Tommye Barie Elected to Serve as Chair of AICPA

Tommye Barie, CPA, is the new chair of the board of directors of the American Institute of CPAs, the world’s largest member organization representing the accounting profession.

In her acceptance speech, Barie compared the nimbleness and strength required in kiteboarding–one of her favorite sports–with the skills CPAs must wield in an increasingly competitive global economy.

“You can’t control the wind, but you can ride it,” said Barie, a partner with Mauldin & Jenkins LLC, a Top 100 accounting firm based in the Southeast. “This is a good analogy for what we continually face in our profession. External forces change the landscape seemingly overnight, and we ride that constantly changing wind.”

Barie was elected to the one-year volunteer post this morning by the AICPA governing Council, which concludes its annual fall meeting today. Timothy L. Christen, CPA, CGMA, chairman and CEO of Baker Tilly, was voted in as vice chair.

Barie mentioned three factors that will determine success for the profession:

Relevance – Adaptability and the ability to spot trends and new opportunities for growth, such as Big Data analysis and technology consulting
Rigor – “Demanding the best of ourselves and the services we provide,” from the CPA Exam and peer review to initiatives such as audit quality enhancement
Reach – Helping members make the most of opportunities in both their local communities and globally, and ensuring that the profession continues to attract the best and brightest job candidates

Barie said accounting is in her family’s DNA, since her father was an accountant and her brother is a CPA. Yet it was her mother, the founder of two small businesses, who got Barie hooked on numbers at age 12 by enlisting her help with bookkeeping.

An accounting graduate of Stetson University, Barie has spent her career as a CPA focusing on audit and consulting services for governmental entities and not-for-profit organizations. She is a past chair of the Florida Institute of CPAs, and lists two former AICPA chairs—Robert R. Harris, CPA/CFF, CGMA, and Olivia Kirtley, CPA, CGMA—as significant mentors for her career and service activities.

Barie has a long history of giving back to the accounting profession. She is a former member of the AICPA’s Council and its board of directors. She served as chair of the AICPA’s finance committee and the National Accreditation Commission, and has been a member of the Institute’s compensation committee, audit committee and strategic planning committee, as well as the member advisory panel and the nominations committee.

She also is a member of the Government Finance Officers Association and the Florida Government Finance Officers Association.

Barie lives in Sarasota, Florida. Besides kiteboarding, she likes to spend her free time paddle boarding, golfing and training in Pilates.