AICPA News

AICPA to Oversee New .cpa Domain Extension

The American Institute of CPAs announced that it will be overseeing the .cpa domain in collaboration with other global CPA organizations. The new domain will be available to CPAs and their firms, signaling a clear connection to the profession, enabling both firms and employees to have a website address and email address that ends with .cpa. More details about the new domain extension and how to register a domain name will be available later in the year, but those interested can visit https://domains.cpa.com to sign up for notifications.

AICPA presents Richard Ward with P. Thomas Austin Scholarship

The American Institute of CPAs recently announced that Richard L. Ward, CPA/PFS, has been awarded the 2019 P. Thomas Austin Personal Financial Planning (PFP) Scholarship at the AICPA’s Advanced Estate Planning Conference in Las Vegas.

Richard has been a licensed CPA since 2011, and is president of his own financial planning firm, Capital Configuration, LLC in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he connects tax with estate planning, and was specially selected to attend and represent KPMG USA at the 2008 Global Audit Training in Athens, Greece.

CPAs who have worked fewer than 10 years and have fewer than 10 years estate planning experience are eligible to be considered for the scholarship which was established in 2010 to honor P. Thomas Austin, a CPA who chaired the Advanced Estate Planning Conference for three decades. The scholarship covers the cost of attending the AICPA’s Advanced Estate Planning Conference, as well as the related travel expenses.

AICPA Offers More than 140 Recommendations to the IRA for 2019-2020 Guidance Priority List

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) recently submitted more than 140 recommendations to the IRS in reference to its 2019-2020 Guidance Priority List.

The recommendations address tax issues that directly affect individuals, businesses, and exempt organizations, along with timely topics such as virtual currency, nonprofit donations, and distribution of 529 plans, urging the IRS to consider the following guidelines as part of the process:

Use the simplest approach to accomplish a policy goal;
Provide safe harbor alternatives;
Offer clear and consistent definitions;
Use horizontal drafting (a rule placed in one Internal Revenue Code section should apply in all other Code sections) to the greatest extent possible;
Build on existing business and industry-standard record-keeping practices;
Provide a balance between simple, general rules and more complex, detailed rules; and
Match a rule’s complexity to the sophistication of the targeted taxpayers.

AICPA Honors CPAs in Information Mgmt and Technology Assurance

AICPA’s Standing Ovation, a program that recognizes the best young CPAs in specialty credential areas, recently honored five CPAs for their contributions in the areas of information management and technology assurance. The recipients, all under 40, currently hold the Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP) specialty credential, and will be recognized on the AICPA Technology Resource Center website.

The recipients (in alphabetical order) include:

Emily Chee, CPA/CITP, CFF, CMA, CISA, CFE – Vancouver, British Columbia
Jonathan Choquette-Riopel, CPA/CITP, MBA – Repentigny, Quebec
Shawn Ford, CPA/CITP, CMA – Richmond Hill, Ontario
Ebonie Jackson, CPA/CITP, MBA, CGMA – Holland, Ohio
Matthew Treskovich, CPA/CITP, PFS, CMA, CFP, AEP, MBA, CLU, ChFC, FLMI – Lakeland, Florida

Kessler Receives AICPA PFP Lifetime Achievement Award

Stuart Kessler, CPA/PFS, recently received the AICPA’s Stanley H. Breitbard Lifetime Achievement in Personal Financial Planning Award. This is only the third lifetime achievement award in personal financial planning ever given by the AICPA.

Kessler is a Senior Tax Director at CohnReznick in New York, NY, and is being honored for his role in launching the AICPA’s Personal Financial Planning Division over 30 years ago as well as his continued contributions advancing the profession today. He is also an active member of both the AICPA and the New York State Society of CPAs.

The criteria for the lifetime achievement award include 25 years of experience in financial planning and 15 years of AICPA volunteer work in personal financial planning

Kittner Receives Outstanding Young CPA Award

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) recently named Elizabeth Pittelkow Kittner, CPA, CGMA, CITP, Head of Finance for the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA), winner of the 2019 AICPA Outstanding Young CPA Award in Honor of Maximo Mukelabai.

Pittelkow Kittner is an active member of the AICPA and Illinois CPA Society, volunteering her time at both the state and national levels. She currently serves as a member of the AICPA governing Council and an editorial advisor for the Journal of Accountancy, and she previously volunteered with AICPA’s Business and Industry Executive Committee, Young Member Leadership Committee and EDGE conference planning committee. She is the current Treasurer of the Illinois CPA Society Board of Directors and is active as a continuing professional education (CPE) instructor.