(June 12, 2019) - The American Institute of CPAs recognized 25 top female leaders in the accounting profession on Wednesday with the presentation of the 2019 Most Powerful Women in Accounting Awards at the AICPA Engage conference in Las Vegas.

The awards, now in their eighth year, were created by CPA Practice Advisor and are jointly administered by the AICPA. The awards highlight the success of female leaders and their contributions to the accounting profession. Winners are selected by a group of independent judges. Criteria for award recipients include:

• Demonstration of being a driving force in creating a culture of innovation or excellence within her organization or helped, as a vendor, to develop technologies that empower firms to be more productive and profitable;
• Reaching a level of management and ownership within her company, with demonstrable impact on its success; and
• Actively mentoring those following in her footsteps.

"We received substantially more nominations in 2019 than a year ago and it was a strong group of women," stated Jacquelyn Tracy, chair of the AICPA Women's Initiatives Committee. "Asking our judges to choose among a fabulous nominee pool is a good problem to have as we start to see more women leaders rising in our profession."

The 2019 Most Powerful Women in Accounting Awards recipients, in alphabetical order, are:

• Tommye Barie, senior consulting shareholder, Succession Institute
• Samantha Bowling, partner with Garbelman Winslow
• Danielle Supkis Cheek, director of entrepreneurial advisory services, PKF Texas
• Susan Coffey, executive vice president of public practice, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants
• Lynne Doughtie, U.S. chairman and CEO, KPMG
• Sarah Elliott, principal and co-founder, Intend2Lead
• Kimberly Ellison-Taylor, global strategy leader for the cloud business group, Oracle
• Cathy Engelbert, retired CEO of Deloitte US and incoming commissioner of WNBA
• Tracey Golden, AICPA vice chair and an audit partner with Deloitte
• Kelly Grier, U.S. chairman and managing partner and Americas managing partner, EY
• Kacee Johnson, strategic advisor, CPA.com, and founder, Blue Ocean Principles
• Elizabeth Pittelkow Kittner, controller, Litera Microsystems
• Samantha Mansfield, director of professional development and community, CPA.com
• Gail Perry, editor-in-chief, CPA Practice Advisor
• Amy Pitter, president and CEO, Massachusetts Society of CPAs
• Natasha Schamberger, president and CEO, Kansas Society of CPAs
• Lindsay Stevenson, founder and CEO, Origin Evolution
• Joy Thomas, president and CEO, CPA Canada
• Michelle Loyd Thompson, CEO and firm managing partner, Cherry Bekaert
• Jacquelyn Tracy, partner, Mandel & Tracy
• Amy Vetter, creator, the B3 Method Institute
• Jennifer Warawa, executive vice president of partners, accountants and alliances, Sage
• Sandra Wiley, president, Boomer Consulting
• Jennifer Wilson, co-founder and partner, ConvergenceCoaching
• Candace Wright, director, accounting & assurance services group, Postlethwaite & Netterville

.CPA Will Enhance Trust and Branding of Profession in the Digital World

LAS VEGAS (June 10, 2019) –The American Institute of CPAs is in the process of being awarded the .cpa domain and is currently in a contract execution phase with the Internet’s global governing body, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The AICPA’s role in administering .cpa will provide a defined global domain for CPAs worldwide to connect with their clients with increased trust, security, and verification.

The Internet, like most things, is evolving. ICANN is charged with developing important future drivers for connection in the digital world. As part of this mission, it has expanded the top-level domain structure to aid navigation on the Internet and support trusted and value-based entities and communities. To supplement traditional top-level domains such as .com, .edu and .org, ICANN has approved more than 1,200 specialized domain extensions – including Amazon’s .aws, Google’s launch of .app, as well as those for other well-known businesses, governments, and institutions, such as .vanguard, .barclays, .kpmg, .mlb, and .nyc.

