December 2015 - January 2016

December 2015—January 2016
Official Publication of the Nebraska Society of CPAs
Fall Conference Features Governor Ricketts. . . Nebraska Governor
Pete Ricketts was welcomed to the Society’s
2015 Annual Meeting and Fall CPE Conference by the Society’s leadership. Greeting
the state’s Governor were Chairman Tony
Pruss of Norfolk (left) and Chairman-Elect
Pat Kirlin of Omaha (right). Governor
Ricketts discussed his vision for the future of
Nebraska with over 200 Society members
for about 35 minutes and took questions
from the membership. He gave one of the
keynote addresses at the 15th Annual Fall
CPE Conference held along with the Annual
Meeting at the Embassy Suites in LaVista on
October 26 & 27, 2015. For more information about the events, see page 8.
You and Your Spouse Are Cordially
Invited to Attend
A Reception & Buffet Dinner Honoring
Nebraska’s State Senators
Hosted by the Nebraska Society of CPAs
Tuesday, January 5, 2016
6:00 p.m. Reception & 6:30 p.m. Buffet
The Nebraska Club
2000 US Bank Building, 13th and M Streets
Lincoln, Nebraska
Cost is $50 per person
Please RSVP by Noon on Thursday, December 31, 2015
By Email (lori@nescpa.org), Fax (402) 476-8731
Or Phone (402) 476-8482 or (800) 642-6178.
Midway through the Society’s
2015 Annual Meeting and Fall CPE
Conference, on October 26, 2015, the
Society’s Board of Directors held one
of its quarterly meetings at the Embassy Suites in LaVista.
With Chairman of the Board Pat
Kirlin of Omaha presiding, the Board
welcomed newly elected members
Chris Lindner and Pat Meyer of Lincoln to the Board and acted upon a
number of Society issues.
Among the actions taken at the
meeting, the Board:
 Elected Shari Munro of Omaha as
the Society’s new Treasurer and
elected Ryan Parker of Fairbury
as the new Secretary. Munro replaces Michelle Thornburg of
Omaha who has been Treasurer
for four years and has been elected as the Society’s ChairmanElect.
 Approved the Society’s financial
2
statements of September 30,
2015, and approved the membership applications of 12 new members.
 Received a report from President
Dan Vodvarka that he had testified on behalf of the Society
Board at the Nebraska Board of
Public Accountancy’s public
hearing in Lincoln on October 23,
2015. President Vodvarka testified in support of changes to State
Board regulations within NAC
Title 288.
 Approved the Embassy Suites
Omaha-LaVista for the Society’s
2016 Annual Meeting and Fall
CPE Conference to be held on
October 24 and 25, 2016.
 Received a report from Chairman
Kirlin, and the Society’s Elected
Member of the AICPA Council,
Julie Bauman of Falls City, regarding issues of interest to the
CPA profession that were discussed at the AICPA’s Fall Council meeting held in mid-October
in Maui, HI.
 Received a report from Executive
Vice President Trudy Meyer regarding the status of the Society’s
2015 Continuing Professional
Education (CPE) conferences and
seminars.
Chairman Kirlin appointed Sheila
Brugger, Patrick Meyer and himself
to the Board’s Audit Committee for
2016. He also appointed Immediate
Past Chairman Tony Pruss, Bauman,
Patrick Meyer, Tom Von Riesen of
Omaha and himself to the 2015 Society Awards Selection Committee that
was scheduled to meet on November
23 in Lincoln.
The Board will next meet on January 5, 2016, in Lincoln prior to the
Society’s annual reception for Nebraska State Senators.
“This scholarship will unquestionably help in the final step
of my academic career and
the pursuit of future goals.
Once again, thank you so
much for your generosity.”
-UNO Student
YES!
WE SUPPORT
FUTURE NEBRASKA
CPAS!
Want To Join Us? Contact Dan
at (800) 642-6178 or vod@nescpa.org
In late October 2015, the Society Foundation’s new President, Don Kluthe of Omaha, challenged his
fellow Society members to make contributions prior to the November 18, 2015, Foundation Board of
Trustees meeting and he would match those contributions up to $5,000. Many Society members responded with a total of over $7,500 in contributions and Kluthe met his commitment as the Foundation’s
scholarship funds were increased by over $12,500 in a very short time.
