Illinois CPA Society revamps, renames Midwest Accounting Show

The Illinois CPA Society has rebranded the long-running Midwest Accounting and Finance Showcase as ICPAS Summit18, the latest in a series of changes in the accounting trade show world.

The two-day event will take place August 28-29 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. A new feature this year will be the Xero Theater, where visitors can try out new technology at five interactive sessions on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. Professional education sessions will cover tax reform, accounting, auditing, not-for-profits, corporate strategy and government. New topics have been added on blockchain, data analytics, virtual reality and more.

“The future is happening now, with advanced technologies and other disruptors quickly changing the way work gets done,” said Illinois CPA Society president and CEO Todd Shapiro in a statement. “ICPAS Summit8 is all about preparing professionals to stay ahead of the curve and be the disruptors. In thinking about the future of our profession, we’ve redesigned our signature event to encompass everything people loved about our previous showcases while adding new sessions to help attendees master tomorrow’s technologies today.”

ICPAS president and CEO Todd Shapiro giving a keynote at the 2017 annual event.

Keynote speakers will include Shapiro, along with Illinois CPA Society board chair Rose Cammarata, as well as Howard Tullman, former CEO of the Chicago tech start-up incubator 1871 and currently executive director of the Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The 2018 U.S. Economic Outlook session will feature Lindsey Piegza, chief economist and managing director of Stifel Investment Services, alongside Ilyce Glink, CEO of Best Money Moves and Think Glink Media. Accounting technology futurist Dana “Rick” Richardson will present his 2018 technology forecast, a perennial session at the Midwest Accounting Show.

To register for ICPAS Summit18, visit https://www.icpas.org/summit.

The rebranding comes amid a series of changes at other long-running accounting trade shows. For example, event producer Terrapinn took over major shows in New York and California from Flagg Management this year, renaming them the Accounting & Finance Show NY and the Accounting & Finance Show LA (see New owners plan to greatly expand NY Accounting show). In March, Woodard Events, which runs the Scaling New Heights conference, filed for bankruptcy protection, although it still hosted the show in June and has announced another edition for next year (see Woodard Events files for Chapter 11). Back in 2015, the Sleeter Group, which ran the popular SleeterCon event, was acquired by Diversified Communications, and its show has been rebranded Accountex USA (see Sleeter Group acquired by Diversified Communications).

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