The Registered Apprenticeship for Finance Business is the nation’s first-of-its-type program for accounting and finance that is dedicated to establishing a pipeline of highly engaged candidates that allows employers to monitor and develop more skilled, diverse, and long-term employees. The program is built on the globally rigorous CGMA Finance Leadership Program leading to the award of the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation.

Along with growing the participation roster of employers and industries, the AICPA & CIMA are working to increase opportunities for students to have earlier options to benefit from an apprenticeship program

For more than a century, the AICPA & CIMA has focused on driving a robust pipeline of professionals prepared to support and grow organizations worldwide. The Registered Apprenticeship for Finance Business Partners is the latest step in that mission.

Benefits of the Registered Apprenticeship for Finance Business include:

For employers, apprenticeship programs offer the following benefits:

• Provide a career development program where employees can be developed and monitored over time, resulting in a skilled, highly engaged employee
• Provide a pipeline of talent to address both current and future needs of the business
• Expands the pool of qualified individuals by providing the right combination of education and experience

For apprentices participating in the program, they are able to earn  paycheck while learning while being exposed to more expanded career development and mentoring opportunities.

If interested in learning more about the Registered Apprenticeship for Finance Business Partners, contact Joanne.Fiore@aicpa-cima.com.

Business Executives’ Mixed View on Economy Reflects Continued Uncertainty, AICPA & CIMA Survey Finds

According to the fourth-quarter AICPA & CIMA Economic Outlook Survey, business executives don’t have a strong sense of where the economy is headed. The survey polled chief executive officers, chief financial officers, controllers and other certified public accountants in U.S. companies who hold executive and senior management accounting roles.

Twenty-four percent of survey respondents expressed optimism about the outlook for the U.S. economy over the next 12 months, a drop of 5% from last quarter.
Inflation returned as the top concern cited by business executives after falling to No. 2 last quarter, and only 27% dismiss the prospect of a recession next year. Yet profit and revenue growth expectations for the next 12 months were largely unchanged from last quarter, with the profit outlook rising a tick from 0.1% to 0.5% and revenue growth projections slipping a bit from 1.9% to 1.8%.

Twelve percent of business executives said they had too many employees, up four percentage points from last quarter. Some 38% said they have too few employees, but the percentage who said they were hesitant to hire because of economic uncertainty increased from 14% to 16%.

Other key findings of the survey:

• Expansion plans fell slightly from 50% to 48% this quarter
• Business executives less optimistic about their own company’s prospects over the next 12 months (43% vs. 45% last quarter), although they are still ahead of where they were a year ago (35%).
• Some 28% of business executives said they expected their companies to raise prices by year end, down from 37% last quarter. Sixty-three percent said they expected no change, while 2% said they anticipated decreases.

AICPA Releases Guidance for CPAs to Comply with State Laws If a State Changes its Licensure Requirements

The AICPA recently released information for U.S. public accounting professionals on the potential impact to their out-of-state engagements if pending state bills altering licensure requirements are enacted.

The document includes background information and a compliance checklist for CPAs to determine the impact on them if a state unilaterally changes its requirements necessary for licensure.

CPAs currently benefit from a national licensing system, known in shorthand as “CPA mobility,” that permits almost complete practice movement from a CPA’s home state of licensure into other states without having to obtain additional licenses, register with the other state or pay fees. The system is based on the concept of “substantial equivalency,” a foundation of common or similar educational, examination, and experience requirements for licensure across states.

The AICPA earlier this year convened the National Pipeline Advisory Group (NPAG), a multi-stakeholder panel charged with developing a national strategy to address the profession’s talent shortage. The group is looking at long-term solutions to the problem and is evaluating the boundaries of substantial equivalency to understand if greater flexibility exists.

In calling for the formation of NPAG this past May, the AICPA governing Council also emphasized the importance of preserving CPA mobility. The AICPA intends to defend the system in states where it is under threat – currently Minnesota and South Carolina – and part of that defense is raising awareness about the stakes involved.

For more information, please visit the AICPA’s resource page on protecting CPA mobility. Besides its role in convening NPAG, the AICPA is pursuing a Pipeline Acceleration Plan that includes quicker, more short-term initiatives to address the talent shortage.

AICPA Announces 2023 Leadership Academy Graduates

The AICPA recently announced that 36 CPAs from around the country have graduated from the AICPA Leadership Academy, a program designed to expose the next generation of CPAs to a strong ethic of leadership and service.

The program, now in its 15th year, was held in Durham, N.C., from December 11-14. The AICPA Leadership Academy was created to inspire, nurture and empower the next generation of diverse CPA leaders by providing them with advanced leadership training.

