For close to 80 years, The University of Tulsa’s Conference of Accountants has been equipping local certified public accountants with professional development opportunities.
The conference – one of the longest-serving continuing professional education events in the nation – is expected to attract 200 people this year, said Elaine Jolly, applied assistant professor of accounting in the Collins College of Business and UTulsa’s coordinator for the conference. The event will be held May 20-21 in the Student Union.
“It kind of evolved from a series of seminars when it originally started,” Jolly said. “It became formalized as the Conference of Accountants in about 1950, so we consider the inaugural day of the conference to be 1947, which is the year that the series of seminars originated.”
Some of the learning objectives of this year’s conference include staying informed on Oklahoma tax policies, strengthening cybersecurity awareness, and harnessing artificial intelligence in accounting. Among the speakers are State Auditor Cindy Byrd and Artemis Group Managing Partner Jim Bridenstine, who formerly served as a congressman from Tulsa and as NASA administrator.
Akhilesh Bajaj, director of the School of Accounting & Business Information Systems, said UTulsa prides itself on being the city’s university, and popular conferences such as this one cement that status.
“It showcases the university,” he said. “We are not just the center of research and teaching students, but we also reach out to the community. We disseminate ideas and knowledge into the community.”
Bajaj also said the conference is special because it’s in-person. Many such events have moved online, but the UTulsa’s Conference of Accountants has returned to in-person post-pandemic.
“This has really been a very big community event for people in the accounting profession in the area,” he said. “It has evolved over the past 50 to 60 years, which is a long time. CPAs who are practicing in the area and want to maintain their CPA status, come and meet and mingle with each other. It’s a great networking event.”
Jolly said CPAs have substantial continuing education requirements – usually about 40 hours per year. This conference allows attendees to earn 13 to 15 hours during the two-day event.
“It’s often the first conference of the calendar year that people plan to attend, just because of how busy accountants are in the spring,” she said. “This tends to be kind of like re-emerging from that hibernation, seeing people you haven’t seen in a year. It’s a great place to visit with alumni and reconnect with former co-workers.”
More information is available at https://utulsa.edu/coa.