CPAs in business and industry: gearing up for the 21st century.In a major expansion of its services to CPAs in the private sector, the American American, river, 30 mi (48 km) long, rising in N central Calif. in the Sierra Nevada and flowing SW into the Sacramento River at Sacramento. The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill (see Sutter, John Augustus) along the river in 1848 led to the California gold rush of Institute of CPAs established the Center for Excellence in Financial Management on January 1, 1997. The center serves as the umbrella for the AICPA AICPA See American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). programs, products and services that support the 140,000 members in business and industry. The center's objective is to help CPAs retool re·tool v. re·tooled, re·tool·ing, re·tools v.tr. 1. To fit out (a factory, for example) with a new set of machinery and tools for making a different product. 2. and develop new skills to meet the demands of their expanding role as strategic business partners and advisers within their organizations. The center's offerings and activities are also relevant to CPAs in public practice, who often must wear many hats for their clients, including accounting manager, controller and chief financial officer. "By establishing a clearinghouse clearinghouse Institution established by firms engaged in similar activities to enable them to offset transactions with one another in order to limit payment settlements to net balances. from which AICPA members can obtain stateof-the-art and timely information and training in cutting-edge subjects, we are meeting an important need" said AICPA President Barry C. Melancon. "Moreover, we are helping our members enhance their professional standing and economic potential by adding value to their companies and clients in the 21st century" The collective package of offerings and activities through the center will include professional education, research, benchmarking and publications; one of its most important functions will be the interchange An interchange is a location where two things meet, usually perform some kind of exchange, and possibly go on their ways again. It is most commonly used in four contexts:
v. t. 1. To turn (an opportunity) to one's advantage; to take advantage of (a situation); to profit from; as, to capitalize on an opponent's mistakes s>. all available expertise. The education content will focus on "the new finance" a term created by the AICPA management accounting executive committee to describe the revolutionary changes that have taken place globally in financial management and the expanded roles and responsibilities of CPAs in business and industry. The new finance encompasses such subjects as shareholder value creation, capacity management, competitive intelligence, just-in-time production systems and value chain analysis. The center will establish relationships with universities to foster cooperative research, develop executive-level education programs and design and produce seminars and workshops relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc the new finance. Research services will be provided through partnerships with other forward-looking organizations such as the Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing-International and the Society of Management Accountants of Canada The Society of Management Accountants of Canada, which is also known as CMA Canada, awards the Certified Management Accountant designation in Canada. CMA Canada represents 37,000 members and 10,000 students. . The center also will provide case study grants to document the application of 21 st century business and financial management knowledge in companies of all sizes. Information on business and industry will be available through the AICPA library, the AICPA technical hotlines, AICPA Online and its hyperlinks, Accountants Forum on CompuServe (including online chats and conferences) and the programs provided by the AICPA and its partners in research. "Rapid changes in the business environment, driven by major advances in information technology, have revolutionized the role of finance professionals" said John K. Shank shank (shangk) 1. leg (1). 2. crus ( 2). shank n. The part of the human leg between the knee and ankle. , former chairman of the AICPA management accounting executive committee. "There is an acute and growing demand for CPAs to provide strategic decision-support information as a crucial competitive weapon." The center is a concentration of data, knowledge, products and services from a great many sources that can be delivered to members through many channels of communication. There is no single location or library called the "Center for Excellence in Financial Management." Rather, it is a much broader, future-focused entity that is not confined con·fine v. con·fined, con·fin·ing, con·fines v.tr. 1. To keep within bounds; restrict: Please confine your remarks to the issues at hand. See Synonyms at limit. within conventional walls. The center is coordinated by the AICPA industry and management accounting staff. For information on the Center for Excellence, call 212-596-6157. The establishment of the center marks a milestone in the road to preparing the AICPA and its members for the 21st century. One of the center's first offerings is the collection of articles that follows. As the opening of a motion picture provides the story setting and some clues of events to come, so these articles sweep the tumultuous landscape of accounting and finance in 1997, accompanied by snapshots of the status quo [Latin, The existing state of things at any given date.] Status quo ante bellum means the state of things before the war. The status quo to be preserved by a preliminary injunction is the last actual, peaceable, uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy. and signposts pointing to some ways CPAs can excel as valued business strategists in the 21st century. |
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