Prida Guida Company CPAs Accel at the Capitol

Tallahassee, Fla. – (November 24, 2015) – Prida Guida & Co. CPAs Jessica Chase and Jill McSpadden attended the Florida Institute of CPA’s (FICPA) annual Accel Young CPA’s Leadership Forum and Capitol Days seminar in Tallahassee last week.

Prida Guida & Co. President Lou Prida said, “As veteran CPAs we have a responsibility to preserve our profession through leadership and advocacy. I am a proud supporter of the FICPA and everything they offer to young CPAs and the annual Accel YCPA Leadership Forum & Capitol Days seminar was a great opportunity for two of our brightest to tour the beautiful Florida Capitol and participate in legislative committee meetings and meet with state senators, state representatives and CPAs serving in the legislature to discuss issues affecting our profession.”

The seminar began with a day in the Capitol Building, where Chase and McSpadden and others heard from the FICPA’s political action committee and the CPA’s role in Florida legislation, followed by a tour of the Capitol and meetings with several State Senators and State Representatives. Of special interest were four members of the House who are all CPAs: Michael Bileca, Dan Raulerson, Dave Richardson, and Cyndi Stevenson.

Chase said, “As CPAs, the Representatives have been able to utilize their specialized skill sets and accounting backgrounds to analyze and provide a different perspective to incoming legislation; it’s really interesting to see how that part of their professional backgrounds really makes a difference.”

During the second day of the seminar, Chase and McSpadden heard from Dan Griffiths, CPA, CGMA who is the Director of Strategic Planning at a Salt Lake City-based CPA firm. They discussed the evolution and future development of the CPA profession with specific emphasis on how as CPAs they can better serve their clients. Of great importance to the profession is the emergence of technology and how CPAs can leverage it to be more efficient and effective. Chase and McSpadden have brought this knowledge back to Tampa where they have shared with the firm.

McSpadden said, “I really enjoyed the conference. It was a great opportunity to network with other young CPA’s and meet some of our local representatives. I left Tallahassee with some great ideas for my professional development.”

This annual, two-day event is designed for members only, who are age 35 and under. The leadership training is worth 8 Behavioral CPE credits.