, Examination and Experience. The education requirement normally must be fulfilled as part of the eligibility criteria to sit for the Uniform CPA Exam. The examination component is the Uniform CPA Exam itself. Some states have a two-tier system whereby an individual would first become certified—usually by passing the Uniform CPA Exam. That individual would then later be eligible to be licensed once a certain amount of work experience is accomplished. Other states have a one-tier system whereby an individual would be certified and licensed at the same time when both the CPA exam is passed and the work experience requirement has been met. Two-tier states include Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Montana, and Nebraska. The trend is for two-tier states to gradually move towards a one-tier system. Since 2002, the state boards of accountancy in Washington and South Dakota have ceased issuing CPA "certificates" and instead issue CPA "licenses." Illinois planned to follow suit in 2012. A number of states are two-tiered, but require work experience for the CPA certificate, such as Ohio. The experience component varies from state to state: The two-tier states generally do not require that the individual have work experience to receive a CPA certificate. (Work experience is required, however, to receive a license to practice.) Some states, such as Colorado and Massachusetts, will waive the work experience requirement for those with a higher academic qualification compared to the state's requirement to appear for the Uniform CPA. As of July 1, 2015, Colorado no longer offers the education in lieu of experience option and all new applicants must have at least one year of work experience. The majority of states still require work experience to be of a public accounting nature, namely two years audit or tax experience, or a combination of both. An increasing number of states, however, including Oregon, Virginia, Georgia and Kentucky, accept experience of a more general nature in the accounting area. This allows persons to obtain the CPA designation while working for a corporation's finance function. The majority of states require an applicant's work experience to be verified by someone who is already licensed as a CPA. This requirement can cause difficulties for applicants based outside the United States. However, some states such as Colorado and Oregon will accept work experience certified by a Chartered Accountant as well. Over 40 of the state boards now require applicants for CPA status to complete a special examination on ethics, which is effectively a fifth exam in terms of requirements to become a CPA. The majority of these will accept the AICPA self-study Professional Ethics for CPAs CPE course or another course in general professional ethics. Many states, however, require that the ethics course include a review of that state's specific rules for professional practice. Like other professionals, CPAs are required to take continuing education courses toward continuing professional development (continuing professional education [CPE]) to renew their license. Requirements vary by state (Wisconsin does not require any CPE for CPAs) but the vast majority require an average of 40 hours of CPE every year with a minimum of 20 hours per calendar year. The requirement can be fulfilled through attending live seminars, webcast seminars, or through self-study (textbooks, videos, online courses, all of which require a test to receive credit). In general, state boards accept group live and group internet-based credits for all credit requirements, while some states cap the number of credits obtained through the self-study format. All CPAs are encouraged to periodically review their state requirements. As part of the CPE requirement, most states require their CPAs to take an ethics course at some frequency (such as every or every other renewal period). Ethics requirements vary by state and the courses range from 2–8 hours. AICPA guidelines grant licensees 1 hour of CPE credit for every 50 minutes of instruction. Other accounting designations sometimes confused with CPA Many states have (or have had) a lower tier of accountant qualification below that of CPA, usually entitled "Public Accountant" or "Licensed Public Accountant" (with designatory letters "PA" or "LPA"), although other titles have included "Registered Public Accountant" (RPA), "Accounting Practitioner" (AP), and "Registered Accounting Practitioner" (RAP). Such designations were originally intended to license non-CPA accountants who were practicing public accounting before a state law was enacted which would serve to regulate the practice of public accounting in that state. The majority of states have closed the designation "Public Accountant" (PA) to new entrants, with only six states continuing to offer the designation. Many PAs belong to the National Society of Accountants. Many states prohibit the use of the designations "Public Accountant" or "Licensed Public Accountant" (or the abbreviations "PA" or "LPA") by a person who is not certified as a PA in that state. Inter-state practice An accountant is required to meet the legal requirements of any state in which they want to practice. Also, the term "practice of public accounting" and similar terms are given definitions PA status under reciprocity to a CPA licensed in another state. CPAs from other states with less stringent educational requirements may not be able to benefit from these provisions. This does not affect those CPAs who do not plan to offer services directly to the public. Moreover, most states would grant the temporary practicing rights to a CPA of another state. In recent years, practice mobility for CPAs has become a major business concern for CPAs and their clients. Practice mobility for CPAs is the general ability of a licensee in good standing from a substantially equivalent state to gain practice privilege outside of his or her home state without getting an additional license in the