Kent State Hosts 39th Annual Meonske Accounting Conference, April 25-26

The Ohio Council of the Institute of Management Accountants will host its 39th annual Meonske Accounting Professional Development Conference and Workshop on April 25-26 at Kent State University.

“This conference is recognized as one of the top five accounting conferences in the country,” said Norman Meonske, Ph.D., professor emeritus at Kent State and national online instructor for the Becker CPA Review Course. Meonske, conference namesake, said, “We are going to have two days packed full of high-quality practical training for members of the accounting and financial community. We encourage registrants to take advantage of the early and group discounts because we expect a sellout of 600 people.”

The conference chairman is Nicholas Sucic, vice president and controller for the Davey Tree Expert Company in Kent, Ohio.

The Friday financial reporting panel features Dennis R. Beresford, Ernst & Young executive professor of accounting at University of Georgia; Leslie F. Seidman, chair for the Financial Accounting Standards Board; Mark M. Bielstein, partner at KPMG LLP; Jackson Day, partner, Americas Professional Practice Director-Accounting Standards, Ernst & Young LLP; and Jeffrey K. Schaeffer, professional accounting fellow in the Office of the Chief Accountant at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Also on Friday, the keynote luncheon address “Emerging Technologies: Framing the U.S. Global Competitiveness” will be presented by Kent State graduate Michael D. Capellas, chairman of the Virtual Computing Environment Company.

Afternoon sessions include “Implications of Standardization on Reporting Processes and Controls” by Mike Willis, CPA, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers and chairman emeritus for XBRL International, and “Money Smarts” by Jonathan D. Pond, acclaimed PBS host and “America’s financial planner.” 

The Thursday morning workshops include “Process Optimization: The Accounting Close and Financial Reporting” by Gabe Zubizarreta, founding principal at Silicon Valley Accountants, and “An FBI Perspective on CyberCrime” by Stanley W. Paulson, special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The keynote luncheon address, “Motivation – Successful Strategies to Become a Winner,” will be presented by former Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel, who is currently vice president for strategic engagement at the University of Akron.

Two concurrent afternoon tracks include “Leadership, Accountability, and Agreements” presented by Amanda Bolivar, management coach and trainer at Pathways to Business Success Seminars, and “Ohio Professional Standards and Ethics” presented by Meonske.

Attendees for both days will earn 16 hours of CPE. Friday attendees will get a free copy of the best-selling book “Monday Smarts” and the opportunity to win a new Apple iPad.

For more information or to register, contact the Kent State University Conference Bureau at 330-672-3161 or go to www.ohioima.org.

For information about Kent State's Department of Accounting, visit www.kent.edu/business/accounting.

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Media Contacts:
Norman Meonske, nmeonske@kent.edu, 330-554-7211
Emily Vincent, evincen2@kent.edu, 330-672-8595