Two Smeal Grads Head 19,000-Member CPA Society
Pennsylvania's 19,000-member CPA association is currently under the leadership of two Smeal College of Business alumni. Robert H. Krebs Jr. and J. Andrew Weidman serve as president and president-elect, respectively, of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA), the second-oldest organization of its type dedicated to preserving and promoting the interests of CPAs and the profession.
Two Smeal Grads Head 19,000-Member CPA Society
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (November 29, 2005)—Pennsylvania's 19,000-member CPA association is currently under the leadership of two Smeal College of Business alumni. Robert H. Krebs Jr. and J. Andrew Weidman serve as president and president-elect, respectively, of the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA), the second-oldest organization of its type dedicated to preserving and promoting the interests of CPAs and the profession.
Krebs, an audit partner with Goff Backa Alfera & Company LLC in Pittsburgh, graduated from Smeal in 1964 and began his accounting career with what is now Big 4 accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. He was chair of the PICPA's Peer Review Committee in the late 1980s and again from 2000-2003. The committee has the responsibility of approving reviews of CPA firms in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the Virgin Islands. Krebs is one of the most sought after peer reviewers in the state.
As PICPA president, Krebs plays a large role in keeping PICPA members informed and involved. The CPA profession has undergone important changes since 2002, mostly from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which imposed stricter rules on accounting firms that audit public companies.
"With all the regulations, we can't afford to be complacent," Krebs told AccountingWEB.com. "Everybody has to get involved, because if we don't, we will have to deal with the consequences."
Krebs is also the director of the Becker Convisor CPA Exam Review course for the Pittsburgh region. He became a CPA in 1966 and is certified to practice in both Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Weidman, a 1978 Smeal alum and CPA, is chair and CEO of Reinsel Kuntz Lesher LLP in Wyomissing, Pa. He was managing partner of Reinsel & Company in 2004 before the firm merged with Kuntz Lesher in January 2005.
A past president of PICPA's Reading Chapter, Weidman is involved with several PICPA committees, including the Strategic Advisory Board and the Pennsylvania CPA Journal Editorial Board. He is also a member of AICPA Council, and past chair of the Olivet Boys and Girls Club in Reading.
In addition to earning his bachelor's degree from Smeal, Weidman, earned a master's degree in taxation from Colorado State University.
Founded in 1897, the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants is a professional association of CPAs who work in public accounting, industry, government, and education. PICPA is the fifth-largest state CPA organization in the United States.
REPORTERS & EDITORS: For more information, please contact Wyatt DuBois in the Smeal College of Business Media Relations Office at 814-863-3798 or wed112@psu.edu.
Penn State's Smeal College of Business offers highly ranked undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, Ph.D., and executive education opportunities to more than 5,500 students at all levels. Featuring academic departments of accounting, finance, marketing, insurance and real estate, management, and supply chain and information systems, the college is also home to major research centers such as the Center for Supply Chain Research, the Institute for the Study of Business Markets, the Center for Digital Transformation, the Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Center for Global Business Studies, and the Center for the Management of Technological and Organizational Change.
