The Gabelli School of Business recently announced plans for its new Center for Professional Accounting Practices (CPAP)—a new initiative designed to foster a more holistic accounting approach.
CPAP Co-Director and Associate Accounting and Taxation professor Stanley Veliotis, Ph.D., says the mission of the initiative is to help expand the scope of traditional accounting. “Our goal is to reflect what’s happening in the practice. The center is a breeding ground to talk about things that can lead to improvements and policy changes in the profession.”
CPAP hosted a panel discussion last fall that perfectly encapsulates the major themes of the initiative. Entitled “OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project and International Corporate Tax Avoidance,” the panel invited leading accounting experts drawn from the worlds of academia, finance, government, and law to explored “changes in the international tax system and the tax planning techniques of global companies.”
One of the many ways CPAP aims to do just that is to nurture discussions and “interdisciplinary collaborations” between policymakers and professionals” about “current tax issues, auditing and assurance, fraud, financial analysis and sustainability reporting,” as well as fraud detection and prevention.
According to fellow CPAP Co-Director and Clinical Associate Accounting and Taxation professor Barbara Porco, Ph.D., new applications of data are major concerns for accountants. “Accounting professionals have to understand data analytics and how information is processed in order to audit and provide assurance,” she said. “They also have to understand how the data is stored, communicated and transferred.”
According to the school’s press release, studies have shown that more holistic accounting practices help stimulate social, environmental and financial “triple bottom lines” for clients.