The Board of Trustees of the Foundation of the Nebraska Society of CPAs extends an enthusiastic
THANK YOU to the following Nebr aska Society member s who have m ade generous contributions
to the Foundation’s Fundraising Campaign.
DIAMOND INVESTORS
SILVER INVESTORS
(Minimum $1,000 Contribution)
(Minimum $250 Contribution)
Julie Bauman
Donald Kluthe
In Memoriam
Bobbe L. Eskam
Gering, Nebraska
1958-2015
Nebraska Certificate #5729
Society Certificate #4128
------------The Society has made a donation
to the Society’s Foundation in
remembrance of Bobbe.
GOLD INVESTORS
(Minimum $500 Contribution)
Dean Broich
David Emry
Edward Fitzgerald
Patrick Lavelle
Janice Mumm
Leo Panzer
David Riley
Michael Summers
Vicki Young
Don Kluthe of Omaha was elected the new President of the Foundation of
the Nebraska Society of CPAs at the Foundation’s Board of Trustees meeting
on November 18, 2015, at Mahoney State Park. He replaced Jan Mumm of
Ceresco who had held the office for two years.
Elected Vice President was Mark Manning of Crete while Keith Snyder of
Lincoln was re-elected Treasurer and Tracy Black of Lincoln was elected Secretary. The Society’s Foundation was established in 1976 and since then has
been providing financial assistance to college accounting students across the
state. This year the Foundation provided over $107,000 in scholarships to over
60 students from 14 Nebraska colleges and universities.
Auten, Pruss &
Beckmann PC
Tracy Black
Lori Mueller
Michelle Thornburg
Walter Waltke
BRONZE INVESTORS
(Minimum $100 Contribution)
Rand Hansen
Anthony Keller
David Lechner
Stan Obermueller
Kristian Rutford
Steven Scheiblhofer
Leonard Sloup
Keith Snyder
William Strain
HONOR ROLL
INVESTOR
Thomas McLaughlin
3
By Steven Anderson, CPA
Grafton & Associates, P.C.
Member, Taxation Committee
As a member of the Taxation Committee, I represented the Nebraska
Society and attended the AICPA’s National Tax Conference on the second
of two days, November 3, 2015, in
Washington, DC. Following are highlights/takeaways of the conference.
National Taxpayer Advocate
Nina Olson, the National Taxpayer
Advocate, was concerned about where
the IRS is and has been headed. In her
opinion, the IRS in the future is headed towards working more through tax
practitioners instead of directly with
taxpayers. The Service’s trend, she
said, has been and will continue to be
reducing direct taxpayer contacts. A
potential problem she sees is that unregulated tax preparers will be given
more taxpayer information access. A
good example of lack of direct contact
with the taxpayer is the phone number
taxpayers are given in trying to make
Nebraska CPA is published ten times annually for
members of the Nebraska Society of CPAs. Publication
is monthly, with the exception of two combined issues:
February/March and December/January. Copy deadline is the tenth of the month prior to publication.
Nebraska Society of CPAs
635 South 14th Street, Suite 330
Lincoln, Nebraska 68508
(402) 476-8482 or (800) 642-6178
Fax (402) 476-8731
Email society@nescpa.org
www.nescpa.org
OFFICERS
Patrick G. Kirlin, Chairman
Michelle R. Thornburg, Chairman-Elect
Ryan L. Parker, Secretary
Shari A. Munro, Treasurer
Anthony J. Pruss, III, Immediate Past Chairman
DIRECTORS
Sheila A. Brugger
Douglas J. Lacey
Christopher J. Lindner
Patrick A. Meyer
Julie D. Bauman
Elected Member of AICPA Council
Richard D. Gifford
West Nebraska Chapter President
STAFF
Dan Vodvarka, President
Trudy J. Meyer, Executive Vice President
4
payment arrangements for balance due
notices suffers from low response.
