Grant Helps Students Prepare Taxes

Sara Burling and Lisa Kiefer, accounting teachers at Menomonee Falls High School, have been awarded a 2011 Accounting Careers Awareness Grant in the amount of $1,503 from the Wisconsin Institute of Certified Public Accountants Educational Foundation, Inc.

Accounting teachers who participated in the fall 2010 WICPA High School Educators Symposium were offered the opportunity to write proposals about why they should receive funding. Burling and Kiefer were two of 25 teachers to receive a grant.

“The grant allows schools to partner with CPA’s to give students the opportunity to see what it is like to be a CPA,” said Robert Gruber, President of the Educational Foundation.

The teachers used the grant money to hold an event called "Tax Day.... a Reality," which was held in February. The MFHS Business Department set up a tax preparation area in the library. The business and accounting students served as “tax advisers” to the students of the high school, and shared advice on how to prepare their tax forms along with actual preparation.

Menomonee Falls alumni who are now CPA’s were available to check over final forms and answer any questions. The CPA’s and business students had the opportunity to network during a business luncheon that day.