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American Institute of CPAs building links to community
(Herald-Sun, The (Durham, NC) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Sep. 13--DURHAM -- Having just celebrated their second anniversary in Durham, the office workers of American Institute of Certified Public Accountants are rolling up their sleeves, grabbing hammers and nail guns.
Even as Friday's humidity made standing outside a task in itself, the company held a Build Day for employees to go out to northern Durham and chip in for Habitat for Humanity. AICPA is helping to build three environmentally friendly homes on Lutz Lane.
"The community made a commitment to us and we made a commitment to the community, and I think we've lived up to that," said AICPA CEO Barry Melancon, who flew down from New York to help out Friday.
And that's just one of the ways the company has increased its community involvement in the past year.
AICPA is also partnering with Durham Public Schools on a Business and Finance Academy at Hillside High School. The company is committing volunteers, curriculum guidance, donations and other resources to the program, which graduated nine students recently and had 34 applicants for the second round.
The company is also involved with Durham community groups such as the Project Homeless Connect, Volunteer Center of Durham and Durham Arts Guild.
The company, which represents 350,000 U.S. certified public accountants, received $400,000 in incentives from Durham County to move 70 percent of its operations to the Palladium Corporate Center at Interstate 40 and N.C. 54 in 2006. The headquarters remain in New York.
The move was expected to bring 120 jobs, but AICPA now has 443 positions here, about 430 of which are filled.
For its first anniversary, AICPA announced it would donate $12,500 to local nonprofit groups such as the Arts Council and Full Frame Documentary Film Festival.
For its second anniversary, the company upped the ante. For one of the homes it's building with Habitat, the company is donating $50,000 and will build it from start to finish.
AICPA does not plan to expand its offices, but Melancon said the accounting profession is still growing -- particularly in light of the financial issues facing the country this year -- foreclosures, subprime mortgages, major corporate bailouts by the federal government, rising gas prices and food costs. Financial literacy, for individuals and for corporations, has been one of the biggest concerns facing the country this year.
After the Enron, WorldCom and other corporate scandals earlier this decade, the federal government instituted the so-called Sarbanes-Oxley act to regulate public companies more closely. And the next step for the U.S., Melancon said, is for individuals to become more financially literate.
"The government would be held more accountable if the citizenry is more financially literate," he said.
"With the subprime mortgages, it took two to tango. People were buying homes beyond their means," he said, emphasizing basic economic and financial understanding as the key. "We the citizens have to keep our own houses in order."
To see more of The Herald-Sun, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.herald-sun.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Herald-Sun, Durham, N.C.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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