Over 2/3 of calls this past year
related to this had no luck getting
through to the IRS. If taxpayers try
but are unable to contact the IRS, the
IRS may automatically, through its
collection system, send out a levy notice or file a lien. She has also seen
more resistance, by the IRS, to taxpayer advocate personnel and cooperation
between the departments erode. Besides efficiency in collections she noted, the IRS needs to promote practices
that respect taxpayer rights and enhance voluntary compliance.
Commissioner’s Address
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen
echoed Nina Olson’s concern over
taxpayer service. He focused much of
what he said on funding. The 2016
budget request by the President calls
for a budget increase of $2 billion.
The House of Representatives has proposed a cut of another $838 million.
The IRS’ operating budget was $10.9
billion last year and since 2010 has
been cut $1.2 billion and now is at the
lowest level of funding since 2008. If
adjusted for inflation, the budget is
now comparable to where the IRS was
at in 1998. The IRS workforce,
through attrition, has been reduced by
about 15,000 and other efficiencies
implemented.
The Commissioner was not happy
with the level of service for the taxpayers or preparers that needed their
help during the last filing season.
Along with taxpayer service the IRS’
compliance programs have suffered as
well. The staff reductions included
over 5,000 enforcement personnel,
those that audit, perform collection
and investigate tax fraud. The decline
in audits was over 22% below 5 years
ago. Without more compliance personnel you leave revenue on the table,
since the IRS estimates that every $1
invested in the IRS produces $4 in revenue.
Limited resources and staff have
also hurt the IRS’s ability to combat
ID theft. Strides have been made in
this area but investments have not
been up to the level needed to ensure
them doing everything possible to
thwart cybercrime. A major challenge
facing the IRS and the entire tax community is the need to improve efforts
to protect taxpayer information and
combat stolen identity refund fraud. A
Security Summit has been held between the IRS, leaders in the community and state representatives to address this. For the upcoming filing
season, there is focus on a two
pronged approach. This involves both
improving taxpayer authentication on
the front end, and obtaining more
matching data so the IRS can make
their fraud filters more effective at
identifying and stopping false returns.
Identity Theft
One of the breakout sessions was
headed up by James Clifford from the
IRS. The commissioner touched on
this in his address and James outlined
his ID theft thoughts.
1. Signs of identity theft
 E file return rejected
 Taxpayer receives correspondence
to confirm that they have filed a
return before they actually file the
return
 Taxpayer receives a bill or a refund check from the IRS when no
return has been filed
 Taxpayer receives a notice from
IRS indicating no wages earned, a
W-2 did not work, SS benefits
denied
 Taxpayer receives notice from IRS
that they may have been a victim
2. What to do
Continued on Page 5
Season’s
Greetings
The Society
Office will be closed
December 25, 2015
&
January 1, 2016
NATIONAL TAX CONFERENCE . . .
From Page 4
 File IRS Form 14039
 Contact the IRS at number on
notice
 Contact SS if on a SS statement
 Review SS account online
 Notify credit reporting companies
 File complaint with FTC
 File police report
 Close any accounts that are not
the taxpayer’s
3. IRS Victim Assistance Changes
 Temp Regs end automatic W-2
filing extensions
 Theft
Victim
Assistance
(IDTVA) and Identity Protection
strategy and Oversight (IPSO)
organizations created in 2015.
These groups centralize policy
and operations under one leadership team and offer more consistent treatment for taxpayers.
 Identity Protection PIN (IPPIN)
will be assigned annually to all
those victims of ID theft. Six
verification procedures for Get
digit PIN required to be reported
Transcript and IP PIN. Right now
on income tax returns. May have
still can’t utilize automated Get
to do indefinitely. They are still
Transcript and they don’t know
studying ways to set time frame
when it will be available yet but
when this wouldn’t have to be used
likely sometime Spring 2016.
each year in conjunction with income tax return filings. It is sug- 4. Scams
gested to obtain one for each fami Phone scams getting bigger. IRS
ly included on a return of an ID
has received reports of over
theft victim even if not a victim of
736,000 contacts regarding possitheft. Procedures in place to obble scams. The IRS has become
tain one if you want.
aware of over 4,500 victims to the
tune of roughly $23 million.
 The IRS continues to strengthen
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5
The following is the tribute read
when Dr. Stanley Obermueller of Seward was presented with the Society’s
2015 Outstanding Accounting Educator
Award on October 26, 2015, during the
Society’s Annual Meeting Luncheon at
the Embassy Suites in LaVista.
