Financial Literacy
Improving the Financial Literacy of Californians
Contributed by Crystil Turner
Friday afternoon, April 23, was a historic day for the NEFE High School Financial Planning Program, and for the financial literacy movement. Using the NEFE High school program, an instructor from Virginia gave a brilliant and inspired lesson to thirteen high school girls in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington DC.
The White House, under the direction of First Lady Michelle Obama, has been conducting a mentorship program for a select group of high school students. Each student is mentored by a senior staff member at the White House and the First Lady is often involved with these meetings. Activities of the group included a visit to the Supreme Court to visit with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Sonia Sotomayor.
Part of the program goals are to teach life skills, and so a decision was made to include financial education for this select group. A sample of the NEFE materials were requested to preview for this opportunity, and then in the final hour, NEFE was asked to participate by providing a lesson on budgeting.
For nearly 90 minutes the young ladies were totally engaged with the presentation, thinking through the questions and then relating the lessons of budgeting to their own lives. Hopefully the success of this class can assist in promoting financial education in our high schools, and ultimately fostering a more financially literate nation.
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Contributed by Crystil Turner
The National Endowment for Financial Education® (NEFE®) is working with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the U.S. Department of Education to promote the National Financial Capability Challenge, and we need your help.
The Challenge is an awards program designed to increase the financial knowledge and capability of high school students throughout the U.S. It encourages high school teachers and other educators to teach the basics of personal finance, and rewards students, educators, schools and states for their participation and their success. The goal this time around is for one million students to take the Challenge.
Here’s How it Works
First of all, this is a FREE program.
Teachers can use the free Educator Toolkit (available upon registration), their own materials, or a combination. From March 15 to April 9, 2010 (exact date to be chosen by teachers), students will take an online exam designed to demonstrate their financial capability. In April, educators and top-scoring students will receive award certificates, and schools and states with the highest participation rates will earn special recognition.
Who Can Participate?
All high school teachers and educators working with U.S. high-school aged students (ages 13-19) are encouraged to take the Challenge.
To Get Started, Register Here:
http://www.challenge.treas.gov/educator_SignUp.aspx
For More Information:
E-mail flc@do.treas.gov. Be sure to include “National Financial Capability Challenge” in the subject line of your message.
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Contributed by Crystil Turner
Thank you for making financial literacy a priority. Because of your efforts, we continue to reach more Californian’s ever year.
Continue to spread the word, by contacting your local community centers, schools, social groups, community college campus, libraries or state legislator.
As a reminder, please notify Crystil Turner to be supplied with materials to complement your presentation and so CalCPA to keep track of all the wonderful things our members are doing for their communities.
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Contributed by Crystil Turner
In recent months, CalCPA has collaborated with legislators across the
state to bring financial literacy to their constituents. CalCPA has
presented a variety of Dollars & Sense workshops, including general
money management, budgeting, foreclosure, and debt management. Events have been hosted by State Controller John Chiang, and Assemblymembers Manuel Perez, Bill Emmerson, Paul Cook, Brian Nestande and Nancy Skinner.
A special thank you to all of the volunteers who, despite the business of tax season, participated in these important events, and gave back to their communities.
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Contributed by Crystil Turner
We would like to give a big “thank you” to all the CPAs who attended CPA Day at the Capitol Jan. 20. Through wind, rain and hail, we had more than 130 members participate in a very successful day. One of the items discussed with legislators was financial literacy, and as a result several of the district offices have already been in contact with CalCPA to schedule a Dollars & Sense workshop for their constituents. Keep up the great work!
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Contributed by Crystil Turner
AICPA Chair Bob Harris recently testified before the House Small Business Committee during a hearing on the impact of financial regulatory restructuring on small businesses and community lenders. In his testimony, Harris mentioned the profession’s volunteer efforts, 360 Degree of Financial Literacy and Feed the Pig, as well as cited Lisa Baskfield’s financial education efforts for the military, all of which would be impacted by the creation a Consumer Financial Protection Agency.
You can view his testimony on YouTube.
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Contributed by Crystil Turner
Thanks to members like you, our success with California libraries continues to grow! More and more libraries are signing up for one or more financial literacy workshops for their patrons. Newest to the game: Burlingame library has signed up for a four-part series to take place in September; Santa Clara is scheduled for a workshop in November and Redondo library has begun coordination for their workshops.
Why the success? First, libraries have free presentation space that can accommodate a good sized crowdand have the ability to show PowerPoints and DVDs. Second, libraries have a built-in audience, so they are not solely reliant on the marketing they do with the community to bring a crowd. And finally, most libraries have a need to supply the community with workshops and services, but do not have the money to pay for services and materials. Because Dollars & Sense is free, it is a perfect fit.
Thus far, these presentation requests have resulted solely by word of mouth. One way is through members and staff approaching their local libraries, and telling them about the program … that’s it! If this is something you would be interested in bringing to your community, please visit your local library and tell them all about the D&S workshops.
More information, including content for all workshops, is available on CalCPA’s website.
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Contributed by Crystil Turner
Start Here, Go Places, the AICPA’s interactive website created to inform students and educators about the range and breadth of an accounting career, has unveiled new simulated career paths, job shadowing opportunities and scholarship searches, among other offerings.
The redesigned site encourages students to envision being employed as a CPA. One of the new features is a section called Meet Real Life CPAs. Its purpose is to gain an understanding that accounting is about people. Featured in this section are two CalCPA members: Dan Dehner, senior consultant at Durkin Forensic in Los Angeles, and Victor Molokwu, president of Victor Molokwu CPA in San Diego. CalCPA CEO Loretta Doon will soon be featured on the site as well.
Additional new features include:
• “FutureMe,” a potential customizable career path for students to view what their model career would look like;
• CPA Profile, which outlines the numerous career paths available to an accounting graduate;
• Job shadowing opportunities for students to spend a day at work with a CPA;
• Scholarship searches by state; and
• A special educator forum.
The site was launched in 2001 and has received 11 awards from the International Association of Business Communicators, American Society of Association Executives and other sponsoring organizations. Since 2006, the site has had more than 600,000 visitors from 211 countries.
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Contributed by Crystil Turner
FDIC Chair Sheila Bair recently reflected on the critical role that financial education plays in helping consumers protect themselves from bad loans, fraud and other troubles. In a June 17 speech at the Operation Hope Global Financial Literacy Summit in Washington, DC, Bair offered her vision for using financial education early and often in the future.
“It’s absolutely essential that people of all ages—and I mean all ages, starting in kindergarten—to learn financial basics so they can make prudent financial decisions,” she said.
Read the full text of the speech.
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Contributed by Crystil Turner
The AICPA’s 2009 Trends in the Supply of Accounting Graduates and the Demand for Public Accounting Recruits study shows that the number of students that graduated with accounting degrees in the 2007-08 school year surpassed the previous year’s record level. More than 66,000 achieved bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting—3.5 percent higher than in 2006-07. Enrollments in undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs in 2007-08 achieved a 4.7 percent boost over the previous year, with an aggregate total of 213,000 students.
This represents the largest number of graduates since 1972, the year the AICPA began tracking the data. Although the hiring of new graduates has declined overall as a result of the weakened economy, midsize/large regional firms (50–200 CPAs) did report an increase in recruiting new accountants.
As more young adults choose accounting as their career pathway, the level of individual financial literacy—and what will be given back to the community—increases. With the student outreach initiatives touching high school and college audiences, as well as incorporating college students interested in accounting, we can plant the seed of giving back and the importance of financial literacy in the ever-growing populous of our next generation’s accountants. This is one step closer to a more financially empowered California.
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