Firms on the move: Blumshapiro teaches financial literacy

CONNECTICUT

Blumshapiro employees, along with Fox 61 news anchor Jenn Bernstein, taught the fundamentals of financial literacy to more than 240 school students from Webster Hill Elementary School in West Hartford on June 7 as part of the JA in a Day program.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board, Norwalk, appointed three new members to the Emerging Issues Task Force: Liesl Nebel, financial controller, Schoolhouse, Portland, Oregon; Jeremy Perler, partner, Schilit Forensics, New York City; and Matthew Schechter, formerly head of forensic accounting, Balyasny Asset Management, Chicago.

ILLINOIS

The Illinois CPA Society held the Young Professionals Leadership Conference, titled “Social Impact,” in Chicago June 7, which was attended by more than 200 professionals. This year’s conference focused on building professional skills, leading meaningful change and affecting positive social impact. In other society news, the ICPAS provided $77,000 in scholarships to 36 accounting students as part of its Accounting Scholarship Program.

MISSOURI

Eddie Marmouget, leader of the health care performance advisory services division at BKD, Springfield, was named this year’s recipient of the firm’s partner PRIDE Award. Austin Perkins, this year’s employee PRIDE Award recipient, is a managing consultant based in BKD’s Louisville, Kentucky, office. The award was created in 2003 to honor individuals who exemplify BKD’s PRIDE values — passion, respect, integrity, discipline and excellence — in extraordinary ways.

NEVADA

The American Institute of CPAs honored seven CPAs under the age of 40 with the Personal Financial Planning Standing Ovation awards at the AICPA Engage conference in Las Vegas: Rod Dooley, Dooley and Company, LLC, Lexington, S.C.; James Eaton, KatzAbosch, Timonium, Maryland; Lindsay Glassman, Landmark Wealth Management, Amherst, N.Y.; Sebrina Ivey, GHP Investment Advisors, Inc., Denver; Kristopher Miller, Lexington Financial Life Management, LLC, Culleoka, Tennessee; Zach Thies, Creative Planning, Overland Park, Kansas; and Geoffrey Tran, Tolleson Wealth Management, Dallas. (Read the full story.) Also as part of the awards program, the AICPA honored five CPAs for their contributions in the areas of information management and technology assurance with the fourth annual Standing Ovation awards: Emily Chee, Vancouver, British Columbia; Jonathan Choquette-Riopel, Repentigny, Quebec; Shawn Ford, Richmond Hill, Ontario; Ebonie Jackson, Holland, Ohio; and Matthew Treskovich, Lakeland, Florida.

In other news from Engage, the AICPA announced that Richard L. Ward was awarded the 2019 P. Thomas Austin Personal Financial Planning Scholarship at the AICPA’s Advanced Estate Planning Conference, part of Engage. Also, P. Thomas Austin, who chaired the Advanced Estate Planning Conference for three decades and currently serves as the chair emeritus, was the recipient of the AICPA Sidney Kess Award for Excellence in Continuing Education. Additionally, Stuart Kessler, a senior tax director specializing in estate and financial planning at CohnReznick in New York, received the AICPA Stanley H. Breitbard Lifetime Achievement in Personal Financial Planning Award.

The Association for Accounting Marketing, also at Engage, held its annual AAM-MAA Awards Reception, featuring winners in multiple categories: In Advertising: Print Campaign, Elliott Davis; Digital Advertising, Mazars USA LLP; in Branding: Logo, new or refreshed, WilkinGuttenplan; Integrated Branding Programs, budget below $99,999, Johnson Lambert; Integrated Branding Programs, budget above $100,000, BKD CPAs & Advisors; Business Development Initiative: Customized Sales Initiative or Approach, Baldwin CPAs; Collateral & Content Marketing: Brochures, HW&Co.; Publications and Newsletters, BPM LLP; Announcements/Invitations, Wiebe Hinton Hambalek, LLP; and Integrated PR Campaign, Anglin Reichmann Armstrong; Events: Budget below $9,999, Berdon LLP; Budget between $10,000 and $24,999, Mazars USA LLP; Budget above $25,000, Grant Thornton LLP; Marketing & PR Campaigns: Recruiting Campaign, BerganKDV; Integrated Marketing Campaign, EisnerAmper LLP; Client Service/Survey, BKD CPAs & Advisors; Direct Marketing Campaign, Honkamp Krueger & Co., P.C.; Nurture/Lead Generation Campaign, Herbein + Company, Inc.; Social Media Campaign, Honkamp Krueger & Co., P.C.; Video & Multimedia: Program budget below $9,999, Hartmann, Blackmon & Kilgore, P.C.; Program budget above $10,000, Plante Moran; Website: Project budget below $24,999, Wall, Einhorn & Chernitzer, P.C.; and Project budget above $25,000, Tonneson + Co. AAM also announced the "We AAM to Serve" award to salute the corporate social responsibility philosophy of firms. The winners were, in each size category: small firm - Tonneson + Co.; medium firm - Perkins & Co.; and large firm - Dixon Hughes Goodman.

NEW YORK

CPA.com, New York, announced that nominations are open for the fifth annual Innovative Practitioner Award, recognizing practitioners who are embracing new strategies and technology throughout their practice. Nominations close June 21 and more information is available here.

UNITED KINGDOM

HLB International, London, celebrated its 50th anniversary by hosting a series of international community projects for #HLBCommunities Day. As the network’s first global corporate social responsibility initiative, the event led to HLB collectively volunteering 8,497 hours through 1,320 participants across 42 community projects.