A career Nebraska educator who
in 1982 became the first full-time business faculty member at Concordia University in Seward and two years later,
chairman of the Business Department,
Dr. Stanley R. Obermueller of Seward,
is today honored as the 2015 recipient
of the Nebraska Society’s Outstanding
Accounting Educator Award.
A Society member since 1986, Dr.
Obermueller passed the CPA exam as
an Elijah Watt Sells honoree for scoring in the top 120 in the nation during
the fall 1985 CPA exam and first in
Nebraska. He is a graduate of both
Concordia and Indiana--Purdue University with a degree in elementary
education before taking graduate
courses in accounting and earning a
PhD from Walden University in administration and management in 1993.
He taught for a dozen years at the elementary school level before joining the
Concordia faculty.
Stan, now retired, served as Business Department chairman for 28 years
at Concordia and saw the Department
grow from 30 to 160 undergraduates.
In 2008 an MBA program was instituted and the department became accredited by the International Association
for Collegiate Business Education.
Over the years, Dr. Obermueller taught
future CPAs financial and managerial
accounting, intermediate accounting,
cost accounting, business law and finance.
But the long years of unselfish
service and professional successes are
not Dr. Obermueller’s greatest accomplishment – it’s his lifelong effect on
the hundreds of accounting students,
6
Dr. Stanley Obermueller of Concordia University in Seward (left) congratulates Mary Leising of Concordia who is the recipient of the Dr. Stanley R.
Obermueller Scholarship for the 2015-16 college year. They are pictured during the Society’s Annual Business Meeting Luncheon on October 26, 2015, in
LaVista.
faculty and college administrators
whose lives he touched and improved.
The current President of Concordia
University wrote in supporting Stan’s
nomination for this award, “I have
known Stan for 23 years as an administrative and faculty colleague. During
that time the business program grew
from inception to the flourishing program it is today. Dr. Obermueller
served Concordia with excellence,
dedication and humility. His commitment to his students while in school
and after their graduation is indicative
of his deep commitment to student
success and lifelong relationships.”
A student and colleague added,
“Dr. Obermueller was instrumental in
my decision to pursue an accounting
career and later an accounting teaching
career. As a teacher, he challenged his
students, but always respected and encouraged them at the same time. Most
of all, he has been a role model that
gave me a great example of what a
Christian can and should be in an environment that is often manipulative and
only concerned with profits.”
Another former student wrote, “He
created a significant impact on Concordia University and Nebraska educa-
tional communities over the last three
decades. His legacy in the classroom
speaks for itself. His personable interaction with students is evident, as students affectionately refer to him as
“Dr. O.”
Stan has also shared his leadership
skills with the Seward community as
he has been a member of the Board of
Directors of such diverse groups as the
Seward Chamber of Commerce, Concordia Foundation and the St. John
Lutheran Church Foundation. And in
his usually limited “spare time” he is a
talented painter of Nebraska landscapes and river scenes. Two of those
paintings of Nebraska’s true beauty,
captured by a native son, now hang in
the Nebraska Society’s office in Lincoln.
Dr. Stan Obermueller, for your
dedication to the lives and careers of
Concordia accounting students, for
your work in developing Concordia
University in Seward into the excellent
educational institution it is today and
for your support of the growth of the
CPA profession in Nebraska, your
peers -- Nebraska’s CPAs -- are proud
to present you with the 2015 Outstanding Accounting Educator Award.
The following is the tribute read
when Don Kluthe of Omaha was presented with the Society’s 2015 Distinguished Service to the Profession
Award on October 26, 2015, during the
Society’s Annual Business Meeting
Luncheon in LaVista.
For his years of leadership and
dedicated service to his chosen profession as a member of the Nebraska Society, the AICPA and the Omaha business community, Donald D. Kluthe of
Omaha is the recipient of the Society’s
2015 Distinguished Service to the Profession Award.
Don joined the Society in 1983
after graduating from Midland University in Fremont with a BA-Business
Administration degree and a college
football career. His professional life
began with a CPA firm in Fremont before moving to “industry” as a tax accountant with the Kiewit Companies in
Omaha. Eventually, he also earned an
MBA degree from the University of
Nebraska at Omaha.
