This Wednesday, May 13, I finally have the opportunity to speak with you, our members! I’ve been looking forward to this since I started at the MICPA. Our annual Members Advisory Symposium has always been a great way to connect with our members, offering excellent education with an agenda of awesome speakers, and providing an update on your association.
This year, of course, the event will be held virtually. I’m certainly disappointed, as this was going to be an excellent way for me to meet many of you. However, continuing our theme of “never letting a good crisis go to waste,” we decided this will be a chance for more of our members to participate in our event from across this great state of Michigan. We decided to make the event free for anyone to participate, and the response we have received has been amazing! We typically get 225-250 people who attend in person. I’m happy to say we have close to 600 members who have registered to attend. If you haven’t already registered, I hope you can join us!
Here is a quick overview of the agenda:
It starts with an optional Michigan Specific Ethics 2019-21 Edition webcast at 8:00 am. (There is a fee for this.) The official programs kicks off at 9:00 am, with Barry Melancon, CEO of the AICPA, diving into the topic of Reimagining the CPA Profession for a Digital World. He’ll also participate in a digital Q&A following his presentation. After Barry we have a 2020 Economic Update presentation given by Robert Dye, Senior Vice President & Chief Economist at Comerica Bank. This should be very interesting as the COVID-19 crisis continues to affect the economy, and CPAs will be so important to help in the recovery.
After lunch is my presentation, where I give an update on the MICPA and look to the future of our association. I already recorded and I will say, I would have much preferred doing this in person! But our team did a great job of putting my video together along with the presentation and linking in some of our MICPA videos. I’m looking forward to you hearing more about how we have responded to the needs of the CPA profession throughout the COVID-19 crisis, and how I see this crisis as an opportunity to provide even better support and service to our members. This is also a chance for you to learn a little bit about me, my background and vision for the future. I hope you enjoy it!
We end with John Lindley from Public Affairs Associates, providing a closer look at the most relevant legislative and policy issues and their potential impacts on the industry. There certainly has been a lot of activity going on in Lansing and D.C.! There is also an optional session that you may be interested in on Alternative Investments and the Mechanics of Private Investing. This will be presented by Mark Rogers, Executive Director at Graystone Consulting, a business of Morgan Stanley.
I end my presentation with my request to you, asking the question: How Can I Help You? I want to know how I can better support and serve members all over the state, from small practitioners and large firms, to those in business & industry and education. I look forward to hearing from you! And I can’t wait to meet you in the future. Please email me at bdoyle@micpa.org, or call 248-267-3700 to reach me.