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Could you be a career CPA?
The professional accountng field
has grown immensely in the last 35
years and is still expanding. In the
U nited States, there are more than
10 ,000 acco u ntants. D esp ite the
strong attraction to the Public A c
co u n tin g pro fession in the Î or 4
decades, college-bound high school
graduates know less about public
accounting than they do about other
professions. Here are some answers
to some of the questions often asked
about the accounting profession.
I f you become a tax accountant,
you wil assist or advise in the filing
o f various lax returns (state and
federal) and you will be involved in
resolving any problems or questions
resulting from any revenue agent's
ex am in atio n o f your c lie n t's re
turns.
in fo rm a tio n consulting (Business
systems) area, you w ill work exten
sively with computers, management
information reporting and control.
la being a CPA rewarding?
W h o a ra C P A a ?
LaVER N E S P R IN G E R
Portlander appears in
off-Broadway show
LaVerne Springer is currently ap
p earing in the o ff-B ro a d w a y
p ro d u c tio n o f N to z a k e Shange's
F o r C o lored G irls Who H ave C o n
sidered Suicide When the Rainbow
is E n u f. at the Black Experimental
T h e a tre , d irected by N e v ille R it-
chen, as the "L ad y in Brow n".
L avern e is a native o f P o rtlan d
and has appeared on the Portlan d
stage in F o r Colored G ir ls ... as the
" L a d y in R e d " and the " L a d y in
B lu e " . She has also appeared in
Lake Oswego Com m unity Theatre's
A R o ya l Fam ily and Cannon Beach
Theatre's Maude.
LaVerne currently resides in New
Y o rk C ity w ith her sons, and is
avidly pursuing a career in theatre
and film . She has also appeared in
the aw ard w inning Cham peen and
can c u rre n tly be seen in her firs t
national comm ercial for M C I. She
is also m a kin g her film debut in
F ran cis F o rd C o p p o lla 's m ovie
"C o lto n Club starring Richard Gere
and Gregory Hines (to be released at
Christmas).
A n d , she has just been cast as
" M y ra ” in National Black Theatre's
One Monkey Don 'I Stop N o Show to
begin in July.
" I love this crazy business, I think
I was born to it! I f you want to find
out if you’ve got it, this is the place
T h e endless hours o f a u d itio n s ,
rejection, call backs, rehearsals, I
love it!
" F o r C o lo re d G irls . . . is my
heart, it ’s where I got my start. And
to be able to do it in N ew Y o rk is
fabulous! One night the author was
in the house and she said we were
fierce! Can you imagine that? I wish
all my fam ily and friends could be
here. I w ould like to d ed icate this
production to an incredible director,
Rosemary A lle n , my fa m ily Bessie
and Alex Eaden and my sons Randy
and Gabe who keep my life “ center
stage.”
C P A 's are sp ecially tra in ed
p ro fession als w ho usu ally have
either u nd ergrad uate or g rad u ate
degrees in business and accounting.
They have to pass an exam a d
ministered by the state in order to
practice. C P A 's perform accounting
services, fo r a fee. fo r the p u b lic ,
large and sm all businesses, n o n
p ro fit organizations, partnerships
and individuals. A C P A may prac
tice alone (a sole p ractitio ner), in a
small local or regional partnership
or in one o f the very large national
and worldwide accounting firms. As
experts in accounting, their business
is selling o p in io n s on acco u nting
m atters to clien ts. Since these
o pin io ns a ffe c t o th e r's m a jo r in
vestments and business decisions, a
C P A 's re p u tatio n and practice to
clients is on the line in every
business encounter.
W h a t do C P A a do?
They are involved in three basic
areas o f acco u nting practice:
auditing, taxes and management in
fo rm a tio n co n su ltin g (Business
systems). Most C P A 's develop sub
stantial skill in and limit their prac
tice to just one o f these areas.
However, a small number o f C P A 's
operate as general practitioners and
perform services in all three.