state where the CPA will be serving a client or an employer. In today’s digital age, many organizations requiring the professional services of CPAs conduct business on an interstate and international basis and have compliance responsibilities in multiple jurisdictions. As a result, the practice of CPAs often extends across state lines and international boundaries. Differing requirements for CPA certification, reciprocity, temporary practice and other aspects of state accountancy legislation in the 55 U.S. licensing jurisdictions (the 50 states, Puerto Rico, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) make the interstate practice and mobility of CPAs more complicated. By removing boundaries to practice in the U.S., CPAs are able to more readily serve individuals and businesses in need of their expertise. At the same time, the state board of accountancy’s ability to discipline is enhanced by being based on a CPA and the CPA firm’s performance of services (either physically, electronically or otherwise within a state), rather than being based on whether a state license is held. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) have analyzed the current system for gaining practice privileges across state lines and have endorsed a uniform mobility system. This model approach is detailed through the substantial equivalency provision (Section 23) of the Uniform Accountancy Act (UAA). The UAA is an "evergreen" model licensing law co-developed, maintained, reviewed and updated by the AICPA and NASBA. The model provides a uniform approach to regulation of the accounting profession. Under Section 23 of the UAA, a CPA with a license in good standing from a jurisdiction with CPA licensing requirements essentially equivalent to those outlined in the UAA is deemed to be “substantially equivalent,” or a licensee who individually meets the requirements of: Obtaining 150 credit hours (150 college semester units or the equivalent) with a baccalaureate degree Minimum one year of CPA experience Passing the Uniform CPA Examination Uniform adoption of the UAA’s substantial equivalency provision creates a system similar to the nation’s driver’s license program by providing CPAs with mobility while retaining and strengthening state boards’ ability to protect the public interest. The system enables consumers to receive timely services from the CPA best suited to the job, regardless of location, and without the hindrances of unnecessary filings, forms and increased costs that do not protect the public interest. As of October 2012, a total of 49 out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia have passed mobility laws and are now in the implementation and navigation phases. Only the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Virgin Islands, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Guam have not passed mobility laws. On September 20, California Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation that permits cross-border mobility for CPAs. The law went into effect July 1, 2013. The District of Columbia passed mobility laws that went into effect on October 1, 2012. AICPA membership The CPA designation is granted by individual state boards, not the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Membership in the AICPA is not obligatory for CPAs, although some CPAs do join. To become a full member of AICPA, the applicant must hold a valid CPA certificate or license from at least one of the fifty-five U.S. state/territory boards of accountancy; some additional requirements apply. AICPA members approved a proposed bylaw amendment to make eligible for voting membership individuals who previously held a CPA certificate/license or have met all the requirements for CPA certification in accordance with the Uniform Accountancy Act (UAA). The AICPA announced its plan to accept applications from individuals meeting these criteria, beginning no later than January 1, 2011. State CPA association membership CPAs may also choose to become members of their local state association or society (also optional). Benefits of membership in a state CPA association range from deep discounts on seminars that qualify for continuing education credits to protecting the public and profession's interests by tracking and lobbying legislative issues that affect local state tax and financial planning issues. CPAs who maintain state CPA society memberships are required to follow a society professional code of conduct (in addition to any code enforced by the state regulatory authority), further reassuring clients that the CPA is an ethical business professional conducting a legitimate business who can be trusted to handle confidential personal and business financial matters. State CPA associations also serve the community by providing information and resources about the CPA profession and welcome inquiries from students, business professionals and the public-at-large. CPAs are not normally restricted to membership in the state CPA society in which they reside or hold a license or certificate. Many CPAs who live near state borders or who hold CPA status in more than one state may join more than one state CPA society. State Associations Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants (FICPA) source - Wikipedia Because the study material is quite expensive, not all can buy it. The RBbox does the same small cache of the same information and study material to reach you for free. You also help in making this case successful by cooperating. You also have some information that you can send to others as a post or article. We will publish it with your name and picture. www.rbbox.in https://ift.tt/2pTxCTP
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Senior Auditor Appointed with County of Gwinnett
