Pictured from left: Barry Melancon, AICPA CEO, Jared Theis, WSCPA Chair, Tracy Golden, AICPA Vice Chair, and Kimberly Scott, WSCPA President & CEO.

I am honored for the opportunity to be the next chair of the WSCPA. What a time to be stepping in as chair in the midst of a pandemic, an economic recession, and political/social unrest — this wasn’t part of the job description a year ago! I know this year will be challenging in many ways, but I look forward to that challenge and trying to make our Society and CPA profession better each day.

As discussed by Professor Margaret O’Mara, our speaker at the 2020 WSCPA Annual Meeting held virtually on June 4, these recent events are historic on many levels and their impact can help us build for the future. Although they are separate events, they are very intertwined in how they impact us and will shape how we move forward — both as people and as a profession.

During the past couple months, I’ve been working with a national group at my firm to help businesses of all shapes and sizes seek government assistance under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. This has allowed me the opportunity to connect with many business leaders and learn their perspectives. While the individual issues may be different, I have noticed many common themes that I am sure you are seeing in your own organizations as well as those of your clients. Many are still trying to understand “How do I make it through,” “What’s next for my business,” and “How do I ensure I am better prepared in the future,” but they’ve also recognized that we will be in this “new normal” going forward. That includes embracing technology and changes to their business dynamic that three months ago seemed to be a farther off reality than an immediate need.

The pandemic has effectively accelerated the use of technology in our workplaces and will have lasting effects on the way business is conducted. I am hearing businesses discuss needing less real estate space with alternative work arrangements, less business travel, more focus on necessary costs and flexibility of arrangements. These will undoubtedly change our profession and the WSCPA as well — our Annual Meeting being an example of how we can adapt and change to virtually conduct events. The WSCPA has done a great job preparing for the technological evolution to adapt quickly, which has positioned them for continued success with providing various forms of online education, more flexible ways to receive updates to be informed, and ultimately help our members stay connected and succeed. Was it easy? Absolutely not. Was it necessary to survive and succeed? I think we all know the answer to that. The AICPA has also realized the impact with the development of the CPA Evolution (www.evolutionofcpa.org) to change the exam and have more focus on information technology for our professionals to learn and bring to the workplace.

Regardless of your political, religious, or other views, we should all agree that racism, police brutality, violence against each other, looting, etc., are wrong. Similar to other tragic events that impacted lives in our community, where we banded together under #OSOStrong and #FreemanStrong, we have members of our community hurting that we support with #BlackLivesMatter. The CPA profession also is not immune. We have clients and colleagues in the Black community, and Blacks are disproportionately underrepresented in our profession, which is something Barry Melancon, CEO of the AICPA, has pointed out many times as a focus of the organization. I think most of us are quick to tout that our profession is great and has provided a successful way of life for ourselves and families. However, that opportunity does not seem equitable and as available to Blacks. We must ask ourselves “why” and identify how we can be more inclusive for African Americans and enable them to achieve success in our profession as well.

We also need to be cognizant about the impacts to the women in our profession. The pandemic has disproportionately impacted women more than men as they still take on the majority of at-home family demands (whether it is right or wrong is an individual family determination). The impact this will have on our profession remains to be seen, but there is concern that it may have a negative effect and could partially unwind many years of efforts to increase the involvement of women in our profession. Currently, 43 percent of the WSCPA membership is women with a slightly higher percentage of women accounting majors at local universities — this number is still disproportionate but is a substantial increase from women being five percent of the membership in 1958. Women are leaders and mentors in many ways that have positively impacted our profession. We need to ensure that we continue to recognize the issues and provide opportunities for women in our profession to be successful.

We must remain cognizant of those impacts to continue to progress as a profession, a society, and as people on this great earth. Doing nothing is not the answer, and we need to step up and find ways to be more inclusive and provide a positive influence every day. It starts with acknowledging the issues, having the conversations, and focusing on things we can control — our work ethic, our actions, and our attitude, including toward others. It will take each of us to continue to change and improve our profession to be successful in the future.

Thank you for the opportunity to be your chair. I look forward to another great year.

Jared Theis, CPA, is an Accounting Advisory Director in the Seattle office of KPMG LLP and chair of the WSCPA Board of Directors. You can contact him at jtheis@kpmg.com.

This article appears in the summer 2020 issue of the Washington CPA Magazine. Read more here.