Insight Magazine - Spring 2021

Exploring the issues that shape today’s business world.

A Crucial Collaboration

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The Past, Present, and Future of Black CPAs

How COVID-19 Pushed HR Into the Future

White Glove Service in a Virtual World

Advising Clients on COVID-19 Real Estate Trends

Investigating the Ethics of Short Selling

How to Add Dimension to Digital Communications

Don’t Go with the Flow

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By Jeff Stimpson

34 Director’s Cut How to Strategize During Disruption

By Kristie P. Paskvan, CPA, MBA

36 Practice Perspectives

Are You Asking Clients the Wrong Questions?

By Art Kuesel

38 Ethics Engaged

Is Short Selling Ethical?

By Elizabeth Pittelkow Kittner,

CPA,

CGMA, CITP, DTM

40 Financially Speaking Do Political Parties Really Power the Stock Market?

By Mark J. Gilbert, CPA/PFS, MBA

By Andrea Wright, CPA

42 Inside Finance

How Business Leaders Can Zip Past Zoom Limits

By Nancy Miller, CPA

44 Tax Decoded

Decoding Decoupling: The Facts Behind Pritzker’s Proposal

By Keith Staats, JD

ILLINOIS CPA SOCIETY

550 W. Jackson Boulevard, Suite 900, Chicago, IL 60661

www.icpas.org

Publisher/President & CEO

Todd Shapiro

Editor Derrick Lilly

Assistant Editor

Hilary Collins

Creative Director

Gene Levitan

Copy Editors

Mari Watts | Jennifer Schultz, CPA

Photography Derrick Lilly | iStock

Circulation

John McQuillan

ICPAS OFFICERS

Chairperson

Thomas B. Murtagh, CPA, JD | BKD CPAs & Advisors

Vice Chairperson

Mary K. Fuller, CPA | Shepard Schwartz & Harris LLP

Secretary

Deborah K. Rood, CPA, MST | CNA Insurance

Treasurer

Jonathan W. Hauser, CPA | KPMG LLP

Immediate Past Chairperson

Dorri C. McWhorter, CPA, CGMA, CITP | YWCA Metropolitan Chicago

ICPAS BOARD OF DIRECTORS

John C. Bird, CPA | RSM US LLP

Brian J. Blaha, CPA | Wipfli LLP

Jennifer L. Cavanaugh, CPA | Grant Thornton LLP

Pedro A. Diaz De Leon, CPA, CFE | Kemper Corporation

Kimi L. Ellen, CPA | Benford Brown & Associates LLC

Stephen R. Ferrara, CPA | BDO USA LLP

Jennifer L. Goettler, CPA, CFE | Sikich LLP

Scott E. Hurwitz, CPA | Deloitte LLP

Joshua D. Lance, CPA, CGMA | Lance CPA Group

Enrique Lopez, CPA | Lopez & Company CPAs Ltd.

Stella Marie Santos, CPA | Adelfia LLC

Brian B. Stanko, PhD, CPA | Loyola University

Richard C. Tarapchak, CPA | II-VI Inc.

Mark W. Wolfgram, CPA, MST | Bel Brands USA Inc.

BACK ISSUES + REPRINTS

Back issues may be available. Articles may be reproduced with permission. Please send requests to lillyd@icpas.org.

ADVERTISING

Want to reach 22,600+ accounting and finance professionals? Advertising in Insight and with the Illinois CPA Society gives you access to Illinois’ largest financial community. Contact Mike Walker at mike@rwwcompany.com.

Insight is the magazine of the Illinois CPA Society. Statements or articles of opinion appearing in Insight are not necessarily the views of the Illinois CPA Society. The materials and information contained within Insight are offered as information only and not as practice, financial, accounting, legal or other professional advice. Readers are strongly encouraged to consult with an appropriate professional advisor before acting on the information contained in this publication. It is Insight’s policy not to knowingly accept advertising that discriminates on the basis of race, religion, sex, age or origin. The Illinois CPA Society reserves the right to reject paid advertising that does not meet Insight’s qualifications or that may detract from its professional and ethical standards. The Illinois CPA Society does not necessarily endorse the non-Society resources, services or products that may appear or be referenced within Insight, and makes no representation or warranties about the products or services they may provide or their accuracy or claims. The Illinois CPA Society does not guarantee delivery dates for Insight. The Society disclaims all warranties, express or implied, and assumes no responsibility whatsoever for damages incurred as a result of delays in delivering Insight. Insight (ISSN1053-8542) is published four times a year, in spring, summer, fall, and winter, by the Illinois CPA Society, 550 W. Jackson, Suite 900, Chicago, IL 60661, USA, 312.993.0407. Copyright © 2021. No part of the contents may be reproduced by any means without the written consent of Insight. Send requests to the address above. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Insight, Illinois CPA Society, 550 W. Jackson, Suite 900, Chicago, IL 60661, USA.

BOARD CHAIR THOMAS B. MURTAGH, CPA, JD, PARTNER, BKD CPAs & ADVISORS

Lessons Learned for the Race Ahead

Asa child of immigrants, I learned the value of education and hard work from my parents at an early age. Leveraging my education to secure my financial future was a top priority for them, and my dad made sure to keep it front of mind. He was a skilled tradesman, could fix anything with a motor, and had a knack for teaching me lessons through experience. Whether it was through chiseling the grout between bricks to prepare for the tuck pointer, climbing into a catch basin to help rod it out when it was clogged, or being reminded of how easy we had it as compared to the hardscrabble upbringing he had in rural Ireland, I learned a lot of lessons that built me into the CPA I am today.

First, tools make the job. If I had the tuck pointer’s concrete saw, I could have saved a day’s labor and my scraped knuckles! As a CPA, the right technology also makes all the difference. Whether you are relying on bots or just stable Wi-Fi, being nimble and responsive depends on making sound investments in the right tools.

Second, a good plumber is worth every penny and can get you out of messy situations. And so is a good CPA! We might not be heading into a sewer every day, but we put in long hours digging through some messy information to sort out complex problems. Third, attitude is everything. My dad often told me to come with a solution and not a complaint. That mindset has helped me navigate some rough waters during my career and is a hallmark of what is expected at BKD as we deliver on our promise of unmatched client service. I encourage you to believe in the value that you bring.

Just as my dad taught me some impactful life lessons, weathering the pandemic has taught us all some powerful lessons that I hope will help us to build better practices, attract new talent into the profession, and be better strategic business advisors to our companies and clients in a post-pandemic world.

We learned that harnessing technology keeps us nimble and responsive and drives stability in our practices and the economy. Information portals, electronic data storage systems, online workflow tools, and digital signature apps, just to name a few, all contributed positively to our ability to work in a dispersed environment. And by using technology well, we freed up time to be more engaged and strategic with our peers and clients.

We also learned more about the diverse demands that we all manage in our daily lives. We learned to work asynchronously and, as a result, we learned to develop schedules that better consider each constituent’s wants and needs. Done well, this shift has the power to qualitatively change the culture of our profession for the better.

And, perhaps most importantly, we learned that we are more flexible and adaptable than we might have ever believed, which is important given the pace of change in which we operate. Just think of the number of different video conferencing platforms you used over the past year. I can think of at least 10! Through these tools, we have learned to connect in new ways, to be more intentional, and to listen more actively. (We have also learned that video filters can be our friends and sources of humor—or great frustration.)

I have always enjoyed the way that my work as a CPA has kept me on track for constant growth and development. As your board chair for the next year, I look forward to continuing to learn and grow alongside you as we race on to become our companies’ and clients’ most trusted and strategic business advisors.

The right tools and mindsets are keys to keeping us in the race for relevance.

A LETTER FROM YOUR

INSIGHTS FROM TODD SHAPIRO, ICPAS PRESIDENT & CEO @Todd_ICPAS

100 Years and Counting

n 1896, the state of New York passed the first law creating the certified public accountant (CPA) designation, yet it wasn’t until 25 years later that John W. Cromwell Jr. became our nation’s first Black CPA.

Now, as we commemorate the Black CPA Centennial 100 years later, we find ourselves looking back to celebrate how Cromwell opened a door through which thousands of Black accountants would eventually pass. But I want to stress a key word in that last sentence—eventually.

It took a staggering 45 years for just the first 100 Black CPAs to be licensed. Truthfully, the progress of Black CPAs in the profession has not been without trials and tribulations. But why? Consider what’s at the core of becoming a CPA: education, experience, and an exam.

For decades, Black attendance at colleges and universities was prohibited or very limited, so historically Black colleges and universities emerged as the primary educational option, some of which lacked accounting programs.

And, of course, there’s the CPA exam. For a long period of time Black people were barred from sitting for the exam in many states. If a Black graduate did try to enter the accounting profession, they faced yet another, almost insurmountable, barrier—many firms simply wouldn’t hire Black accountants until civil rights reform. The common excuse was something like, “We can’t hire you because our clients won’t accept you.”

Chicago firms played a major role in breaking down the experience barrier—resulting in more than one-third of the first 100 Black CPAs being from Illinois. Mary T. Washington Wylie, who became the 13th Black (and first female Black) CPA in 1943, was one driving force of that progress. She grew her own accounting and tax firm out of a South Side Chicago basement, providing countless Black accountants with the necessary work experience to earn their CPA credentials.

Our own Lester McKeever Jr. was a product of Washington’s firm, which grew into one of the nation’s largest Black-owned accounting firms as Washington, Pittman & McKeever. McKeever’s life

experiences and successes inspired him to pay it forward by launching the Mary T. Washington Wylie Opportunity Fund through the CPA Endowment Fund of Illinois. The fund supports the Mary T. Washington Wylie Internship Preparation Program, which has provided training and internship opportunities to 231 Black and other underrepresented minority scholars since its inception in 2013.

As CPAs serve as protectors of the public’s interest and strategic business advisors, it’s in all of our best interest to help pave the way for more Black people and other underrepresented minorities to shape the CPA profession into one that matches the diversity of the people it serves. We are making progress—albeit slowly. In 1965, Black CPAs made up approximately 0.1 percent of total CPAs. In 2019, an AICPA survey found that Black CPAs made up just 2 percent of CPAs in U.S. CPA firms and a mere 1 percent of partners at those firms.

We, and the CPA profession, clearly still have work to do, which is why I am honored to join our organizing partners—the AICPA, Diverse Organization of Firms, National Association of Black Accountants, and National Society of Black CPAs—to bring forward the 2021 Black CPA Centennial, a year-long national awareness campaign that recognizes Black CPAs in the United States and that pushes for greater progress to be made in achieving diversity, inclusion, and equity in the CPA profession.

My hope is that our efforts to honor, celebrate, and build upon the rich history and progress trailblazing Black CPAs like Cromwell, McKeever, and Washington have made in the profession will help drive momentum, encouragement, and support for more Black people to pursue the accounting and finance profession and become CPAs.

The website www.BlackCPACentennial.cpa offers resources and information about the year-long campaign, including ways for individuals and organizations to participate.

The CPA profession has come a long way since the first Black CPA was licensed in 1921, but there’s more progress to be made.

LEGISLATIVE INSIGHTS FROM MARTY GREEN, ESQ., ICPAS VP OF GOVERNMENT RELATIONS @GreenMarty

Living Through History: Keys to Illinois’ Better Future

Thefirst quarter of 2021 has been eventful. Over a year after our country essentially shut down in response to COVID-19, it’s beginning to feel like we’re finally nearing the end of this devastating global pandemic. As a society, we learned to embrace technology as means for conducting business, spending time with friends and family, educating our children, and expanding health care—just to name a few applications. Our industries rose to the occasion by ramping up the production of personal protective equipment, rolling out improved digital tools, and rapidly developing a COVID-19 vaccine. And as more vaccines reach more people, it seems that things are getting better, hope is being restored, and social and economic conditions will continue to improve.

I tell my kids that we’re living through history. Just as today we read books about the 1918 influenza pandemic, my children’s children and their families will read about the COVID-19 pandemic. My point here is that we must not forget the lessons we learned during our dark days. Instead, we must remember the past and improve upon it as we move forward to better times—and the same has to happen in our government.

As we’re trying to move forward from COVID-19, we’re also trying to move forward from political shifts. At the federal level, President Joe Biden was inaugurated as our 46th president. Here in Illinois, longtime House Speaker Michael Madigan was replaced by Rep. Chris Welch, and the 102nd General Assembly welcomed 40 firsttime members to the statehouse.

In many ways, new faces bring fresh perspectives to the legislative chambers. There have been more than 7,000 bills introduced in the Illinois House and Senate. Many of these bills focus on broad employment issues such as employer mandates, limits on arbitration, and treatment of criminal convictions in employment and professional licensure. There’s also attention to individual tax credits and scrutiny of business tax incentives.

Under Speaker Welch’s leadership, new House rules were adopted with input from both Democratic and Republican leaders—a bipartisan change in precedent from the previous regime. The House rules include term limits for the speaker and the Republican leader,

as well as authorization for the House to conduct business virtually. (It should be noted that the Senate rules already included these provisions.) Both chambers have been busy conducting subject matter hearings on the large volume of bills and examining Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s fiscal year 2022 state operating budget proposal.

The Illinois CPA Society even has a legislative initiative underway to amend the Public Accounting Act with Senate Bill 1723. We’re seeking to reduce the 150 semester hours required to sit for the CPA exam to 120 semester hours, with 150 hours still being required for licensure. Our hope is that this change will help strengthen the CPA pipeline and make the CPA credential more attainable to those who wish to join the profession.

On the regulatory front, the theme of renewal is literal, as 2021 is a CPA license renewal year for registered CPAs, licensed CPAs, and CPA firms. We have shared license renewal information on the Society’s website and will continue to keep you informed. As I stated in my winter column, now is the time to prepare for your license renewal.

Here’s to living through history and to better times ahead. Be well and be safe.

As the pandemic’s end comes into view, political changes are also on Illinois’ horizon.

How CPAs Can Help Clients Navigate COVID-19 Real Estate Trends

The lingering concerns and impacts of the pandemic have changed the way organizations rent and buy space. How can CPAs help their clients navigate these shifts?

BY JEFF STIMPSON

he last year brought seismic changes to commercial and professional real estate at every level. Some organizations have made remote work permanent while others have downsized or closed their doors forever.

“The major trend right now is uncertainty,” says Mike Demetriou, president and broker at Baum Realty Group in Chicago. “Retailers that were able to survive the shutdowns and COVID-19-related business closures of 2020 may now have an interest in sudden growth for the third quarter of 2021, but few are willing to pull the trigger just yet. The same goes for office tenants seeking to grow or relocate their spaces.”

“Fundamentally, businesses are wondering how to move forward. Many lessees are going out of business and are not paying their leases,” cautions Michael Ludwig, CPA, president of Lombard, Ill.based Ludwig & Associates Ltd. “Those renewing their leases are often asking for reductions or are trying to break their leases to find cheaper or smaller spaces.”

A NEW KIND OF OFFICE

Steven Joseph, president and CEO at CBIZ Gibraltar Real Estate Services LLC in Chicago, sees several pandemic influences on office users and office space moving forward. Remote work has

been largely successful during the current short-term crisis but has some long-term productivity limitations, so flexibility, distancing, reduced density, and health and safety protocols will figure highly in the workplace of the future. However, this new workplace still needs to be a hub for social community, company culture, collegiality, mentorship, professional development, and work-life balance.

Ron Gantner, a partner at Plante Moran Commercial Real Estate Advisors in Southfield, Mich., agrees, stressing that even after vaccinations, health, safety, and social distancing will likely be top of mind for some time. However, Gantner expects limited downsizing. “For years we’ve been reducing our office footprint, in some cases from 300 square feet per person to 150,” he notes. “While it may be easy to argue we’ve proven we can work from home, I don’t see this impacting the commercial real estate market as dramatically as all the available sublease space now would indicate.”

Still, changes are coming. “Property owners will be forced to make significant physical updates to their facilities,” predicts Mary O’Connor, CRE, a Chicago-based partner on Sikich’s forensic and valuation services team. “Most types of real estate will need upgraded ventilation systems, and restaurants will revamp their

spaces to create a touch-free environment to better accommodate pick-up and delivery services. A portion of retail spaces will convert to distribution and fulfillment or be used as data centers.”

