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Degrees of Financial Literacy By Lois Whitehead, Public Relations Manager NYSSCPA members have heeded the call to help educate the American public about financial matters, implementing important programs in their local communities. Through the American Institute of CPAs–sponsored 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy Program, NYSSCPA members Todd Ringler, Susan Anders and Tim Crawford are providing expertise on major monetary issues and considerations and helping the public get their financial houses in order. Although other Society members are participating, Ringler, Anders, and Crawford will be the first to receive joint certificates from the AICPA and the NYSSCPA—which, like other societies, help coordinate the program—for projects they developed. The 360 Degrees program encourages CPAs to volunteer to inform the public on financial topics that apply to particular stages of life, from college to marriage and parenthood to retirement. The structure of the program allows consumers to get information specific to their particular financial issues. Ringler, managing partner of Ringler & Associates P.C. CPAs and CVAs, in Great River, N.Y., created a one-day curriculum that he introduced to his local school district. “Our focus is to bring real-life solutions to high school seniors,” he said. “They’ve been taught about economics conceptually, but the 360 Degrees material allows me to bring the real world to the classroom by having them ask themselves, ‘How am I going to support myself?,’ ‘How do I get my first credit card?’ and ‘What’s it going to take to buy a car or a home?’ These are questions that really give meaning to the study of economics.” As part of a partnership between the East Islip School District and Dowling College in Long Island, Ringler and others in the community also are working with the high school honors society to train seniors to bring the message of financial literacy to younger students. “We’re asking them to communicate their own excitement,” he said. Ringler has made communicating financial literacy an important part of his practice, trying to convey to his clients the lessons he’s learned. “People need to have a plan about how they are going to reach their goals,” he said, “whether it’s buying a house, starting a business, having children or retiring.” Anders, a professor at St. Bonaventure University in St. Bonaventure, N.Y., and graduate student Crawford recently have presented a pilot seminar to their church, Trinity United Methodist in Olean, to very positive reviews. “My church has been asking me to do something like this for a few years, but it wasn’t until the AICPA came up with its program last year that I felt that it was possible for me to address this issue,” Anders said. “Most of these types of programs focus on just one or two areas in which I am not really expert, but the 360 Degrees program can take a more broad approach.” To help facilitate the project, Anders has sought the participation of some accounting students, who can become student members of the AICPA and NYSSCPA, registered financial literacy volunteers, and eventually certified financial literacy volunteers— important resume milestones. NYSSCPA members interested in becoming involved with the 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy Program should go to aicpa.org/financialliteracy/index.asp. |
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