The position listed below is not with Georgia Interviews but with County of GwinnettGeorgia Interviews is a private organization that works in collaboration with government agencies to promote emerging careers. Our goal is to connect you with supportive resources to supplement your skills in order to attain your dream career. Georgia Interviews has also partnered with industry leading consultants & training providers that can assist during your career transition. We look forward to helping you reach your career goals! If you any questions please visit our contact page to connect with us directlyClass Summary The Senior Internal Auditor performs internal audits (compliance, operational, and financial) of Gwinnett County Government departments and operations according to accepted professional audit standards. The position documents business processes, performs tests of controls, and prepares audit reports for the Board of Commissioners, Elected Officials, and County Management. The incumbent may also supervise work of staff auditors. ESSENTIAL DUTIES * Conducts audit planning and risk assessments. Coordinates start of each audit with control owners, including submission of initial data requests. Works with control owners to identify key departmental objectives, risks, and controls. Ensures audit activities address risks andmanagements' concerns. Performs walkthroughs to ensure control environments are adequate. * Completes test of controls and evaluates results. Obtains evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of key controls and, based on the evidence, concludes whether controls are effective or ineffective in achieving management's objectives. * Summarizes audit results, control recommendations, and writes audit reports. The process includes, if applicable, obtaining responses from control owners to improvement recommendations which are incorporated into audit reports. Obtains concurrence from control owners with report content prior to publication. * May supervise staff to include reviews of test work, conclusions, and reports to ensure validity, including compliance with departmental policies and the Institute of Internal Auditors' Standards for Professional Practice of Internal Auditing. * Maintains procedures to ensure audits and special projects are completed within prescribed time frames. This includes the use of time budgets to track performance and manage unanticipated delays or disruptions to the audit schedule. Prepares timely reports to summarize audit plan status. * In addition to completing audits contained on the annual audit plan, the incumbent periodically completes assigned special projects. Examples include performing research and conducting ad hoc investigations. * Attends training classes/conducts research to meet Certified Professional Educational (CPE) requirements, identify emerging issues, and ensure audit procedures are current. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS This position requires a Bachelor's Degree with a major or concentration in Accounting, Business Administration, or Finance. The successful candidate will have five years of internal/external audit experience, including writing audit reports and communicating results to all levels of management. Governmental audit experience is desirable, but not required. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), and/or Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) certifications preferred. Strong project management skills are essential. Additionally, the successful candidate will have a working knowledge of auditing standards from the Institute of Internal Auditing (IIA), and/or Government Accountability Office (GAO). Candidates must work collaboratively in a diverse team environment and possess strong problem solving skills. The ability to communicate and write complex issues in a concise manner is important. PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS Positions in this class typically require: manual dexterity, talking, hearing, seeing andrepetitive motions. SedentaryWork: Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally, and/or a negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time. Jobsaresedentary if walking and standing arerequired only occasionally and all other sedentary criteria are met. Benefits Offered * Health, dental, vision, prescription drug insurance plans * Flexible Spending Accounts for Medical and Dependent Care * HSA/HRA available * Basic, Optional and Dependent Life Insurance * Short-Term and Long-Term Disability * On-site Medical Wellness Center * Holidays: 12 holidays per year * Annual leave (vacation): 13 days accrual per year * Sick leave: 13 days accrual per year * Immunizations (Flu Shots, Tetanus, etc.) * Wellness Incentive Programs * Annual Wellness Fair * 529 College Savings Plan * Financial Education Programs * Funeral Leave * Longevity pay after 3 years (full-time status) * Tuition Reimbursement after 2 years (full-time status) * Employee assistance program * Uniforms and equipment furnished * Employee discount programs * Retirement Benefits include: * Defined Contribution Retirement Plan * Employees can choose a contribution rate of 2.5%, 5.0%, or 7.5% * Gwinnett County will contribute 7.0% of your pensionable earnings per pay period. * An employee is fully vested in 5 years. An employee can retire if he/she has reached the age of 55 and the sum of his/her age and years of service equals 65. * Deferred Compensation Plan * If you contribute at least 2.5% of your base pay to the 457(b) plan, Gwinnett County will contribute an additional 1% to your Defined Contribution Retirement Plan (this is in addition to the 7% described above).SDL2017 SeniorAuditor(Appointed)withCountyofGwinnett from Job Portal http://www.jobisite.com/extrJobView.htm?id=72161
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Senior Auditor Appointed with County of Gwinnett
