Because of the pandemic, the 2020-21 school year was very difficult for thousands of Kentucky elementary and high school students, but the heaviest burden fell on low-income students and families of color; those who have limited resources for educational choices. In future years, Kentucky’s K-12 students will have choices for educational services thanks to the Education Opportunity Account (“EOA”) Act passed by the Kentucky 2021 General Assembly.
“African-Americans struggled against incredible barriers in order to become CPAs and were virtually invisible,” said Theresa A. Hammond, CPA, Ph.D., accounting professor at San Francisco State University’s Lam Family College of Business. The first CPA law was passed in New York 1896. It would be another 25 years before a Black person joined the profession. The primary blockers that made licensure essentially impossible for many aspiring Black CPAs included education, experience, and exclusion. John W. Cromwell, Jr., the son of a former slave, overcame many obstacles in his life to earn his place in history as the nation’s first Black CPA in 1921. His story is an inspiration and lesson in tenacity for future generations of Black accountants.
This article looks at the life and legacy of two great CPAs - Chauncey Christian and Cary Lewis.
Deloitte announced June 2, 2021 the establishment of Making Accounting Diverse and Equitable (MADE), a commitment to generate more advisory, auditing, and tax career opportunities and leadership pathways for the next generation of certified public accountants (CPAs). MADE represents a bold vision for the accounting profession, both in terms of increasing racial and ethnic diversity, and helping students of color see and realize their future in business through the prism and possibilities of accounting.
Cybersecurity has been linked to computer use from the first day hackers made an appearance. The coronavirus pandemic has changed the thread of the security conversation like never before. Though remote computing has existed for decades, what was essentially a trickle of workforce participation has turned into a waterfall. With a large workforce operating outside the traditional office, it’s worth reviewing cybersecurity issues from outside the office walls before turning inward.
You walk into work in the morning and boot up your computer to find a message that your network has been taken hostage. The captors say you need to pay them bitcoin within the next 24 hours or else. When the operation and finance of your business hangs in the balance, this can be a nerve-racking experience, especially if you have never faced it before. You followed the advice on what to do to secure your network, but the worst has still happened — so what now? Hopefully, as part of your technology risk management plan, you have purchased cyber liability insurance.
CPAs are trained to be methodical. They know how to break down assignments into smaller tasks to complete projects on time and within the established budget. That’s why they are perfect to work on complex projects that involve implementing technologies, especially on an accelerated schedule.
This is the final report in a series of benchmarking collaboratives conducted by Avenue M Group (Avenue M) on behalf of more than a dozen state CPA societies from across the United States. At the end of April through early May 2020, 18 CPA societies took part in the first round of a COVID-19 Quick Pulse Survey, and 14 of the societies elected to participate in a second round of the survey in September of 2020. The third and final round of the survey was fielded in January of 2021, and 15 state CPA societies partook in the research. The following report is an analysis of the continued impact of COVID-19 on the CPA profession based on the data collected from these surveys.
As Abraham Lincoln once said, “It is . . . the duty of Government to render prompt justice against itself in favor of citizens. . . .” Calvert Invs., Inc. v. Louisville & Jefferson County Metro. Sewer Dist., 805 S.W.2d 133, 138 (Ky. 1991) (quoting Abraham Lincoln). Equally, in a tax audit, the tax auditor’s job is to determine the right amount of tax, regardless of whether the audit determines that the taxpayer paid that amount, too little or too much.