“By overseeing the .cpa domain in collaboration with other global CPA organizations, the AICPA can help promote CPAs’ visibility and protect their professional standing online,” said Barry Melancon, CPA, CGMA, the president and CEO of the AICPA. “We also want the public to have confidence that someone using a .cpa domain address for email or a website is affiliated with the CPA profession.”

The new domain extension will be available to CPAs and their firms and will signal a clear connection to the profession. For example, Firm Name, LLC, could have a website address of www.firmname.cpa. Jane Smith, an employee at that firm, could have an email address of jsmith@firmname.cpa.

“Today, there’s a lack of authentication and growing mistrust of online information,” said Erik Asgeirsson, president and CEO of CPA.com, the AICPA’s technology subsidiary. “This is why many leading companies and communities, such as Amazon, KPMG, and the banking industry are moving to restricted top-level domains. We’re looking forward to bringing this important new capability to the profession.”

More details on registering a domain name will be available later this year. For additional information and the opportunity to sign up for notifications, please visit https://domains.cpa.com

About CPA.com

CPA.com brings innovative solutions to the accounting profession, either in partnership with leading providers or directly through its own development. The company has established itself as a thought leader on emerging technologies and as the trusted business advisor to practitioners in the United States, with a growing global focus.

Our company’s core mission is to drive the transformation of practice areas, advance the technology ecosystem for the profession, and lead technology research and innovation efforts for practitioners.

A subsidiary of the American Institute of CPAs, the company is also part of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, the world’s most influential organization representing the profession. For more information, visit CPA.com.

About the American Institute of CPAs

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) is the world’s largest member association representing the CPA profession, with more than 429,000 members in the United States and worldwide, and a history of serving the public interest since 1887. AICPA members represent many areas of practice, including business and industry, public practice, government, education and consulting. The AICPA sets ethical standards for its members and U.S. auditing standards for private companies, nonprofit organizations, federal, state and local governments. It develops and grades the Uniform CPA Examination, offers specialized credentials, builds the pipeline of future talent and drives professional competency development to advance the vitality, relevance and quality of the profession.

About the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants

The Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (the Association) is the most influential body of professional accountants, combining the strengths of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) to power opportunity, trust and prosperity for people, businesses and economies worldwide. It represents 657,000 members and students across 179 countries and territories in public and management accounting and advocates for the public interest and business sustainability on current and emerging issues. With broad reach, rigor and resources, the Association advances the reputation, employability and quality of CPAs, CGMAs and accounting and finance professionals globally.

The American Institute of CPAs has been selected to oversee the newly minted Internet domain, .cpa, by the Internet’s global governing body, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The new domain will be available to certified professional accountants globally.

Part of ICANN’s mission is to expand the top-level domain structure to aid navigation on the Internet. The effort can support trusted entities and communities, such as CPAs.

In this webinar, a panel of audit experts will chart the developments that are revolutionizing this core service of the profession.

The new domain extension will be available to CPAs and their firms the same way any other domain extension is. For instance, a firm called Best Accounting could sign up for the domain bestaccounting.cpa, and employees at that firm may have an email address with the .cpa extension, as in Jane.Doe@bestaccounting.cpa.

“By overseeing the .cpa domain in collaboration with other global CPA organizations, the AICPA can help promote CPAs’ visibility and protect their professional standing online,” said Barry Melancon, CPA, CGMA, the president and CEO of the AICPA, in a statement. “We also want the public to have confidence that someone using a .cpa domain address for email or a website is affiliated with the CPA profession.”

“Today, there’s a lack of authentication and growing mistrust of online information,” added Erik Asgeirsson, president and CEO of CPA.com, the AICPA’s tech subsidiary. “This is why many leading companies and communities, such as Amazon, KPMG, and the banking industry are moving to restricted top-level domains. We’re looking forward to bringing this important new capability to the profession.”

More details on registering a domain name will be available later this year. For additional information and the opportunity to sign up for notifications, visit https://domains.cpa.com.