And while demand for warehousing and distribution space will continue to be strong in support of increased e-commerce, Gantner says traditional brick-and-mortar retail will need to determine if their online sales are cannibalizing transactions from their physical locations, and whether it’s worth carrying both costs.

A SIGN OF THE TIMES

“Most of our office clients are dealing with surplus space issues— tenants with too much square footage and landlords with too much vacancy—nearly all of which is derived from the effects of COVID19 on their underlying businesses, or the effects of new work-fromhome arrangements,” Demetriou says. “We anticipate a reversion to the mean on this latter issue—workers will return to offices—but those offices may not need to remain in the same configuration as they were. This consequence ripples across retail as well as it could change the makeup of the daytime populations across Illinois. Many of our retail clients, including investors, are wondering where they should risk their capital next.”

“When lease rates start to soften, we anticipate a flurry of deals,” Demetriou adds. Joseph says he is seeing a flood of subleases hitting the market as tenants try to get rid of unneeded space: “Subleases will become a larger part of the vacancy percentage, but many will be challenged by high-density configurations and ways to fund tenant improvements.”

In turn, landlords are likely to lower rental rates, but rental rates can only fall so far given the impact on valuation of a reduced face rate as well as lender limitations. Joseph predicts market weakness will take the form mostly of concessions, like increased tenant improvement allowances and free rent. He says the next 24 months will provide aggressive opportunities for tenants wanting to renegotiate or relocate.

THE CPA’S OPPORTUNITY

Of course, opportunities for CPAs abound in bad times as well as in good. As business and property owners and leasing, development, and construction professionals all try to navigate these changes, there’s a real opportunity for CPAs to serve as strategic business advisors, expanding upon their traditional service offerings to assist their clients through the challenges ahead.

For instance, the tax treatment of renegotiated loan agreements and debt restructurings, which can modify key terms like interest rates and payment periods, are major concerns for both debtors and lenders now, says Matthew Anderson, managing director at CBIZ MHM in Chicago. Rent payment adjustments are also cropping up, requiring the lessor to consider the proper recognition of rental income when rent is unpaid, delayed, or deferred—common problems during this pandemic. Further, with reduced revenues and vacant space, many landlords could see losses in 2020.

“These net operating losses can be carried back to prior years based on current legislation passed under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, so hopefully some of the landlords and investors will get some relief,” says Illinois CPA Society member Kathleen Orlando, CPA, of Kathleen Orlando & Associates Inc. in Palos Heights, Ill.

In fact, the CARES Act and other recent relief legislation offers many chances for CPAs to consult their real estate clients. The CARES

Act corrected an error in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017, for example, that allows for an accelerated depreciation period for qualified improvement property (QIP), which is any improvement to a building’s interior that isn’t the enlargement of the building.

“The CARES Act corrected the TCJA by changing the depreciable life of this property from 39 years to 15 years,” Anderson explains. “This also provided the added benefit of making this asset class eligible for immediate bonus depreciation.” This change is retroactive, allowing property owners to claim the accelerated depreciation for QIP placed into service in 2018 and 2019 through amended tax returns or a change of accounting method. Effective tax planning in general will only become more important.

“Locally, it’s real estate taxes, service tax, transfer tax, state income tax—a lot of people will tell you that those will continue to be issues until Illinois addresses pension reform,” says Michael Giese, executive director of property services for Glenstar in Chicago. He notes that a recent economic impact study for Chicago showed that commercial office property taxes are up 35 percent since 2012, and ongoing budget and pension issues will only compound the property tax burden.

For many, COVID-19’s impact on state and local governments’ tax revenues is a concern. “The overarching tax consideration for 2021 is the impact on the Illinois budget,” Demetriou says. “The trickledown could be devastating if municipalities are forced to raise property taxes to cope with revenue shortfalls.”

In tough times like these, CPAs can seize the opportunity to prove themselves as invaluable strategic business advisors. “Where there is great change, there’s always great opportunity for the CPA to assist clients,” O’Connor says.

White Glove Service in a Virtual World

Faced with an unprecedented change in the way they interact with clients, CPA firms found solutions so successful they plan to continue using them long after the pandemic subsides.

BY DEL WRIGHT

t was over a year ago that Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a statewide stay-at-home order in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For many CPA firms, what started as contingency plans and stopgap measures meant to last just a few weeks while sheltering in place have evolved into standard operating procedures. With vaccines being deployed, there’s finally light at the end of the tunnel, but while there are plenty of pandemic practices we’ll be happy to leave behind, some seem destined to stay. Now is the perfect time to take inventory of all the changes we made and decide which ones we should bring into the new normal when COVID-19-era restrictions finally abate.

One of the areas where firms saw the most adaptation during COVID-19 was client service: After all, how could firms continue to offer white glove service in a socially distanced world? The answers were, no surprise, largely digital, but the results were sometimes surprisingly versatile and effective. A few of these quick-fix solutions proved to be game changers for firms and their clients. In fact, a

recent PwC survey found that 53 percent of finance leaders believe that the service changes they’ve made due to COVID-19 will actually make them more successful in the future. Which of these originally temporary fixes resulted in more efficient, more seamless—and simply better—client service?

MEETINGS GO VIRTUAL

One of the most ubiquitous solutions for all industries and organizations was the migration to videoconferencing services like Zoom. Meetings, love them or hate them, are foundational to any modern business, and once people could no longer meet in person, Zoom and other videoconferencing software filled the void.

Jennifer Grealish, ICPAS member and firm administrator at Wheaton, Ill.-based Mathieson, Moyski, Austin & Co., says that when rumors of a stay-at-home order started circulating back in March 2020, the firm found itself searching for solutions on a tight deadline. “We spent that week making sure all of our employees

and partners were going to be able to work remotely,” Grealish recalls. “We had already been using Microsoft Teams for smaller meetings and continued to do so, and we started to use Zoom for all-staff meetings and check-ins.”

Peter Zich, CPA, ICPAS member and principal of the tax department at Dugan & Lopatka in Warrenville, Ill., says his firm followed a similar strategy for client conversations that used to occur in person. “We quickly got up to speed and made Teams our primary communications tool,” he explains. “Many of our clients quickly moved to Zoom and we would use that as well if initiated by a client, but we didn’t share documents on Zoom because of security concerns.”

Indeed, videoconferencing solutions proved versatile enough for all kinds of scenarios—even for job interviews, onboarding, and talent development. “Once new staff picked up their laptop, their training was done virtually,” says Maria Perez, CPA, ICPAS member and firm manager at Shepard Schwartz & Harris, noting that the Chicago-based firm used videoconferencing from the first interview to onboarding.

Skill-building and mentoring, which in pre-pandemic days often happened casually at a team member’s desk, moved to Zoom and other virtual platforms as well. Gina Pasyk, marketing account manager at Wipfli, says that their performance coaches have made it a priority to regularly reach out to their team members, encouraging communication and connectivity.

While clients may not be aware of all these behind-the-scenes changes, being able to continue hiring and developing staff has allowed firms to continue offering the high quality of work their clients have come to expect. And videoconferencing itself—more nuanced than a phone call or email, more convenient than an inperson meeting—will be a valuable part of the client service repertoire for years to come.

A PLACE TO CHAT

Chat apps like Slack were already common in offices before COVID-19, but the pandemic pushed firms to find new ways to use these apps to improve communication, streamline processes, and build camaraderie—both within firms and with clients. These messaging programs allow a quick back-and-forth and offer an alternative to the formality of email. Banter flows more freely on these apps and, during remote work and social distancing, they’ve proven to be the most effective replacement for the casual, ongoing conversations that used to happen throughout the day in the office, notes Mary Lynch, office manager at Ciarlette & Robbins in Mokena, Ill.

The usefulness of chat platforms isn’t limited to internal conversations, however. At Chicago’s Lance CPA Group, Managing Director Joshua Lance, CPA, CGMA, who’s also an Illinois CPA Society board member, says that Slack has proven to be a great way to engage with clients. “We started a Slack group for our brewery clients,” he explains. “It’s a place where we provide up-todate information on new regulations and hot topics, answer common questions, and share ideas.”

While resuming in-person conversations with coworkers and clients will certainly be welcomed once the pandemic subsides, the firms that have adopted chat apps and capitalized on their connectivity and agility say they’re here to stay. Lynch say that Ciarlette & Robbins will continue using Slack long after the workplace returns to normal simply because the channel

has proved so effective. “It has helped our team’s overall communication tremendously,” she says.

GOING PAPERLESS

Another COVID-19 challenge was finding a new, contact-free way to collect important client documents. Almost overnight, clients could no longer deliver documents in person—something many of them had been doing for decades. But with tax season approaching, firms had to get creative and find a new way to safely handle the impending onslaught of paper.

Staggered office staffing and physical drop boxes allowed clients to choose the reassurance of handing over sensitive information to a person, or the peace of mind of dropping off paper records in a locked receptacle to minimize their potential exposure to COVID-19.

Prior to the pandemic, the firms that had implemented secure online portals where clients could upload scanned documents had already seen a decrease in the volume of paper they were receiving. COVID-19 only increased the popularity of these digital solutions, which provide a streamlined client experience as well as a pandemic-safe handoff. This trend will continue long after COVID19 recedes, as both firms and their clients see the benefits of paperless processes.

Lance notes that going paperless has made it much easier for his firm to request, obtain, and share client documentation. “Adaptations such as this have made Lance CPA Group a more agile organization and allow us to serve our clients better than before,” he says.

THE HUMAN ELEMENT

With all this talk of efficiency, it’s easy to forget the one thing that makes excellent client service possible: people. Without the dedicated individuals answering phones, scanning documents, processing tax returns, performing audits, and providing strategic advice, there would be no work product to optimize. In tough times, firms had to ensure that their employees felt just as cared for as their clients.

“I think the pandemic in general increased everyone’s stress and anxiety levels,” Lance says. “Trying to assist clients who were worried and stressed about their businesses meant that everyone’s mental health was pretty frayed.” Research resoundingly echoes his assessment: A Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that nearly half of Americans feel that COVID-19 has been harmful to their mental health, while an August 2020 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that anxiety had tripled and depression quadrupled compared to the same time a year ago.

To cope with these mental health challenges, Lance’s firm gave staff extra time off and strongly encouraged use of their existing employee assistance program, while Ciarlette & Robbins found that having a dedicated specialist to directly address these amplified concerns was vital. “We’ve had a therapist as a consultant on our team to help with our overall communication and team dynamic since the beginning of 2020,” Lynch explains. “Once the pandemic hit, her services have become more important than ever.”

The past year has been full of changes, but it’s clear that not all of those changes were for the worse. By putting clients and employees first, firms are creating innovative solutions they might never have otherwise. In these uncertain times, firms can be sure of one thing: As long as they remain agile and open to change, there’s opportunity for growth—even during a pandemic.

WE THANK YOU FOR PAVING THE WAY FOR FUTURE

CPAs

“As a mother, student, and full-time employee, I work hard to make ends meet, and it can be a challenge to balance studying for the CPA exam among my other responsibilities. But your award has helped to lighten my load and, more importantly, your support has reinforced my determination to reach my goals and realize my dream of becoming a CPA.”

President’s Pavers

$70,000

Dempsey J. Travis Foundation

$40,000

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

$30,000

Illinois CPA Society

$10,000 - $15,000

Crowe LLP

Deloitte LLP

Joan Moore

Sikich LLP

$2,000 - $5,000

CDK Global

Bill & Betsy Cook

Alverin M. Cornell Foundation

Mark Glochowsky

Lee Gould

Kenneth & Jacqueline Hull

ICPAS Women’s Committee

David & Darlene Landsittel

Jason Parish

Patricia Rosenberg

Catherine Villinski

$1,000 - $1,999

Maria Fides Balita

Howard Blumstein

Martrice Caldwell

Rose Cammarata

Jennifer Cavanaugh

Cameron Clark

CNA Foundation

William Condon

Jan & Wayne Ebersberger

Arthur Farber

Marques Fisher

Geoffrey & Virginia Harlow

Lisa Hartkopf

Sheldon Holzman

John E. & Jeanne T. Hughes Foundation

Scott Hurwitz

Stacy Janiak

Kenton Klaus

Joseph Kosinski

Lester McKeever

Dorri McWhorter

Sara Mikuta

Elizabeth Murphy

Morris Oldham

Beth Pagnotta

Floyd Perkins

Melody Ragan

Jennifer Roan

Leilani Rodrigo

Deborah Rood

Stella Marie Santos

J. Bradley Sargent

Todd Shapiro

Michael J. Singer & Company P.C.

Elizabeth Sloan

Duane & Jeaneen Suits

Myra Swick

Kim Waite

Jeffery Watson

Mary Ann Webb

Lawrence & Nancy Wojcik

Donna & Phillip Zarcone

The CPA Endowment Fund of Illinois, the charitable partner of the Illinois CPA Society, graciously thanks our generous donors for their contributions and pledges throughout the past year.

These individuals and organizations help make a significant, life-changing impact on the lives of diverse and deserving future CPAs across the state.

HIGHLIGHTS:

$235K awarded 1,135 donors 300 scholars

$500 - $999

Anonymous (2)

Brent Baccus

John Bird

Therese Bobek

Bridget Coleman

Rebekuh Eley

Lindy Ellis

Stephen Ferrara

Gary Fish

Anthony Fuller

Sandra Gentry

Mardel Graffy

Edward Hannon

ICPAS Young

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BY NATALIE ROONEY

The finance and information technology departments used to be seen as adversaries, but a transformation is occurring—because when finance and IT collaborate, the strategic results are undeniable.

A2019 Robert Half survey found that 82 percent of CFOs collaborate more frequently with their company’s chief information officer (CIO) than they did in 2016. It’s a statistical sign of the growing partnership between finance and information technology (IT) that has become the new operational standard, says Michelle Reisdorf, Chicago regional vice president for Robert Half. “With technology affecting nearly every business area, teams must work together to pave the way for smooth integration of new systems and processes and a focus on higher-value work,” she says. “Organizations that fail to effectively collaborate risk losing revenue, operating with inadequate business systems, committing regulatory missteps, and watching IT costs run amok.”

Brian Klingbeil is the chief strategy officer at Ensono, a Downers Grove, Ill.-based IT service provider for large enterprises working with everything from legacy to modern systems. Over the past decade, he has seen the relationship between finance and IT transform. “You can’t even order a pizza without computers and software being a key part of the experience,” he says. “IT isn’t just a back-office set of systems, it’s integral to a company’s revenue stream. IT is now part of the product itself.”

Rich Nanda, Deloitte’s U.S. strategy offering leader, says the firm spends a lot of time developing this vital partnership between finance and IT. “Finance has transformed from controllership to more of a business advisory and co-pilot role,” he says. “Finance needs to have a sophistication about what’s going on in the outside world and the implications on earnings and ROI.”

That begins with understanding what the IT team and technology as a whole has to offer. “We need new sources of data and intelligence,” Nanda says. “Old technology can’t keep up. Finance and IT need to work together to build those capabilities.”

The art of the possible

Finance and IT teams both have unique and deep knowledge of how their organizations operate, but without collaboration each team is only seeing a fragment of the whole. When Klingbeil was senior vice president of financial planning and analysis at a global IT company, he wandered into the IT department one day and quickly realized that what he saw on his spreadsheets was only a small part of the bigger picture.

“My entire perspective changed,” he says. “There was so much information and knowledge available that never made it to my general ledger.”

While IT has access to a treasure trove of data, the department itself may lack the knowledge or ability to synthesize that data in a way that can lead to strategic insights. “Close relationships between finance and IT leaders can fix that,” Klingbeil says.

Reisdorf says the basic goal of a partnership between the two is to ensure the organization’s systems and strategies are effective. “High-level, organization-wide initiatives ranging from technology investments and data lakes to security and compliance require the expertise of finance and technology executives—and a strong working relationship between the two—to succeed,” she notes.

