chair's corner.

• Author: Eddy, Kathy G.
• Position: Brief Article

As the new Chair of the AICPA Board of Directors, I am looking forward to writing these columns to discuss issues and initiatives affecting our profession. It is an exciting time for us, a time of challenges from which wonderful opportunities emerge.

Our efforts have put a lot on our plate. To help prioritize all the goings-on, I came up with three guidelines for deciding which projects will receive my aggressive support.

(1) Projects and initiatives that enhance our hallmark and advance our ability to build on the profession's reputation as protector of the public.

(2) Projects and initiatives that are aligned with the CPA Vision. The Vision is our blueprint for survival. We cannot stray from it.

(3) Consideration of fiscal responsibility. Only a financially sound Institute can continue to protect the profession and the public.

Here is a quick synopsis of a few of the initiatives stemming from the Vision that I believe will enable members to increase their value to their various publics, while adhering to my three guidelines. Task forces of the Group of 100 are focusing on defining and developing an ethical framework for the repositioned profession; crafting an AICPA-sponsored student internship program that will reach out to college/university students to entice them to become CPAs; assessing ways to improve products and services for members in business and industry; exploring how to maximize technology for the profession; and examining the politics and policies needed to achieve agreement on a new financial accounting model (that is, how to move a new financial model forward).

I also am an ardent supporter of another Vision-aligned initiative: the proposed global professional...