What do you get when you combine the methodology of the AICPA, the innovative technology solutions fostered by CPA.com, and the cloud-based audit, financial reporting, and data analytics capability of CaseWare?

The result of this dream team partnership is OnPoint PCR, a smart, cloud-based solution that is transforming how CPA firms conduct preparation, compilation, and review engagements.

Launched in the summer of 2018, OnPoint PCR addresses industry trends, allowing firms to comply with standards, manage their engagements efficiently, while also providing firms with the impetus to adapt the latest technology. The product offers CPA firms "guided engagements," a term used by OnPoint PCR to describe the process of smartly matching the required procedures to the level of work to be done. The objective is to help firms improve quality, operate more efficiently, and deliver better value to clients.

OnPoint PCR’s debut into the marketplace has not gone unnoticed. To date, the application has won CPA Practice Advisor’s Tax and Accounting Technology Innovation Award in July of 2018, as well as being named a 2019 Top New Product by Accounting Today earlier this year.

“Firms currently feel like they are spending lots of time sifting through guidance that may not apply and performing steps that may not be relevant to a particular engagement. OnPoint PCR combines technology and an innovative approach to deliver a high-quality engagement as efficiently as possible." said Erik Asgeirsson, president and CEO of CPA.com.

Designed to address common pain points experienced by today’s CPA firms, OnPoint PCR offers a host of benefits to firms including:

• Built-in guidance that gives system users a high level of confidence
• The use of active and dynamic checklists that show only relevant procedures and requirements based on information that is input
• Client information requests that are embedded into the solution and part of the natural workflow
• Integrated content and methodology that is available to help reduce anxiety on the part of practitioners who fear non-compliance
• The ability to import data from QuickBooks and Xero into OnPoint PCR providing simplified data access

“Today, more than 19,000 U.S. firms are delivering preparation, compilation, and review work as their highest level of engagement,” said Asgeirsson. “This solution is an essential tool for providing high-value services to clients in this area.”

Here’s how it works. Each engagement begins with a series of basic questions, which OnPoint PCR then builds upon using the guided engagement process, creating a unique, on-the-fly updating of checklists that are generated based on the answers provided to the initial questions. Once a checklist has been completed, users are provided with a link to the next step in the engagement process.

To do this, OnPoint PCR uses a clean user interface that guides users through the series of initial questions, adding additional questions as the process continues. "Firms like the clean approach that is used in OnPoint,” said Matt Towers, OnPoint PCR’s product marketing manager. While being clean, this approach can ensure that only information relevant to the engagement needs to be completed, eliminating unnecessary tasks.

As a result, engagement letters and other reports are generated as the process continues. Users can also customize each engagement to add procedures or other specialized considerations based on the particular needs of the client or the industry that they are in.

In addition, trial balances from popular accounting products such as QuickBooks and Xero are auto-mapped into OnPoint PCR, while those imported from Microsoft Excel will have recommended categories. According to product source material, any auto-mapping discrepancies are immediately flagged, with users able to drag and drop accounts to the correct category.

OnPoint PCR also offers complete client collaboration, with firms able to send, receive, and track all client communications from within the application, eliminating the need to utilize numerous third-party software applications or email. This can be particularly helpful to smaller firms or solo practitioners who can quickly become bogged down with traditional methods of managing client documents and communications.

That may also explain why many of OnPoint PCR’s early adopters are smaller firms that appreciate its ability to streamline proper documentation and allow them to more productive. Jennifer J. Mansfield, CPA, a sole practitioner based in Tucson, AZ, spoke to this point. "I have been using super-long checklists for years, and it is a lot of work to pare down those guides into what's relevant for my practice. That's why the minute I saw the OnPoint PCR solution I knew it would be a game-changer for me."

“OnPoint PCR can help small firms and sole practitioners work smarter by automating much of the processes that typically bring frustration,” said Michael Cerami, vice president strategic alliances & business development at CPA.com. "While smaller firms seem to be the first new adopters of the product, OnPoint PCR provides a different value to different size firms.”

