VSCPA Centennial Celebration: Through the Years

100 years and counting...

A central purpose of the VSCPA has always been to unite Virginia CPAs into a strong, influential community, connecting thousands of individual voices into a single, prominent voice. As important as this united CPA community was in drafting lasting, profession-shaping legislation in 1909, it has retained its crucial role in impacting the community and the profession ever since, and will continue to do so in the future.

Check out some of the important milestones and events that have helped to shape the organization through its 100-year history.

1908

 An important precursor to the Virginia Society of CPAs, the Tidewater Society of Accountants and Bookkeepers organized on Aug. 27 in Norfolk. Although the organization disbanded just one year later, many of its members were instrumental in forming the Virginia Society, including W.P. “Pop” Hilton, who served as president of the Tidewater Society’s 85-member organization.

1908

 

 SB 324, a bill that would establish a board to oversee the examination and certification of accountants in Virginia, was defeated in the Virginia General Assembly, partly because no accountants were consulted in drafting the legislation. The General Assembly granted the practicing profession until 1910 to determine a course of action as would be fair, practical and reasonable both to themselves and the public.

1909

 The Virginia Society of Public Accountants, Incorporated (later to be renamed The Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants) was formed. The organization began with 19 members, who were solicited via mail and personal contact. The members met quarterly, and a legislative committee was formed in order to produce suitable legislation by the 1910 General Assembly session.
1909 On September 25, the 19 charter members of The Virginia Society of Public Accountants, Incorporated, held their first group meeting.
1909 On October 6, the Virginia Society of Public Accountants, Incorporated, was chartered by the State Corporation Commission.
1910 On March 14, the Virginia General Assembly passed the Accountancy Bill that members of the Virginia Society had so diligently worked on. The legislation formed a separate Virginia Board of Accountancy. Virginia became the 21st state to have such a regulatory law in place.
1910 In late March, Gov. William Hodges Mann accepted the Society’s suggestions for the first Board of Accountancy members: W. McK. Evans, Pop Hilton and George Mahon (who served as the first chair) represented the Society and the profession, along with one educator and one attorney.
1910 On Sept. 8, the Virginia Society of Public Accountants, Incorporated, held its first annual meeting in Richmond.
1915 The tri-state association, including members of the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia societies, met in Baltimore in 1915. The group also met in 1917, 1919 and 1921, and finally in 1924.
1924 T. Coleman Andrews introduced a motion at the Society’s annual business meeting, calling for the formation of local chapters to better promote the ideas and purposes for which the Society was incorporated. The motion passes unanimously, permitting the formation of a chapter wherever there were seven accountants actively engaged in the practice of their profession.
1926 In May 1926, the North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia societies held a joint meeting at Chapel Hill, N.C. The group met again in Greensboro, N.C., in May 1931 and Richmond in May 1937.
1927 At the Society’s annual meeting in 1927, the Board of Directors voted to award an annual medal to the candidate who earned the highest marks on the Board of Accountancy Exam.
1928 The Society successfully sponsored a regulatory law that provided for the annual registration of those public accountants or certified public accountants who intended to practice within Virginia during the ensuing 12 months. However, the legislation stated that “Certified Public Accountants or persons not holding a Certified Public Accountant certificate, employed on the staff of Certified Public Accountants or registered Public Accountants, are not required to pay a fee and obtain a registration card.” This Act also created two classes of accountants: certified public accountants (CPAs) and public accountants (PAs).
1934 The Richmond and Norfolk (Tidewater) Chapters were formed.
1939 The Southwest Virginia (Roanoke) Chapter was formed.
1939 A Society Committee was formed to draft a pamphlet regarding the advantages of using a fiscal year. Nearly 50,000 copies of the eight-page brochure were distributed in Virginia and beyond, making a significant impact on business in the Commonwealth.
1939 The Middle Atlantic States Accounting Conference was held in Richmond, June 16–17. The group included members from the Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia societies, along with representatives from the American Institute of Accountants (later renamed the American Institute of CPAs) and Kanawha Valley Accountants Association.
1940 The Virginia Accountant, the Society’s first official publication, premiered in the spring of 1940.
1941 The December issue of The Virginia Accountant served as the final issue for nearly six years.
1944 A silver cup was awarded to the Richmond chapter to honor its achievements in 1944. The trophy was awarded annually thereafter, based on a variety of criteria. The VSCPA still issues Gold, Silver and Bronze awards to chapters annually through the Chapter Circle of Excellence program.
