Speaking on October 21st at the Maryland Association of CPAs’ annual Newly Licensed CPA Swearing-In Ceremony, AICPA Vice Chair Kimberly Ellison-Taylor advised the group to “always bring your ‘A’ game.”

Days away from being installed as AICPA chair at the fall meeting of the AICPA’s governing Council in Orlando, Ellison-Taylor told the group, “I’m so proud of you. There is no place I’d rather be, ahead of going to Orlando, than here.”

The event was held at M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens. Baltimore is Ellison-Taylor’s hometown as well.

MACPA CEO Tom Hood noted that Ellison-Taylor is about to make many “firsts.” Upon her inauguration in Orlando, she will become the first minority chair of the AICPA, the youngest chair of the AICPA, and the first AICPA chair from Maryland. Hood recalled when he first invited Ellison-Taylor to join the MACPA and how she quickly became active in young professionals programming, swiftly took on more responsibility, and rose to MACPA chair before becoming more involved with the AICPA.

Ellison-Taylor, Oracle’s global accounting strategy director for the financial and professional services industries, is passionate about supporting the next generation of CPAs, with a heartfelt desire to help those who wish to follow in her path.

Bring your ‘A’ game
Here is what Ellison-Taylor told the crowd of more than 300 MACPA members, newly licensed CPAs, and guests:

• Acknowledge: Recognize those upon whose shoulders you have stood, including members of your family and friends who supported you while you spent hours and hours studying for the CPA exam and while you took on other responsibilities in your career. Be grateful; thank them.
• Attitude: Be positive, professional.
• Accountable: Take responsibility; the public relies on you.
• Anticipate: Be proactive, learn to anticipate what is coming.
• Achieve: Never stop learning

The five points above expand upon the ‘A’ section articulated by Ellison-Taylor a year ago in her interview with MACPA’s Bill Sheridan: attitude, aptitude (part of “achieve”), and appearance (part of attitude). And that’s just the “A” section of the ABCs articulated by Ellison-Taylor. Learn more about her recommendations and her commitment to growing the CPA pipeline and supporting the profession’s continual growth in the CPA Success blog post, “Kimberly Ellison-Taylor: Helping Next-Gen CPAs is my Obligation.”

As noted by Ellison-Taylor, developing the capacity to anticipate is critical in today’s fast-changing world, where professions — including accounting and auditing — are being disrupted by digital transformation. Learning how to leverage new technologies and recognize, adapt to, and ideally, stay ahead of hard trends is now a necessary component of the professional’s skillset. Learn more about the award-winning program developed by leading futurist and F100 consultant Daniel Burrus, The Anticipatory Organization: Accounting and Finance edition. 

Regulators, other speakers address CPAs
Art Flach, chair of the Maryland State Board of Public Accountancy, addressed the group, saying, “The CPA profession will challenge you: Always do the right thing.” The right thing, he added, is often the more difficult path, but that is the path you must take. (Read more of Flach’s advice in Top 3 Reasons to Become a CPA: Challenge, Purpose, Achieve).

David McGlone, deputy secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, led the newly licensed CPAs in their oath, saying, “Pay attention to the oath you are about to swear,” and reiterated Flach’s advice to “always do the right thing.”

In a professional issues update for CEOs, CFOs and controllers immediately preceding the Swearing-In event, attendees heard from M&T Banks’s Augie Chiasera on economic developments, followed by M&T’s Frank Lago speaking on avoiding fraud being conducted via Executive Impersonation, and Dunbar Security’s Chris Ensey speaking on cybersecurity, Ransomware and DNS attacks.

Tom Hood provided a high-level update on key developments of interest to the audience of CEOs, CFOs and controllers. Hood provides more detailed professional issues updates in a town hall format throughout Maryland twice each year. These programs are free to MACPA members and $250 for non-members, and are worth four hours of CPE. Register for one of the upcoming professional issues updates, which will take place on Oct. 26 in Rockville, Oct. 31 in Anne Arundel,  Nov. 1 in Owings Mills (also available via simulcast), and Nov. 28 in Frederick.

MACPA Chair Lisa Cines also addressed the Professsional Issues Update session, joined by Ellison-Taylor.

In addition, the MACPA launched its Mentoring program, bringing together participants in a separate pre-Swearing-in event session facilitated by Amy Stumme. The Mentoring program is one of the organization’s initiatives under its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Task Force chaired by MACPA Secretary-Treasurer Samantha Bowling.

The MACPA wishes to thank its sponsors of the Swearing-In event:

• Host and Preferred Provider: M&T Bank.
• Partners of the Profession: CliftonLarsenAllen LLP, Deloitte, EY, Hertzbach & Company, KatzAbosch, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, RSM.
• Supporters of the Profession: HeimLantzPC, Smith Elliott Kearns & Co.
• Friends of the Profession: Stoy, Malone & Company

Avenues for involvement
As MACPA CEO Tom Hood noted in his remarks, here are the top 5 things a CPA should do in their first year:

• Become an MACPA member.
• Attend a professional issues update.
• Come to CPA Day in Annapolis, scheduled for Jan. 26, 2017.
• Attend our 2017 Leadership Academy.
• Get connected to the MACPA via social media: on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

MACPA, BLI Salute KET!

The Maryland Association of CPAs and The Business Learning Institute salute Kimberly Ellison-Taylor as she prepares to be installed on October 25 as AICPA Chair!

Read more in: Maryland pride: Kimberly Ellison-Taylor’s inauguration as AICPA chair to be streamed via live webcast