Financial Litercay
MACPA Receives Top Honors from VASTMI

At its annual meeting in November, the Volunteer Accounting Service Team of Michigan (VASTMI) honored MACPA with its Commitment to Community Award.

Helpful Financial
Literacy Resources

MACPA was recognized for its longstanding and extraordinary efforts in working with VAST to improve community life in southeastern Michigan.

MACPA President and CEO Peggy Dzierzawski and Cynthia Kopczynski, MACPA executive vice president of operations, accept the 2004 Commitment to Community Award from Marshall J. Hunt, CPA, director of VASTMI's Tax Assistance Program.

In its longstanding relationship with VASTMI, MACPA has:

  • Helped to fund VASTMI's Tax Assistance Program (TAP)
  • Provided resources to expand TAP, allowing VASTMI to offer the benefits of electronic filing to our low-income clients
  • Encouraged CPAs to participate in the free tax assistance program through presentations at CPA meetings and newsletter articles
  • Provided CPA volunteers with opportunities to volunteer for tax assistance throughout Michigan
  • Provided exhibit space for VASTMI to promote TAP
  • Adopted the TAP Focus:HOPE site during tax season, which enabled VASTMI to open the Focus:HOPE site ahead of the arrival of the AmeriCorps team that usually staffs that site
  • Provided computers and volunteers for the Focus:HOPE site
  • Provided expertise and record-keeping to allow VASTMI to certify CPE credits for CPA and Enrolled Agent volunteers attending their tax training.

Last year TAP served 6,805 low-income families in the tri-county area, returning more than $5.8 million in tax returns and tax credits.

Financial Literacy Links

MACPA Financial Literacy Initiatives
This MACPA webpage provides an overview and links for a variety of MACPA efforts, including the MACPA Accounting Blitz, VASTMI and Hospice of Michigan programs and CPA Ambassadors.

360 Degrees of Financial Literacy – CPA Website
To make sure CPAs are prepared to be successful volunteers in their communities, this website features a host of resources for CPAs including PowerPoint presentations, financial planning information, downloadable brochures, a marketing toolkit and more.

360 Degrees of Financial Literacy – Consumer Website
AICPA consumer website allows visitors to immediately pinpoint the financial information they need because it is organized by common life stages that trigger financial issues: childhood, college, career, military and reserves, couples and marriage, parenthood, home ownership, entrepreneurs, life crisis, sandwich generation and retirement.

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Register on this financial literacy volunteer database of CPA volunteers.

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