1946 Alan S. Donnahoe, research director for the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, was employed part-time as the first executive secretary of the Society to help relieve some of the administration burden from the members and volunteer leadership.
1947 In an extra session, the Virginia General Assembly passed Senate Joint Resolution No. 3, which required the Virginia Advisory Legislative Council to review the application and exam requirements for CPAs and make a report of its findings and recommendations. No changes were recommended, although Section 566 of the statue required that the accounting members of the Board of Accountancy had to have passed the CPA Exam in Virginia.
1947 In June 1947, The Virginia Accountant was back up and running on a quarterly basis.
1949 The Blue Ridge (Charlottesville) Chapter was formed.
1949 The first Virginia Conference on Federal Taxation was held at the University of Virginia.
1950 F. Byers Miller, dean of the School of Business Administration at the University of Richmond, succeeded Alan S. Donnahoe as part-time executive secretary of the Society.
1950 By 1950, the Virginia Board of Accountancy had issued 542 CPA certificates — an average of about 13 per year since its inception.
1950 The Northern Virginia (Arlington) Chapter was formed.
1950 VSCPA member T. Coleman Andrews was elected president of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). Andrews was later appointed by President Eisenhower as the first CPA to be Commissioner of Internal Revenue in 1953.
1952 The Peninsula Chapter was formed.
1955 The Virginia Society of Public Accountants, Incorporated, was renamed The Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants (VSCPA).
1958 The Highlands Chapter was formed.
1959 Carolyn Clarke Musselman became the first woman president of a VSCPA chapter, seven years after receiving the Society’s Gold Medal for achieving the highest grade on the May 1952 CPA Exam.
1960 The Virginia General Assembly passed SB 65, requiring CPA applicants to complete 120 hours of college-level classes.
1960 James P. Ould, chairman of the Society’s Professional Development Committee, successfully solicited the Board of Directors for an annual committee budget of $1,200 to employ a part-time director of professional development.
1964 Sumpter Priddy was appointed part-time Society executive.
1964 The Virginia Board of Accountancy sponsored a bill to clarify the proscribed acts of “holding out” as a CPA or PA, creating more stringent rules against advertising oneself as a CPA without the proper certification. The bill was passed as amended.
1965 Patricia P. Koontz took office as the first full-time Society executive.
1965 Under the leadership of Executive Secretary Patricia Koontz, the Society established its first regular office in a single room of the Mutual Building.
1969 The VSCPA helped raise $150,000 to create the Carman Blough Chair of Accounting at the University of Virginia. The position was dedicated on Oct. 15, 1969.
1970 Curtis Duke, a professor of accounting at Virginia State University, became the first African-American member of VSCPA.
1971 Virginia Tech and the VSCPA jointly produced the first Virginia Accounting and Auditing Conference. In 1978, it was expanded to two locations. This conference is still well attended today.
1973 VSCPA member Sam Derieux was elected president of the AICPA.
1977 Thomas M. Berry became Society executive.
1977 In December, the Society formed an “Ad Hoc Committee on Members Not in Public Practice” to address the needs of a growing population of members in industry, government and education.
1978 The “First Annual Conference of Virginia CPAs Not in Public Practice” was held in August.
1978 The VSCPA Ethics Committee joined with the AICPA for the Joint Ethics Enforcement Program and Joint Trial Board.
1979 Having required members to take mandatory CPE for two years, the VSCPA polled the membership, revealing that 92 percent felt all Virginia CPAs could benefit from required CPE — which eventually became a reality in 1989.
1979 The VSCPA developed its first long-range strategic plan, part of which included a study group to examine the feasibility of developing the Society’s own headquarters. The VSCPA has remained committed to long-range strategic planning ever since.
1980 The Board of Directors approved the purchase of an $11,000 IBM Mag Card typewriter.
1981 The VSCPA formed the CPA Political Action Committee (PAC) — a bipartisan committee that raises funds and financially assists political candidates and legislators who support CPA interests and the profession.
1982 The VSCPA purchased its first computer: a Data General micro computer with a printer and two remote terminals. Hardware and software cost about $50,000.
1982 VSCPA member Sen. Walter Stosch, CPA, was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates.
1984 The Society broke ground for a new approximately 10,000-square-foot office facility on Cox Road in the Innsbrook Business Park in Glen Allen, where it is still located today.
1984 The Society formed the VSCPA Educational Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to attracting future CPAs by promoting financial and accounting education, rewarding academic excellence and encouraging students to pursue promising careers. The Foundation supports students and educators in Virginia through undergraduate and graduate scholarships, financial literacy grants and award/recognition programs.
