Jeannine Birmingham

Legislative Session has ended, tax season 2022 has come to a close, and CPE is just heating up! We, the ASCPA team and leadership, are beyond excited to connect with fellow members this year and will kick off our year in a big way with Annual Member’s Meeting, June 14. More about this awesome event later.

I would first like to highlight the legislative session. It was a surprisingly busy one given that 2022 is a statewide election year. ASCPA was successful in passing SB152, by Senator Dan Roberts, that created an allotment in the state income tax law to conform with the federal intent behind the income tax credit expansion within the American Rescue Plan Act. The bill provided that the reduction in the individual federal income tax deduction associated with the federal child tax credits, earned income tax credits, and child and dependent care tax credits for the tax year ending on December 31, 2021, be calculated as if the individual paid the federal income tax that would otherwise have been paid under the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code in effect on December 31, 2020.

We were also successful in two Senate confirmations: Steve Smith, BMSS, to the Alabama State Board of Public Accountancy, and Cristy Andrews, Warren Averitt, to the Alabama Securities Commission.

New this month, please check out your new website, alabama.cpa. The new website is a robust membership portal to include a feature that many organizations already use, an autorenewal for membership dues. The new membership portal will allow many processes to streamline, and most of all it will make it simple for you to maintain your membership and CPE records and have no interruptions to your many member benefits. Just like your car insurance and your Netflix renew automatically, your ASCPA membership will, too. So, take one thing off your to-do list! We’ve got you covered. You can learn more about this on page 6.

For the first time since November 2019, the ASCPA Board held a strategic leadership retreat facilitated by Jon Hubbard, with Boomer Consulting. Jon made twenty-one of us burn lots of brain calories as we consider future ASCPA initiatives. From pipeline issues to new forms of communications to ESG, ASCPA leadership is excited to roll our sleeves up and continue to work for the betterment of our profession and ASCPA members. Annual Meeting 2022; I just cannot say enough about how hard the ASCPA team has worked to plan a wonderful, “inperson” event. The program will feel a little bit different than in years past. First, we will meet at The Club, Birmingham; a beautiful venue that offers us plenty of space to park, network, and learn. Speaking of, the speakers and subject matter are incredible. You will hear engaging conversation from Dr. Steve Robbins who will make you laugh, or become emotional, but will certainly make you think. His story and unique leadership in diversity and inclusion should not be missed. I am also very excited to have several of my professional friends join us including Bill Pirolli, AICPA Chair, Dr. Florence Holland, RSM, Paul Perry, Warren Averett and ASCPA Board Member, and others who will lead Annual Meeting sessions. Look for registration information on page 13 and online at alabama.cpa. Gearing up for such an exciting summer – Employee Benefits Workshop (May 20), Beach Clusters in Orange Beach (June 8-10), and Summer Education Conference in Gulf Shores (July 18-22) - we cannot wait to see you all! As always, a listing of our CPE course offerings can be found in the latter pages of this issue. As we continue to partner with organizations and create new offerings, we will post new courses to our website.

Lastly, I would like to thank James Moody for his year of service as ASCPA Board Chair. It has been another challenging year of virtual meetings and halted events, but James has been a true champion for the ASCPA, our members, and the profession. I would also like to say that no leader has taken my breath away as James. (Sidenote: if James takes you spelunking, be prepared for the frigid water plunge.) You are appreciated James. I look forward to more years of working with you to make Alabama’s accounting profession sustainable and stronger.