The position listed below is not with Georgia Interviews but with County of GwinnettGeorgia Interviews is a private organization that works in collaboration with government agencies to promote emerging careers. Our goal is to connect you with supportive resources to supplement your skills in order to attain your dream career. Georgia Interviews has also partnered with industry leading consultants & training providers that can assist during your career transition. We look forward to helping you reach your career goals! If you any questions please visit our contact page to connect with us directlyClass Summary The Senior Internal Auditor performs internal audits (compliance, operational, and financial) of Gwinnett County Government departments and operations according to accepted professional audit standards. The position documents business processes, performs tests of controls, and prepares audit reports for the Board of Commissioners, Elected Officials, and County Management. The incumbent may also supervise work of staff auditors. ESSENTIAL DUTIES * Conducts audit planning and risk assessments. Coordinates start of each audit with control owners, including submission of initial data requests. Works with control owners to identify key departmental objectives, risks, and controls. Ensures audit activities address risks andmanagements' concerns. Performs walkthroughs to ensure control environments are adequate. * Completes test of controls and evaluates results. Obtains evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of key controls and, based on the evidence, concludes whether controls are effective or ineffective in achieving management's objectives. * Summarizes audit results, control recommendations, and writes audit reports. The process includes, if applicable, obtaining responses from control owners to improvement recommendations which are incorporated into audit reports. Obtains concurrence from control owners with report content prior to publication. * May supervise staff to include reviews of test work, conclusions, and reports to ensure validity, including compliance with departmental policies and the Institute of Internal Auditors' Standards for Professional Practice of Internal Auditing. * Maintains procedures to ensure audits and special projects are completed within prescribed time frames. This includes the use of time budgets to track performance and manage unanticipated delays or disruptions to the audit schedule. Prepares timely reports to summarize audit plan status. * In addition to completing audits contained on the annual audit plan, the incumbent periodically completes assigned special projects. Examples include performing research and conducting ad hoc investigations. * Attends training classes/conducts research to meet Certified Professional Educational (CPE) requirements, identify emerging issues, and ensure audit procedures are current. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS This position requires a Bachelor's Degree with a major or concentration in Accounting, Business Administration, or Finance. The successful candidate will have five years of internal/external audit experience, including writing audit reports and communicating results to all levels of management. Governmental audit experience is desirable, but not required. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), and/or Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) certifications preferred. Strong project management skills are essential. Additionally, the successful candidate will have a working knowledge of auditing standards from the Institute of Internal Auditing (IIA), and/or Government Accountability Office (GAO). Candidates must work collaboratively in a diverse team environment and possess strong problem solving skills. The ability to communicate and write complex issues in a concise manner is important. PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS Positions in this class typically require: manual dexterity, talking, hearing, seeing andrepetitive motions. SedentaryWork: Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally, and/or a negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time. Jobsaresedentary if walking and standing arerequired only occasionally and all other sedentary criteria are met. Benefits Offered * Health, dental, vision, prescription drug insurance plans * Flexible Spending Accounts for Medical and Dependent Care * HSA/HRA available * Basic, Optional and Dependent Life Insurance * Short-Term and Long-Term Disability * On-site Medical Wellness Center * Holidays: 12 holidays per year * Annual leave (vacation): 13 days accrual per year * Sick leave: 13 days accrual per year * Immunizations (Flu Shots, Tetanus, etc.) * Wellness Incentive Programs * Annual Wellness Fair * 529 College Savings Plan * Financial Education Programs * Funeral Leave * Longevity pay after 3 years (full-time status) * Tuition Reimbursement after 2 years (full-time status) * Employee assistance program * Uniforms and equipment furnished * Employee discount programs * Retirement Benefits include: * Defined Contribution Retirement Plan * Employees can choose a contribution rate of 2.5%, 5.0%, or 7.5% * Gwinnett County will contribute 7.0% of your pensionable earnings per pay period. * An employee is fully vested in 5 years. An employee can retire if he/she has reached the age of 55 and the sum of his/her age and years of service equals 65. * Deferred Compensation Plan * If you contribute at least 2.5% of your base pay to the 457(b) plan, Gwinnett County will contribute an additional 1% to your Defined Contribution Retirement Plan (this is in addition to the 7% described above).SDL2017 SeniorAuditor(Appointed)withCountyofGwinnett from Job Portal http://www.jobisite.com/extrJobView.htm?id=72161
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Senior Auditor Appointed with County of Gwinnett
