The Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants and the Montana Society of CPAs have partnered with the leadership from a number of other contributing state societies and organizations to host an online, international, grassroots conversation about the future of the CPA profession on Oct. 3, 2019.
The virtual conference, titled CPA Convene, is designed to foster contributions from individual CPAs and initiate meaningful discussion around the themes that are most pressing for the future of the CPA profession. The event is crafted to give voice to the attendees as stakeholders of the profession and to share expertise and insight across the global community.
“Our goal with CPA Convene is to create a space for the profession to have intentional conversations about our shared future,” said Allen Lloyd, executive director of the Montana Society of CPAs. “Unlike most virtual events, CPA Convene is designed around interaction between attendees and presenters that unearth insights that make an impact. The accounting profession is going through revolutionary changes. Think of CPA Convene as our Continental Congress — a place where we can talk about what we want in the future and start the ball rolling.”
By bringing together and involving CPAs from across the profession, there is an opportunity to simultaneously platform the expertise of various members and networks and share this knowledge with as many people as possible. Everyone has something to contribute and something to learn, and it is one of the many benefits of the virtual space that a discussion of this size and scope can happen under one (virtual) roof.
Visit matchboxvirtual.com/future-of-cpa for more details on session topics, speaker panels and the registration procedure.
“This is an important event for two reasons,” said Tom Hood, president and CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs. “One, having a strategic conversation about our future with the broader finance / accounting community, and two, collecting and being able to analyze and share the ‘wisdom of the crowd’ in a new and innovative way.”
During the three-hour live event, attendees will have exclusive access to sessions led by profession thought leaders. While these sessions play, a chat will run simultaneously in which attendees can communicate with the speakers and each other to flesh out these ideas in a practical, meaningful way. Additionally, periodic attendee input opportunities and polls will permit participants to directly share their perspectives. The end result is a co-created body of collective knowledge capturing the thoughts of the attending profession at large, which is then shared with all attendees after the conference in the form of a whitepaper.
This event is co-founded by the MACPA, MSCPA, and Matchbox Virtual Media. Their collaboration marks a step toward a new form of event inclusivity where the takeaways are co-created by the largest possible audience. Recognizing that CPAs are at the shore of a sea of change regarding their role in a changing society, the best way to prepare CPAs and be ready for this change is through collaboration that all can take part in. CPA Convene is a constructive, global conversation about what is ahead, this event is crafted precisely to give voice to the stakeholders of the profession, and to share expertise and insight across all membership bases.
Registration and additional details available at matchboxvirtual.com/future-of-cpa.