In the mid-1980s, Don joined the
then Pacesetter Corporation in Omaha
as a Tax Manager and eventually rose
in the organization to become the President/COO and CFO of Pacesetter, and
its successor company, the Optimus
Corporation. Today Don is the President/COO and Owner/Director of
AmeriFirst Finance Co. in Omaha
where he directs, plans and supervises
all operation for the company’s lending
business and its portfolio of mortgage
loans and retail installment contracts.
And during this very busy time of
his career as the businesses he led
evolved, contracted and then expanded,
Don continued to share his time and
talent with Nebraska’s CPAs through
the Nebraska Society and the AICPA.
Don’s service in the Society began
in the 1990s when he became active on
the Industry Committee and eventually
became its chairman. He is also active
as a Key Person for Omaha state senators and a supporter of the Society’s
annual Reception for Nebraska State
Don Kluthe of Omaha displays the
plaque he received when he was honored
as the recipient of the Society’s 2015
Distinguished Service to the Profession
Award on October 25, 2015, in LaVista.
Kluthe is the current President of the
Society’s Foundation and is a past
Chairman of the Board of the Society.
Senators.
In 1996 he was elected to the
Board of Directors and served on the
Executive Committee for one year as
Secretary. In 2001, he was elected as
the Society 62nd Chairman/President.
Following his active year as Chairman,
he served on the Fall CPE Conference
Planning Committee and was elected to
the Board of Trustees of the Society’s
Foundation.
On the Foundation Board, he was
elected as Secretary and then Vice
President and is scheduled to become
the new President of the Foundation
this November. Don will be one of the
very few members of the Society ever
to hold the top elective office in both
the Society and the Foundation.
During his time on the Society
Board of Directors, Don originated and
sponsored the idea of a fourth annual
Society Award --- the Outstanding
CPA in Business & Industry. It took
him a couple of years, but his lobbying
succeeded in the Board approving the
new award with a scholarship and today nearly 20 outstanding “Industry”
members have been honored because of
Don’s persistence.
Added to all of this, Don has been
busy nationally with the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) as he is currently serving a three-year term on
AICPA Assurance Service Executive
Committee and has served a three-year
term on the AICPA’s Business and Industry Executive Committee. He also
was a four-year member of the AICPA
National Council.
Kluthe also has shared his CPA
skills and training with the Omaha
community as Treasurer and a Board
member of the Kiwanis Club of Greater
Omaha and on the Supervisory Committee of SAC Federal Credit Union.
He is also a long-time member of the
Alumni Board of Midland University.
A former Society Chairman of the
Board wrote in support of Don’s nomination for this award, “As evident from
his impressive list of Society and
AICPA offices and activities, Don has
devoted an indeterminate amount of
hours serving our profession. Anyone
that has served with Don in one of
these organizations or committees can
attest to Don’s enthusiasm and interest
in the CPA profession. He excels at
initiating thoughtful discussion and
consideration of current issues and how
they will impact our profession nationally and locally. And he has mentored
and encouraged numerous Nebraska
students interested in becoming CPAs.”
Donald D. Kluthe, for your unprecedented service to the CPA profession in Nebraska and nationwide, for
all the time you have spent helping lead
the Nebraska Society over two decades
and in appreciation for your civic involvement and leadership in Omaha,
your peers --- Nebraska’s CPAs – are
very proud to present you with the Society’s 2015 Distinguished Service to
the Profession Award.
7
8
With over 240 members and guests attending,
the Society held its 87th Annual Meeting and its 15th
annual Fall CPE Conference at the Embassy Suites
in LaVista on October 26 and 27, 2015. In the upper
right picture, Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts discusses state issues with members during his presentation to the Conference on October 27. In the upper left picture, new Chairman of the Board Pat Kirlin of Omaha (left) received the Chairman’s gavel
from 2014-15 Chairman Tony Pruss of Norfolk. In the middle left picture,
three of the Society’s four award recipients display their plaques. From
left to right is Kris Rutford of Lincoln, Public Service Award; Dr. Stanley
Obermueller, Outstanding Accounting Educator Award; and Mike Summers of Omaha, Outstanding CPA in Business and Industry Award. In
the middle right, Dr. Tom Purcell of Omaha, represents the Nebraska
Board of Public Accountancy in honoring recent new CPA certificate holders. In the lower right picture, Barry Melancon, President & CEO of the
AICPA, after his Professional Issues Update presentation, meets with Fall
CPE Conference Planning Committee chairman Tracy Black of Lincoln.
