Grow Your Resume with Skill-Enhancing Volunteer Opportunities
Interested in speaking to elementary students about a career in accounting? Or is completing tax returns for low income individuals more your tune? The MACPA has volunteer opportunities for students in both these areas.
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CPA Exam: Get Prepared
Is the CPA exam just around the bend for you? Get prepared! Take a review course – MACPA members receive discounts on courses from several vendors. Also, utilize the cpa-exam.org web site for tutorials, tips and information regarding how you can be successful on the exam.
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Advice from a Professional: Margarete Chalker, A Different Path to CPA
Margrete Chalker, CPA
Assistant VP/Tax Manager at Capitol Bancorp Ltd.
12 years in the profession

After years in the restaurant business, Margarete Chalker decided it was time to focus her energies on the part of her job she enjoyed most: working with people and focusing on the financial side of business. That is when she decided to become a CPA.

Chalker’s Path to Become a CPA
Margarete took a different path to earn her CPA. Her initial interest was to go to law school, and she had earned her BA from Michigan State University in political philosophy, graduating from the James Madison College. Once she decided to become a CPA, she fulfilled the academic requirements for sitting for the CPA exam at Lansing Community College. And in December 2005, Margarete earned her MS in Taxation from Grand Valley State University.

She said her BA degree, though in political philosophy, was actually very valuable in her pursuit of CPA licensure.

“I had a lot more writing experience than most of my peers when I was in public accounting,” she said. “The fact that I have a political philosophy degree as opposed to a degree in accounting surprises people sometimes, but I believe it has been helpful in my career, particularly with my approach to solving problems.”

Margarete was concerned that she would never get a job in public accounting because she was not the traditional CPA candidate.

“I did not have a degree in accounting and I was in the process of changing careers,” she said. “I believe my experiences prior to my becoming a CPA makes me a better CPA. Students should find value in everything they do.”

Chalker on the CPA Exam
Margarete sat for the CPA exam in 1993.

“There have been a lot of changes (in the exam) since then,” Margarete said. “The best advice I would have is to not panic, relax and be prepared!”

Chalker on Being a CPA
Maragarete says one of the benefits of working as a CPA is that it is a very challenging profession with a lot of different opportunities available.

“It amazes me how many different opportunities we (CPAs) have to help people and businesses,” Margarete said. “It is empowering.”

She tells students: “Don’t make a decision too early in your academic or professional career regarding what area you want to work in (audit, tax, etc.). Try to work with a variety of clients and in different areas to broaden your experience.”

Chalker’s Career in Accounting…
Chalker is the tax officer for a publicly traded company, Capitol Bancorp Ltd., headquartered in Lansing and Phoenix. She is in charge of the majority of the tax functions for the corporation: tax compliance and planning in the areas of corporate income and state/local taxes, sales/use, personal property; she provides support to the Human Resources Services Department with payroll tax issues and works with the accounting department with the monthly, quarterly and annual closing processes as it relates to booking taxes. She also assists with the annual public audit process and other projects as requested by the CFO.

What Chalker likes most and least about her position: “The most – the challenge of keeping up with a growing company and our responsibilities in new tax jurisdictions. The least - dealing with sales and use tax issues of many different jurisdictions.”

…And How You Could Get There…
Chalker advises for someone to work in a position such as hers, you should work in public accounting for a sufficient period of time to establish a proficiency in corporate tax. Chalker said she spent about seven years in public accounting.

“Understand the basic components of financial statement reporting (I am not a GAAP expert, however),” she further advises. “Be willing to spend time reading to continue learning and to keep up with constant changes in the tax law. A Masters was not required for my position, however, I believe the time spent in the classroom has been an enormous benefit both to the company and to me personally.”
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