News

Partner Dave Hood has earned the credential of Personal Financial Specialist, a designation which certifies advanced education, training, and experience in financial planning.

The text of the firm’s press release is below — click here to see the official press release from Martin Hood.

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Dave Hood, a CPA financial planner with Martin Hood LLC in Champaign, Illinois, has been awarded the Personal Financial Specialist (PFS) credential by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, joining an elite group of professionals who have demonstrated advanced knowledge of tax, estate, retirement, investment and insurance planning.

The PFS credential, established in 1987 by the AICPA, is awarded only to CPAs with extensive training and experience in financial planning. To earn the credential, CPAs must have at least 75 hours of personal financial planning education and 3,000 hours of planning experience within the previous five-year period. They also must pass a comprehensive exam covering eleven topic areas and be a member in good standing with the AICPA, binding them to the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct and the Statement on Standards in Personal Financial Planning Services.

“Given their formal education and technical training in the areas of accountancy and taxation, CPAs are the most qualified, knowledgeable and objective financial planning professionals,” said Jeannette Koger, the AICPA’s vice president of member specialization and credentialing. “Supplementing this background with the CPA/PFS credential demonstrates a CPA’s commitment to providing the highest level of expert financial planning services. For clients, that translates to financial planning that is CPA strong – comprehensive financial strategies that put their needs and interests first.”

Many CPA/PFS credential holders regularly appear on lists of top financial planners. In addition to meeting rigorous requirements to join this elite group, Mr. Hood must meet recertification requirements every three years to maintain the credential.

Dave graduated with high honors from the University of Illinois in 1980 and has been a partner at the firm he co-founded since 1982. In addition to his individual clients, Dave serves business clients in a variety of industries.

About Martin Hood

Martin Hood began over 35 years ago, in an effort to preserve the culture of a collaborative, community-based firm. Since then, their reputation has allowed them to recruit a high-quality staff in order to best serve their clients. They offer a full range of services, with access to high-level experts, in order to go above and beyond the clients they serve.

About the AICPA

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) is the world’s largest member association representing the accounting profession, with more than 400,000 members in 145 countries, and a history of serving the public interest since 1887. AICPA members represent many areas of practice, including business and industry, public practice, government, education and consulting.

The AICPA sets ethical standards for the profession and U.S. auditing standards for private companies, nonprofit organizations, federal, state and local governments. It develops and grades the Uniform CPA Examination, and offers specialty credentials for CPAs who concentrate on personal financial planning; forensic accounting; business valuation; and information management and technology assurance. Through a joint venture with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), it has established the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation which sets a new standard for global recognition of management accounting.

The AICPA maintains offices in New York, Washington, DC, Durham, NC, and Ewing, NJ.

Media representatives are invited to visit the AICPA Press Center at aicpa.org/press.

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