In the lower left picture Society member Stacy Watson of Omaha gives a
presentation on Nebraska Tax Compliance during a breakout session of
the Conference.
Manage Exchange and
Professional Risk with the Midwest’s
Premier Exchange Resource
Membership
Applications
Nebraska Society membership applications
have been received from the following individuals. Objections should be filed with the
Secretary of the Nebraska Society of CPAs:
Ryan L. Parker, Endicott Clay Products
Company, PO Box 17, Fairbury, NE 68352.
 Paul
R. Claar, Seim
Johnson, LLP; Omaha
 Jered S. Jones, Hor st &
Associates, PC; Grand Island
 Katelyn A. Vrtiska, Lutz
& Co., PC; Omaha
Sweetwood Earns
National Award
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Dan Sweetwood of Elkhorn,
the Nebraska Board of Public Accountancy’s Executive Director,
has received one of NASBA’s
highest national awards.
Sweetwood received the 2015
Lorraine P. Sachs Standard of Excellence Award from the National
Association of State Boards of
Accountancy (NASBA) at its
108th Annual Meeting in Dana
Point, CA in October. Candidates
for this national award are executive directors who at the time of
nomination have shown exemplary, dedicated and outstanding service and commitment to improving the effectiveness of accounting
regulation both locally and nationally.
Sweetwood has been the Executive Director of the Nebraska
Board for over 10 years.
Got News?
Send to
vod@nescpa.org
9
Katie Brabec of Colon has been promoted to Super visor in the Omaha firm of Bland & Associates. Margie Heller of Water loo has been appointed Chief Administr ative
Officer (CAO) of Mutual of Omaha Bank in Omaha. Bernie
Gutschewski of Omaha has been re-elected for his third
year as chairman of the Nebraska Board of Public Accountancy (State Board). Re-elected Vice-Chairman of the State
Board was Lori Druse of Lincoln and Marcy Luth of Grand
Island was elected Secretary of the Board. Doug Kucera of
Hickman has joined CFO Systems of Lincoln. Pat Kirlin of
Omaha, the Society’s Chairman of the Board, has joined Signal 88 Security in Omaha as Corporate Controller. Doris
Robertson of Lincoln has been promoted to Vice President- Commercial Lending at Union Bank & Trust in Lincoln and Kimberly Keller of Lincoln has joined Union Bank
& Trust as its Vice President-Financial Reporting and Controller. Nick Eker of Omaha has been promoted to Manager
in the Omaha firm of Bland & Associates while Danielle
Senske of Omaha has been promoted to Super visor.
10
Volunteer
For Society
Committees
As the Society leadership
makes future plans, Society President Dan Vodvarka reminds
members to consider volunteering
to serve on a Society Committee
in 2016.
The Society has 10 standing
committees:
 Accounting Careers
 Continuing Professional Education
 Ethics
 Fall CPE Conference Planning
 Industry
 Legislation
 Not-For-Profit Organizations
 Quality Review
 State and Local Governmental
Accounting and Auditing
 Taxation.
President Vodvarka reminds
members that Committee service
allows members to expand their
network of professional contacts,
improves their leadership skills
and helps benefit and plan the future of the CPA profession in Nebraska and the growth of the Nebraska Society. “Chairman Pat
Kirlin will be appointing committees and committee leadership in
early 2016 and most of the committee will meet in Mid-May,”
Vodvarka said.
To volunteer for a 2016 Society Committee, go to the Society’s
website at www.nescpa.org, click
on Member Services on the upper
left side of the homepage, then on
Committees and Sign-up for
Committees. Fill out the Committee Service Volunteer Form
and email it to the Society. For
questions about Committee service, contact Lori@nescpa.org.