Once the collaboration between finance and IT starts clicking, Klingbeil says it’s like lifting a curtain. He offers an example: “We knew the unit price we were charging a client was low, but we thought we were making it up in volume.” Data from IT revealed a different story: The client represented 3 percent of revenue but 21 percent of service desk volume. “We had never matched the data,” he says. They parted ways with the client soon after the analysis.

What else is possible when finance and IT collaborate?

Smarter IT investments: One of the quickest and most impactful outcomes of this partnership will be more intelligent and targeted IT spending. IT spending is estimated to rise to $3.9 trillion globally in 2021, and as the cost of IT rises, so does the necessity of seeing returns on that investment. Ongoing digital transformation initiatives require a substantial allocation of resources and have an enormous impact on a company’s future performance. The IT team can provide expert guidance on which technology can best help to achieve business goals and increase competitiveness, while the finance team can offer financial and operational insights. “Every time we choose to do one thing, we choose not to do something else,” Klingbeil says. “Picking the right investment that will have the biggest financial impact is key.”

Improved information security and compliance: With organizations becoming increasingly reliant on technology, the need to protect sensitive data has never been greater. Digital breaches come with a very real price tag. Finance and IT leaders must coordinate and develop measures to address the risks posed by cybercriminal activity and compliance demands.

Actionable data analytics: A solid working relationship between leaders in finance and IT can produce the right combination of technologies and processes to extract the most accurate and actionable information for the business—invaluable for driving strategy and measuring success.

Rapid scaling: “How quickly you can get to scale is a marker of when things are going well,” Nanda says. “Think about how technology has been implemented traditionally. It took a long time to get an entire organization on board.” With finance and IT working together, the process is different—and far faster.

Stability under stress: Nanda says the pandemic was an interesting study in how well new systems perform under stress or rapid growth. Some systems crack. New enterprise software should be able to withstand stress, whether that’s more data from new sources or more people tapping into systems. By combining the insights of finance and IT, systems become more stable and durable.

Adaptability: Legacy systems make it hard to pivot under new demands. “What we know about business today is that more curveballs are coming,” Nanda says. “We’ll be adding customers and suppliers who expect capabilities that are adaptable and nimble. Are we building that in with the tools we use?”

Be curious and brave

With the benefits so undeniable, the next step is starting to build a strong, collaborative partnership out of a relationship that has traditionally been largely transactional. Ensono CFO Scott Grossman says it all starts with curiosity and a refusal to be intimidated by the technology itself: “Be the brave person in a meeting who asks the questions,” Grossman advises. “A lot of people are wandering around faking it. When finance teams show genuine curiosity and a desire to learn about the business at a deeper level, the usual outcome is that IT is excited to teach.” He adds that once finance displays a willingness to learn, the IT team will become students as well, learning their effect on the company’s balance sheet.

Once budget season rolls around, collaborating finance and IT teams will find the process easier. When everyone understands the company’s financial goals, they can work with a common understanding.

At that point, the collaborative relationship has become positive and fruitful. Grossman suggests choosing one project to fine-tune the

partnership: “Then get into a cadence with IT to move on to the next improvements.” Recurring monthly operating reviews to share ideas and analyze metrics will keep that relationship alive and successful.

The operational connection

Digital transformation means more links between finance and IT and more potential value to strong relationships and collaboration between the two. It also means that the actual connection between IT systems and the balance sheet is more concrete than ever. The financial impacts of technological failures can include fines from regulators and governing bodies, system downtime, lost clients, and security breaches.

“If a system goes down, we stop transacting,” Klingbeil says. “Finance can calculate the costs associated with that and help IT build a business case to maintain proper business continuity and disaster recovery.”

Nanda says as we continue to embed technology into more business workflows, it’s very likely that data and systems will have different exposure points. “Inevitably, a cyberthreat will take hold,” he says. “Nobody’s cybersecurity is perfect. Be proactive and intentional in recognizing the risks, putting plans in place, and preparing for inevitable compromises and how you will manage them.”

IT should fully understand the financial implications of technological failures, and financial leaders should learn exactly what the risks of insufficient or poorly executed digital investments look like. With an active, curiosity-driven partnership, finance and IT can find solutions that protect both parties—and the organization as a whole.

A two-way street

A successful partnership between finance and IT requires change on both sides, Nanda emphasizes. In the past, business and functional experts developed technology requirements and then handed them off to IT to implement. There may have been some collaboration and iteration if IT struggled to find a solution within budget, but Nanda says the old process suffered from “a shortorder cook mentality.”

Seduced by the ease and effectiveness of the likes of Amazon and digital assistants like Apple’s Siri, organizations today are seeking intuitive and highly digitized business enterprise models. “You’re seeing companies figure that out, but we still spend a lot of time on that old model. Both finance and IT have to appreciate the level of change needed and commit to it,” Nanda explains. “The business side needs to allocate resources to the technology side in a less transactional way. The technology side needs to bring ideas that push the business in different directions and be a catalyst instead of just delivering a product. These teams need to work together for a greater period of time and with more intense focus. This is a cultural change.” Klingbeil stresses this point as well. “Finance wants to know why IT’s budget is going up,” he says. “Well, IT is making everyone else more efficient. It creates a struggle, and IT tends to not make the greatest case for themselves. Finance can help with that. Get curious. Find out what they’re doing. When you do, you’ll see cost savings across the company and create even more when you fund IT properly.”

Meaningful collaboration between finance and IT means that ideas and knowledge are flowing freely between two of the most important strategic centers in any organization. By moving beyond annual meetings and transactional relationships, this partnership can propel an organization into a very successful future.

How COVID-19 Pushed Into the Future

In a remote work environment, we must bring the human element of human resources to the forefront.

BY ANNIE MUELLER

etween 2005 and 2017, remote work in the United States increased by 159 percent, according to U.S. Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics data. In 2019, a Buffer report proclaimed, “Remote work is here to stay.” The growing trend was widely perceived as positive: Remote work productivity was up and remote worker satisfaction correspondingly high. Still, even with steadily increasing numbers, less than 4 percent of the U.S. workforce worked from home prior to 2020. Then COVID-19 struck, and few organizations were prepared for the urgent, global adoption of remote work.

A May 2020 survey conducted by LinkedIn found that more than 75 percent of the financial sector believed remote work could succeed in their industry. However, confidence was much lower in industries like retail and healthcare, where the very nature of the work depends in large part on actual human presence. That human presence factor is the same foundational challenge facing HR in the new normal.

It’s easier—though not seamless—to work remotely when dealing with things that can be calculated and conveyed digitally. The accounting and finance industry in particular seems to be wellpositioned for the shift into a fully digital, fully remote workforce, with more than 75 percent of financial industry activities classified as feasible for remote work. But even in the most digitalized organizations, humans fill the ranks—humans full of emotional and social needs. It’s one thing to make evidence-based strategic decisions in the midst of change and uncertainty, and it’s quite another to navigate the ongoing emotional and social repercussions of those strategic decisions. And that’s where HR often lands: Their tasks belong to the messy middle, in transitions and changes and gray areas, in the most significantly human, subjective, and stressfilled situations that work creates.

Stressed for Socialization

Of course, the challenges HR has faced over the past year aren’t simply the challenges of remote work. Change of any kind is stressful for humans—who do not like uncertainty. In fact, research shows that uncertainty causes more stress than a predictable negative experience. Life has seemed very unpredictable since March 2020, while at the same time humans have been asked to eliminate, or severely limit, the reassuring, anxiety-relieving balm of human connection, creating a perfect storm for stress.

“When you’re always by yourself, it can really make you feel isolated; you may feel like no one else is really working on this, or no one’s joining together,” says Carrie Steiner, a clinical psychologist, founder of First Responders Wellness Center, and a former crisis intervention team officer for the Chicago Police Department. “The more you can encourage socialization, do, especially live video chats.”

The face-to-face calls are worth the effort despite collective Zoom fatigue because humans depend on non-verbal cues. “Anytime the body senses something that is different, it gets alerted to that difference, which causes some anxiety and stress. When you can’t read those nonverbal signs, you don’t know if somebody is smiling or not smiling,” Steiner explains. Short, matter-of-fact emails or chat messages can end up sounding curt because they’re divorced from these cues—even if it’s the exact same answer you’d have given in person.

2020 research from Buffer found that collaboration, communication, and loneliness are the three biggest challenges facing remote workers today. HR’s task is to establish practices that keep workers connected and equip leaders to help team members stay engaged. “Overall, as people are working from everywhere, there has to be

Remote work was always going to become much more common — it was just a question of when.

more communication,” says Carol Semrad, an HR consultant and current board member and past president of Chicago SHRM, an affiliate of the Society for Human Resource Management. “I’ve seen the most successful remote work outcomes in organizations that made investments in training their leaders and managers to give performance feedback and to have ongoing iterative conversations.”

Connecting With Care

Conversational cues aren’t the only signs that get lost in remote communication: So are the cues that a team member is struggling to stay focused and productive. Leaders must be proactive in two ways: to identify which employees are struggling, then connect those employees with HR for the necessary help and resources. “Recognize that some people are not going to do quite as well in a remote environment, and some people are going to do as well or better,” Steiner says. “We need to understand that everybody has their own situation.”

Leaders must have ongoing and honest conversations with each remote worker to understand the challenges they may be facing. These conversations are important, though they may not be focused on productivity or work at all. The point is connection.

“Maybe you have a virtual ‘wine meeting,’ just like you would go out to the bar after work,” Semrad suggests. “If you’re a strong supervisor, you’re checking in with your folks frequently, which puts you in a more informed position.” As leaders become aware of the challenges their team members face, HR should be a trusted partner in offering the necessary resources and policies to help both the individual and the organization succeed. “The result is being able to have these mature conversations with people and allowing people to have some agency in choosing their own path, without forgetting that the company has to accomplish certain things to succeed,” Semrad says.

Remote communication often requires more directness than inperson social courtesies dictate, and when face-to-face interaction is limited, directness can be a welcome relief from the tension of uncertainty. “Have everybody try to connect with their team to discuss what’s working and what isn’t. Try to find out where flexibility is needed, even if it’s a temporary solution,” Steiner advises.

Maximizing Mental Health

The silver lining of a forced shift to remote work is the corresponding swing to an emphasis on, and more resources for, mental health and wellness. “If you as a leader are noticing that someone is not getting things done on time like they used to, or they’re making mistakes, or they’re not following up on things, those are all signs that things are not going well for them,” Steiner says. “You can reach out and ask, ‘Is there any way that we can help you? Are there ways that we can support you on this?’” At that point, the partnership between leaders and HR becomes pivotal. With issues related to mental health or any other medical condition, “confidentiality is really important,” says Lori Goldstein, an awardwinning employment lawyer. “Leaders need to know when to send the employee to HR. Information pertaining to mental health and medical issues should only be discussed on a need-to-know basis.”

HR departments can help support mental health and wellness by making mental health resources available and accessible to everyone in the organization. “HR can send out weekly or monthly messages to build a culture that supports mental health,” Steiner says. “Give those reminders to make sure the information is easily accessible. Give them the answers before they have to ask.”

For organizations without an HR department or dedicated HR employee, a consultant can fill the gap. “External partners become really valuable because they don't have to be there all the time,” Semrad says. “You’re dialing into them for what your needs are.”

Onboarding Online

In a remote landscape, some of HR’s most foundational tasks have greatly changed, including how they find and train new employees. “People interviewing remotely has become the norm,” says Mike Younie, senior manager of Michael Page’s accounting and finance recruitment team across Chicago and the Midwest region. An initial remote interview used to lead to an on-site hiring process, but pandemic protocol has changed the standard, and the entire process is now remote. “We certainly learned a few key lessons,” Younie says. “It’s much harder to give the candidate an accurate representation of the company and a true feel for the culture and values.” For Younie’s clients, three strategies eased the remote hiring and onboarding process: communicating with clarity, involving more people, and partnering with HR.

Clarity is essential for communicating to potential recruits what the company is all about. “You have to sell the business and the opportunity to the candidate even more now,” Younie says. “Your message needs to be clean and clear in terms of what makes the company stand out.” Since in-office visits are limited or not possible, getting more people involved in the hiring process helps establish a sense of company culture and role expectations. Try a team video call, or brief introductions to team members, he suggests: “It puts the candidate at ease when multiple people are echoing the same message.”

The third component is ongoing partnership and communication between HR and any job candidates or new team members. “HR plays a really key role,” Younie says. “They support the process by explaining what the policy for working from home looks like, what they’ve implemented, and how it works culturally to dive in remotely. When you get a blend from the direct hiring managers and the HR rep, that’s when you get the most engagement.”

Post-Pandemic Protocols

Even as organizations implement long-term remote systems and strategies, the question beneath the surface is, “How long-term does this really have to be?” For some organizations, remote work may be the new, full-time norm. For others, the hope is to return to in-office work either fully or partially. The transition requires flexibility, care, and, above all, clear policies. “The best thing for an employer would be to have a policy that explains how they’re handling vaccines and accommodations and exemptions,” Goldstein says. It’s easier, she says, for employers to suggest and encourage rather than mandate what their employees do in order to balance the different concerns and life situations each employee has. Clear policies from HR help maintain the balance: All employees need to know what is required for a return to the office and what their options are if they feel they can’t safely return. “Maybe you don’t have a specific deadline,” Goldstein suggests. “You could say, we’re going to transition back. If you’re interested and you want to, you can take the first step.”

Whether remaining remote or transitioning back to in-office work, HR will remain an important partner for both employers and employees navigating the challenges and unceasing changes of our working world—even after remote work becomes voluntary again.

When John W. Cromwell Jr. became the first Black CPA in 1921, he paved the way for many more to follow. One hundred years later, the CPA profession must continue to increase access and representation as part of its future.

BY CASSANDRA MORRISON

he year is 1921. A baseball game is broadcast on the radio for the first time. The first Miss America pageant is held. Sliced bread sets a new standard for innovation as Wonder Bread begins production. The Tulsa Race Massacre devastates Black Wall Street, killing up to 300 Black Americans. And John W. Cromwell Jr. breaks down barriers to become the United States’ first Black CPA.

United States history is full of paradoxes of progress and racial inequity. With a culture and economy once built on the foundation of slavery, racism has long been apparent in systems and industries—including in the accounting, finance, and CPA professions. “While some notable African American banks and insurance companies were founded in the decades after the Civil War, most Black businesses were extensions of roles performed under slavery, including personal services such as catering, shining shoes, cutting hair, and providing funeral services,” Theresa Hammond writes in “A White-Collar Profession: African American Certified Public Accountants Since 1921,” her seminal book on the history of Black CPAs.

Cromwell broke that mold when he earned his CPA credential, but it took another 45 years for the next 100 Black CPAs to follow in his footsteps. As of 2019, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, roughly 9 percent of the 1.9 million accountants and auditors in the United States were Black, yet the most recent statistics show that Black people make up only 1 percent of all CPAs. Even as we celebrate the centennial of Cromwell’s historic step forward, as well as the progress we have made since then, it’s clear we still have much more work to do.

Overcoming Historic Challenges

In 1961, 40 years after Cromwell earned his CPA license, he was still the only Black CPA in the District of Columbia and New Hampshire. A long-standing barrier to entry for Black CPAs was the hours of apprenticeship required for the certification. As Hammond points out in her book, most firms would not hire Black accountants, claiming that their clients would not accept them. Blocked from gaining the required hours of experience, Black accountants couldn’t meet the qualifications for licensure. Hammond cites a 1933 Journal of Accountancy article that deemed the public accounting profession the “most difficult one for colored men to enter.”

