Communications


General Information | Newsletter | Press Releases | Awards and Recognition

 

General Information

The primary purpose of the Communications section of the Board is to promote a greater knowledge and understanding of the Board's activities through the preparation and distribution of publications and information. These publications, such as the Board's monthly newsletter, provide licensees, the public, and interested third parties with timely and accurate information about the activities of the Board. The Communications section maintains the Board's web site and is responsible for writing and editing all reports, brochures, press releases, and publications released by the Board. Additional duties of the Communications Section include assisting the Executive Staff with the preparation of documents for the monthly Board meetings, assisting the Executive Director with requests for public record information, researching issues of interest to the Board and assisting with the promulgation of in-office documents such as the staff personnel manual, job descriptions, policies, and procedures.

 

Lisa R. Hearne, Manager

(919) 733-4208

lhearne@nccpaboard.gov

Mailing Address: NC State Board of CPA Examiners, Attn.: Communications, PO Box 12827, Raleigh, NC 27605-2827 

Fax Number: (919)733-4209, Attn.: Communications


Newsletter

 

The Activity Review, the Board's monthly newsletter, is provided at no charge to licensees, exam candidates, and educators and is the primary means by which these individuals are informed of the Board's activities. In addition to covering disciplinary actions, declaratory rulings, and upcoming deadlines, the Activity Review also discusses topics of interest to CPAs. Subscriptions to the Activity Review are available to the general public for $12.00 per year. To subscribe to the newsletter, complete the subscription form and mail to: NC State Board of CPA Examiners, Attn.: Communications, PO Box 12827, Raleigh, NC 27605-2827. Back issues (2000-present) of the newsletter are available on this web site.

 


Press Releases

To keep the public abreast of the Board's activities, periodic press releases, such as the monthly listing of CPA certificates issued and the quarterly list of successful exam candidates, are distributed State-wide to a number of newspapers, schools, colleges, and other members of the business community. A list of recent press releases is available on the Press Releases page of this web site.


Awards and Recognition

The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) presented the North Carolina State Board of CPA Examiners with an award honoring the Board’s web site as one of the best accountancy board web sites in the nation.

The award, which was presented to the Board during the NASBA Annual Meeting in September 2000, recognized the Board’s web site as “going beyond the basic to offer comprehensive information to licensees and the public.” California, Idaho, and Washington also received awards for their web sites.

A project of the NASBA Strategic Initiative Committee, the web award program was designed to encourage accountancy boards to use the Internet to make information available to licensees and the public in an informative, easy-to-use manner. 

Lisa Axisa, NASBA’s Director of Communications and staff liaison to the Committee, stated, “The Committee members divided into teams and each team looked at four or five accountancy board web sites and compared the sites based on content, appearance, uniqueness of features, etc.”

“The full Committee then compared each team’s top choices and selected four sites to recognize with an award,” explained Axisa. 

According to Axisa, the Committee selected North Carolina for an award because the Board’s web site contains information, such as the licensee and firm search, that is critical to licensees and the public and that the site is updated frequently. 

“One of the aspects of the North Carolina site that the Committee liked was the availability of current and past issues of the newsletter through the site. That is a somewhat unique feature in comparison to other web sites,” said Axisa.

Robert N. Brooks, the Board’s Executive Director, commented, “The Board and I are extremely proud of this award. Lisa Hearne, the Board’s Manager of Communications, who designed the site and maintains it, has put a lot of hard work into this site to make it a useful tool for licensees, exam candidates, and the public.”

In June 1999, AccountingNet named the Board’s web site as a “Site of the Week” for “demonstrating how organizations, regardless of size, can communicate more effectively by utilizing the Web.”

In April 2001, the Board received a "2001-2002 Golden Web Award," from the International Association of Web Masters and Designers and in April 2003, the Board received a "2003-2004 Golden Web Award," from the same organization.