The American Institute of CPAs
(AICPA) currently is working on a wide
variety of initiatives to enhance the relevance and vibrancy of the profession far
into the future. These initiatives include
programs to promote the value of CPAs as
trusted business advisors, enhance audit
quality, broaden the definition of attest,
help firms identify and remedy issues during A&A engagements, evolve the Uniform CPA Exam, attract the next generation of talent, and meet the information
and educational needs of members in public accounting, business, government and
specialized services.
In response to the needs of members
working in corporations of all ownership
structures and sizes, the AICPA formed a
joint venture with the Chartered Institute
of Management Accountants (CIMA) in
2011. CIMA is the world’s leading and
largest professional body of management
accountants. Founded in 1919, CIMA represents more than 227,000 members and
students operating in 179 countries, working in industry, commerce and not-forprofit organizations. In January 2012, the
two organizations launched the Chartered
Global Management Accountant (CGMA)
designation. The number of CGMA designation holders is now more than 150,000
worldwide, with over 50,000 in the U.S.
Now, the AICPA and CIMA are beginning a conversation with their respective members about a proposal to integrate
their operations, strategy and management
through a newly formed association. The
AICPA would continue to serve members
and protect, promote and grow the CPA
profession. The new association aims to
maximize efficiencies and provide a
broader platform for further enhancing
In Memoriam
George C. Holdren
Lincoln, Nebraska
1924-2015
advocacy, promoting public and management accounting on campuses and with
employers and clients, and developing new
research and educational offerings. According to Arleen Thomas, CPA, CGMA,
AICPA
Senior
Vice
PresidentManagement Accounting and Global Markets, “A presence in Europe will dramatically increase our ability to advocate for
members on international matters that are
increasingly impacting the U.S. securities
system. In addition, the proposal would
enable the profession to achieve even
greater influence domestically and internationally and broaden the appeal of accounting to the next generation of professionals.”
“Our strategy is built on the power of
‘And,’” said Barry C. Melancon, CPA,
CGMA, AICPA President and CEO. “The
AICPA would continue to maintain an
unwavering commitment to the CPA, promote high standards for ethics and quality,
and protect the public interest and the core
values of the CPA profession. What we
would gain through this new association
with CIMA is the further professionalization of management accounting. Financial
reporting is stronger when we drive quality
in both public and management accounting.”
The CPA profession has a history of
anticipating – and adjusting to – changes
in market demands. The profession has
grappled with and developed solutions to
address increasing complex technology,
specialization, and evolving business
structures; these drove such evolutionary
steps as the computerization of the CPA
Exam, non-CPA firm ownership and the
adoption of cloud computing solutions.
Approximately 50 percent of most
state CPA society and AICPA members
work in businesses of all sizes and ownership structures. Creating the CGMA offered these professionals a complementary
designation and enhanced resources. Since
the designation’s launch, the American
Institute of CPAs and CIMA have delivered nearly 120 reports and tools plus
online events and career development resources to members seeking to increase
their knowledge and hone critical skills for
the future. The organizations also developed the CGMA Competency Framework
and the Global Management Accounting
Continued on Page 12
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AICPA MAY EXPAND . . .
From Page 11
Principles. In addition, so that members
and employers could better assess and
address accountants’ skills and competency gaps, the organizations launched the
AICPA | CIMA Competency and Learning platform. The tool also analyzes public accounting skills, such as those related
to assurance as well as employee benefit
plan and governmental audits.
CGMA designation holders also
have access to the CGMA Magazine, the
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CGMA Finance Impact Tool, numerous
reports and case studies on best practices,
and the Harvard ManageMentor online
learning and performance support resource program. The website cgma.org is
the hub for all of these resources and
more.
What’s Next?
Gaining member insights into the
AICPA and CIMA evolution is critical to
helping the Institute’s governing Council
determine its next course of action. Council will assess member feedback and consider authorizing a member ballot in the
spring. Moving forward would require a
vote by members, with a majority of those
voting supporting the proposal. CIMA has
a similar requirement and timeline.
Members are encouraged to visit
aicpa.org/horizons to find out more about
what they could gain from a deeper relationship with CIMA and provide feedback on the proposal.
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