Friday, May 11, 2012

AICPA 125th Anniversary: Overcoming Challenges


The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2012. Founded in 1887, the AICPA is the national professional organization of Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) in the United States, with more than 350,000 CPA members in 128 countries in business and industry, public practice, government and education. It sets ethical standards for the profession and auditing standards for audits of private companies, non-profit organizations, federal, state and local governments. The AICPA’s founding established accountancy as a profession distinguished by rigorous educational requirements, high professional standards, a strict code of professional ethics, and a commitment to serving the public interest.

According to the AICPA Insights blog, the history of the profession includes a long tradition of successfully overcoming challenges. “Throughout our nearly 125 years, we have been a proactive profession that seeks out opportunities for growth and improvement. The latest example is CPA Horizons 2025, a landmark project that continues the valuable work of the profession’s Vision Process in the late 1990s and charts a course for the profession over the next 15 years. Among other key areas, Horizons 2025 focused on the increasing impact that technology will have on our world and on our profession. Since technology can automate so many of the tasks that we perform, it has allowed us to raise our game and reinforce our roles as trusted business advisors.”

In celebration of its 125th anniversary, the AICPA will highlight the CPA profession’s financial literacy expertise in a consumer-focused book. The book content will be a collection of personal essays showcasing the many ways CPAs transform financial lives. In this regard, the AICPA is looking for real-world saving and spending stories and tales of both money struggles and triumph to help families get a handle on their finances and teach good habits to children. The goal is to publish the book in the same style as the Chicken Soup for the Soul series in Fall 2012. That will coincide with the AICPA’s 125th anniversary and take advantage of the moment to highlight the CPA profession in the public. This book will be the AICPA’s first consumer publication and the first book published as part of the “360 Degrees of Financial Literacy” program.