Chair's corner.

• Author: Murphy, Leslie
• Position: AICPA

For me, one of the great satisfactions of being a CPA is having the chance to use my skills to give something back to my community. The CPA profession is devoted to the public good, and that means not only performing professional services that benefit the public, but also personally becoming engaged in volunteer activities in our own communities. Each CPA's involvement helps reinforce the profession's reputation as a whole.

There are some amazing examples of volunteerism in our profession, and I'd like to share some of them with you. For starters, Bob Fay, of Canton, Ohio, who earned the AICPA Individual Public Service Award in 2002, has been involved with Habitat for Humanity since 1988, serving on its board and fundraising committee and having a hand in the completion of roughly 225 homes. He also has been active for 12 years with a local women's shelter, starting with it when it had one shelter that couldn't pay its heating bill and working to help it grow to an organization with two shelters and a $1.8 million budget. "CPAs are extremely well respected in our communities and we have the skills and leadership abilities these organizations are dying for," he says, adding that CPAs' financial expertise "can supply a huge piece of the puzzle for these groups."

The winner of this year's Individual Public Service Award, Ralph B. Bender, has served on the boards of more than 20 local community service organizations in his native Baton Rouge. KraftCPAs, of Nashville, Tenn., which earned the Firm Public Service Award, establishes community service as a goal for its professional staff. The firm's leadership actively helps employees find opportunities for community service.

Many CPAs have also taken advantage of the volunteer opportunities afforded by the 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy program. In Prescott, Ariz., Scott Helfinstine, who is both a financial literacy volunteer and an AICPA CPA Ambassador, hosted educational programs for middle-school-age girls on subjects including the history of money, and banking and financial concepts. In Charleston, S.C., Bob Baldwin is helping the AICPA coordinate...