President's Message Continued
Jim Young
 It seems that every year on this page we hear that our profession is facing unprecedented changes and challenges. This year is certainly no exception. The effect of the overall economic turmoil on institutions of higher learning has been felt by all of us, small and large, public and private, Ph.D-granting or not. The effect of reduced funding is even more profound given the generally increasing enrollments in accounting. Doing more with less would seem to be the charge of academia in general and accounting departments in particular.
And of course doing more involves a growing number of constituents including students, faculty, higher administration, state boards of accountancy, accrediting bodies, and the accounting firms and others who hire our students. For each of these constituents there are many issues to be dealt with. Fortunately, we have a resource to help us direct our programs – the APLG.
This year, we are beginning a strategic planning initiative to help us better define our mission, identify a vision, and provide specific goals and objectives for our organization over the next five years. An outstanding team of twenty-five individuals has been drawn together to discuss and debate these critical ideas. You will be hearing more about this over the next several months as the strategic planning process plays out – so watch for updates and news in our newsletter.
Planning for our mid-year meeting in February 2012 is well under way and the planning team (Marc Rubin (Miami-Ohio), Greg Carnes (North Alabama), Robert Ricketts (Texas Tech), Frank Buckless (North Carolina State), and Charles Davis (Baylor)) is putting together an impressive lineup of sessions and workshops. Our meeting this year is in New Orleans – at the Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel in the French Quarter – and the APLG Board agreed to underwrite a portion of the room rates for our members. Our annual meeting is truly a "gem" and I believe that it provides value for both new program leaders and those who have been at the helm of their program for some time. More information about the meeting will be available soon on our website.
I also invite you to get involved with the APLG. As our strategic planning process identifies opportunities for us as an organization, we will need the help of our members to drive the APLG forward. So be watching for ways you can share in making our organization even better and more impactful within our profession.
I hope to see you all in New Orleans.
Jim Young, Chair
Crowe Horwath Professor of Accountancy
Department of Accountancy
Northern Illinois University
DeKalb, IL 60115
Phone: 815-753-1250
Fax: 815-753-8515
Email: jyoung@niu.edu
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