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Founded in 1903, the Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS) is one of the largest state CPA societies in the nation, with a core mission of “enhancing the value of the CPA profession” through meaningful and convenient education, timely and relevant information, influential advocacy and countless opportunities to make powerful professional connections. ICPAS serves an exceptional community of more than 22,600 accounting and finance professionals in a variety of CPA and non-CPA roles positioned in the public accounting, corporate finance, nonprofit, consulting, education and government sectors.
| The Illinois CPA Society: In Brief |
| Current members: 22,600 Founded: 1903 Headquarters: Chicago www.ICPAs.org |
Entering his 120sth year, the Illinois CPA Society begins the new year with a new president and CEO set to take over in February 2023. With current president and CEO Todd Shapiro announcing his retirement, Jeffrey Brown will step into the role next month.
Brown has more than 20 years of experience as an association professional. He comes to the Illinois CPA Society from the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA), where he served as CEO for the past nine years. Prior to NAPFA, Brown was executive director and association manager at SmithBucklin Corporation.
In his role as president and CEO, Brown will play an important role in the growth and evolution of the company. Brown will be the fifth leader of the Illinois CPA Society and its first black president and CEO.
Brown has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland and lives in Chicago with his family. He also serves on the board of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and the Association for Fraternal Leadership and Values.
“The Society has a long history of growing and stewarding the CPA community in Illinois, and I am honored to be selected to lead it into the future,” said Brown.
Who are the members?
With more than 22,000 members, the Illinois CPA Society is one of the largest CPA societies in the United States. The distribution of their members is as follows:
- 43% are in public practice
- 17% are in corporate finance
- 15% are non-CPA finance and accounting professionals
- 11% are students
- 9% are retired professionals
- 5% are in the non-profit/government sector
The age of members also varies, with 37% of members under 35, with 29% aged 51-65.
Retaliation
Founded by members of the Illinois CPA Society in 1998, the Illinois CPA Endowment Fund is the society’s charitable partner. A 501(c)(3) charitable organization, the Fund offers scholarship funding for students who cannot afford the costs of completing their education. The fund also offers outreach programs that are designed to support accounting students and future CPAs.
One of the Fund’s most recent projects was the CPA Diversity Report: Uncovering the Barriers to Success. Focusing on the first-hand experiences of participants in the Mary T. Washington Wylie Internship Preparation Program (MTWW IPP), the study uses survey data and insights from personal interviews of program participants who share what they have experienced since entering at the work place.
Outgoing President and CEO Todd Shapiro shares his thoughts
Outgoing Illinois CPA Society President and CEO Todd Shapiro has announced his retirement at the end of 2022 after a 24-year career with the society. Here he shares some of his thoughts on society and the profession.
“I’m really proud of the work we’ve done to continue to push the needle on two key areas of focus for our organization: 1) ensuring the long-term relevance of the CPA profession and 2) increasing diversity in the profession.
Shapiro notes how the CPA profession is changing, especially in light of new technologies like AI and RPA that are changing what CPAs do and how they do it, especially in key areas like compliance services. “Technology is a valuable tool, but we need to be mindful of how it risks commoditizing our services down the road.”
Shapiro continues by saying, “We believe that CPAs should become the most trusted and strategic business advisors, which is a message we’ve been pushing since our 2019 Insight special feature, “Trust Is Not Enough: Redirecting CPA’s Way Forward,” was released. Our thought leadership and the implementation of our Strategy Academy have been instrumental in helping our members adapt and develop their critical and strategic thinking skills.
Increasing diversity, equity and inclusion continues to be a challenge that Shapiro also addresses. “We’ve never shied away from talking about these tough topics, and our two recent Insight special features go in-depth on both. The CPA Pipeline Report: Decoding the Decline shares our findings about what’s driving students and young professionals to give up on pursuing the CPA credential, inspiring a national conversation on the topic.
The lack of diversity in the accounting industry is another area Shapiro addresses. “The profession also continues to have issues when it comes to people of color. In response to little or no improvement in the recruitment and advancement of professionals from diverse backgrounds, we conducted independent research and interviews to better understand the barriers these individuals face as they attempt to enter and advance in the CPA profession . The eye-opening findings of this research are detailed in the CPA Diversity Report: Uncovering the Barriers to Success, which was completed in 2022.
Shapiro’s thoughts for the future include developing programs and resources to address these and other important issues. “I believe these efforts will best position the Illinois CPA Society and its new CEO to continue to be thought leaders moving the CPA profession forward.”
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