IAPP headquarters is abuzz with energy and excitement these days. For one thing, there’s a new sister association on the horizon. Many of you are already working in accounts receivable as well as accounts payable, so it’s only logical for the IAPP to reach into that arena with International Accounts Receivable Professionals – IARP.

Rest assured your IAPP membership entitles you to all the member benefits of IARP as well, including a separate Web site chock-full of resources and tools; a brand-new digital publication coming in September, AR Matters; local chapters; the best AR training opportunities anywhere; guidance for the profession; and certification to identify those AR professionals willing to step up and demonstrate their knowledge and worth.

Likewise, your colleagues in accounts receivable who join IARP are eligible for all IAPP member benefits. You’ll find details in a special center spread in the August-September issue of AP Matters. Pull out the center spread and share it with your AR peers or finance leaders.

In another response to a growing business trend toward “shared services,” or the practice of operating several financial functions under one umbrella, IAPP is also embarking on a partnership with The Association for Work Process Improvement (TAWPI). The two associations are pooling their talents and resources to offer top-drawer programs and products for high-level financial services professionals, including chief financial officers, controllers, and directors of shared services. For a press release with details about this partnership, click on the Latest AP News tab on the home page of www.TheIAPP.org. 

Other offerings to add value to your membership include a brand-new certification exam for the fall testing window, a host of educational offerings to fit a variety of learning styles, and a series of handbooks covering topics such as travel and entertainment, essentials of accounts payable, tax issues such as 1099 and 1042-S, and more. The first two handbooks, AP Leadership Skills and Implementing a Control Self Assessment Program in Your AP Department, are available for pre-order now at www.TheIAPP.org/bookstore.  

We are also pleased to share with you the news that AP Matters has been selected by the Florida Magazine Association to receive three awards, for cover design, feature writing, and in-depth reporting. The awards will be presented at a gala August 7 at the FMA annual conference in Orlando. Watch for details about the awards after that date.

As always, you are the IAPP, and we want to hear from you. You will soon be receiving a survey about membership and its benefits, how well the IAPP staff is doing at meeting your needs, and our flagship publication, AP Matters. Please do take a few minutes out of your busy schedule to complete the survey. Your opinion matters.

Plan now for year-end outreach. It’s hard to believe, but 2009 is more than halfway gone. Has your chapter planned its year-end activities yet? Some chapters take time to mark the end of the year with a community service project for an organization such as the Salvation Army, Ronald McDonald House, or Toys for Tots. Here are some examples that may inspire your chapter to take on a charitable challenge this year.

The Arizona Chapter chose the Salvation Army for its volunteer event. Chapter members and their families, including several children from ages 3 to 17, brought food donations and filled out angel gift tags for three hours. Each angel tag included an application number assigned to a low-income family, as well as each child's name, age, gender, clothing and shoe size along with two presents they would like for Christmas. The tag is perforated, so one section goes to the family and the other, shaped like an angel, is hung on one of several Christmas trees at local shopping malls.  Shoppers take a tag, purchase the two toys, and take the unwrapped gifts and the tag back to the volunteer at the Christmas tree. The gifts are wrapped by Salvation Army volunteers and the angel tag is taped to the gifts and placed in a Christmas warehouse.  The participating families drive up to the warehouse and show the other portion of the angel tags. The gifts and a food box are matched to the tag and loaded into their car, and the family drives away with hope for a happy holiday. The chapter collected enough food to fill more than a pickup truck and a half. Volunteers filled out 1,653 angel gift tags (one for each child) from 551 applications (one application equals one family). The total represented a small dent in the thousands of applications the Salvation Army receives each Christmas. Members and their families remarked on the sense of accomplishment and on seeing each others’ children learning about the spirit of giving back to their community. Many of the volunteers also said the day was fun, and they hope to do it again next year.

