Scholarship Fund Established for
Continuing Professional Education for Unemployed CPAs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Greenville, SC, October 28, 2009. The Piedmont Chapter of the South Carolina Association of CPAs announces the creation of a scholarship fund to pay course fees for events sponsored by the Chapter for its members who are currently unemployed. The state board of accountancy requires licensed CPAs to complete forty hours of professional education each year and the Piedmont Chapter created a scholarship fund to ensure that its members have the resources to keep their license current while seeking employment.

President Elect Melanie Hill proposed establishing a fund as a member benefit upon hearing of layoffs at a regional accounting firm. “This program allows the Chapter to show solidarity with its members who may be in a difficult financial position,” says Hill. “While experienced CPAs can normally find employment in a short period of time, we’re seeing many positions being eliminated or replaced by seasonal and temporary jobs; we see a need for the program as long as the recession continues to suppress job creation.” 

Staffing Partners is a trusted Accounting and IT recruiting firm located at Greenville, South Carolina. Staffing Partners heard of the initiative through Brad Ledford, its employment specialist for accounting professionals. The firm contacted the board and volunteered to fund the program as a sponsor. Ledford also serves as Treasurer for the Piedmont Chapter and was pleased to be able to sponsor the scholarship fund so that it wouldn’t impact the Treasury, noting “I thought the scholarship fund would be a good tie-in with the employment services provided by my firm while allowing Chapter resources to remain available for other educational initiatives. We also liked sponsoring the local educational programs under the Chapter’s 'BPEN' brand because these events feature a strong networking element in addition to education and networking is essential to finding jobs in this economy.” Now that the Chapter has been able to establish the program through the generosity of Staffing Partners, other opportunities are being explored for additional sponsors.

The Piedmont Chapter’s membership area includes Abbeville, Anderson, Greenville, Greenwood, Laurens, Oconee and Pickens counties. At present, the scholarship funds are available for current members and those joining before January 1. Hill notes, “CPAs can view the 2010 membership fee as a form of insurance for professional education since the chapter plans over twenty hours of CPE in 2010 which will be an invaluable resource for our members should they become unemployed.” CPAs may join the Piedmont Chapter by visiting www.scacpa.org. The Chapter is planning to schedule satellite educational courses in Greenwood and Anderson in 2010 as a new initiative to expand services to members outside Greenville County.

According to Katherine Swartz, CAE, member services director for the South Carolina Association of CPAs, the scholarship program is a new concept which is applauded at the state level and has garnered some interest among other chapters who are also seeking ways to be more relevant to their memberships. Member privacy is protected since members apply for scholarship funding by submitting an application to kswartz@scacpa.org in Columbia for events in the upstate area.

The next event for which scholarship funds are available is Thursday, November 5 with two hours of continuing professional education starting at 4:15. The event will be held upstairs at Barley’s Taproom and Pizzeria on West Washington Street and will feature one hour of state and local tax and one hour of personal development. Suggested background reading to prepare for the event is posted at the Chapter’s Linked In group site which can be found by searching for a group with the keyword “BPEN.” 

Scholarship funding is also available for two hours of federal tax education scheduled for Wednesday December 2 at the same location.

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