The world of corporate finance can be a very challenging environment for even the most adept professionals. Having the right tools and skill sets for the position can certainly assist a professional in navigating through difficult waters and help provide the organization with significant value. So, in 1994, James Kasim became a certified public accountant (CPA) - licensed in the state of California.

1. BENEFITS OF KEEPING A
CPA ON A CORPORATE
STAFF
By James Kasim

2. Introduction
 The world of corporate finance can be a very
challenging environment for even the most adept
professionals. Having the right tools and skill sets
for the position can certainly assist a professional
in navigating through difficult waters and help
provide the organization with significant value.
So, in 1994, James Kasim became a certified
public accountant (CPA) - licensed in the state of
California. Since then, he has worked in several
high-level executive positions, including with the
“Big Four” public accounting and consulting firm of
Ernst & Young and with publicly registered and
privately held companies as Chief Financial
Officer.

3. About James Kasim
 Although his executive duties have often extended
beyond the corporate function of financial reporting
and accounting, the CPA designation has helped Mr.
Kasim, and several other licensed CPA’s in the
executive arena, utilize their learned skills in
accounting and financial reporting to better assist
them navigate through corporate finance matters and
other leadership roles and responsibilities. On a daily
basis, corporate finance leaders find themselves with
a myriad of decision making responsibilities that can
have far reaching impacts throughout an organization.
In addition to attaining a CPA license, many corporate
finance executives have therefore ventured off to
academe to obtain a degree of higher education, such
as a Master’s of Business Administration (MBA)
degree.

4. An MBA for CPA’s
 After assisting several companies with initial public offerings
and other transactions, Mr. Kasim decided to do just that. In
2003, he graduated with honors from the Marshall School of
Business at the University of Southern California where he
attained an MBA. Along with other professional colleagues
who made the decision to get a secondary degree, Mr. Kasim
found that the process of earning his MBA helped to “round-
out” his skill sets in several respects. “The rationale behind
getting a degree of higher education, such as an MBA, was to
broaden my skill sets in an effort to ensure that I was able to
bring a complete set of knowledge and experience to an
organization”, said Mr. Kasim. In fact, attaining an MBA is
becoming a more common option for CPA’s in all industries
who desire to expand their skill sets. In addition to his CPA
license and MBA, Mr. Kasim has also chosen to augment his
skill sets by attaining a Certified Management Accountant
(CMA) license.

5. Conclusion
 “The CMA process focuses on several
corporate finance and corporate governance
matters that can certainly help any finance
executive better understand some core
concepts necessary for being a leader in
today’s environment”, he added. Certainly,
others in the industry have taken note as the
CPA and CMA license, along with the MBA
degree, have increasingly become more
common designations for today’s finance
executives.