The Indiana/Southern Illinois Chapter adopted a local Ronald McDonald House in a project that is continuing all year. Chapter members brought toy donations to the November meeting, then toured the house, which provides temporary lodging for families whose children are patients at a local hospital. The house includes family rooms, open kitchens, toy areas, laundry facilities, game rooms, a library, playground, and more. The visit inspired chapter leaders to set a theme for subsequent meetings, asking attendees to bring specific donations. In February, the chapter collected packaged macaroni and cheese, and May was cereal bar and toaster pastry month. Donations will continue at the August meeting with snack foods, and in November with soup and toys. Chapter members were enthusiastic about the ongoing outreach in part because of the philosophy of the Ronald McDonald House that encourages families to help one another. The 50-room home is run by 12 full-time employees supported by 500 volunteers. Fundraisers and donations provide a substantial portion of the home’s needs.

Ronald McDonald House is an ongoing project of the Mile High Chapter in Colorado as well. Each quarter, the chapter collects donations and provides breakfast for the families staying at the home-away-from-home. Mile High also collects toys for the local Toys for Tots Christmas drive.

Has your chapter found a rewarding way to give back to the community? Tell us about it by sending an e-mail to news@iappnet.org, and we might feature it in a future issue of Membership Matters.

Satisfy your style of learning. It is commonly believed that each individual favors a particular style of learning, and having the opportunity to learn through your preferred method allows you to make the most of your learning experience and capitalize on your strengths.  Because the IAPP is committed to your success as an AP professional, a variety of training opportunities have been added to meet the needs of members with all learning styles.  Training options vary from online learning to regional events and from self-study courses to organizational training brought right to your door. 

Satisfy your learning preferences with one or more of these options:

E-learning
These events are interactive, engaging and designed to fit high-level learning into a busy schedule.  No special equipment is needed – just log in, dial in, and you are on your way to receiving quality low-cost training.  Offerings include FREE Third Thursday webinars for IAPP members, webinar series that can be purchased individually or bundled for a discount, webinars on demand for access anytime and anywhere, and e-seminars to save on travel costs. www.TheIAPP.org/elearning

Self-study
IAPP’s online self study program offers members a discounted rate on an annual subscription to hundreds of innovative training programs from subject matter experts.  Courses are designed to meet nationally recognized standards for CPE requirements and include downloadable materials, instantly graded exams, and the ability to track credits and print completion certificates.  Take these courses at your own pace, whenever and wherever you choose. www.TheIAPP.org/selfstudy

On-site Programs
More than 25 programs are now available to bring the hottest AP training topics to your organization. 
IAPP approved instructors will come to your organization or another nearby facility, saving travel expenses for your staff and thus making the most of your training budget. Offerings include one-day or two-day programs covering a variety of topics.  IAPP representatives will work with you to customize your on-site experience to meet your specific training needs. www.TheIAPP.org/onsite

Regional Events
With the help of Deloitte, finance, accounts payable, and payroll professionals can get two days of quality training at the IAPP’s Shared Services & Disbursements Reporting Regional Conferences, being offered for the first time this year in two locations. Regional conferences are offered this year in September and October in Philadelphia and Chicago in what is expected to become an annual offering. www.TheIAPP.org/regional

Name your learning style, and IAPP has your training solution.  Learn more about all of these new training opportunities at www.TheIAPP.org/aptraining.

Have you heard what’s new in certification?  A brand NEW exam. The IAPP Certification Council has been diligently working to bring you an exam that meets the highest standards of excellence in certification assessment.   The result is an exam that reflects just how much the accounts payable profession has grown in the past decade, said Faye Adams, CAPP, vice chairman of the Certification Council.  “Now, more than ever, you need to stay on top of the best practices being used in all these areas.  The new CAPP manual and certification program are just the start.”

THREE new study options.

One... IAPP recently released its comprehensive new CAPP Certification Study Manual, ensuring certification candidates are equipped with the latest industry intelligence.  You can pick up this enhanced version of the traditional study manual at a discounted member rate in the IAPP Bookstore.

Two...Also now available is the premier offering of a Certification Exam Review Webinar Series to aid in your studies.  This option allows you to register for the entire series covering all domains or individually select the domains you most need to brush up on.

Three...And if travel is a challenge, you now have the option to bring exam preparation training right to your door. CAPP and/or CAPA certification exam review courses are now available through our on-site program, giving you the opportunity to build a customized event for your organization that can be delivered at your own office.

