Dear member,
We thank you in advance for your continued investment in the CPA brand and want to tell you what MACPA is doing to help enhance your brand.
Promoting and protecting your CPA brand in Maryland
As the only professional association dedicated exclusively to Maryland CPAs, our focus is on one thing — protecting and promoting your CPA designation. The CPA brand, quite simply, is the public representation of our combined core values and core competencies. These define who we are as CPAs — the most TRUSTED ADVISORS who help our clients and employers "make sense of a changing and complex world." Everything we do as the Maryland Association of CPAs is meant to help you realize the full potential of this CPA brand. However, we cannot just stop there. You must take that CPA brand and further define and clarify the promise of your organization's brand, department's brand and even your own personal brand. MACPA encourages you to take the next steps with the CPA Vision and think about what you want your CPA brand to mean in the future.
Recruiting students into the CPA profession
No one understands the impact of a brand in today's image-driven culture more than youth. They're familiar with the CPA brand, but do they see more than the stereotype? Research says no. The MACPA has developed a focused and aggressive program to change perceptions about the CPA profession among Maryland students, parents, teachers and others who influence students' career decisions. Our high school career awareness program has already started to spark a renewed interest in the CPA profession, and other initiatives to attract your future employees are just getting off the ground.
Keeping you informed of a changing profession
The CPA profession is truly in a time of unprecedented change. Fortunately, the CPA profession has embarked on many major strategic initiatives to position us for the future. All of these carry some risk, but more importantly require the thoughtful debate of our membership. Our job at the MACPA is to bring these issues to you, listen to your feedback and be your voice on issues that shape our future. We will continue to bring you the latest information on the proposed global credential (XYZ) and CPA2biz, the profession's portal.
Being your voice before legislators and regulators
The MACPA keeps vigilance over self-regulation of the profession, helping to maintain ethical standards, manage the peer review process and communicate our role in the marketplace. At the same time, we proactively pursue positive legislative and regulatory changes at the federal and state levels to protect the CPA brand. Recent victories include:
- supporting passage of legislation to allow non-CPA ownership of CPA firms in Maryland;
- lobbying on Capitol Hill to influence a compromise with Chairman Levitt and the SEC on the issue of independence (MACPA played a pivotal role in that outcome); and
- defeating legislation to overturn the contributory negligence doctrine here in Maryland.
Training you to be the best possible CPA
We continue to be a top-quality source of technical training and resources to help you increase your competencies. In addition, MACPA has launched several initiatives to help you thrive in this rapidly changing environment.
Harvard Manage Mentor: Harvard Manage Mentor is an online leadership development product to enhance your ability in 28 business and management topic areas. HMM qualifies for 24 CPE credits and costs only $99.
Business Learning Institute: Our new Business Learning Institute (www.bizlearning.net) is an affiliate of the MACPA created to bring you top quality training, information and networking opportunities to help you navigate a changing business environment. BLI covers leadership, change management, strategic planning and performance measurement.
Connecting you to the CPA community
The MACPA's network of chapters, committees and special interest communities provide numerous opportunities to stay connected with the profession and your colleagues. The MACPA provides physical and virtual environments to connect with other professionals and business people.
Joining with you to realize the CPA's full potential
A brand needs continuous care to stand out in today's marketplace. In this increasingly complex and rapidly changing environment, who is going to guard your brand? Who is going to do the hard work of promoting all CPAs, whether you are in practice, government, business or education? We cannot do this alone — every member and every dues dollar is an investment in your CPA brand.
Please renew your commitment to your brand and rejoin MACPA today.
Very truly yours,
J. Thomas Hood III, CPA
Executive Director
|
|
Read more about J. Thomas Hood III, the MACPA's executive director.
|
