Jimmy L. Williamson, CPA

Jimmy L. Williamson, CPA, is a senior partner and stockholder in the accounting firm of MDA Professional Group, P.C., working primarily in the Albertville, Fort Payne, and Gadsden offices. He specializes in the areas of fraud detection and prevention, pension and profit-sharing plans, fringe benefits, nonqualified deferred compensation plans, estate, individual and corporate tax planning, and business acquisitions and dispositions.

He is a 1971 graduate of Jacksonville State University with a B.S. degree in accounting. He worked seven years as an IRS agent and pension plan specialist for the Internal Revenue Service before joining the firm of MDA Professional Group, P.C., as manager in 1977 in the Fort Payne office.

In past years, Williamson has served on the JSU President's Advisory Board of external business leaders, and he has served on a JSU advisory board dealing with business and accounting curriculum issues.

Williamson was elected to the AICPA Board of Directors in 2002. Williamson also serves on the AICPA Finance Committee and the AICPA Compensation Committee. In 2005 Williamson was nominated by the AICPA Nominating Committee to be the Vice-Chair of the AICPA beginning in October 2005 leading him to becoming the Chair of the AICPA in October 2006. The AICPA is the national professional association for more than 360,000 CPAs.

Prior to being elected to the AICPA Board of Directors in 2002, Williamson had served on the AICPA Governing Council as the elected AICPA Council representative from Alabama since 1992 and had served two, three-year terms as a Council Member-at-Large for the AICPA.

He also served as the Alabama delegate for the Visioning Project which was a strategic planning initiative of the AICPA focusing on reshaping the future of the CPA profession in a changing national and global economy. The Vision Project was initially started in 1997.

He has also served on the National CPA Vision Team since 1997, which is an AICPA national task force on the Vision Project, as one of only six members out of 54 National Future Forum Delegates. In connection with his work on the National CPA Vision Team, Williamson has written numerous articles and given numerous speeches dealing with the New Vision for the CPA Profession and how CPAs in all segments of the economy can implement the New Vision in their own personal careers and in their places of employment and within the organizations with which they work. His articles have been published by the AICPA and by practically every state society in their member publications.

Williamson has also served on the AICPA Change Management Team which will focus on assisting CPAs with the implementation of the CPA Vision. He also served on the CPA Financial Literacy Commission and served as Chairman of the Grassroots Mobilization Team which is responsible for developing and capturing the best practices of basic financial planning and to work with the state societies to facilitate and promote CPA volunteerism in local communities all across the country. The primary focus is on mobilizing and harnessing volunteers under the 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy Campaign umbrella.

Williamson is also a member and past-president of the Alabama Society of CPAs (ASCPA), member and past president of the Northeast Alabama Chapter of CPAs, member and past committee chair of the ASCPA Strategic Planning Committee, member of the ASCPA Public Relations Committee, serves on the Board of Directors of the ASCPA Educational Foundation, member of the Board of Directors of the University of Alabama's Federal Tax Clinic, serves on the Board of Directors of the Birmingham Tax Forum, member of the Alabama Baptist State Convention Audit Committee, past member of the ASCPA Federal Taxation Committee, and past member of the AICPA Employee Benefits Taxation Committee.

Mr. Williamson served as chairman of the Alabama Uniform Accountancy Act Task Force which was responsible for rewriting the Alabama Public Accountancy Law to comply with the Uniform Accountancy Act as adopted by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the National Association of State Board of Accountancy (NASBA). This new legislation was introduced in the Alabama 2003 legislative session and was passed and signed into law by Governor Riley.

In 1998 Jimmy was awarded status as a Diplomat of the American Board of Forensic Accounting. The ACFE recognized experience and education of individuals engaged in forensic examinations covering multi-disciplinary training in the accounting field. Individuals approved for Diplomat Status must achieve proficiency in a variety of topics, procedures, and ethical standards, and meet rigorous criteria of the certification program.

In January 2003, Jimmy also passed the Certified Forensic Accountant's examination, which is administered by the American College of Forensic Examiners.

CPA Magazine also selected Jimmy as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Practitioners for 2005 and 2006. According to the magazine, the selections were members of the profession who are intent on continuing to rebuild the public's trust in the profession.

Jimmy is married to Dianne who is also a JSU alumna, and they have two children and six grandchildren.