| 1 | House Resolution |
| 2 | A resolution designating April 20, 2005, as "Florida |
| 3 | Institute of Certified Public Accountants Day" in Florida. |
| 4 |
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| 5 | WHEREAS, on April 20, 1905, the Florida Society of |
| 6 | Accountants, now the Florida Institute of Certified Public |
| 7 | Accountants (FICPA), was formed in order to uphold the highest |
| 8 | educational and ethical standards of the accounting profession |
| 9 | while ensuring its continued growth and success, and |
| 10 | WHEREAS, from 1905, when legislative efforts of the society |
| 11 | resulted in Governor Napoleon Bonaparte Broward's signing of |
| 12 | Florida's first accountancy law, through 2004, when the FICPA |
| 13 | supported legislation relating to licensure and a mandatory |
| 14 | ethics course, the organization has worked to promote the |
| 15 | highest standards of professionalism and to protect the needs of |
| 16 | the general public, and |
| 17 | WHEREAS, in 1979, the FICPA successfully supported |
| 18 | legislation that, in 1983, enabled Florida to become the first |
| 19 | major state to implement the 150-hour education requirement for |
| 20 | CPA candidates to further ensure the public receives the |
| 21 | services of educated, tested, and licensed professionals, and |
| 22 | WHEREAS, in 1992, the FICPA sought support from the Florida |
| 23 | Legislature to create the Division of Certified Public |
| 24 | Accounting, and |
| 25 | WHEREAS, the FICPA has gone to great lengths to assist in |
| 26 | the establishment and, since 1992, the funding of an unlicensed |
| 27 | activity public awareness campaign that has resulted in the |
| 28 | equivalent of $11 million in airtime, through $1.65 million of |
| 29 | CPA license fees, developed to protect the public from illegal |
| 30 | activities, and |
| 31 | WHEREAS, the FICPA established an educational foundation in |
| 32 | 1959 that has distributed more than $1.7 million in scholarships |
| 33 | to accounting students and universities and has created a High |
| 34 | School Coordinators program that has placed 660 volunteer |
| 35 | certified public accountants in over 585 high schools in Florida |
| 36 | to encourage students to consider a career in accounting, and |
| 37 | WHEREAS, in 1998, in order to assist minority students in |
| 38 | completing their fifth year of college accounting education, the |
| 39 | FICPA sought legislation that created the Minority Scholarship |
| 40 | Program, funded solely by CPA license fees, that has awarded |
| 41 | $408,000 to 79 students; and in that same year, in an effort to |
| 42 | encourage rising minority students to explore career |
| 43 | opportunities in business, finance, or accounting, the FICPA |
| 44 | created a Minority Summer Residency Program to enable high |
| 45 | school seniors to spend a week on a college campus, and |
| 46 | WHEREAS, in 1998, the FICPA worked cooperatively in a |
| 47 | public-private partnership with the Florida Department of |
| 48 | Revenue to create the Certified Audit Program, which, since |
| 49 | 1999, has recovered over $6.9 million in underpaid taxes to the |
| 50 | state, NOW, THEREFORE, |
| 51 |
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| 52 | Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of |
| 53 | Florida: |
| 54 |
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| 55 | That the House of Representatives, in recognition of the |
| 56 | 100-year anniversary of the FICPA, designates April 20, 2005, as |
| 57 | "Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants Day" in |
| 58 | Florida. |
| 59 | BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution be |
| 60 | presented to Lloyd "Buddy" Turman, Chief Executive Officer and |
| 61 | Executive Director of the FICPA, as a tangible token of the |
| 62 | sentiments expressed herein. |