“It’s also about growing a practice,” adds Asgeirsson, as CPAs can spend less time bogged down in the initial engagement process and more time growing their firm.

As an added safeguard, OnPoint PCR has what it terms "guard rails" built into the product methodology, preventing less experienced staff from making egregious errors during the engagement process.

“It’s about driving quality, efficiency, and value,” said Asgeirsson. “It also allows CPA firms to think more strategically about their client’s business.”

For more information about OnPoint PCR, visit the website at www.cpa.com/onpoint, where you can view a short video or register for an upcoming webinar. OnPoint PCR is also offering special introductory pricing of $495.00 per user, per year.

When they look out over the next five years, the leaders of the country’s leading accounting firms see technology reshaping their practices more than any other factor.

As part of Accounting Today’s annual Top 100 Firms study, managing partners and other senior firm leaders were asked to name the biggest changes they expect in their firms and the profession over the next five years — and their answers overwhelmingly involved some form or aspect of the digital.

In fact, most of the MPs and senior executives surveyed would broadly agree with the assessment of Jim Powers, chief executive officer of Chicago-based national firm Crowe. “Technology is going to reshape the professional services industry over the next five years,” he said. “The need for traditional accounting and consulting services will continue, but how they are delivered will change dramatically. In addition, there are tremendous opportunities for creating new services and solutions by leveraging many of the exciting advances in technology.”

Beyond that, though, firm leaders differed widely on which aspect of technology was most important — for some it was the specifics of artificial intelligence and blockchain; for others, the expansion of remote work or the new skill sets that accountants will have to develop to adapt; and for still others, the impact of all these and more on service areas both traditional and new — nor did all agree on whether these changes would be good or bad for the profession.

One of the most commonly cited drivers of change in accounting firms was actually a trio of individual technologies: artificial intelligence, robotic process automation and blockchain.

“All three of these challenges will have a profound effect on the firm,” wrote Mary Elliott, CEO of Alabama’s Warren Averett. “Many would argue that artificial intelligence is already here and affecting us. Due to the complex nature of coding related to AI, we are currently looking at vendor products that include components of AI to create efficiencies for internal processes and boost value-added insight for our clients.”

“Robotic process automation will affect our internal processes drastically. We are exploring our various data entry and repetitive tasks to determine whether a portion or an entire task can be automated using RPA,” she continued. “Blockchain technology will certainly affect both our internal processes and our clients’ business models. We believe blockchain will change the entire business ecosystem, and we have already begun educating our employees on what blockchain is and what it may mean for our industry and operations in the future.”

Blockchain will be a major focus for the firm’s director of innovation, and they have also hired a consultant to help their innovation team in keeping up with developments around the technology and educating their employees.

Others focused on the practice areas that will be impacted.

“We believe new technologies will have a profound effect on our firm and the broader profession as a whole in the next five years,” reported Matt Snow, CEO of North Carolina-based Dixon Hughes Goodman. “We are focused on adapting the strategy for all three of our major service lines of our firm: assurance, tax and advisory. For our assurance practice, we developed and implemented a new audit methodology and accompanying technology to support our assurance practice. We are also investing in the AICPA’s Dynamic Audit Solution, both as an investor and by offering firm resources to the project. Additionally, we are a member of a joint venture with three other firms to develop tools for our assurance practice incorporating the technologies referenced above.”

For tax, DHG is structuring its service line to leverage the opportunities offered by new technologies (as well as by tax reform), including more virtual assignment of engagement teams, and adding resources for deploying innovative solutions in clients’ compliance and reporting processes, while for advisory services, the firm continues to develop new and relevant service offerings for client industries as they evolve in the new digital marketplace, including cybersecurity, IT advisory services, data analytics services, and more.

“Adapting our workforce, skill sets and leverage model to new technology solutions that will come with these changes will be an evolving challenge,” Snow noted, and DHG has created a framework for change management in response, “recognizing that change adaptability is as critical as acquiring the new resources and technologies themselves.”