I f you becom e an a u d ito r, you
w ill devote much o f your tim e to
examining financial statements to be
put into your client's annual report
to shareholders
In many ways it is a challenging
profession where you can develop
your own skills at your own pace,
even a very ra p id pace. O ne can
q u ick ly assume sizeable respon
sibilities and a leadership role. It is a
field where the o n ly thing that
determ ines your progress is you.
The profession is financially rewar
ding. C P A compensation is equal or
belter than that o f the lop level ac
counting personnel in industry.
Earnings progress to more than
$ 5 0 ,0 0 0 a year at the p artn ersh ip
level, and well beyond that for ac
counting firm executives.
W hat akllla doaa a CPA n o d ?
You must have superior technical
ability. Also, you must be “ people-
o rien ted " in this profession. In o r
der to be an expert accountant, one
must have high quantitative abilities
and a genuine interest in numbers.
The necessary "p e o p le sk ills” in
clude excellent w ritten and verbal
com m unication a b ility , the ab ility
to w ork w ith and deal e ffe c tiv e ly
with others, even under stress, and
the capacity to present one's views
effectively and persuasively.
W hara can CPA Inform ation
ba obtained?
You can start with the accounting
d ep artm en t at your college or
university, or any career counselor
in your area
A ls o , you can
write the American Institute o f C er
tified Public Accountants (A IC P A )
at 1211 A venue o f the A m eric as,
New Y o rk , N .Y . 10036. Financial
aids is sometimes available for those
seeking acco u nting or business
careers. The A IC P A provides a
number of partial scholarships each
year to u n d erg rad u a te m in o rity
students who are enrolled in accoun
ting programs.
Get a degree of experience
Many jobs today require a degree
for eligibility or for promotion. Too
o fte n the c rite ria fo r h irin g are
credentials rather than knowledge.
This is a frequently used technique
to limit employing elderly workers,
women and minorities.
The G .l B ill, fed eral and state
student loan programs have made it
easy for a student eligible for college
to attend, in the past. How ever, a
college ed u catio n is becom ing
lim ited to the a fflu e n t now as was
the case years ago.
An interesting alternative to the
standard 4-year college attendance
is being o ffe re d by T ho m as A .
Edison College Founded in 1972, in
Edison, New Jersey, it has awarded
associate or b ach elo r degrees to
more than a thousand students for
academic study at another college,
for knowledge acquired on the job,
or for independent study.
Edison College has no faculty, no
library, and no campus. Il is one of
New Jersey’s nine state colleges. It is
housed in a small buildin g rented
from nearby Princeton University.
The college was accredited by the
M id d le States A sso ciatio n o f
Schools and Colleges in July. This is
the same organization (hat accredits
Princeton University.
T h e college is nam ed a fte r
Thomas Edison, the inventor of the
electric light and the phonograph,
w ho never went to college. The
college catalogue states that, today,
Ed ison 's academ ic credentials
"w ou ld probably not be considered
for a responsible job at any research
firm in the country.”
Edison is the only accredited
college that o ffe rs no academ ic
courses, provides credit for life ex
perience and exists solely fo r
recognizing knowledge.
T h e college does little ad v e r
tisement fo r fear that it w ill look
like ,i college degree mail order mill.
How long a degree applicant went
to school is not m aterial. They will
search the college archives. Practical
and general knowledge in various
fields can be combined for degree
evaluation by faculty consultants.
A fte r
establishing
previous
college credits arrangements can be
made w ith Edison academic coun
selors to take a d d itio n a l courses
thay may be required for a degree.
FredMeySL
The courses can be taken near your
home.
Edison basically d iffe rs fro m
other external degree program s
because it relies more on individual
assessment
than
w ritte n
ex am in atio n s . A lm o st 36 o f its
students are over 30 years o f age.
The college recognizes that the value
of its credentials will be determined
by re p u tatio n s established by its
graduates.
A fte r receiving a degree, Edison
graduates have been accepted as
graduate students at various univer
sities.
This is a marvelous o p p o rtu n ity
to use the to ta lity o f the Black ex
perience for academic credentials.
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Portland Observer, June 6, 1984 Section II Page 9
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