Institute of Management Accountants

Minutes from the October 20th 2004 Student Meeting

Meeting was opened at 12:50 pm by Brittanya Bryant and Shyla Erickson in GWP 101. The following officers were present: Dr. Leslie Price, Brittanya Bryant, Shyla Erickson and Michael McMahon.

Minutes

Each officer introduced themselves, and each attending student quickly said who they were and what year of school they are in.

The first topic of the meeting was application procedures for applying to the IMA. Students may apply by filling out a form available from any of the IMA officers or online. Payment of $35 dues is required when applying. There is no deadline to apply for the IMA. Confirmation of membership is usually sent out about a month after application date.

Benefits from belonging to the IMA were discussed in detail. These benefits include professional contacts, resume enhancer, scholarships available from the Parent Chapter, receive subscription to professional periodicals, auto rental discounts, etc. IMA membership looks very good on employment applications. Student members of the IMA may also attend the Parent Chapter monthly meetings held on the second Wednesday of each month at C.I. Shenanigans in Tacoma. The next Parent Chapter meeting will occur on November 10th. The student discounted price to attend is $10 for the 4:30pm session, and $15 dollars for the dinner session, or if a student does not want dinner, the dinner session only costs $5 for unlimited non-alcoholic beverages. Students must RSVP in advance to either Shyla Erickson or Brittanya Bryant. One of UWT’s accounting professors regularly speaks at the Parent Chapter meetings. Also explained was what the IMA is about, and the fact that the IMA is not only for accounting, but also finance and information technology. The IMA is also looking for volunteers to help out with the requirements for the gold, silver, or bronze Award of Excellence issued by the National Chapter. We also need students to help fill chair positions within our Student Chapter. The chair positions do not require a great amount of time, and are terrific for juniors to get involved and learn more about the organization. Interested students should contact one of the officers.

The next topic discussed were the different events the IMA has scheduled for the year:

  1. KCTS will need volunteers to answer phones on Saturday, November 6th in Seattle. Interested students should notify Brittanya Bryant if they want to attend. If there is enough interest, the IMA may organize a carpool. A list of students will be created by the officers.
  2. November 17th will be the next student meeting of the IMA. The room has not been determined yet.
  3. A tour to the CPA firm Brantley, Janson, Yost & Ellison has been arranged for November 19th at 1pm. The tour will last approximately one hour. The firm is located in Federal Way, WA, and is the firm Dr. Price helped found. Interested students should contact one of the officers about attending.
  4. In January, a representative from Beckers & Rigos will be giving a guest speaker presentation about the differences between the CMA and CFM certifications. Topics to be discussed will be the different testing requirements and pathways to certification.
  5. Also in January, there will be a guest speaker from the state fraud office. The speaker is a Certified Fraud Examiner, and will be speaking about fraud and also how to obtain the CFE certification.
  6. In February, there will be either a tour or guest speaker scheduled from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The purpose will be to learn about not-for-profit accounting.
  7. In March, there will be a panel of UWT Alumni Accounting Students. The former students will be discussing challenges of finding jobs after they graduated and how they like their careers now.
  8. In April, the Rotary Auction will need volunteers for their event. Student volunteers can attend the dinner without paying, and are asked to bring their resumes for networking.
  9. In May, the IMA will be hosting the Accounting Recognition Night. This is an event that many employers attend, and gives accounting students a great chance to network with professionals.
  10. Other unconfirmed events include a guest speaker event from McGladrey & Pullen CPA firm in November, and a guest speaker from Clark Nuber CPA firm in December.

Juniors are encouraged to express their ideas about speakers and events to one of the officers.

The next item discussed was how to enroll on the IMA BlackBoard website. Go into BlackBoard like normal, do a course search for TIMA, and then click enroll.

Dr. Price gave a brief introduction of himself at the end of the meeting. He stated he has worked with two other student organizations in the past, and he regrets that he did not join a student organization while he was an undergraduate. He also stated that if a student signs up to attend an event, that is a commitment on the students part.

Finally, Shyla and Brittanya expressed the need to begin looking and applying for internships now since accounting firms hire their interns in the Fall to begin working the following Summer.

Closing

The meeting was adjourned at 1:40 pm by Shyla Erickson and Brittanya Bryant.

The next Student meeting date is November 17th at 12:50pm in a room to be announced.

Respectfully Submitted,

Michael McMahon

Secretary