Perspectives on Business and the CPA Profession revisits CPA Vision

Awesome! Insightful! Interactive, Collaborative and Engaging were how participants described our special pre-summit session titled Perspectives on Business and the CPA Profession. 

We had Managing Partners; CPAs in Business and Industry, Government & Non-Profits, and our New Young Professionals Network together to discuss the latest trends and issues in the CPA profession with the Chair-elect of the AICPA, Paul Stahlin.

This special session featured our I2A: Insights to Action - Strategic Thinking System which uses large graphic templates to help people engage and "see" their thinking. It is also based on research into the five qualities of extraordinary leaders. This same process was used to facilitate the Major Firms Group (AICPA Top 100 firms) in January and is the basis for the AICPA Leadership Academy training.

Then Paul Stahlin and Tom Hood took the group on a tour of the storymaps that were created during the CPA Vision Project (both Paul and Tom were on the CPA Vision team)

Check out these clips as each group shared their "insights". See what similarities you can spot and the differences?

Here is how this special session went:

1. Paul Stahlin gave the “view from the top” Professional Issues Update (about 1 hour)
   About 80 people were seated in tables of 6 and divided into three groups (Practice, Business, Industry & Government, and Young Professionals)
2. The groups were asked to identify the top trends and issues they thought were most significant (have most impact) – using our large graphic template for environmental scan
3. Then they were asked to record “insights” on a post size template (this would be what stuck out for them, what patterns did they notice)
4. We then had all groups share out their insights – that is what you see with the link below:
   http://www.bizlearning.net/strategicplanning/I2A-Summit2010.cfm
5. Then we Paul Stahlin and I shared the Vision story and showed them the two Vision storymaps (one pre-Enron and one after) Download CPA Vision Storymaps  and then asked them to complete the CPA Vision Worksheet which is summarized here Download Perspectives Workshop Feedback Summary.
6. All of the charts and work from the group are captured in this document Download Maryland CPA Summit - CPA Vision

The CPA Vision project was created in 1997 by the AICPA and featured a collaborative effort with the State CPA Societies to engage CPAs in co-creating a vision for the CPA profession of teh future. It was set for the year 2011 with only one (1) year to go. This session combined the current trends and issues with a look back at the CPA Vision and the participants found it overwhelmingly relevant even today. Check out the special report for in-depth coverage Download CPA Vision Final Report

Here are some more references to the CPA Vision Project :

Post from James Reeves, CPA in Fort Worth, Texas - Back to the Future: Revisiting the CPA Vision Project

Futurist Watts Wacker gives CPA Vision an "A" at the MACPA Centennial in 2001

For information on how you can use I2A: Insight to Action for your next summit (I Like summit a lot better than retreat) or for leadership development, contact Pam Devine (pam@bizlearning.net)