The Leadership Academy features career-development workshops and sessions with some of the accounting profession’s most prominent leaders, which this year included AICPA Chair Okorie Ramsey, CPA, CGMA, PMP, NACD.DC; and AICPA President and CEO Barry Melancon, CPA, CGMA. The program is led by Elizabeth Burkhalter, CPA, Senior Manager of the AICPA & CIMA Diversity and Inclusion team’s Emerging Professional’s Initiatives.

This year’s class included representatives from 25 states. Participants represented all areas of the accounting and finance profession, including public accounting firms, business and industry, government, not-for-profit, academia and consulting firms. The group is diverse, representing a range of ethnicities, gender, as well as practice areas and organizations, and the average age of the group is 31. The 2023 attendees were recommended by their employers, state CPA societies and volunteer organizations.

To date, more than 510 CPAs have participated in the AICPA Leadership Academy, many of whom have gone on to take on leadership positions in their firms, businesses, and volunteer organizations.

The full 2023 Leadership Academy class is listed below in alphabetical order:

• Rose Araghchy, R2 Advisors PC, Mclean, VA
• Cody Bair, PwC US Tax LLP, Denver, CO
• Marcy Binkley, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN
• Abigail Breaux, Porter, Muirhead, Cornia & Howard, Casper, WY
• Jeremy Burch, Smith Adcock and Company, Athens, GA
• Zachary Carver, Cook Wealth Management Group, Raleigh, NC
• Rachel Chaney, Bernard Robinson & Company, L.L.P., Oak Ridge, NC
• Dan Conway, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, Wes Des Moines, IA
• Sofia Cordero, Mazars USA, LLP, Edison, NJ
• John Delarosa, Kreit & Chiu CPA LLP, Charlotte, NC
• Desree Amber Foster, Seiler LLP, Las Vegas, NV
• MaJose Foster, The W2 Group, Lauderhill, FL
• Julia Grefenstette, BNA CPAs & Advisors, Rock Hill, SC
• Patrick Gremillion, Daigrepont & Brian APAC, Baton Rouge, LA
• Austin Hobson, Kimley-Horn, Raleigh, NC
• Kya Kraus, Kraus Accounting & Tax, Chandler, AZ
• Megan Lewczyk, Megan D Lewczyk, CPA LLC, Arlington, VA
• Tim Lewis, Elgee Rehfeld, LLC, Juneau, AK
• Holly (Qiulin) Liu, Wedel Rahill & Associates, CPA’s, PLC, Oklahoma City, OK
• Dezarae Magelssen, Alpine Ridge Accounting LLC, Bozeman, MT
• Timothy Martin, Schneider Downs, Pittsburgh, PA
• Kristin Mauer, SM Energy Company, Denver, CO
• Pagaaluck Oonsiri, Devereaux, Kuhner & Co. LLP, San Diego, CA
• Yamila Pons, Eide Bailly LLP, Tulsa, OK
• Joseph Robins, J.Robins, CPA LLC, Baton Rouge, LA
• Jenna Sanfilippo, WilkinGuttenplan, East Brunswick, NJ
• Braxton Savage, Tanner LLC, Salt Lake City, UT
• Lidia (Lei) Shi, BurgerBusters Inc., Virginia Beach, VA
• Michael Shipman, McClintock & Associates, P.C., Bridgeville, PA
• Noah Styles, Cross Pointe Insurance Advisors, Little Rock, AR
• Yevgeniy Sukhenko, GRF CPAs & Advisors, Bethesda, MD
• Victoria Thayer, NOVII CPA LLC, Madison, WI
• Frankie Velasco, The Joyce Foundation, Chicago, IL
• Alexis Weber, Tronconi Segarra & Associates, LLP, Williamsville, NY
• Kearia White, Hagerty, Broussard, LA
• Benjamin Zachary, Compere Robinette CPAs, Ozark, MO

NASBA and AICPA Approve Revisions to Continuing Professional Education Standards

The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) and the AICPA recently approved revisions to the Statement on Standards for Continuing Professional Education Programs, as well as the NASBA Fields of Study document. The Standards changes, which include additional options for virtual learning, are effective Jan. 1, 2024.

Published jointly by NASBA and the AICPA, the CPE Standards provide the framework for the development, presentation, measurement and reporting of CPE programs. The Standards reference the NASBA Fields of Study document, which also was reviewed and evaluated for currency and relevancy.

The Standards revisions were approved by NASBA in October and by the AICPA this month. Among the most significant changes is the addition of a virtual option under the Group Live instructional delivery method (provided certain additional requirements are met). The 2024 Standards include clarifications to assist in the understanding of awarding CPE credit in appropriate increments, in the awarding of CPE credit when multiple presenters are actively involved in instructing one CPE program session, and in communicating and documenting the required attendance monitoring mechanisms for Group Internet Based programs.

The revisions to the Fields of Study document include the addition of more current, relevant topics under the established fields of study classifications.