President’s Perspective

4309 Cox Road Glen Allen, VA 23060 (800) 733-8272 vscpa.com

disclosures

disclosures.vscpa.com disclosures@vscpa.com

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018 Volume 31, No. 1

Managing Editor Jill Edmonds disclosures@vscpa.com

Contributing Editor Chip Knighton cknighton@vscpa.com

Public Affairs & Communications Director David Bass dbass@vscpa.com

Editorial Task Force Olaf Barthelmai, CPA Adam Chaikin, CPA Cheri David, CPA Jennifer Eversole, CPA Genevieve Hancock Alesia Lewis, CPA Harold Martin Jr., CPA David Peters, CPA Mark Plostock, CPA Barbara Sukramani, CPA

Disclosures is published six times a year by the Virginia Society of Certifi ed Public Accountants (VSCPA). The magazine’s mission is to communicate information of value to VSCPA members, including professional issues and VSCPA initiatives. The materials and information in Disclosures are offered as material only and not as practice, fi nancial, accounting, legal or other professional advice. Statements of fact and opinion are made by the authors alone and do not imply an opinion on the part of VSCPA offi cers, members or editorial staff. Publication of an advertisement in Disclosures does not constitute a VSCPA endorsement of the product or service. Copyright © 2017 Virginia Society of CPAs.

VSCPA Preferred Providers

president’s perspective

New titles, same member focus

Those of you who have visited the “Our Team” page on the VSCPA website in the past few months probably noticed some changes. The old departments are gone, replaced by an alphabetical staff listing. Just as important are the dozens — hey, two dozen is still dozens, we’re a small organization! — of new titles. That’s what I want to talk about in this space.

Most of you probably know about the VSCPA2025 strategic plan we launched at Leaders’ Summit last May. (If you don’t, you can read about it at vscpa.com/2025.) The plan resulted from a year-plus effort on behalf of the VSCPA Board of Directors, other members and staff, and includes a new mission, vision and four bold strategies. Those strategies are the basis of our recent staff reorganization and what we believe to be the best setup to help us see the 2025 plan through.

The reorganization started at the top of the org chart. Two of our vice presidents have new titles — Tina Bates, CAE, is now vice president, innovation, while Amy Mawyer is now vice president, learning. (A third bold strategy was already represented in senior management by Emily Walker, CAE, vice president, advocacy.) They’re leading staff units largely devoted to focusing on the four strategies:

• Create a culture of learning • Drive innovation and vision • Advocate for members’ interests • Infl uence students to become CPAs

The last of those strategies does not have a vice president devoted to it, but we’ve focused other staff members on accounting students, an area where we see the potential for a great impact. While staying mindful of the need to operate as efficiently as possible, we wanted to put our staff in position to fulfill our 2025 plan. Our new logistics team, composed of members of our former CPE and member services teams, is aimed at keeping our events running as smoothly as possible, based on staff competencies across previous divisions.

The consolidation of those staff members will open up opportunities for other staff to dive deeper into providing member value. What are the needs of the sole practitioner in Virginia? What about members in corporate finance, or those at large firms? We’re now devoting staff specifically to those topics so they can build on existing knowledge and skills to deliver value to those membership segments.

Our staff restructure encompasses many goals and priorities, but it all flows from the VSCPA2025 strategies. The 2025 vision is based on what we view as the future of the accounting profession, and in the 21st century, the profession is characterized by rapid, increasing change. Our goal is to position our staff to react to those changes and help our members do the same. n

Stephanie Peters, CAE, has served as VSCPA president and CEO since 2007.

speters@vscpa.com @StephPeters connect.vscpa.com/StephaniePeters