The position listed below is not with Georgia Interviews but with County of GwinnettGeorgia Interviews is a private organization that works in collaboration with government agencies to promote emerging careers. Our goal is to connect you with supportive resources to supplement your skills in order to attain your dream career. Georgia Interviews has also partnered with industry leading consultants & training providers that can assist during your career transition. We look forward to helping you reach your career goals! If you any questions please visit our contact page to connect with us directlyClass Summary The Senior Internal Auditor performs internal audits (compliance, operational, and financial) of Gwinnett County Government departments and operations according to accepted professional audit standards. The position documents business processes, performs tests of controls, and prepares audit reports for the Board of Commissioners, Elected Officials, and County Management. The incumbent may also supervise work of staff auditors. ESSENTIAL DUTIES * Conducts audit planning and risk assessments. Coordinates start of each audit with control owners, including submission of initial data requests. Works with control owners to identify key departmental objectives, risks, and controls. Ensures audit activities address risks andmanagements' concerns. Performs walkthroughs to ensure control environments are adequate. * Completes test of controls and evaluates results. Obtains evidence to evaluate the effectiveness of key controls and, based on the evidence, concludes whether controls are effective or ineffective in achieving management's objectives. * Summarizes audit results, control recommendations, and writes audit reports. The process includes, if applicable, obtaining responses from control owners to improvement recommendations which are incorporated into audit reports. Obtains concurrence from control owners with report content prior to publication. * May supervise staff to include reviews of test work, conclusions, and reports to ensure validity, including compliance with departmental policies and the Institute of Internal Auditors' Standards for Professional Practice of Internal Auditing. * Maintains procedures to ensure audits and special projects are completed within prescribed time frames. This includes the use of time budgets to track performance and manage unanticipated delays or disruptions to the audit schedule. Prepares timely reports to summarize audit plan status. * In addition to completing audits contained on the annual audit plan, the incumbent periodically completes assigned special projects. Examples include performing research and conducting ad hoc investigations. * Attends training classes/conducts research to meet Certified Professional Educational (CPE) requirements, identify emerging issues, and ensure audit procedures are current. MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS This position requires a Bachelor's Degree with a major or concentration in Accounting, Business Administration, or Finance. The successful candidate will have five years of internal/external audit experience, including writing audit reports and communicating results to all levels of management. Governmental audit experience is desirable, but not required. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), and/or Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) certifications preferred. Strong project management skills are essential. Additionally, the successful candidate will have a working knowledge of auditing standards from the Institute of Internal Auditing (IIA), and/or Government Accountability Office (GAO). Candidates must work collaboratively in a diverse team environment and possess strong problem solving skills. The ability to communicate and write complex issues in a concise manner is important. PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS Positions in this class typically require: manual dexterity, talking, hearing, seeing andrepetitive motions. SedentaryWork: Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally, and/or a negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time. Jobsaresedentary if walking and standing arerequired only occasionally and all other sedentary criteria are met. Benefits Offered * Health, dental, vision, prescription drug insurance plans * Flexible Spending Accounts for Medical and Dependent Care * HSA/HRA available * Basic, Optional and Dependent Life Insurance * Short-Term and Long-Term Disability * On-site Medical Wellness Center * Holidays: 12 holidays per year * Annual leave (vacation): 13 days accrual per year * Sick leave: 13 days accrual per year * Immunizations (Flu Shots, Tetanus, etc.) * Wellness Incentive Programs * Annual Wellness Fair * 529 College Savings Plan * Financial Education Programs * Funeral Leave * Longevity pay after 3 years (full-time status) * Tuition Reimbursement after 2 years (full-time status) * Employee assistance program * Uniforms and equipment furnished * Employee discount programs * Retirement Benefits include: * Defined Contribution Retirement Plan * Employees can choose a contribution rate of 2.5%, 5.0%, or 7.5% * Gwinnett County will contribute 7.0% of your pensionable earnings per pay period. * An employee is fully vested in 5 years. An employee can retire if he/she has reached the age of 55 and the sum of his/her age and years of service equals 65. * Deferred Compensation Plan * If you contribute at least 2.5% of your base pay to the 457(b) plan, Gwinnett County will contribute an additional 1% to your Defined Contribution Retirement Plan (this is in addition to the 7% described above).SDL2017 SeniorAuditor(Appointed)withCountyofGwinnett from Job Portal http://www.jobisite.com/extrJobView.htm?id=72161
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Our carefully-designed Ohio Ethics CPE courses help you meet the requirements that you must complete three continuing education credits every year. This course meets the three-hour ethics requirement of the Accountancy Board of Ohio (the “Board”). In this course, we explore ethical principles and values for Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) which help you to maintain the competency and skill sets as a professional CPAs that give you full idea regarding financial information and become a most experienced CPAs.