1987 VSCPA-sponsored bills H1019 and SB631 passed unanimously. The bills defined the practice of public accounting as providing assurance on financial statements (audits and reviews, but not compilations), allowed mandatory CPE and specified the powers of the Board of Accountancy.
1988 The final issue of The Virginia Accountant ran in September. Disclosures, originally the Society's newsletter, was redesigned and premiered the following November as the organization's new and improved magazine.
1989 The Battlefield and Central Virginia chapters were formed.
1990 The Thomas Jefferson and Piedmont chapters were formed.
1991 VSCPA member Sen. Walter Stosch, CPA, was elected to the Virginia Senate.
1992 Bill Broadus Jr., CPA, became the first president of the VSCPA Board of Directors to represent government accounting.
1992 The VSCPA built an additional 5,000 square feet onto its office building. VSCPA staff occupied the majority of the new wing, while a computer software development firm rented the remaining third of the space. The software firm provides the database management system for the Virginia Society of CPAs, as well as more than 40 state CPA societies across the nation, and is still housed in the building today.
1993 The VSCPA released the Super CPAs comic book, featuring an original and entertaining comic strip aimed at getting children excited about potential careers in accounting.
1996 The VSCPA launched its first website, www.vscpa.com.
1997 Tom Visotski, CPA, became the first president of the VSCPA Board of Directors to represent industry rather than public accounting.
1998 VSCPA member Sen. Walter Stosch, CPA, became Senate Majority Leader.
1999 SB 926, the Accountancy Reform Act, passed unanimously, allowing CPAs to expand the services they offer and changing educational requirements to sit for the CPA Exam to 150 credit hours, effective in 2006.
1999 Elsie Rose, CPA, was sworn in as the first woman president (chair) of the VSCPA. She took office in time for the 90th Anniversary Celebration at Virginia Beach in June 1999.
2000 For many years, the Board of Directors included seven at-large members, one from each chapter, plus three elected officers and the immediate past president. As chapters grew, the Board of Directors expanded to 19 members. In 1992, the Board membership increased to 45, only to be reduced to 30 in 1996 and settle at 17 as the result of a Bylaws change in 2000.
2000 By 2000, 47 percent of the membership worked outside public practice — a sharp increase from the 20 percent working in industry, government and education in 1978.
2000 The VSCPA dissolved all committees except Nominations, Peer Review and Professional Ethics. The society implemented resource groups and, later, task forces to accomplish specific goals.
2000 VSCPA volunteers began providing on-air advice through tax call-in shows for various television and radio stations, including WVTF public radio and WBRA public TV, both in Roanoke. The first was 1989 (channel 12).
2001 The VSCPA launched a Nonprofit Pro Bono Assistance program, through which volunteers provided free resources and advice to Virginia nonprofits.
2001 The Tidewater and Peninsula chapter boards merged.
2001 The Society employed 22 staff — a far cry from the single part-time executive employed in 1946.
2001 The VSCPA partnered with Virginia Business magazine to launch the Super CPAs award contest.
2002 The VSCPA launched a Speakers Bureau to connect CPAs with community organizations in need of speakers addressing various financial topics.
2003 The VSCPA launched its Virginia Military Tax Help program to provide tax and financial resources to Virginians serving in the armed forces.
2004 The VSCPA launched its Financial Fitness initiative, along with the consumer website www.FinancialFitness.org to help improve the financial well-being of all Virginians. The VSCPA received a Governor’s proclamation each year for a statewide Financial Fitness Week, until it expanded to Virginia Financial Literacy Month starting in April 2007.
2005 Doug Marshall, CPA, became the first African-American chair of the VSCPA Board of Directors.
2006 Brad Roof, CPA, became the first educator chair of the VSCPA Board of Directors.
2006 In May, the VSCPA Educational Foundation hit the $1 million mark through its “Reaching for the Stars” fundraising campaign.
2006 Due to the passage of SB 926 in 1999, CPA candidates in Virginia were now required to complete 150 hours of coursework before sitting for the CPA Exam.
2007 The VSCPA Educational Foundation partnered with accounting firm Beers + Cutler to launch The Leaders’ Institute, an all-expenses-paid, weekend leadership conference for Virginia’s best and brightest accounting students.
2007 Tom Berry retired after an impressive 30-year tenure serving as the president & CEO of the VSCPA. Stephanie R. Peters, CAE, assumed the role after serving as the Society’s vice president.
2007 The VSCPA launched the CPA Inauguration in partnership with the Virginia Board of Accountancy. The formal ceremony honors new licensees and inducts them into their new profession.
2008 The VSCPA partnered with James Madison University to release LifeSkills, a toolkit for a seven-week program that trains college juniors and seniors on financial and career skills needed for real life.