John Adams, CPA, CFO at Rainbow PUSH Coalition, says that Chicago played a starring role in the rise of Black CPAs. Fourteen of the first 32 Black CPAs were from Chicago, and by 1945, half of all Black CPAs in the United States worked in the Windy City. Arthur J. Wilson, the second Black CPA in the United States and the first in Illinois, was one driving force behind Chicago’s role as a Black CPA powerhouse. He earned his credential in 1923 before Illinois passed legislation requiring an apprenticeship before becoming a CPA. He then developed a small public accounting practice during the evenings and weekends in addition to being the cashier at Binga State Bank, one of the largest Black-owned banks in the United States at the time, which afforded him the opportunity to provide experience and advice to other up-and-coming Black CPAs. In fact, Wilson is credited with encouraging Mary T. Washington Wylie to pursue a business degree at Northwestern University and helping her gain the experience she needed to become a CPA. Washington Wylie became the nation’s first Black woman CPA in 1943 and, like Wilson, she went on to provide experience and mentorship to countless other Black professionals working toward becoming CPAs in Chicago.

Adams has spent his life emulating Wilson, working hard to pave the way for other Black CPAs. He grew up poor in Illinois, but his parents encouraged him to pursue education as a way to access new opportunities. He first considered accounting as a profession after hearing it mentioned casually in conversation.

“I was in a summer program between my junior and senior years of high school,” Adams says. “I worked with a couple of attorneys and ended up asking one what college major he would recommend to become an attorney. He finished his story with something that changed my trajectory: ‘You know, being a sole practitioner, I should have majored in accounting so that I could keep my own financial records.’”

That offhand remark made Adams consider the profession, then go on to study accounting in college. After receiving his degree, he accepted an offer from Arthur Young and began his career.

Adams was a child of the civil rights movement and eager to build upon Chicago’s legacy. “I came up singing, saying it loud, ‘I’m Black, I’m proud!’ When I got out of college, this was the culture I was in tune with,” Adams says. “When I found out there was a National Association of Black Accountants (NABA), I didn’t know any Black accountants besides myself. When I called the national headquarters, they informed me that there was no chapter in Chicago and asked me if I would help them start one. At that time there were more Black people entering accounting, so the Chicago chapter of NABA had a very young core.”

With the majority of its membership under 30 years old, the Chicago chapter of NABA was young and inexperienced. However, this group found ways to encourage each other to succeed, fulfilling Wilson’s desire to offer other Black CPAs a hand up and living out the NABA motto, “Lifting as we climb.”

Someone in Your Corner

Many Black CPAs say they wouldn’t be where they are today if it weren’t for the inspiration and support of mentors. Shannon Nash, CPA, Esq., chief accounting officer at Reputation and National Society of Black Certified Public Accountants chairperson, says she

owes her own career to a mentor: “Every successful person can point to one to five people that have gone out of their way to help them in their career. My mentor, Larry Bailey, was one of the first Black partners at a major accounting firm. I never actually worked for him, but he’s been instrumental to my career because he has a network that I would’ve never had access to otherwise. He was one of those people in my career who told me who I should talk to and where I should go, and networks like that are everything in terms of your career ladder.”

These kinds of support and connection are essential for gaining any momentum toward a more diverse and equitable profession.

Daisjuan Burns, risk assurance experienced associate at PwC, counts Adams as one of his own mentors, someone who helps him network and find success. Burns recently passed his CPA exam and has already begun paying it forward, lending a helping hand to even newer associates at his firm.

“Being able to see people who look exactly like me in powerful positions goes to show that if they can do it, then I can do it, too,” Burns says. “But just as important is for everyone else to see it, to normalize that this person is just as worthy of this achievement as someone else.”

Representation doesn’t just start and end in the workplace, either. As Nash puts it, accounting has a “branding problem.” It’s rare for a television show or movie to depict an emotionally complex CPA completing their work and navigating daily life, and there’s no family-friendly sitcom featuring a mom living a comfortable life as an accountant. Ebenezer Scrooge may be the most famous fictional accountant—not the best public image. Black CPAs agree: To see any real change in the number of Black CPAs entering and sticking with the profession, the industry needs to showcase the opportunities it offers to a more diverse group of people at a younger age.

The Education Pipeline

“Go to school, get good grades, get a good job, and live the American dream. Coming from Trinidad, my parents set me up on

a path where these steps seemed straightforward and attainable,” says Sherry Ann Mohan, CPA, managing director at Goldman Sachs and vice chair of the NABA board of directors.

While Mohan’s immigrant parents taught her the importance of education, her college friend group introduced the idea of becoming a CPA.

“It wasn’t until my sophomore year of college that I had an accounting class. I always made good grades and considered law or medicine, but for me, the most important factor was being around people who had similar goals and plans,” Mohan says. “Because of them, I discovered accounting as a possible career path.”

Because of accounting’s branding problem, it often takes that firsthand perspective from a CPA or someone who knows a CPA to interest young people in pursuing the vocation and the credential.

“That’s part of the problem; people aren’t curious about accounting as a profession. You don’t see it unless somebody in your family or your friends’ family was an accountant,” Nash says. “Because of this, your idea of what accounting is may be very rudimentary in terms of what we actually do for a living. One of my personal goals is to be way more visible in places where we aren’t now so that visual is out there for the next person.”

A major part of this crusade for visibility involves introducing accounting into school curriculums much earlier. This is why NABA developed its Accounting Career Awareness Program, which Mohan says has been very effective in getting young Black students interested in the accounting field.

“The earlier you can expose students to accounting the better, because it really does help students start thinking about what’s possible. Being able to give students an understanding of what an accountant actually does opens up doors,” Mohan says.

Even incorporating Cromwell’s story into the curriculum could help show minority students there’s a place for them in the industry. As Burns laments, in his recent studies no mention was made of the journey for Black CPAs: “Not many people know about Mary T. Washington Wylie and certainly not John W. Cromwell Jr. Why is that? If we could show students earlier that there are people in the profession that look like them, it could inspire them to go farther.”

The Next 100 Years

2021 and the Black CPA centennial follow on the heels of an infamous year for Black civil rights. Moving forward, it’s important to reflect not only on how far we’ve come since Cromwell’s achievement, but on how much further we have to go to increase access to, and education about, the CPA profession.

“The killing of George Floyd has awakened the conversation around racial disparity in our country; the racial gaps in wealth, health, education, opportunity, and representation are gaping holes in the fabric of the American ideology. There are opportunities for sectors like accounting and finance and organizations like NABA to leverage platforms and narrow those gaps,” Mohan says. “Around the board table, it’s easy to see the progress we’ve made and how forward-thinking our founders’ vision was. We need to make sure we continue to move that legacy forward. Through partnership and collaboration, we continue to provide better support and understanding of the challenges that exist beyond just making sure our members do well in school or get jobs. There’s an entire framework in the industry that we strive to change.”

