CPAs teach students ‘financial fitness’

Professionals of the Alabama Society of CPAs made presentations to more than 3,000 students in 45 schools Nov. 4.

The Dollars and Sense Classroom Blitz is a financial education initiative of the Young CPA Board of Directors.

“The thrust of the sessions (there were two provided to two of the business classes at Sparkman) was to stress to the students the importance of not allowing debt to take control of their lives,” said Robin Entrekin, CPA, CMA of Camber Corporation.

Entrekin spoke to business classes at Sparkman High School.

“We went through several examples of purchases that might be typical of newly graduated “income earners” just to demonstrate how much that purchase was actually costing them.  Given the interest rates charged and assuming a minimum to modest monthly payment, the true cost of an item can approach double the retail price.”

The Alabama Society partners with the Alabama Department of Education’s Career Tech section to get the word out to public education teachers and they respond overwhelmingly.

The CPAs used the National Endowment for Financial Education’s materials as the basis for their class discussions, but brought in their own experiences as CPAs.  They also shared why a career in accounting is a wise choice and what influenced them to become a CPA.