Making the most of technology was on the minds of many firm leaders, who often had specific applications in mind.

“Data analytics will play an increasingly important role in firms our size as we look to streamline processes to gain efficiencies to combat the continued pressure on fees,” said Philip Holthouse, MP of California’s Holthouse, Carlin & Van Trigt.

At Armanino, another California-based Top 100 Firm, meanwhile, CEO and MP Matt Armanino said, “The implementation of AI and machine learning presents opportunity. With more automated solutions, the firm can focus on being a strategic partner focused on future-proofing for clients, rather than investing human capital on the heavy lifting of audit examinations.”

The impact on people

The leaders of the Top 100 Firms don’t generally share the common concern that technology will automate away many traditional services or lead to fewer jobs for accountants.

“We expect to leverage technology in new ways that will allow us to maximize efficiency,” said Dayton Benway, managing principal of Maine’s Baker Newman Noyes. “However, we do not expect this will reduce the need for highly qualified professionals to provide client service.”

However, many of them think that all the different layers of the ongoing digital revolution will require significant adaptation on the part of their employees.

“The most impactful changes over the coming few years will come through leveraging new technologies to automate portions of our work,” said Brian Kreischer, managing partner of Frank, Rimerman & Co., in California. “This will also create an opportunity to radically re-think how we learn many core skills. Employees will be challenged to master new skills and acquire knowledge not through repetition, but through greater comprehension of context, concepts and business judgment.”

Similarly, the CEO of New York-based CohnReznick, Frank Longobardi, said, “Our people will need to learn and employ new competencies to work effectively, while many day-to-day manual accounting and auditing procedures will be automated. This frees our people to focus their skills on strategic analysis — interpreting rather than processing data.”

The new skills required by new technologies have a number of the Top 100 Firms rethinking how they train their staff.

“Advances in technology will continue to put pressure on us as we need to continue to make significant additional investments in both technology and talent to adapt to the changing profession,” noted John Litchfield, the COO and CFO of Tennessee-based LBMC. “We added a director of learning and development a couple of years ago, which has been a great add. We have to continue to train our professionals and equip them for new skill sets that will be required and effectively upskill all of the team members we have today so they will be prepared for the future.”

At RSM US, the firm has a number of programs in place to develop the skills necessary to turn its employees into “first-choice” advisors, which include, but definitely aren’t limited to, being more technology-savvy.

In fact, the Top 5 Firm saw reasons beyond technology to focus on training and staff development. “Over the next five years, we expect to see a continued influx of high-performing individuals from increasingly diverse backgrounds to reflect the growing global nature of our middle-market clients,” explained national public relations director Terri Andrews. “In addition to an increasingly diverse workforce, we expect the skill sets needed of our people to continue to evolve as technology reshapes our industry.”

And at New York-based Freed Maxick, technologies like RPA and AI have chairman and managing director Henry Koziol anticipating a new staffing model: “We will need to attract associates with new and nontraditional talent sets. This will then have an effect and ultimately change the staffing model in regards to available jobs and hiring.”

Other change agents

While technology was by far the most commonly cited change agent for the next five years, it wasn’t the only one.

Chris Olson, the COO of Blue & Co., expects that change at her Indiana-headquartered firm will focus in part on “integrating the recruitment of nontraditional majors or backgrounds that will enable the firm to better serve clients in the evolving CPA environment.”

Other firms are looking at major changes to internal functions over the next few years.

“We will completely move away from the chargeable hour revenue model and tracking time,” said Joey Havens, executive partner at Mississippi-based Horne. “This will free our team up to be more innovative and to focus on executing our client promises, leading to a distinctive client experience.”

Colorado-headquartered K-Coe Isom has a similar goal: “Getting rid of timesheets,” said CEO Jeff Wald. “Ditching the timesheets will change the value we place on the services we provide and create a different service delivery model that focuses on value creation versus time input.”