#Ohio Ethics CPE#ACCPE#Continuing Education for Accountants Texas#Government CPE Texas#Continuing Professional Education for CPAs Texas|ACCPE#CPA Including Consulting Services CPE
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Our accounting CPE courses cover a wide range of self-study topics for any CPA including CPE for accounting, auditing CPE, and consulting services CPE.
#accounting cpe#Continuing Education | American Center For Continuing Professional Education | ACCPE#American Center for Continuing Professional Education#ACCPE#Accounting CPE Texas#Continuing Education Texas#CPE Texas#Continuing Professional Education Texas#Continuing Education for Accountants Texas#Continuing Professional Education for CPAs Texas#CPA Including Consulting Services CPE#CPA Including Auditing CPE#CPA Including CPE For Accounting#Continuing Education For CPAs Ohio | Texas | New York | North Carolina#Continuing Education for Accountants Ohio | Texas | New York | North Carolina#Current Developments Accounting and Financial in Texas
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This 3-hour course is designed to meet the 3-hour Ethics CPE requirement for Ohio CPAs. It provides an overview of ethical thought along with the core values of the CPA profession.
#Ohio Ethics#American Center for Continuing Professional Education#ACCPE#Ohio Ethics Texas#Ohio Ethics CPE#Continuing Education Texas#CPE Texas#Continuing Professional Education Texas#Continuing Education for Accountants Texas#Continuing Professional Education for CPAs Texas#CPA Including Consulting Services CPE#CPA Including Auditing CPE#CPA Including CPE For Accounting#Continuing Education For CPAs Ohio | Texas | New York | North Carolina#Continuing Education for Accountants Ohio | Texas | New York | North Carolina
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The American Center for Continuing Professional Education offers affordable self-study CPE for CPAs, Forensic CPE, enrolled agents, tax preparers and students interested in furthering their education.
#Forensic CPE#American Center for Continuing Professional Education#Continuing Professional Education | American Center For Continuing Professional Education | ACCPE#ACCPE#Forensic CPE Texas#Continuing Professional Education for CPAs Texas#GAAP Texas#Ohio Ethics Texas#Continuing Education for Accountants Texas#Government CPE Texas#Continuing Professional Education Texas#Accounting CPE Texas#Continuing Education Texas#CPE Texas#CPA Including Consulting Services CPE#CPA Including Auditing CPE#CPA Including CPE For Accounting#Continuing Education For CPAs Ohio | Texas | New York | North Carolina#Continuing Education for Accountants Ohio | Texas | New York | North Carolina
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Accounting CPE | American Center for Continuing Professional Education | ACCPE
Our accounting CPE courses cover a wide range of self-study topics for any CPA including CPE for accounting, auditing CPE, and consulting services CPE.
#Accounting CPE#American Center for Continuing Professional Education#accpe#Accounting CPE Texas#Accounting CPE | American Center for Continuing Professional Education | ACCPE#Continuing Professional Education for CPAs Texas#Continuing Education Texas#CPE Texas#Continuing Professional Education Texas#Continuing Education for Accountants Texas#CPA Including Consulting Services CPE#CPA Including Auditing CPE#CPA Including CPE For Accounting#Continuing Education For CPAs Ohio | Texas | New York | North Carolina#Continuing Education for Accountants Ohio | Texas | New York | North Carolina
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