By Jennifer Cryder, CPA, PICPA CEO  

PICPA members, our proud and long-lived organization’s annual meeting is right around the corner, and this year we have more reasons to celebrate than ever … 125 reasons to be exact. This year marks PICPA’s 125th anniversary, and PICPA leadership invites you all to come out to Hershey May 31 through June 2 to embrace this historic moment, reconnect with many of your peers from around the state, and move forward boldly into PICPA’s next 125 years.

The PICPA has been working with and for CPAs since its inception on March 30, 1897. There have been many challenges and new paths as membership grew in number and the profession grew in reputation. CPAs have never been shy to embrace and adapt to changes in the profession, in the economy, and in society. And that is important to remember. CPAs are not stagnant. The profession is not static, and never has been. Looking forward and moving forward is in our DNA. To celebrate that aspect of our profession, we’ve invited Daniel Susskind, a fellow in economics at Oxford University and co-author of The Future of the Professions, to be our keynote speaker. His TED Talk on the future of work has been viewed 1.6 million times. I know what he plans to share will be thought-provoking and a can’t-miss session for Pennsylvania CPAs.

This year’s meeting is bigger and better. Of course we will have our annual business meeting where we discuss the state of the profession and install our new 2022-2023 leaders, but this year we have added even more celebration of the future. We will also hold a special awards lunch where our established members can celebrate Pennsylvania’s new CPAs and PICPA’s 2022 Young Leaders Award recipients. This is a must-attend to welcome new members into the profession and meet those who are excelling in the profession right now.

If you haven’t caught on yet, the key to this celebration of our wonderful past is an uncompromising look into the future. The PICPA was founded on advocacy: to push CPA legislation through Harrisburg. Peter Calcara, PICPA vice president of government relations, will join us to provide a legislative update of what we can expect as tax and budget legislation heats up. John Higgins, CPA, chief partnership officer of CPA Crossings LLC, will look at growing technology trends and opportunities, and Jon Lokhorst, CPA, PCC, of Lokhorst Consulting LLC, will share his views on how really good managers can lead well in all directions.

We’ll all be there to mingle and revel too. And we have some great things planned. In addition to golf and an opening reception dinner, attendees can get discounted tickets to Hersheypark and choose from sessions on making your own truffles, taking a trolly tour of Hershey, and joining us for our 125th anniversary reception. There will also be a few very special, invitation-only events.

This year’s gathering has incorporated our annual Leadership Conference and created an opportunity for a few additional committee meetings (Education, Firm Ambassadors). We chose to broaden our annual meeting to provide more opportunities for members to connect with each other, both through continuing education and networking. Since members have been telling us that it takes something special for them to leave their homes these days, we wanted to make sure this event offered enough variety in events and activities that people would want to come together. In short, we wanted to make it special.

We’re confident you will enjoy the new format as the present meets the future and we all celebrate our proud legacy and prepare for an exciting tomorrow together.

You can check out all the details on our 125th Annual Meeting & Celebration webpage.  Don’t forget to make your reservations at The Hotel Hershey before May 10 to get the PICPA group rate.