Let's talk a minute before we start about the profession of accounting.
This course is designed to prepare you for a CPA certificate or to work in accounting,
in industry, in business.
Let's talk a little bit about what that means.
In order to do that, we have an interview with Todd Shapiro,
the CEO of the Illinois CPA Society.
And he's going to explain to us a little bit about what it means to be an accountant,
the goal of this whole program.
Hello, today we're talking with Todd Shapiro,
the president and CEO of the Illinois CPA Society.
We're going to talk a little bit about the accounting profession.
Todd, let's start out with,
why is accounting a profession?
Why isn't it a trade?
What's the difference?
My view of the profession,
it's something that it requires lifelong learning,
it requires judgment, it requires creativity, it requires insight.
You are looked at by businesses, by clients,
by companies you work for to provide insight.
And it is not prescribed in any way shape or form.
So, you are constantly having to analyze information,
and develop that insight,
and creativity on the go.
So not that a trade doesn't require some level of lifelong learning, most do.
I think where it gets into the business insight that you have to provide,
the creativity you have to provide,
makes us what I really consider to be a profession,
not a trade type business but a profession.
I would look also at the fact that you are
required to be independent for example if you're performing an audit.
And there's a public interest in seeing that the work is performed correctly.
Absolutely. There's at least just two major facets within our profession.
There's both the public accounting side and then there's the corporate side.
Within the public side, there's no question.
A good portion of that is really still today protecting the public good,
audit is protecting the public good.
Even if you're on the tax side,
you really are in fact helping clients make decisions and in fact,
in many cases potentially representing those clients to the IRS,
which gets to really protecting the public good.
Well, what about the professional association?
Can you tell us a little bit about what a professional association and what its role is?
Yeah. The Illinois CPA Society we're one of the largest state CPA societies.
Our mission tells what our role is.
Our mission is to enhance the value of the CPA profession.
No matter where you practice whether or not it's in public,
or corporate, or education,
or not for profits,
our role really is to enhance the value of CPA profession.
And then the question gets into,
how do you do that? That sounds good.
But how do you in fact enhance the value of the CPA profession?
The Illinois CPA Society,
we've established what we call four strategic pillars education,
information, advocacy and connections.
And we very much believe that providing those pillars,
education, when you consider the lifelong part of this profession.
When you consider information,
being able to provide information in
a timely basis that helps professionals do their jobs better.
Advocacy, there is an advocacy role, one,
in helping to inform the public of efficacies not just legislative and regulatory,
but one helping to inform the public about the value of the CPA versus a non-CPA.
Why is it beneficial to hire a CPA versus not?
As well as the whole regulatory and legislative side.
This is a regulated profession.
And, finally, connections because we all know that we
can do our jobs better if we can connect with one another,
connect with professionals, connect with people of
all different facets to in fact do our job better.
So if you really look at enhancing the value of
the CPA profession through those four strategic pillars,
I believe that's what the ordinary CPA societies should be doing,
that is the role of our association.
I think to a large role of any association that's participating in the CPA profession.
Well, one more thing then,
what advice do you think you would give to somebody who's
considering studying to become a CPA?
Well, that's interesting advice.
Because I have a son who asked me that question about six years ago,
when he was at the University of Illinois and
trying to decide what major he's going to pursue.
And I encouraged him.
And you can only imagine your father is
the CEO of the Illinois CPA Society, and now here you are.
You're in college and all you've heard is this, right?
So it wasn't his first jump was to say,
"Hey, I'm going to be an accountant."
One day we're talking so I'm going to tell you what I told him,
that it truly is the language of business.
Not just the debit and the credit but it's understanding and interpreting that.
You can go to business,
again, whether or not you're in public accounting and advising clients,
or whether or not you're in
a corporation working in the controllership accounting and finance function.
It is the language of business where you can help people understand what's going on.
So, and it's about providing that insight.
And the reality is we know that
most people don't have that insight outside of this profession.
So it's a fulfilling profession in fact that you can help people do their jobs better,
become more profitable, become more successful because you can
help them understand the financial formation.
At the end of the day, I always used to say,
"You can have all the sales in the world you want but you got to
be profitable to be doing sustainable business."
So in fact, I think really it's a great profession.
It gives you that core understanding of understanding financial information.
It doesn't mean you're going to be an auditor,
doesn't mean you're going to tax,
doesn't mean you're going to work on the corporate side,
but that core knowledge, that core basic understanding of being an accounting student,
an accounting graduate, becoming a CPA,
I think gives you that understanding to be able to
communicate information in an insightful,
educated way that helps people make better decisions.
You make it sound very attractive.
Thank you.
Well, thank you very much.
And Todd for coming in.
Thank you, John.
And good luck.
Thank you.
So welcome to the course. Let's get started.
John HeppClinical Assistant Professor of Accountancy