2020 NEW CPAs CONGRATULATIONS!

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Olena Abadia

Abigail L. Abbott

Erin Abdalian

Miryam E. Abraham

Sofea Izrin

Lee Adam Lee

Anne L. Adamczyk

Abigail L. Adams

Nolan K. Adams

Tyler F. Adams

Agbolade O. Adesoye

Deepti Agarwal

Erik K. Alexander

Erik C. Alfriend

Hassan C. Ali

Alfred L. Allen

Andrew D. Allen

Samuel C. Allen-Kawa

Monica Allgaier

Jessica A. Allhands

Varun J. Alse

Charles D. Alter

Thomas A. Alva

Antonio Alvarez

Matthew R. Alvarez

Grant N. Ames

Rahim Amlani

Rachel L. Anderson

Alicia Andrew

Benjamin J. Andringa

Jessica T. Angel

Craig Angelbeck

Amelia G. Annala

Morgan E. Annandale

Christopher Antwi-Nsiah

Alina Archibald

Mark Argianas

Rachele E. Armand

Karina V. Arroyo

Justin B. Atwal

Zoish Avari

Oscar Avila

Miguel Avila-Ayvar

Megan Ayers B

Phillip Babcock

Taylor Babcock

Thomas G. Baker

Ryan Bakke

Blake T. Ball

Soubedath Balogoun

Lilimay V. Bangoy

Kiana N. Banks

Sherzod S. Barakaev

Lucas J. Barkley

Brenna E. Barrett

Tash A. Barrett

Kaylee M. Bastien

Thomas Basting

Gadi Bates

Melanie L. Bausch

Luis Bautista

Joseph F. L. Beamish

Joseph J. Beatty

Nathan R. Beckman

Daniel Bedell

Kathryn Beech

Lizhu Bei

Gina M. Belmonte

Jacqueline Belon

Jacob Bennett

Tristan W. Bennis

Steven A. Benzinger

Hannah Bernstein

Samantha T. Bernstein

Susan E. Better

Kevin A. Bianchi

Paul Billinghurst

Madison Birtcher

Brian P. Bishop

Jeffrey A. Blazek

Dakota Bliler

Tyler S. Blum

Maxwell H. Blythe

Jennifer L. Boals

Adam P. Boben

Brigid Bockelman

Megan Bogolia

Morgan L. Bohlman

Victoria Boldt

Amber S. Bolla

John Bomba

Salvatore Bondi

Matthew J. Bonistalli

Kenneth J. Bonomo

Maaike Boot

Joseph B. Bootsma

Anthony J. Borkowski

John Born

Kyle J. Bors

Taylor C. Bosch

John Bosco

Anne Margaret Boswell

Yaqoob A. Botani

Diana K. Bouza

Jalen Bovia

Michael J. Bozarth

Jessica R. Brady

Garett D. Brangenberg

Allie E. Braschler

Cole T. Breitenbucher

Laurel K. Bresette

John V. Brett

Matthew G. Bretz

Brittanie Bright

David P. Brochtrup

Judd Brody

John P. Brogan

Tiffany J. Brotto

Thomas A. Browere

Catherine Brown

Michele K. Brown

Jonathan E. Bruggeman

Yoel E. Bublick

Matthew R. Bucciferro

Lucas C. Buchacz

Bryce Buchinger

Donald J. Buonavolanto

Brendan M. Burdett

Korey R. Burdman

Lauren I. Burke

Colin R. Burton

Kevin T. Bush

Anthony Butir

Tristan Byall C

Jennifer Caddick

Gioconda I. Calderon

Jose P. Calles Alvarez

Nicholas J. Camann

Tracy A. Camden

Caroline E. Cantrell

Anthony L. Cantwell

Daniel R. Caponi

Alyssa A. Caringer

Robert T. Carlos

Catherine Carlson

John Carney

Alondra Carrillo

Adriana Casali

Catherine A. Cassulo

James A. Castelluccio

Jeremy W. Castiglione

Jessica R. Catania

Madison Cavanaugh

Gina Chafshino

Bernard Chan

Vincent Chan

Craig Chandler

Deborah Chang

Paul Chang

Elisabeth C. Chase

Savannah J. Chase

Tulsi A. Chaudhari

Brooks H. Cheatham

Chen Chen

Di Chen

Kaitlyn S. Chen

Lynette Ling Chen

Maelynn Chen

Melisa Chen

Pao Ni Chen

PengYa Chen

Ranran Chen

Xi Chen

Xian Chen

Yinghua Chen

Yuling Chen

Zhaoru Chen

Toni Hiutung Cheng

Alexia C. Chibucos

Sarah Childers

Brooke A. Chilton

Anthony D. Chiodo

Elizabeth A. Chmelik

Jung-Soo Cho

Amy H. Choi

Keunah Choi

Jiyun Angelique Chong

Emily K. Chou

Alexander Christianson

Carly M. Christison

Pui Sze Chu

Marcel R. Chudoba

I-Huan Chung

Kyu In Chung

Anna Cieslak

Sam Citro

Damian Clark

Madeleine M. Clark

Shadae O. Clarke

Daniel A. Class

Katelyn C. Claussner

Laura A. Clendenan

Shannon M. Clifton

Mary G. Coakley

Kayla A. Cody

Allison J. Coffey

Lauren M. Coleman

Lauren R. Collins

Jackson P. Collis

Megan E. Colvin

Sarah E. Connaughton

Mora Connelly

Michael C. Connolly

Shannon Connolly

Catherine N. Conrad

Matthew R. Conrady

Guillermo Contreras

Justin D. Cook

Deanna R. Cooper

Brady S. Copeland

Kevin A. Coppin

Michele Coppola

Ryan Cordero

Madeline C. Corgiat

Ria AnneMichelle S. Coronel

Patrick K. Cosgrove

Carmen L. Coss y Leon

Johannah Cottrell

Kyle S. Covington

Kelly E. Cowell

Aaron D. Cox

Colleen E. Coyle

Robert E. Coyle

Mackenzie Craney

Adam Crawford

Salud Criado Sanchez

Owen Crizer

Joseph Crowe

Nicholas L. Cudone

Brian Cull

Chace G. Culp

Megan M. Cummings

Edward Cunningham

Jaroslaw Cyboran

Kamila Czeczot

Anna M. Czelusniak

Kaetlyn J. Czurylo

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Haley Daggett

Nicholas Dall

Jonah E. Dally

Hailey T. B. Dammeier

Ciara N. Dandridge

Bowen Dang

Ana M. Darie

Justin H. Dartt

Kavisha Daru

Sarah E. Davis

Anna Davydova

Marcus G. Deaton

Mary A. DeBock

Alexander J. Decker

Cameron J. Deedrich

Dylan W. Deeds

Michael S. DeGrace

Adam Delisi

Mark J. Denman

Amanda B. Derdiger

Richard J. DeSimone

Kerry Desmond

Gaetano Di Pasquale

Alejandra Diaz

Laura Dickman

Andrena P. Dicks

Giuseppina DiMartino

Anders Dinterman

Anna Dirth

Tyler J. Ditch

Lauren E. Dobrolinsky

Michael Domiano

Jacob J. Donald

Alexis N. Donegan

Elise N. Dorn

William Douglas

Mariah N. Dowell

Zoe R. Dowell

Giselle Downs

Ella E. Doyle

Jacob Dragoo

Katherine R. Draper

Tyler S. Driver

Agata M. Dubon

Merik R. Ducker

Anastasiya Dulida

Emily G. Dunlap

Peter Durot

Brian J. DuSatko

Natalie M. Dusina

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Matthew J. Eaken

Nathan Echt

Patrick M. Eder

Bethany Edmonds

Daniel S. Egert

Elizabeth A. Eissens

Hamad N. Ejaz

Andrew Elberts

Dillon M. Eldred

Joseph M. Ellis

Samuel L. Ellison

John P. Engert

William J. English

Kelley F. Englund

Brian R. Enriquez

Daniel P. Erb

Joshua R. Essary

Julia R. Even

Emma Ewing

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Veronica Fairbairn

Shannon Falkenberg

Lijia Fan

Yi Fan

Audrey Farber

Shannon Farrell

Liz Favela

Ekaterina Feber

Megan Fehr

Marc Feldman

Annie R. Ferconio

Bruce C. Ferraro

Frederick R. Figge

Antoinette M. Finnane

Nathaniel T. Finneran

Christabel M. Firmanto

Michael Fischer

Jennifer A. Fisher

Erin Fitzgerald

Justin Flanigan

Harrison E. Fleck

Kevin Fogarty

Anna Foppe

Samantha M. Fowler

Luisa G. Foyain

Kenneth N. Frajter

Patrick G. Francis

Jennifer L. Franklin

James Trevor

O'Keeffe Franzen

Annie P. Fraser

Erica M. Freeburg

Jacqueline E. Freeman

Jack Freko

Hope C. Friday

Casey E. Frost

Nathan M. Frost

Lidia B. Fryz

Michael R. Fuller

Megan Fullwiler

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Rebecca Gabor

Amy N. Gabriel

Goda Galdikaite

Jacob J. Gale

Adam Gannon

Daniel Garcia

Francisco J. Garcia

Karina Garcia

Jackson K. Garey

Akshay Garg

Pavni Garg

Roli Garg

Ryan J. Gartland

Melissa F. Gasior

Yordan S. Gatev

Luke Gault

Milosz G. Gawlik

Tyler J. Gaynor

Hayley A. Gebhardt

Anne E. Geiger

James Geoghegan

Michael S. Georgen

Nathan J. Geraty

Mark Gerros

Jennifer M. Getty

Francesco S. Gianni

Brendan Gildea

Robert Gilmore

Paul A. Giolli

John G. Glickert

Bailey Godat

Eduardo J. Gonzalez

Madeline N. Gorczak

Gregory J. Gornick

Henry Gosebruch

Jaryd K. R. Grabowski

Jeffrey W. Graf

Kyle Graff

Megan E. Graham

Anna Grainger

Joseph A. Gray

Peter F. Gray

Joseph Greco

Blake Green

Andrew Greenberg

Nicholas T. Greenlee

Devin T. Gregory

Jorden N. Grieff

Timothy M. Gross

Cole Grossman

Thomas R. Gruber

Kejia Guo

Yanjun Guo

Jayson Gutierrez

H

George Habib

Darren L. Habich

James D. Haggerty

Sisilia Halim

Ellen C. Hall

Zachary Hamaker

Mallory P. Hamilton

Eric J. Hamlin

Hanna H. F. Hammond

Seoungyeon Han

Shichong Han

Matthew E. Hansen

Carlie T. Haraden

Daria Harasimowicz

Nicholas F. Harazim

Jackson Hargett

Aaron Hargrave

Xochitl A. Haro

Britni J. Harper

Haris Haskovic

Jessica R. Hatfield

Kara N. Haugh

Sydney Hausmann

Cynthia L. Hawkins

Gregory J. Hayes

Rebecca L. Hayes

Marc F. Hayton

Tony Hazel

Kayla M. Heflen

Randy G. Heideman

Mhd Yaser Heimour

Katelyn M. Heinz

John S. Heldman

Jessica E. Hellberg

Gretta L. Hellmuth

Nicholas R. Helton

Joel D. Henderson

Anna Hendricks

Jessica M. Herbst

Daniel J. Herman

Anna C. Herold

Andrea Herrera

Eduardo Herrera

Thomas A. Herrera

Jessica R. Herst

Samuel R. Herzon

Dylan A. Hewko

Christina L. Heylin

Hiroyuki Higuchi

Parker J. Hilbert

Natalie N. Hilfiker

Roberts

Jordan A. Hill

Samuel R. Hill

Matthew W. Hillebrand

Melissa N. Hinds

Melissa R. Hinkes

Daniel S. Hinterlong

Jordan Hitchcock

Drake Hlavin

Hoang T. Ho

Margaret J. Hobson

Jessica A. Hockaday

Saima Hoda

Justin P. Hoenig

Cassandra D. Holler

Matthew Hollon

Dustin Holsinger

Ross E. Hoover

Matthew D. Hopp

Daniel F. Horkavi

Sara L. Hospodarsky

Emma B. Houser

Robert J. Hovey

Darren A. Hoveydai

Jessica C. Howland

Ya-Ling Hsu

Helen Hsuan

Fang F. Huang

Ran Huang

Samuel Huang

Alexander Hubbell

Emily Hubbell

Erik Huerta

Austin W. Hughes

Mallorie L. Humrickhouse

Colleen R. Hunt

Jacob Hurst

Margaret E. Huspek I

Esteban Ibarra

Jaime Idiyaly

Max M. Ilendo

Joseph E. Ilgenfritz

Maria A. Impicciche

Nicole E. Infantino

Jody H. Ingraham

Justin W. Isaacs

Krzysztof Izak J

Alex M. Jackman

Tina Jacob

Brianna M. Jacober

Jessica Jaimes

Christopher C. Janson

Nolan R. Jasinski

Pavol Jasnak

Hanxiong Jiang

Claire M. Jilek

Cindy Joh

Conor G. Johannesen

Genevieve E. Johanni

Abigail C. Johnson

Benjamin J. Johnson

Isaac M. Johnson

Jamie N. Johnson

Jiv Johnson

Kevin R. Johnson

Keith Jones

Nicholas P. Jordan

Alina M. Juarez

Andrew Jukes

Joseph Jurgovan K

Kollin J. Kaczynski

Shan S. Kadalimattom

Hamed Kadiani

Marina N. Kallas

Clarissa V. Kamajaya

George Kaminski

John H. Kaminski

Matthew F. Kaminski

Rafal Kaminski

Katherine A. Kaminsky

Ai D. Kamiuchi

Brian P. Kane

Juhi Kapadia

Sofia H. Kaplanes

Susan M. Karl

Steven W. Karnoscak

Grant Karolich

Kirsten Kasperski

Harsimranjeet Kaur

Kaitlin M. Kelch

Brandon N. Keller

Veronica T. Kelly

Sarah M. Kendzior

Deanna K. Kennedy

Grant R. Kenny

Mackenzie C. Kern

Sherdene G. Kerr

Meghan L. Kesselring

Apinder K. Khaira

Nabil A. Khan

Zaeem Khan

Tuong M. Khoang

Hao Thi Minh Khong

Anjay Khurana

Gregory M. Kilroy

Brian Bum Joon Kim

Dongjoo Elisa Kim

Hyung Il Kim

Jeanie Jieun Kim

Young Hoon Kim

Kaitlin E. King

Andrew K. Kinzler

Sheridan H. Kiple

Avery Kirchner

Tyler W. Kirkland

Douglas L. Kirsch

Tshawnda Kitchen

Carleigh R. Klipp

Maria N. Klots

Brian J. Knightly

Malgorzata Kochanski

Olga J. Kochman

Andre K. Kodanaz

Julia N. Koetter

Jan P. Kohler

Kevin T. Kohler

Stephen M. Kolodziej

Stavri Kono

Kelsey Kopf

Megan M. Kozlow

Joseph P. Kraemer

Lisa Kralina

Raymond P. Kraus

Kimberly L. Kreil

Michael Kressig

Michael A.

Krzeczkowski

Alexander Kubiak

James P. Kuhnz

Megan T. Kumiega

Jake A. Kunde

Thomas Kunkel

Marzena M. Kurowski

Alex Kwok L

Alexis M. La Rosa

Teodora Lakic

Brett R. Lancaster

Elizabeth Lang

Michelle Lang

Zachary T. Lang

Courtney A. Lanzarotti

Patrick E. Larkin

Casey P. Larson

Nicholas Lashmet

Daniel J. LaVieri

Jay Lavingia

Kamile Lazauskaite

Nicholas S. Lazzara

Dat Q. Le

Jessica A. Le

Allison I. Leczycki

Kevin J. Lederer

Cindy Y. Lee

Fang Hsi Lee

Joseph M. Lee

Kyung Eun Lee

Mark P. Lee

Min Taek Lee

Soo Kyung Lee

Kevin Lefaivre

Matthew R. LeGare

Dane C. Lehr

Tyler J. Leighton

Owen M. Leon

Jacob Lepczynski

Amber L. Lewis

Jingjing Li

Lixiang Li

Shuxing Li

Steven Li

Wenting Li

Xuechen Li

Yulei Li

Hsinkai Liao

Bradley J. Lichtenebert

Trevor Light

Zachary T. Lillig

Gee Hoon Lim

Jie Lin

Bradley Linden

Kevin Lipuma

Benjamin A. Little

Caihui Liu

Jingjing Liu

Qian Liu

Sherry Liu

Xin Liu

Ziling Liu

Ian A. Livingston

Vincent R. Loconti

Elizabeth A. Loftus

Yuliya Loginova

Jared E. Loiben

Katherine E. Lomas

Christopher Loo

Cynthia Lopez

Janssen K. Lord

Megan H. Lord

Andrew Lorman

Darian Los

Daniel J. Lotts

The Illinois CPA Society congratulates the following individuals who earned their CPA certificate in 2020.

