Accounting for Kids[R] Day 2008: students manage money like the pros when CPAs take Wall Street to "Main Street".

• Position: Involvement

The New York Stock Exchange has nothing on these kids. Undaunted by recent economic woes, students tried their skills--and their luck--in a simulated stock market. They used pretend stocks but applied genuine ambition and enthusiasm.

On Nov. 12, 2008, more than 1,400 CPAs and other volunteers introduced money management concepts to 11,500 fourth-, fifth-and sixth-graders across Ohio during Accounting for Kids Day.

The award-winning program, now in its eighth year, enjoyed record-breaking success with more volunteers participating than ever before, reaching 460 classrooms.

The Ohio CPA Foundation funds the annual event, which is part of The Ohio Society's Financial Fitness Ohio initiative to teach financial literacy to consumers of all ages.

Ohio Auditor of State Mary Taylor, CPA had a hand in the success. She helped bring the program to hundreds of additional children by organizing a volunteer effort among her staff statewide. More than 120 volunteers from the Auditor of State's eight regional offices headed to local classrooms to lead students in an exciting, interactive game that teaches the principles of investing and saving.

Taylor joined the fun at the Copley-Fairlawn Middle School, an Akron suburb, handing out multi-colored stock certificates and dividends, fielding questions, and cheering kids along as they rolled the dice to determine how their stocks would perform.

"Once you've had the opportunity to play the game with children, you see how fun it is," Taylor said. "I think they get a lot out of it. They ask questions, and they really do understand the concepts when it's done."

Kids learned lessons about the rewards and risks of investing their money--some by winning, and some by losing.

Fifth grader Mila Ostich said her team should have "diversified" its stock options--a term she learned while playing the game.

"We tried to get a purple or a red stock, but we couldn't because we didn't have enough money, so we just did the best we could with what we had," Ostich said. Her advice to fellow investors, "Choose more than one stock!"

Teaching kids to make good financial decisions at an early age is crucial, Taylor said, because statistics show fewer Americans are saving their money than in the past.

"The opportunity for those of us in the profession to volunteer and teach financial literacy to children across Ohio is extremely important," Taylor said. "Through the efforts of the Society and The Ohio CPA Foundation, those programs will...