Accounting Career Awareness Program

By Steven Valdes, CPA, Young and Emerging Committee Member

For more than 18 years, the primary objective of the Accounting Career Awareness Program has been to increase the understanding and awareness of accounting and business career opportunities among minority high school youths. This year’s ACAP summer residency program took place in July at Loyola Marymount University. Students from different high schools in the Los Angeles area attended and were given a fictional case study to make the best offer price to buy a company. The students also participated in a variety of educational workshops led by CPA professionals from diverse industries and backgrounds. Along the way, a variety of accounting professionals taught the students the basics of accounting and business. The students also enjoyed a tour of Fox Studios and Ernst & Young and attended a Dodger Game.

Kim Rodriguez served as the program’s head counselor. Rodriguez is on the audit staff of Deloitte and is an ACAP graduate. She serves as an inspiring role model and reflects the success students can achieve. I served as a day counselor and enjoyed teaching so many wonderful kids and working with the numerous dedicated professionals assisting the program. There are not enough words to describe the spectacular week at ACAP and what a terrific program this is. ACAP is the vision of Executive Director Ida Yarbrough, CPA who believes not only in the accounting profession, but also in education and giving back to the community.

The program was sponsored by Loyola Marymount University, CalCPA, Ernst and Young, KPMG, Deloitte, the National Association of Black Accountants and Fox Broadcasting Company. A special thanks to Brenda Hammond, CPA of Positive Results Management. I would like to commend all those who contributed to the program and took time out of their busy schedules to give back and support the profession.

More information about ACAP is available online. If you are interested in get involved with CalCPA, contact chapter program associate Sandy Benitez.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 1st, 2009 at 11:52 am and is filed under Chapter News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.