Registration is now open for the updated CAPP exam, being offered from September 14 – October 13.  With the ever-changing environment of AP, it is crucial that the certification program and study materials are comprehensive and up to date. 
Our job is to ensure that we uphold the highest standards of excellence in certification administration, your job in preparing is now as easy as one….two…three!

Have you visited IAPP’s improved online Resource Center lately?  Janetta Goode, AP manager at Alkermes, Inc. of Cambridge, Mass., not only visited, she also won a premier IAPP charter library collection. Goode won last quarter’s Resource Center campaign for her submission of a template for an unclaimed properties letter.  This winning tool can be found in the Forms and Templates section under the subcategory Controls, Cash Management.

IAPP members like Goode have contributed more than 900 tools, making this an incredibly robust source for up-to-date information for AP professionals. As an IAPP member, you have exclusive access to this comprehensive collection of tools hosted on the IAPP Web site.

In the forms and templates section, for example, you’ll find accounting department master checklist, disaster recovery solutions and a summary of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act under controls and audits;  petty cash tools, telecommunications authorization form – and the unclaimed properties letter submitted by Janetta Goode, all under controls and cash management; vendor bankruptcy tools, vendor dispute letter and a vendor profile form under controls and vendor master files; examples of letters to manager under customer relations and partnerships; job descriptions; templates for operational analysis; forms for processing functions in invoice handling, payment processing, and procurement cards; and tax forms.

These forms and templates are only a sampling of the practical tools available to you. You’ll also find benchmarking reports, white papers, briefings, links to service providers and other resources, and much more.  Log in to www.TheIAPP.org/resource to start accessing these tools, and check back often, as new tools are being added every day.

That’s because the information contained in the Resource Center represents the collective expertise and experience of the IAPP membership community.  This impressive list of resources can’t continue to be improved without members’ help.
When you submit your most useful on-the-job tools to be shared with fellow members – whether  your most comprehensive policy, functional form, or enlightening white paper – each approved resource submitted by September 30 will earn a free IAPP toolkit.

Business Strategy Inc., an audit consulting company and an IAPP diamond partner, plans to have its entire field audit staff become Certified Accounts Payable Professionals and Certified Accounts Payable Associates. For that reason, BSI is featured in this month’s Member Minute.

Chris Doxey, CAPP, vice president of business development for BSI, talked recently about the company’s plans.

What does membership mean to BSI’s staff individually and to the organization? As a Diamond Partner, BSI has a strong commitment to the IAPP and its members. Our support is also demonstrated by speaking at three to four local chapters a month. We decided to integrate our commitment and support to the associate level by requiring our entire field audit staff to be certified. Managers and above will be CAPP-certified and supervisors and field auditors will be CAPA-certified. We are also making the certification a job requirement. All new associates will be required to become certified during their first six to nine months of employment at BSI.

What does certification mean individually? What value does it bring to the organization? I am very pleased that all BSI associates have embraced our program. In fact, when I held our kick-off meeting, we had participation from all departments at BSI – including IT! On a side note, we just obtained the Microsoft Gold Partner level. This means that our IT staff has just completed a series of rigorous testing. They thought that a CAPP or CAPA certification would round out their accounts payable acumen.

The certification program adds the value of professionalism to BSI and indicates that our field audit staff has a high degree of accounts payable subject matter expertise. I have several associates who can’t wait to get started studying. They understand the personal value as well as the value that BSI will obtain. We will have approximately 50 certified accounts payable professionals who are well-trained in audit techniques, risk assessment reviews, client service and satisfaction, and project management.

What factors led to the decision to become a group member and certify the department? The certification process was started a few years ago but was an informal program. Since BSI has been rebranded, we have focused on continuing to reinvent our company. The certification process and group membership is another step in our effort to continue to raise the bar.

What do you expect the department and organization to gain from implementing this program? Better auditors who have a demonstrated core competency in accounts payable as well as a competitive advantage.

What value does membership and certification bring to the service you provide to your clients? Our knowledge of accounts payable will be consistent across our field audit staff in our Phase I roll-out of the program. We will look at other departments in Phase II of the program.