2020 CERTIFICATE RECIPIENTS

Scott J. Loucks

Nicholas J. Loughlin

Kayla L. Lovins

Naomi A. C. Lowe

Matthew S. Luckenbill

Tabitha Luculescu

Eric R. Luehmann

Joe Ly

Joseph Lynch

Morgan Lynn

Mitchell A. Lyon M

Victor Ma

Elizabeth K. MacDonald

Camil Machaj

Erin Mack

Jehan H. Madan

Jesus F. Magana

Angulo

Frank E. Maggiorotto

Shannon G. Magnus

Rhea R. Mahajan

Satoko Makino

Yesenia A. Malagon

Rylan J. Malerbi

Lucas Malone

Mitchell J. Malone

Lindsey L. Mammen

Chrisoula A. Manokas

Emanuel Marchan

Kevin P. Marcotte

Morgan Marcus

Briana N. Marek

Raven Maretti

Trevor J. Marevka

Amy L. Margrave

Ricardo A. Marin

William Marshall

Matthew B. Martens

Ronald V. Martinelli

Alexandro Martinez

Armando A. Martinez

Eder A. Martinez Perez

Cayosha Mathis

Kenneth J. Matthews

Melissa J. Mauer

Kevin G. Maxson

Timothy A. Mayer

Nadiia Mazur

Bridget R. McCaffery

Kaleb J. McCarter

Jacklynn I. McClain

Jenny McClanahan

Kristen R. McClellan

Braden L. McClintock

Grace E. McCormick

Ryan A. McCoy

Claire McDonald

Kacie E. McDonald

Devin J. McDonough

Dayne McGlade

Shannon McGowan

Annie S. McGuigan

Ryan M. McKalip

Katie D. McKean

Victoria A. McMenamin

Addison L. McMullen

Thomas G. McNamara

Jordan McQuade

Brian W. McTigue

Darren McVeigh

Maria Mebrak

Evan M. Meder

Nathaniel T. Meier

Christopher C. Mellinger

Jordan Mercure

Curt A. Mette

Bridget Metzger

Frank R. Miceli

Chandler Mick

Emmanuel S. Mijares

Andrius Mikonis

Brittney Mikrut

Joseph R. Mikuta

Chase P. Miller

Mark E. Miller

Mary B. Miller

Jessica Miro

David W. Mischler

Meredith C. Miscinski

Adam Mleczko

Gregory Mochen

Erin C. Moe

Cole Moffat

Morgan P. Monson

Robert Monyek

Annelise Mool

Brian Moon

Alexander J. Moore

Ashley Moore

Karina Morales

Veronica M. Morales

Bridget C. Moran

Matthew W. Morcio

Martin G. Morris

Nicholas A. Mosele

Joshua D. Mullens

Matthew S. Muller

Daniel P. Mulligan

Madison K. Mullinax

Brian R. Murphy

Jared T. Murphy

Peter M. Murphy

Robert Murphy

Michael Murray

Jonathan C. Musial N

Noreen A. Nader

Michael M. Nadhir

Dokken

Nakhammouane

Daniel Napientek

Michael A. Naselli

Ali Nasir

Komal Nasir

Christian A. Navarro

Fernando R. Navarro

Beatrice Ndambiri

Faith Abama A. Nege

Anita M. Nelsen Brown

Payten Nelson

Heather H. Nesse

Madeline Neu

Alexandra M. Newton

Quinn N. Niego

Zachary T. Niemiera

Renato Hideki Nishiyama

Christopher A. Nixon

Jonathan M. Noe-Kim

Jason F. Nofzinger

Afsar Nomani

Quinn Nonnemacher

Spencer D. Nord

Alexa Nordhoff

Mary K. Norek

Nicholas Norten

McKenna G. Novack

Emily C. Nuscher

Zachary Nylen O

Conor O Hagan

Elizabeth R. Oakley

Kayla J. O'Brien

Elena R. Ochoa

Katherine K. O'Connell

Joseph V. Oddo

Liam O'Donovan

Natalie O'Dowd

Christopher Oh

Matthew G. O'Hea

Patrick J. Olas

Thomas V. Olczyk

Zachary M. Oldenburg

Jacqueline Olofson

Neil A. Olsen

Kyle G. O'Malley

Ema Ondrejckova

Colin D. O'Neill

Jessica L. Onstott

Conor L. O'Rourke

Graham P. Ortmann

Mohamed Osman

Orkhon Otgonbat

Chuyu Ou

Shi Tai Ouyang

Nailah C. OwensJohnson P

Venessa Catryn I. Paez

Dariusz Pajor

Lila Palasz

Jose E. Palomo

Peter Panagakos

Krystian Pankiewicz

John Pantaleo

Anthony R. Paoli

Georgia Pappas

Luke P. Pappas

Colton Paradowski

Dharit U. Parikh

Shivangi Parikh

Jong Hwan Park

Kathleen Park

Kirsten A. Parker

Ankur Patel

Apexa Patel

Ekta Patel

Fatima M. Patel

Hannah M. Patel

Meghnee Patel

Areli Patino

Sandra Patino

Dan A. Patterson

Andrew Paull

Steven Pearce

Samuel D. Pecyna

Dominic A. Pedota

Sarah R. Pencak

Sarah J. Penney

Margaret E. Peplow

Jacob D. Perchonok

Mireya Perez

Yosue Perez

Benjamin R. Peterson

Matthew Peterson

Mary Rose Pettenuzzo

Franco G. Pettinato

Lawrence A. Pettrone

Alyxander L. Pfannes

ToNhu Pham Jargal

Andrew C. Phipps

Xinran Pi

Mary F. Pickard

Benjamin E. Pierce

Keyon A. Pitcher

Edward W. Plesha

Jacob Polke

Samuel Pollack

Joseph M. Polowsky

Ryan Ponton

Chandler K. Poole

Shana R. Pope

Layne P. Porembski

Jake A. Porento

Cassandra E. Porter

Brandon J. Potesta

Nathaniel L. Potts

Chazz A. Powell

Adrienne D. Powers

Megan J. Prough

Anthony M. Prouty

Alex J. Przybylowski

Claire M. Pugh

David J. Pyle

Ahmed S. Qadir

Fen Qin

Yan Qin

Connor R. Quinn

Samantha S. Quinones

Marcos Quiroz

Saad A. Qureshi

Derek A. Radek

John R. Rademacher

Anthony J. Radosky

Syed Rafi

Claudia I. Ramirez

Maria RamirezGrigortsuk

Jacob Rechsteiner

Richard A. Reece

Daniel H. Reed

John Regan

Cole C. Reichertz

Benjamin Reifenberg

Kevin L. Renda

David Reyes

Monica Reyes

Sierra M. Ridge

Emily Riggilo

Nicholas Risolvo

Brooke A. Roback

Devon F. Robbins

Rodolfo Robles

Charlotte R. Rodgers

Nicholas M. Rodgers

Rafael D. Rodriguez

Thomas C. Roesch

Dawid Rogowiec

Megan M. Rohde

Catherine R. Roland

Jacob Rolfsen

Michael A. Romano

Antonio Romo

Wilfredo Romo

Amy E. Roney

Matthew R. Rosi

Sarah Ross

Elizabeth A. Rudibaugh

Jonah E. Rumbold

Eric Rushing

Matthew Rushing

Christopher H. Rusnak

John A. Ryan

Matthew Ryan-Darrah S

Scott A. Sacco

Michael V. Saccucci

Dallas W. Saddler

Dovanna M. Sails

John Marvin C. Salao

Svetlana P. Salao

Rotsen Bong A. Salvador

David M. Salvas

Marco A. Sanchez

Ofelia Sanchez

Edgar G. Sandoval

Joan V. Santos

George C. Sargeant

Marko Saric

Katherine Sarmiento

Mohammad M. Sawafta

Marek D. Sawicki

Eric H. Schaeffer

Monte J. Schaffer

Luke S. Schepers

Ryan Schick

Alyssa Schlepphorst

Austin M. Schlosser

Robert Schnitzer

Jason A. Schoo

Nicholas A. Schuetz

Jessica N. Schultz

Sierra M. Schultz

Margaret E. Schutter

Merissa E. Schwab

Caroline E. Scott

Alisa Semegen

Luciana Sementa

Andrew Seong

Akshat Shah

Manit J. Shah

Eryana Shamuel

Jing Shan

Adrian Shanks

Brijesh Sharthiya

Meghan Shaughnessy

Aaron W. Shaw

Daniel B. Sheely

Jieyi Shen

Siyi Shen

Yuwen Shen

Madeline Sheridan

Julie M. Shevlin

Yuxin Shi

Akane Shimomura

Minho Shin

Patrick S. Shiner

Colton J. Shipley

Regan Shipp

Jait T. Shukla

Cara L. Shumaker

Suja Sibi

Isabelle S. Siegel

Anne M. Sieracki

Alexis Sierens

Elizabeth M. Sikes

Lavinia R. Silaghi

Justin C. Silverman

Ryan Silverman

Mary A. Sinclair

Kyle J. Siranovic

Alexandra M. Skerjan

Franklin J. Skorski

Tyler N. Skupien

Alexander Slager

William R. Small

Alexander M. Smith

Andrew D. Smith

Carly R. Smith

Hannah J. Smith

Jackson T. J. Smith

Jarrod R. Smith

Karis Smith

Robert A. Smith

Talia M. Snider

Spencer S. Snodsmith

Ronald A. Snyder

Catherine E. Sobolewski

Briana Solorio

Socheat Andrew Som

Jared Sombeck

Xiaobing Song

Krystian Sowa

Heather M. Sperlazzo

Michaela M. Spreier

Kaitlyn Sprenzel

Samantha L. Sroka

Joseph J. Stach

Ioana Standavid Gubernat

Houston Staub

Frederick R. C. Stavins

Andrew Steiner

Matthew E. Stemper

John Stephens

Marco Stiefermann

Warren W. Stippich

Halee A. Stirrat

Gregory A. Stoecklin

David P. Stohl

Kathleen M. Stone

Justin R. Stremme

Alexis P. Strom

Bradley D. Stuhlreyer

Priya Sudhir

Matthew Suenkens

Jason Sumbada

Yijia Sun

Meagan M. Suppes

Carlee A. Surrock

Austin Swaback

Magdalena Swartout

Kathryn Swiecichowski

Danielle M. Swift

Erik Swisher

Jaclyn O. Switkes

Andrew N. Symmonds

Emily A. Szmania

Ellen M. Szumski T

Nicholas Tabor

Angel Tafoya

Kathlyn Talapian

Martin G. Talbot

Payton Tamboureas

Joseph M. Tangorra

Erick D. Tapia

Natsuki Tasaki

Joseph A. Tassi

Marian I. Tat

Michael Taylor

Joan Tessalonika

Michelle M. Testoni

Natalie Thiesse

Gladson Thomas

Nidhin Thomas

Schyler J. Thompson

Nathan D. Thurston

Fanyu Tian

James Tiao

Rebecca Tiedmann

Margo A. Timmins

James Toaddy

Paul Tobin

Samuel R. Toennies

Daniel A. Tollas

Sara E. Tolvstad

Chris J. Tomczak

Anthony Tortorello

Curtis J. Townsend

Matthew G. Trabaris

An Tran

Phuong Ngoc

Thanh Tran

Thuy-Chau

Elizabeth Tran

Shelby C. Trybula

Michael J. Tschosik

Chandler Tuckerman

Leah S. Turner

Alexa Tutich

Alek Tyburk U

Alexander R. Umali

Cris Jazmine Umali

Madeline S. Ungari

Olga Urman

Megan E. Usher V

Erica P. Vallosio

Lindsay A. Van Blaricom

Paige M. Van Den Top

Kathryn A.

Van Der Bosch

Nathan VanDeCasteele

Rachel A. VanderVeen

Abbie K. VanFossen

Brent VanLanduyt

Taylor L. Vanthournout

Eric VanVoorst

Jobin Varghese

Francis X. Vasquez

Alexandra L. Vaughan

Karly J. Vercauteren

Kathryn L. Vesely

Nina M. Viator

Christian Thom S. Viloria

Ave K. Violentina

Kimberly Vitale

Casey K. Vonderlinn

Vincent J. Voss

W

Erin Wagner

Edward J. Wajda

Rebecca J. Wakenight

Matthew J. Waldron

Melissa Walek

Andrew J. Wallace

Alyssa N. Walsh

Chao Wang

Pei-Chen Wang

Shuyi Wang

Yun Wang

Nicholas R. B. Wankasky

Jessica D. Warchol

Brian N. Warner

Adrienne Wassell

Breanne Waters

Summer M. Watters

David Wawrzak

John W. Wazydrag

Zachary M. Weatherspoon

Samuel L. Webb

Sierra D. Weber

Jordan Wekony

Jianan Weng

Qinglu Weng

Jacob Wescott

Andrew White

Erin Whitney

Gregory K. Wiacek

Elena M. Wiesner

Frank Wiggins

Darion L. Wiggs

Rachel C. Wigley

Andrew T. Wilder

Erin E. Wilhelm

Allison A. Wilkerson

Jeffrey Willenzik

Corey L. Wilson

Jesse L. Wilson

Joseph S. Wilson

William D. Winegard

Matthew Winkeljohn

Darin L. Winkelman

Daniel R. Wise

Nicholas J. Witek

Daniel E. Wollenberg

Lauren M. Wong

Michelle Gar Yee Wong

Stephanie W. Wong

Tyler Wong

Brandon Woosley

Brianna Wren

Amanda C. Wrenn

Haoran Wu

Jiyanghang Wu

Michal T. Wysocki

Zhen Xiong

Duo Xu

Yuerong Xue Y

Richard A. Yamomo

Ziqiao Yan

Li Yang

Lipeng Yang

Xiaoyi Yang

Yuyun Yang

ILLINOIS CPA SOCIETY 2020 EXCEL AWARD RECIPIENTS

Regan Yard

Zhuyu Ye

Amanda S. Yeh

Danhong Yin

Olivia Kyunghwa Yoon

Yeo Jin Yoon

Daniel M. Yuhasz Z

John E. Zabaneh

Katarzyna Zapotoczny

Adrian Zawada

Margaret Zaya

Anthony M. Zea

John A. Zeidler

Maggie M. Zeillmann

Lucy E. Zeng

Zijian M. Zeng

Xiaoping Zhan

Annie Yu Zhang

Kaihao Zhang

Lu Zhang

Maggie Zhang

Mengfei Zhang

Xiaoxue Zhang

Yitian Zhang

Yu Zhang

Anthony Zhao

Ruojun Zhao

Beijia Zhou

Jiean Zhou

Tong Zhou

Weihang Zhou

Chenyu Zhu

Cassandra A. Ziance

Daniel L. Ziarko

Andrew T. Ziesemer

Noah L. Zimmerman

Gabriella P. Zukerman

The Excel Award is granted to Illinois CPAs who achieved a total average score of 90 or more, completed all four parts of the exam within two consecutive testing windows, and were in the top five percent of the scores of those who completed all the requirements in 2020 in Illinois.

ICPAS GOLD MEDAL RECIPIENT

Kaleb J. McCarter

Indiana University Bloomington

Deloitte

ICPAS SILVER MEDAL RECIPIENT

Meredith C. Miscinski

Boston College

RSM US LLP

EXCEL AWARD RECIPIENTS

ICPAS BRONZE MEDAL RECIPIENT

Michaela M. Spreier

Illinois State University

KPMG

Brenna E. Barrett University of Kansas

David M. Salvas Indiana University Bloomington EY

EVOLVING ACCOUNTANT TRENDS IN ACCOUNTING, AUDITING, AND CONSULTING

Looking Forward to the Next Century of Black CPAs

It began with pioneers. It continued with brave leaders. Now, the future is up to us.

Andrea Wright, CPA Partner, Johnson Lambert LLP awright@JohnsonLambert.com | ICPAS member since 2010

One hundred years ago, John W. Cromwell Jr. became the first Black CPA. Then 22 years later, in 1943, Chicagoan Mary T. Washington Wylie became the first Black female CPA. Now, a century later, we have these and other bold and brilliant pioneers to thank for blazing a trail for so many Black CPAs to follow: Today, there are more than 5,000 Black CPAs in the United States and more than 200,000 Black professionals in the field of accounting. While growing from one to 5,000-plus Black CPAs over 100 years is an accomplishment, we must honor the trailblazers of the first century with exponential growth over the next 100 years.

There have been similar calls for growth and progress before. In 1969, 48 years after Cromwell earned his CPA, nine men formed the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA) in an effort to increase the number of Black CPAs. At that time, there were only 136 Black CPAs nationwide. Over the past 52 years, NABA’s work and partnerships have made an impact, taking the profession from fewer than three new Black CPAs per year from 1921 to 1969 to more than 93 new Black CPAs per year for the past 50 years.

Yet these numbers still feel shockingly low. The CPA profession is primed and ready for a tidal wave of Black talent, voices, perspectives, and knowledge.

How do we as CPAs inspire young Black people—and all races, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, and disability statuses—to find this career path, feel supported in this industry, and love the experience of being a CPA? We have a tremendous opportunity and responsibility to bring more perspectives and voices to this profession by making it more inclusive and diverse. In shifting the demographics of our profession, we can cause a ripple effect of new possibilities in many communities and professions.

A critical step in growing the number of Black CPAs is exposing more Black students at younger ages to the possibilities that come with a career in accounting. As CPAs, chances are that we had a role model in accounting or a similar industry while growing up. We saw those CPAs in a positive light—they were respected, trustworthy, and interesting. They were successful, excited about their work, and able to make a positive impact. Now it is our turn to get involved, to mentor, to visit communities with diverse students, and share with them what this career has meant to us.

We must tell our stories about solving problems or having constant opportunities to learn new things. Some of us can tell stories of long careers with promotions within a firm or company

where we have made a difference. Others can share how we moved around but have had doors open because of the CPA credential or our accounting and financial acumen. Some CPA careers have allowed for travel to interesting places or to conferences with famous or inspiring speakers. For others, our careers have enabled us to spend more time with the people we love.

Regardless of which path we’ve walked, if we value either the journey or the destination, we must share that with a community larger than our own. Volunteering to speak to students with an organization like the Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS) or Junior Achievement can be a great avenue for this type of connecting and sharing. Taking on a Black mentee could be an experience that teaches both parties. Actively seeking Black accounting students for internships, like those who participate in the ICPAS’ Mary T. Washington Wylie Internship Preparation Program, can bring fresh perspective and strengthen teams. Learning from their experiences, as much we share ours with them, can open a dialogue that lays the groundwork for a more vibrant profession and industry.

When more Black students see the exciting and rewarding careers available to CPAs, the CPA community as a whole must cheer on and support a hopefully growing segment of a hopefully evergrowing industry. Black CPA voices need to have access to the microphone, and when they talk, we need to listen and act. One simple way to do this is through the amplification of Black CPA success stories.

Former AICPA chair and trailblazer Kimberly Ellison-Taylor, CPA, CGMA, and ICPAS immediate past chair Dorri McWhorter, CPA, CGMA, CITP—who became ICPAS’ first Black chairperson in 2020— could teach master classes on how to celebrate and amplify Black CPA voices. Not only do these Black CPA leaders accept LinkedIn connections freely, but they use the platform to habitually share and comment on both budding successes and mountain-top moments for Black CPAs at all stages of their careers. Their reach and reputations allow these Black CPAs a moment in the limelight, and even if it is for just the life cycle of a LinkedIn post, it is powerful. There is a real need for continual support and encouragement of this new generation of Black CPAs so they can grow and prosper in every way.

Many of us have built platforms to amplify our voices to clients, prospects, business connections, and other centers of influence. If you have a platform—whether it be digital, written, or a strong network of peers—use it to connect with diverse voices, share their perspectives and achievements, and champion the next generation of diverse CPAs who will break barriers and use their intelligence and determination to shift our profession’s demographics and potential.

In fact, we can’t just sit back and wait for these demographics to change. We must work now to be leaders and role models in our communities that shape the future composition of our profession. We can make a resolution today to constantly seek out broader perspectives and stories. We are a profession of talented, hard-working people who have the skill and passion to tackle complicated challenges. I have no doubts that we can overcome whatever obstacles stand between us and a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable future. When we invite and encourage the best young minds to put their stamp on the future, it is undoubtedly brighter.

This column was co-authored with Courtney Kiss, MBA, chief marketing officer with Johnson Lambert LLP.

All Illinois licensed and registered CPA credentials will expire on September 30, 2021.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) will send out renewal notices in June via email only.

Don’t Get Lost!

For questions, contact: Jill Loeser Manager, Government Relations 217.789.7914 | loeserj@icpas.org

Jon Lokhorst, CPA, ACC Executive Leadership Coach, Lokhorst Consulting jon@lokhorstconsulting.com

Three Ways to Add Depth to Virtual Communications

Videoconferencing, emails, and chat messages fall flat by their very nature. Leaders must take intentional steps to replicate the in-person office in a remote workplace.

Last fall at the Wall Street Journal CEO Council, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told the group, “Video meetings are more transactional.” Nadella would know—Microsoft watched their Teams virtual communication platform explode in 2020, seeing a four-fold increase in active users. Instead, Nadella says, “Work happens before [and] after meetings,” highlighting the value of unstructured, informal workplace interactions that take place in an in-person environment. Consider how often in the pre-COVID-19 environment you experienced meaningful conversations with coworkers in the hallway, at the coffee pot, over lunch, or at the door of an office or a cubicle. While a weekly team meeting can still take place online, these casual interactions are more difficult to replicate in the virtual world.

Coupled with the demands of a typical workday, Zoom fatigue (or Teams fatigue, in deference to Nadella) causes many virtual interactions to become one-dimensional, narrowly focused on practical details. As a result, the qualitative aspects of organizational culture and employee development are often overlooked, with unintended long-term consequences. For most companies, remote work will continue in some form after the pandemic, so it’s incredibly important that we learn to overcome the flat, factual nature of virtual communications. Here are three tips to try.

REFRESH YOUR CULTURE AND VISION

Your organizational culture is built on your team’s shared experiences and is perpetuated by the stories you tell about those experiences. That storytelling takes place in formal and informal contexts, both at company-wide meetings and around the water cooler. Both settings are essential. If you made a wide-scale shift to remote work, it might seem like you have to put cultural development on hold—but don’t make that mistake. Organizational culture is just as important, if not more so, now that we’re not physically together.

Maintain your culture by recalling pre-pandemic stories and experiences. More importantly, gather new stories to reinforce or even reshape your culture during this pandemic. Seek out examples of team members who overcame significant obstacles to provide exceptional client or customer service. Identify employees who went the extra mile to serve their colleagues. Find humorous accounts of video meetings gone bad, unique work-from-home set-ups, or virtual resources used creatively.

Don’t neglect your greater vision for your organization despite the crisis at hand. Keep the big picture in front of your team. Now is a great time to work on plans to realize that longterm vision after we return to “normal.” Otherwise, your team may get stuck in crisis mode and have trouble moving forward in the upcoming post-pandemic world.

In the meantime, toggle between your long-term vision and the narrower view of what’s crucial today. In my adjunct faculty work for North Park University, I am continually reminded by our president of our two highest priorities during this season: protecting the campus community’s health and safety and ensuring students’ successful educational progress. Create a similar simple, memorable statement to use as a bridge between current circumstances and your desired future to remind your team what you’re all working towards.

PRIORITIZE DEVELOPMENTAL CONVERSATIONS

The shift to remote work revealed the extent to which professional development takes place during informal conversations. You may need to find new ways to facilitate the kind of on-the-job training interactions that once occurred spontaneously across a conference table or at a team member’s desk. One manager I know opens a Zoom room during scheduled time blocks to allow team members to pop in if they have questions on current projects.

Career planning is another facet of development that used to happen in unstructured conversations. Whether a casual discussion following a meeting, or a coffee or lunch chat, these conversations are pivotal to future advancement opportunities. You can replicate these communications by scheduling virtual meetings with a career focus—but make sure to diffuse potential awkwardness by acknowledging that you now have to schedule conversations that used to be more informal.

You should also seek out new ways for your team members to connect with leaders from other departments and levels in the organization now that they no longer or rarely bump into them in elevators, break rooms, and between meetings. Again, you should take the lead in setting up these meetings as intentional scheduling is now necessary to replace chance encounters. Provide exposure for emerging leaders to help them expand their internal networks, and foster diversity and inclusion for underrepresented groups by ensuring they enjoy these opportunities as well. Company leaders also benefit from these interactions as they can gain a new perspective and answer questions from employees across the organization.

