If we’ve learned anything over the last couple of years of quarantine, isolation, and staying six feet apart, it’s the importance of in-person interaction and personal relationships. While I am thankful that technology has allowed most of us to continue working, learning, and interacting, I am convinced of the intrinsic value of in-person, face-to-face communication—in building relationships, fostering engagement, encouraging collaboration, creating community, establishing trust, and inspiring creativity and innovation.
While technology certainly plays a critical role in business today, there simply is no replacement for connecting with others in person. Did you know that feeling connected and having a sense of belonging elevate feelings of positivity and self-worth, and thereby contribute to an increase in happiness? It’s in our DNA—we are all wired to be in connection with others.
The Nebraska Society of CPAs has been helping you make those connections and build relationships for 94 years! From our State Senators’ Reception & Dinner in January to our Two-Day Federal Tax Update in December, your Society is offering numerous in-person events and programs to bring all of us together once again in 2022. In April, we held our 4th Annual Business & Industry Conference in person, and in June, we brought you the Society’s 26th Annual Not-for-Profit Conference and 41st Annual Nebraska Governmental Accounting & Auditing Conference—all at the beautiful Hillcrest Country Club in Lincoln. Not only did we bring you a great group of speakers, but we also lucked out with three perfect days in June, which allowed us to enjoy lunch outside, soaking up the sun and fresh air between sessions while we reconnected with old friends and mingled with several first-time attendees.
Yet to come this year are a wide variety of in-person learning opportunities, including three more major conferences—two of which are brand-new, first-time events.
Kimberly Ellison-Taylor
Former AICPA Chairman
Women in Accounting Summit, Aug. 31
The Society’s first-ever Women in Accounting Summit will be held Aug. 31 at the newly constructed Crete Carrier Riverview Lodge at Mahoney State Park in Ashland. (The Lodge sits on a stunning hilltop location overlooking the Platte River Valley.)
The Women in Accounting Summit will include sessions on leadership, management, and best practices to enhance the skills and potential of women leaders within the accounting and finance community. With the caliber of speakers we’ve lined up for this event—including former AICPA Chairman Kimberly Ellison-Taylor, BPM’s Chief Transformation Officer Lindsay Stevenson, Altaba CEO Alexi Wellman, and Creighton’s Maggie Knight, among others—you are sure to leave the conference revitalized, inspired, and ready to take on the world!
Fall Conference & Annual Meeting, Oct. 27-28
The Society’s 22nd Annual Fall Conference & Annual Meeting will be back in person at the Embassy Suites Conference Center in La Vista, Oct. 27-28. Joining us for a look at the “State of the CPA Profession” will be AICPA Vice Chairman Okorie Ramsey, who will kick off the conference. The two-day agenda is jam-packed with hot-topic sessions on the economy, federal and state tax developments, an agricultural tax update, fraud, workforce, auditing and accounting, data analytics, cloud-based data security, employment law, retirement plan audits, leadership, succession planning, and ethics. There will be something for everyone at the Society’s Fall Conference!
In addition, the Annual Meeting will be a celebration of leadership as Chairman Erica Parks passes the gavel to Chairman-Elect Lori Egger, and as we congratulate Foundation scholarship recipients, welcome new CPA certificate holders, and present four special awards to honor Society members whose excellence and career accomplishments have been a driving force for positive change in the profession and in the state.
Okorie Ramsey
AICPA Vice Chairman
Jeremy Wortman
President, HRD Initiatives
Talent Management Summit, Nov. 3
The Great Resignation, the Big Quit, the Great Reshuffle—whatever you want to call it, COVID-19 allowed employees to rethink their careers, work-life balance, and long-term goals. The result is a tight labor market. Many employers are eager to hire yet can’t find workers to fill the roles.
What best practices should your organization have in place to attract and retain quality talent? Attend the
Society’s first-ever Talent Management Summit featuring Jeremy Wortman of HRD Initiatives and put your learning into action! The summit will be held Nov. 3 at Shadow Ridge Country Club in Omaha.
Participants will be asked to complete a pre-session survey to see how your organization compares to others, and to identify areas of strength and weakness that can be targeted for action once you’re back at the office after the event. You’ll learn how to “connect the dots” between your investment in talent management activities and your organization’s revenue. Also on the agenda is retaining talent, where you’ll discover tactics to help keep your employees in place, as well as defining your culture, where you will assess and benchmark your organization’s employee value proposition. Building and leveraging talent, hiring quality talent with the use of science, and brainstorming action items to take back to your work are also on the summit agenda.
View the details and register today for any or all of these conferences at https://bit.ly/NESCPA-Conferences. You’ll find our other in-person events listed at https://bit.ly/NESCPA-In-Person-Events.
People are the key in every firm, in every organization, in every profession. It’s time to make time in order to connect, or reconnect, with your colleagues and peers. What better way to do this than at a Society event.
I look forward to seeing you, face to face, throughout the rest of the year!
Joni Sundquist is president and executive director of the Nebraska Society of CPAs. You may contact her at (402) 476-8482 or joni@nescpa.org.
