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Volume
7, Issue 3
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August
2007
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CPAs
Make Cool Characters!
Want to save some money stocking up on school supplies? Virginia is holding its sales tax holiday this weekend, August 3–5. During this three-day period, purchases of certain school supplies, clothing and footwear will be exempt from the Virginia sales tax. Each eligible school supply item must be priced at $20 or less, and each eligible article of clothing and footwear must be priced at $100 or less. Learn more about the holiday on VATaxHelp.com.
Don't let this be your last issue of Advi$or! Receiving Advi$or, the VSCPA's quarterly student e-newsletter, is just one of the many benefits you receive as an official student member of the VSCPA. By renewing your student membership, you will continue to receive tons of resources and information, including full access to the VSCPA Web site, the CPA Student Zone Web site and free subscriptions to Disclosures bimonthly magazine, Footnote e-newsletter and Advi$or student e-newsletter. If you're a new high school graduate heading off to college, be sure to become a student member to get the tools you need to establish yourself as a successful accounting professional. If you have any questions about student membership or other VSCPA programs for students and educators, e-mail VSCPA Community Relations Coordinator Tracey Zink or call her at (800) 733-8272. Remember, VSCPA High School Accounting Club memberships are valid until your high school graduation, so if you're enrolled in high school in the fall, you don't need to renew.
The popularity of the CPA profession is gaining such a stronghold that, in July, The Washington Post ran an article calling the designation a "CP-Yay." According to the Post, accounting students "have become hot commodities on college campuses as firms try to keep up with the exploding demand for financial workers." Read the full article, which profiles some of the perks accounting firms offer to lure students to work for them.
At James
Madison University, students can attend an intensive six-week
program to prepare for the CPA Exam. Does it work? The stats say
so — last year, 19 of the 41 boot campers passed, giving
the class a 46 percent pass rate. Compare that to the national
pass rate of 16 percent, and the class may be worth students'
while. The class is taught by JMU School of Accounting Director
Paul Copley, CPA, and College of Business Associate Dean Brad
Roof, CPA, a former chair of the VSCPA Board of Directors. Other
schools around the state are following JMU's example; Virginia
Tech and the College of William & Mary have similar programs.
Learn
more about these unique boot camps!
Each year,
the VSCPA recognizes top graduating accounting seniors from Virginia
high schools, community colleges and 4-year universities statewide
with the VSCPA Award
of Achievement. Sixty-six students, selected by accounting
faculty at their respective schools, received the 2007 award.
Only one award is issued per school each year, so it's a significant
honor to be the student selected by each school. Congratulations
to this
year's winners!
In July, Virginia's top accounting students participated in the Leaders' Institute at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where they received leadership training and skills for a successful transition into the marketplace. The VSCPA Educational Foundation partnered with Beers & Cutler to hold the inaugural event, which included sessions on financial literacy and interviewing skills. Plans are underway for next year's Leaders' Institute. Participation is limited to Foundation scholarship recipients and applicants, as well as students recommended by accounting educators around Virginia.
It may not
guarantee a job offer, a new
study says. According to a new Accountemps
survey, chief financial officers are split on how much weight
the prestige of a job candidate's alma mater should be given
during the hiring process. Fifty-one percent said the institution's
stature was very or somewhat important, but a close 49 percent
said it was not important at all. The bottom line? Your alma
mater may get you in the door, but won't secure you the job.
Looking
for a tool to help you through your career path? Check out a
new guide from the American
Institute of CPAs (AICPA), "Take
Charge of Your Career" (.PDF), which profiles five
steps to help you map your career plan. Also, check out the
AICPA's Web-based Competency
Self-Assessment Tool (CAT), which can help you personalize
your career development and continuous learning plans. The CAT
covers four main areas: personal attributes, leadership qualities,
broad business perspective and functional specialty. Get a leg
up on your career and check out these resources today!
Did you know you can build a career out of compliance and ethics? This field encompasses how people act in large organizations — including how to keep those organizations out of trouble. Elements of the field include handling companies' legal, ethical and reputation risks in areas like advertising, antitrust, off-the-book accounts, discrimination, financial statements, harassment, labor, privacy, purchasing and others. Within compliance, CPAs may be best adept at the careers of compliance accountants, finance compliance education coordinators, senior financial compliance analysts or one of the countless positions based on compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley Act regulations. Learn more about the compliance and ethics field from SmartPros, including information on how to prepare for and enter this career path. Also, the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics now offers an academy and has a certification program for those interested in becoming "Certified Compliance & Ethics Professionals" (CCEP). | ||||||||||||||||||
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Your subscription to Advi$or e-newsletter
is a benefit of your VSCPA student membership. | |||||||||||||||||||