CHECK IN REGULARLY—AND MEANINGFULLY

Mental health challenges are on the rise, with more than 50 percent of adults in one survey reporting negative mental health impacts from the pandemic. Similarly, more than 50 percent of mental health providers have experienced an increased demand for services, and many practitioners had to shift their caseloads to a virtual format. (As a side note, if your mental health struggles stretch beyond normal stress levels into feelings of despair and depression, seek help from a trained therapist. There is no shame in doing so for you or your team members.)

Even as employees express a desire to continue working remotely after the pandemic, they say they are lonely. One study found that for 20 percent of people working from home, feelings of loneliness were debilitating at times. Early-career workers (i.e., millennials and Gen Zers) struggle more with these challenges than their older counterparts. New employees and those who have recently relocated or changed roles are also at greater risk for feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Practice supportive leadership by regularly checking in with your team members. That means not just asking for progress updates on work assignments, but also checking on how they are doing. You can simply ask, “How are you doing?” but be ready with followup questions specific to them. For example, if a team member had to cancel a long-awaited family vacation due to travel restrictions, ask how their family responded to the cancellation or what their alternate plans include.

Keep in mind that your team members will remember your leadership during these tough times long after the pandemic subsides. It’s time to find new ways to go beyond the transactional nature of virtual communication to foster connection and let your team know you genuinely care.

Kristie P. Paskvan, CPA, MBA

Board Director, First Women’s Bank and SmithBucklin Leadership Fellow, National Association of Corporate Directors kppaskvan10@gmail.com | ICPAS member since 1984

How to Strategize During Disruption

After a tough year, organizations and their boards may be tempted to completely overhaul their strategic plans and planning processes. Here are three tips on what to do—and what not to do—to create and execute strategy in turbulent times.

As a result of COVID-19, many companies and their boards are reevaluating their planning processes. You might expect this to be an annual thing, but while many organizations revisit their business strategies annually during their budget processes, those exercises are more about executing plans—how many people to hire, what capital investments to make, etc.— and are not full-fledged strategic reviews.

Should organizations and boards revisit and adjust strategy more frequently—especially in a time of upheaval? How should they go about building and executing strategies that can weather storms without necessitating constant revision? What new perspectives are needed in the new normal? Here are three insights I utilize on how to make and execute strategic decisions in turbulent times.

DON’T MAKE STRATEGY CHANGES LIGHTLY

When surprising events occur, it is tempting to revisit your plans and make changes. But there is an argument to be made that once put in place, strategy should not be changed lightly. In his recent Harvard Business Review article, “When to Switch Strategy in a Crisis,” Mark Chussil discusses his research, which he believes shows that organizations should only consider revising organizational strategy when there are major disruptions to either long-term market conditions or structural and environmental changes.

Chussil’s point is that changes to strategic plans are often reactionary and weaker than the original plan. For a major strategy shift to occur, the future outcome of the revisions must be undeniably better than the expected outcome of the current plan. Leaders must first examine various possible scenarios, including verifying and debating the outcome of making no changes at all. Boards are important partners in that process, vetting and approving strategic plans as well as any major revisions by drawing on their experience and bringing an outsider’s critical eye to the process. Generally speaking, Chussil’s research shows that knee-jerk reactions and changes for the sake of changes are usually worse than the original plan.

UTILIZE EXPERTS

Recently, I conversed with a CEO about their current strategic planning process. One of the more impressive aspects of their planning was the expansive network of experts that the team has accessed, including economists, futurists, industry think tanks, regulators, and academics. In all, the executive management team spoke with more than 30 organizations

and individuals to proactively evaluate future opportunities and mitigate future risks. This CEO undertakes this process every three to four years to strengthen the overall company strategy and anticipate any changes that might be necessary. The steps they undertook three years earlier using this same process are currently accelerating growth—even during the pandemic.

The idea that strategy should not be changed lightly makes it even more important that organizations get their strategy right the first time. Here are a few examples of the various resources utilized by companies and their boards during the strategic planning process to get a fresh and unique point of view on how to move forward. (What exact resources you should use should be informed by your business industry vertical and its dependency on market conditions.)

Universities

This might not seem like an obvious choice, but many universities have affiliations with companies not just for recruiting, but for marketplace research, scientific advances, innovation labs, and stateof-the-art thought leadership. My undergrad alma mater, the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, is just one example. Like many major higher ed institutions, they have invested in industryagnostic forums for innovation. The Champaign-Urbana campus includes a research park occupied by companies looking to advance team collaboration and ideation, a disruption center utilized in the exploration of new technological advances, and a supercomputing center much-lauded within the industry. Relationships with faculty at higher ed institutions can offer insight into academic research and its application to future market conditions.

Futurists

Every year, I seek out the opportunity to listen to at least one futurist talk about the accelerated pace of change in our world. Staying informed of how these changes alter marketplace infrastructure is critical to surviving into the next decade and beyond. This is the kind of knowledge that allows a company to capture opportunity when it presents itself—the intersection of preparedness and chance.

Economists

The financial services industry may be more affected by the capital markets than others, but all businesses benefit from following the data collected and interpreted by economists. Economists follow more than just financial trends about growth, supply and demand, competitive data, and GDP. They have a wealth of knowledge about population and labor trends, global supply chain actions, climate shifts, trade policies, anti-trust actions, and legislation.

Many disruptions can be foreseen and prepared for by planning in collaboration with various advisors. Consider how the possibility of a pandemic was discussed by health experts and futurists long before COVID-19 reared its ugly head and disrupted our business world.

TIE STRATEGY TO OPERATIONS

In times of crisis and disruption, an organization’s operational units are tested first. When the pandemic first hit and stay-at-home orders went out, technology was immediately put to the test. Retail operations had to instantly shift to digital platforms. Global supply chains broke down as flights were cancelled and cargo ships sat in ports. A year later, technological advancements are still a priority for organizations, as is overall reevaluation of operational divisions and processes.

Strategic planning takes months. While the overall path forward is being determined, the executive team and board are also connecting the strategy back to execution. The operations of the

company are dictated by the chosen strategy, so all operations— including areas of staffing and compensation, organizational structure, geographic expansion, and client fulfillment—must align with the organization’s strategic goals. Changes in strategy require an evaluation of the executive leadership team’s ability to execute, including an assessment of CEO and board member skill sets. By linking strategy intrinsically to operations, leaders can ensure that their strategic goals are possible. This link is another argument for not making strategic changes in a crisis without serious thought and vetting.

Moving forward, we must approach strategy differently, knowing that unthinkable events are always possible. The companies and boards that utilize these practices in their strategic planning processes will be prepared to seize new opportunities even in turbulent times.

Art Kuesel President, Kuesel Consulting art@kueselconsulting.com

Are You Asking Clients the Wrong Questions?

A prominent CEO once told me that if you ask, “How is everything?” and someone simply responds, “Good,” they’re almost certainly telling you a half-truth. That goes double in business scenarios where these kinds of questions are generally more social niceties than actual inquiries. With so much change and turmoil over the past year, our clients are reeling. If you haven’t gotten an earful about the challenges they’re facing, you probably aren’t asking the right questions to get to the root of the real problems. Ultimately, if you aspire to be an influential strategic business advisor to your clients, you must learn how to ask the questions that help you drill down into how they’re really doing so that you can help them navigate that reality.

The first step to asking the right questions is approaching your clients with genuine curiosity and openness. This can be tough—after all, who wants to hear a bunch of bad news? You might be avoiding the deeper conversations because you don’t want to hear a litany of complaints. Well, guess what? If you are seeking a bright and hope-filled conversation, I’d suggest a motivational speaker, not a business owner in the midst of a pandemic!

We ask tough questions because we genuinely want to know what’s wrong so that we can help. When a client replies with politeness rather than honesty, we don’t get the important information that would allow us to help. In the wake of the pandemic, what used to be small problems have likely grown in size and scope. But the good news is that, as CPAs, we know how to navigate complex challenges. While there may not be a ready-made solution for your client, you can probably help them decide on the most effective next steps using your years of experience and business acumen.

Here are some examples of questions that can help you determine your clients’ real problems, and thus how to help correct them: How were your results to goal for last quarter; what’s trending in the wrong direction? Are any areas of your business doing better than others? How has the pandemic reshaped your goals, and how are you feeling about 2021? Did 2020 cause you to rethink your retirement goals, succession plan, or M&A activity?

These are just some of the questions you should be asking if you seek to gain a deeper understanding of what your clients are struggling with. Any one of these questions could tee up a discussion that leads to an opportunity to help. In the absolute worst case you can listen, be empathetic, generate long-lasting goodwill, and improve client retention. But keep in mind that all the news may not be bad news. You might find yourself congratulating your clients on their success more often than you expect. Some clients are doing quite well in this changing landscape, and you may find yourself devising strategies to minimizes taxes for a fast-growing company rather than helping a business weather tough times.

If you’re still not sold on the idea of asking these kinds of questions, consider the risks of not doing so. Your clients may begin to feel as if you don’t care all that much. They may start to doubt the value you are providing and start complaining about your fees. Worse still, your competition may ask one of these important questions and your client will wonder, “Why isn’t my current CPA asking me this?”

Take a moment this week to create a list of 10 clients to call. Ask them a few of these questions and see where it takes you. I believe you’ll find that asking better questions will lead to more substantial discussions with clearer takeaways for both you and your clients. Push through the discomfort and dig to the root of the problems your clients are struggling with—and use your unique expertise to craft strategic business advice that will turn those problems into opportunities.

CPAs must learn to ask questions that get to the heart of their clients’ challenges.

ILLINOIS CPA SOCIETY LEADERSHIP

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BKD CPAs & Advisors

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Shepard Schwartz & Harris LLP

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Is Short Selling Ethical?

The GameStop short squeeze put short selling stocks back in the headlines, raising questions about the morality of the strategy.

In January 2021, an interesting story dominated the news cycle. A group of individual investors on the online forum Reddit noticed that GameStop stock was heavily shorted by institutional investors at a short interest of over 140 percent. These Redditors then banded together to buy the stock and drive up the share price of GameStop, offsetting the bets of hedge funds and causing those hedge fund managers to scramble to cover their bets by buying the stock back at the inflated price. The resulting turbulence in the financial markets became a leading story across the country.

The story left many wondering how short selling works. Here is a brief explanation:

Ella has five ears of corn, which currently cost $20 each.

Heather asks Ella to borrow her five ears of corn for a $5 borrowing fee, and Ella agrees.

Heather thinks the price of corn will go down, so she sells the five ears of corn for $20 each, collecting $100. If the price of corn does indeed go down, Heather can purchase the corn back at a lower price to return to Ella.

Corn prices decline, and Heather’s short sale works—she buys back the corn at $10 an ear for $50, resulting in a $45 profit on the total transaction after subtracting her borrowing fee of $5.

Additionally, Heather can continue to sell the borrowed corn to another short seller, and that short seller can sell to another short seller. Therefore, there can be more short sales than actual ears of corn available on the market.

To understand the GameStop tale, imagine that the price of corn does not go down, but instead climbs astronomically—driven in this case by a large number of small-time individual traders coordinating their buying. In order to return the corn to Ella, Heather has to buy the corn back at a higher price than she sold it for, incurring a significant loss in addition to her borrower’s fee.

Simply explained, short selling is an investment strategy that seeks to benefit from a stock’s declining share price. It is the opposite mindset of most investors, who purchase stocks believing they will benefit from increasing share prices. There are many reasons a stock might decline in value; it might fall because the company is financially unhealthy, or it might fall because the company is healthy but considered overvalued.

One of the most popular stocks consistently being shorted is Tesla. Some believe Tesla’s valuation is a result of a bubble Tesla CEO Elon Musk has created. Musk has consistently voiced his opposition to short selling. A tweet from January 2021 demonstrates his argument against short selling succinctly: “u can’t sell houses u don’t own, u can’t sell cars u don’t own but u *can* sell stock u don’t own?”

Musk’s tweets about companies have a history of significantly moving their share prices. For example, his “Gamestonk!!” tweet on Jan. 26, 2021 helped GameStop’s valuation skyrocket to more than $10 billion in afterhours trading—Musk’s way to stand with the Reddit investors and others purchasing GameStop. He then tweeted a few hours later, “I kinda love Etsy,” which experts believe was the force behind a 9 percent rise in Etsy’s shares the next trading day. Musk and Tesla have been in trouble with the SEC in the past for Musk’s tweets, with Musk and Tesla each paying the SEC $20 million to settle with the SEC. Some have asked regulators to clamp down on his social media influence, while others say it is now a normal part of how markets function. Steven Bartlett, founder of the social media agency Social Chain, has said, “The public markets now have influencers like fitness and beauty do.”

Some people view short sellers in a negative light because they are hoping for stocks to decline, which may be considered cheering for the failure of a company. They question whether it is ethical for fund managers to loan out the shares of stocks on behalf of investors, knowing the borrowing of the shares could affect their value.

The other side argues that the fund managers are maximizing returns on the portfolios by letting others borrow the shares in return for a fee. They point out short sellers’ positive contributions to the market, including providing liquidity, righting a stock that is considered overpriced, providing hedges for other positions, and improving market efficiency. They further argue that short sellers may prevent stock market crashes because they provide a voice of reason during raging bull markets. Additionally, short sellers take on more risk than stock buyers: If someone buys a stock, the lowest that it can drop is to zero. For a short sale, the loss is unlimited, as the price of the stock can increase without a cap. Short sellers lost more than $38 billion in Tesla short positions during 2020 as its share price climbed more than 700 percent.

While short selling itself is a standard stock market practice, not all short selling can be considered ethical. Some short sellers may act unethically in a scheme known as “short and distort,” which happens when someone takes a short position and then uses a smear campaign in the public to attempt to influence a decline in the stock value. The opposite of this scheme on the investing side is called “pump and dump,” which is when someone buys stock (takes a long position) and then provides incorrect information to the public in an attempt to influence an increase in the stock value. These types of unethical schemes have become more popular over time as more people—specifically more small investors—gravitate to online trading.

After its latest moment in the spotlight, short selling is likely to receive more scrutiny. As you consider whether you are for or against the practice, ensure your ethics align with your investment strategies.

Do Political Parties Really Power the Stock Market?

This year, for the first time since 2009, there is a Democratic president, a majority Democratic House of Representatives, and a majority Democratic Senate (not technically but practically, as the two independent senators vote with the Democratic caucus and Vice President Kamala Harris will be called in to cast any tie-breaking votes). Will the changes in power in Washington, D.C. be a positive or a negative for the stock market? In this column, I’ll consider the so-called “popular” view, and then see if it holds up to the facts, looking back to our recent and not-so-recent history for clues.

THE POPULAR VIEWPOINT

It’s a common exercise to speculate on the influence political parties will have on the stock market. Of course, the popular view—the one that plays to familiar stereotypes—is that Democrats are bad for the market, as they will raise taxes on corporations and individuals then redistribute that revenue to the masses who are not entitled to that money. In this view, Republicans are good for the stock market, as they reduce taxes and cut regulation, providing a better environment for businesses and allowing more money to remain in the hands of those who earned it.

In keeping with this view, it follows that unified government—where the president and both houses of Congress are the majority party—is bad for the stock market when Democrats are in power and is good for the market when Republicans are in power. When government is divided, the impact on the stock market is less predictable. There is another, perhaps more cynical, view that says that the best outcome for the stock market is divided government, as the checks and balances provided by the Constitution will keep one party from doing too much economic harm to the country.

Reality, as one might expect, is more nuanced than that. Let’s look to history for actual examples of how administrations have affected the stock market.

ADDING UP THE NUMBERS

From 1929 to 2019, there have been 45 years when one party controlled the presidency and both houses of Congress. According to the Wall Street Journal, the average annual return of the S&P 500 in those years was 7.45 percent. The Democrats were the controlling party in 34 of those 45 years. Under those administrations, the S&P 500 rose 24 times and fell 10 times, for an average annual return of 9.4 percent. Meanwhile, in the 11 years when the Republicans were the controlling party, the S&P 500 rose six times and fell five times, for an average annual return of 1.5 percent.

Conventional wisdom has it that one political party is better than the other when it comes to stock market returns, but a look at historical trends proves otherwise.

FINANCIALLY SPEAKING BEST PRACTICES IN FINANCIAL PLANNING

From 1929 to 2019, there were 46 years when the presidency and Congress were split, one controlled by the Republicans and one controlled by the Democrats. The Wall Street Journal reports that the average annual return of the S&P 500 in those years was 7.26 percent. In 10 of those years, the Democrats controlled the White House and the Republicans controlled both houses of Congress. During that time, the S&P 500 rose six times, fell three times and was unchanged once, for an average annual return of 13.0 percent. In 22 of those years, the Republicans controlled the White House and the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. The S&P 500 rose 14 times and fell eight times for an average annual return of 4.9 percent. The remaining 14 years featured a split Congress, and the S&P 500 rose in nine of those cycles and fell in five, for a weighted average annual return of 6.9 percent.

WHAT THE NUMBERS SAY

These statistics run counter to the popular viewpoint that has influenced American voters for generations. There is only a modest percent difference in average annual S&P 500 returns during periods of unified government (7.45 percent) and divided government (7.26 percent). The stock market basically shrugs off the impact of an “all red” or an “all blue” government. When the Democrats oversee a unified government (37 percent of the time since 1929), average annual S&P 500 returns have risen 9.4 percent. When the Republicans oversee a unified government (12 percent of the time since 1929), average annual S&P 500 returns have risen 1.5 percent. When the government is divided (51 percent of the time), as stated previously, average annual S&P 500 returns have risen 7.26 percent.

I believe these statistics are telling us that the determination of investment returns is independent of the power structure in Washington. The simplistic idea that Republicans are good for the market and that Democrats are bad for the market, and the cynical viewpoint that divided government is good for the market, fall apart under closer scrutiny.

So then, who affects the market? I believe the statistics show that the real mover and shaker is the American worker. I see a testament to the American capitalist system, the ingenuity of the American entrepreneur, and the drive of the American workforce, regardless of which political party is in power.

Nancy Miller, CPA Senior Director of Accounting, Pactiv Evergreen Inc.

How Business Leaders Can Zip Past Zoom Limits

In a remote work environment, videoconferencing is ubiquitous, but research shows it can have negative effects on onboarding and engagement.

Since March 2020, most of us have spent more time on Zoom than ever before. Zoom and other videoconferencing platforms are now the place where work meetings, onboarding, happy hours, Christmas parties, family visits, birthday parties, and even weddings happen. But new research shows the limits of videoconferencing tools like Zoom—as well as the unique challenges it can create for onboarding new hires and engaging employees.

THE ONBOARDING PROCESS

Onboarding is more than just filling out forms for human resources—it’s the process of bringing new employees into the workplace, integrating them into their departments and, perhaps most importantly, communicating the goals and culture of the organization. In a remote workplace, videoconferencing has to do the lion’s share of the work in the onboarding process, and it can introduce new challenges to the process.

Research from Dr. Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of Stanford Virtual Interaction Lab, has found that there are several attributes of videoconferencing that lead to fatigue and overwhelm—feelings that are counterproductive to onboarding a new team member. When videoconferencing replaces in-person interactions, the sustained eye contact (staring at a grid of faces staring back at you), self-monitoring (constantly checking to ensure you’re centered on camera), reduced mobility (sitting in a single position), and increased cognitive load (trying to interpret body language and nonverbal cues) combine to create a particularly draining experience. After spending hours in video meetings, new employees are likely to feel exhausted and possibly alienated by the experience.

Unfortunately, in a remote work environment videoconferencing is all but indispensable. We must use it to replicate not only formal training, but all of the informal interactions and passive learning that comes from observing coworkers, supervisors, and executives. How else are new employees who have onboarded remotely during the pandemic going to develop these vital relationships and absorb the culture and values of their new company?

As I have onboarded new employees over the last year, I realized how much I took for granted the in-person onboarding activities: stopping by their workstation to check in, walking them around to introduce them, and developing a personal relationship over lunches and deskside chats. While I continue to focus on covering the basics and ensuring access to equipment and technology, I have also designated onboarding buddies to help new team members acclimate to both the role and company. In addition to pairing new hires with longtime employees, I have found it effective to pair new hires with other new hires as they go through a shared experience. This combination of perspectives provides

different avenues for new hires to get the information they need to adjust to a new workplace and role, as well as build the kind of interpersonal relationships so essential to effective teamwork.

We spend a lot of time and effort identifying and attracting new talent—we should spend just as much effort ensuring that new employees are given as many tools as possible to succeed. It’s even more important in a remote environment where team members may be feeling isolated and overwhelmed. While videoconferencing may have its limits, by using it judiciously and helping new employees find alternative ways to connect with their coworkers, we can set our new hires up for success.

DRIVING ENGAGEMENT

As we reinvent the onboarding process, we’re finding that employee engagement needs a makeover as well. The switch to videoconferencing and other digital communications deprives us of physical cues like facial expressions and body language, important feedback that has long been essential to human communication. In addition, informal conversations have been lost—those moments in the hallway or lunchroom were critical to fostering relationships between coworkers and contributing to overall connection and job satisfaction.

People are craving new and innovative ways to engage with their team members at the individual, departmental, and organizational levels in a work-from-home environment. Early in the pandemic, organizations were eager to adopt new strategies to address these challenges: informal Zoom lunches and happy hours, group chats, and other ideas. While some of these strategies have been effective, they still suffer from the same unfortunate challenge that plagues onboarding and training: Videoconferencing is exhausting.

Team members are already in exponentially more video meetings than they had attended before March 2020—it’s not rare for someone to have hours of back-to-back meetings. Even while employees want connection and engagement, they’re drained by the digital medium itself, so organizations and leaders must be proactive in finding solutions to this exhaustion.

An approach I have found effective in fighting Zoom fatigue is scheduling transition periods in between meetings. Even five minutes between meetings allows for a stretch, a walk, and a brief mental break. Another strategy I use is changing mediums when videoconferencing isn’t necessary. I have enjoyed making some meetings “walking meetings,” where I talk on the phone while going for a stroll. In addition to health benefits of the activity, a 2014 study found that walking increases the “free flow of ideas” and is “a simple and robust solution to the goals of increasing creativity and increasing physical activity.”

We don’t have all the answers to how to navigate a remote workplace, but as most experts agree that remote work will continue to be the standard moving forward, we have to continue to seek them out. We should take what we’ve learned in the past year—both the limits of tools like Zoom and the successful changes we’ve made—and continue to explore new solutions to ensure that we can develop and engage new and existing employees no matter what the future holds.

This column was co-authored with John Hepp, Ph.D., clinical assistant professor of accountancy in the University of Illinois’ Geis School of Business.

Keith Staats, JD Executive Director, Illinois Chamber of Commerce Tax Institute

Decoding Decoupling: The Facts Behind Pritzker’s Proposal

Gov. J.B. Pritzker is seeking to decouple Illinois’ income tax code from two CARES Act provisions. Here’s a look at the history of decoupling, the complications it creates, and my argument against the proposal.

During the January lame duck session of the Illinois General Assembly, Gov. J.B. Pritzker pushed a proposal to decouple Illinois from certain provisions of the federal Internal Revenue Code (IRC) enacted in March 2020 within the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. He suffered a rare legislative defeat but has already expressed his intention to again seek decoupling during the spring legislative session.

The drafters of the 1969 Illinois Income Tax Act—wisely, in my opinion—determined that the most efficient way in which to adopt an Illinois income tax was to base the state tax on the federal IRC. Because of this, the terminology of the Illinois Income Tax Act is identical to the federal IRC and other federal income taxation statutes unless specified.

Since 1969, there has been some decoupling from the federal IRC. In the 1980s, the state decoupled from federal taxation of retirement income. The state also decoupled from federal net operating losses for corporations, trusts, estates, and partnerships—though not from the federal treatment of individual net operating losses. In the 1990s, the state decoupled from federal bonus depreciation rules.

The result of these choices has been an increase in complexity. The Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR) would likely contend that decoupling, at least in the case of net operating losses, brought more revenue to the state by limiting the total amount of state net operating losses claimed. In the case of depreciation, the argument is less clear: There is no net revenue gain in the long term as the revenue is spread out over different tax years. Instead of taking a larger deduction in earlier years and a smaller deduction in later years as is the case under federal bonus depreciation, the state deduction is spread over the useful life of the item.

The added complexity has led to disputes between taxpayers and IDOR. In the case of net operating losses, it has involved disputes over the tracking and documentation of losses. In the case of depreciation, there are similar disputes over documentation and many audit issues involving whether and how the depreciation addition and subtraction modifications have been properly calculated. These disputes lead to a waste of time and resources on both sides.

Gov. Pritzker’s recent proposal involves decoupling from the temporarily modified net operating loss law as well as from the temporary suspension of the excess business loss

limitations for non-corporate taxpayers, both granted under the CARES Act. The federal net operating loss changes would only affect individual taxpayers because, as noted, Illinois decoupled from federal net operating losses for corporations, trusts, estates, and partnerships many years ago. Under the CARES Act, net operating losses generated in 2018, 2019, and 2020 may be carried back for five years, and the federal limitation on the use of net operating losses was suspended for tax years beginning before Jan. 1, 2021. To my understanding, the rationale for this CARES Act provision was to allow taxpayers to file amended returns and obtain refunds that would provide much-needed cash to those adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CARES Act also suspended the limitation on non-corporate taxpayers’ use of excess business losses until 2021. Under the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017, beginning in 2018 business losses in excess of $250,000 ($500,000 in the case of a joint return) were disallowed for non-corporate taxpayers.

Gov. Pritzker’s rationale for this decoupling effort was the purported fiscal impact of the federal changes. Given the state’s adverse budget situation, he likely feels that the state can’t afford to give out these additional refunds. It is unclear to me why he waited until January 2021 to attempt to decouple from these federal provisions because the state impact of the federal changes was evident at the time the CARES Act passed in March 2020.

If I am correctly reading Gov. Pritzker’s legislative proposal, the decoupling would result in individual taxpayers never receiving the benefit of the net operating losses. The legislation, if enacted,

would just pretend the CARES Act changes never occurred. Because there is no separate Illinois individual net operating loss statute like there is for corporations, the losses of individuals would not merely be deferred to a different time but would be lost forever. This is particularly harsh because the individuals affected by this change are likely the individual business owners most severely affected by the economic impact of COVID-19.

If the governor is successful in his renewed attempts to decouple from the federal provisions, it would be retroactive and therefore even more complicated. If legislation is enacted by the end of the spring legislative session on May 31, many taxpayers will have already submitted their 2020 tax returns as well as amended returns for the prior tax years affected by the federal net operating loss changes.

It is unknown to me what IDOR has been doing, if anything, with refund claims that have been received to date. We will have to wait and see whether the legislation will attempt to claw back any refunds issued prior to its enactment and whether the department would attempt to assess interest on any such amounts that would be recouped.

Decoupling from the federal IRC can be complicated. To the extent it is done, it should be done sparingly, because it increases the complexity of the Illinois Income Tax Act while offering few benefits.

Author’s Note: This column includes my personal observations and does not necessarily represent the views of the Illinois CPA Society.

How I Built a Career by Embracing My Childhood Dreams

BY CHARLENE

I’ll never forget the day that my teacher popped the big question: What do you want to be when you grow up? At seven, I boldly declared my desire to be a teacher, speaker, and writer. As leadership consultant David Whyte once said, “The marvelous thing about a good question is that it shapes our identity as much by the asking as it does by the answering.” I will always remember that big childhood question, and I have never stopped thinking about what my first, sincere answer truly revealed. It was actually the key to unlocking my own unique value proposition in the workplace.

At 19, I began my journey with a Big Four accounting firm as a learning and education intern. I worked my way up to performing audits for banks, real estate investment trusts, investment funds, and other financial market players. I quickly gained one of the most powerful gifts that experience can provide: clarity about my own value. With each executive interview I led and every audit that I performed, I became more attuned to my strengths as well as the areas where I could grow.

When I landed a position in a financial analyst leadership development program at a major bank, I was immediately drawn to the roles that my peers dreaded: reviewing the 10Q, 10K, regulatory reporting, and press releases. I would go home and double-check hundreds of pages of 10K data, compose accounting memos, develop technical manuals, and unravel the requirements for regulatory reporting so that I could train others. Looking back, I realize that I created a role for myself doing exactly what the seven-year-old version of me wanted to do: teaching, speaking, and writing.

Today, I work with major publications to ensure the data integrity of accounting and finance information online. I am a member of Investopedia’s Financial Review Board, an editor for various publications, and a writer for top-ranked financial platforms. I’ve also published three books on Amazon and serve as the editor-in-chief of The Dividend InvestHER premium subscription. Those days of auditing financial statements and breaking down technical accounting information put me on a path that aligned perfectly with my skills and fulfilled my childhood dream.

To anyone who is unsatisfied in their career or wondering what their next step should be, always remember this: There is no one-size-fits-all path to achieve your goals. Think back to your earliest answer to the big question of what you want to do with your life and consider how your unique skills and experiences connect to that. When you’re able to leverage your unique gifts and passions, the value you bring to the table will be undeniable.

My childhood desire was to be a teacher, speaker, and writer— and as a CPA, I’ve created a career for myself that aligns with both my youthful vision and distinctive talents.

RHINEHART, CPA

ICPAS member Charlene Rhinehart, CPA, is the founder of Wealthy Women Daily and a best-selling author. She also serves as the chairperson of the Illinois CPA Society Individual Tax Committee.

Questions?

Day of Service

A Good Day for Doing Good!

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Volunteer as an individual, or get a group together and volunteer as a team. You can choose ANY volunteer activity you like. See our website www.icpas.org/CPADayofService for ideas.

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Timothy Watson, CPA

Partner, Benford Brown & Associates LLC

INTERVIEWED BY HILARY COLLINS

INSIGHTS FROM THE PROFESSION’S INFLUENCERS

Many CPAs come to the vocation through a friend or mentor who was able to show them the rich possibilities of a profession that’s often pigeonholed. For Timothy Watson, CPA, that mentor was his father, a vanguard in the field. Tim has spent the last 23 years as a partner at Benford Brown & Associates, a Black-owned CPA firm in Chicago. Here’s a look at how he has spent his career deepening his connections, embracing his father’s legacy, and offering his own mentorship to the Black CPAs who will follow in his footsteps.

You’re a second-generation CPA. How has your father served as an inspiration?

My father was probably one of the first 200 Black CPAs. He got his CPA license within a year of the last person on the list of the first 150 Black CPAs, and his firm was the largest Black-owned CPA firm in the world at one point. He was a trailblazer. Because of his connections, I knew that I wanted to be an accountant by age 14 and was actually doing the work alongside him. I learned a lot from him about leadership, strategic planning, individual goals, business goals—all of this knowledge he had from his work. It’s a really unique way to grow up.

How have those experiences played into your work with your firm?

My friends Alyssia Benford and Kimi Ellen founded the firm in December of 1996, and I joined them in January of 1998. I was able to take everything I knew from my dad and apply it to a very young firm. I was able to pass on things I knew from working on audits and other engagements in my teenage years, from the niche knowledge to the broader strategic lessons.

You have the somewhat unique experience of working with two other partners at your firm who are Black women. While women and minorities are better represented in accounting than they used to be, there’s still a huge lack of women and minorities in leadership roles. What can firms do to help traditionally passedover people climb the ladder?

The first step for any firm is to get great, diverse candidates in the door; the next is to develop them. We have made a commitment to our staff to train them on not only technical and client service issues, but also management and business issues. Once you have a diverse team, you have to really invest in developing them for leadership. But first you have to get them in the door.

So then, how can CPA firms get diverse CPAs in the door?

First of all, there has to be a commitment. It needs to be a stated part of the strategic planning. Secondly, if you want to attract diverse candidates, you need to go where diverse candidates are. We recruit and urge other firms to recruit from historically Black colleges and colleges that have a larger minority population. Thirdly, you have to get out of your comfort zone. People naturally tend to gravitate towards people that act like them and have the same background as them. You have to be willing to break out of that pattern.