Steve M. Spencer, CPA and Steven E. Miller, CPA Recognized for Their Contributions to TACPA, NCCPAP and the CPA Profession
The National Conference of CPA Practitioners (NCCPAP) Texas Chapter, known as TACPA, is pleased to announce its 40th Anniversary Silver and Bronze Award Winners. Steve M. Spencer, CPA of Palestine, Texas, is being recognized as the Silver Winner, awarded to the Chapter member who has demonstrated a longstanding commitment to NCCPAP and the CPA community. Steven E. Miller, CPA of Dallas, Texas, is being recognized as the Bronze Winner, awarded to the Chapter member considered to be influential as a leader in the CPA community.
Steve Spencer has been instrumental in developing and expanding TACPA’s webinar program, ensuring that a 2-hour CPE credit course is available to all accountants once per month. This program has helped expand outreach and awareness for the Texas Chapter since its inception. Steve has been a CPA in Texas since 1981, when he opened his first Tax and Management Advisory Practice. Throughout his career, Steve primarily served oil and gas distributors, convenience store operators, and other commercial property owners. In 2011, he became accredited as a Texas Court Appointed Mediator and an Arbitrator for Texas property tax cases, as part of a binding arbitration process. This specialty comprises his practice today.
Steve is a graduate of East Texas State University and has been a member of the Palestine Rotary Club since 1981. He served in the military for 8 years in the Texas Army National Guard as Platoon Sergeant of the Ground Surveillance Radar Section.
Steve Miller’s motivating factor to join TACPA came in 1999, when the Texas Society of CPAs, an organization focused on larger CPA firms, created some requirements that could thwart the growth of smaller practitioners. He became involved with TACPA beginning in 2001, by networking with other smaller CPA firms and providing continuing education courses for a variety of topics where he has unique expertise, including: international tax, 199A, centralized partnership audits, the tax side of investment, and more. Having taught others earlier in his career, Steve says that teaching and helping people achieve their goals is part of his purpose in life.
Steve worked for large CPA firms and corporations in Brazil and Belgium, as well as throughout the United States, before establishing his own Dallas-based practice in 1992, Steven M. Miller, CPA PC. His specialties include advising clients on domestic and global tax strategies and compliance issues. Steve advises taxpayers to be careful, “Before you go do something, ask—there are valuable things we can avoid that later on may be impossible to fix.” Steve’s experience extends past the office and classroom, with his work as a professional trumpet player. Miller notes a similarity in how he approaches work, as both a musician and CPA, “When looking to perform a piece, first consider it in its entirety, then take it apart and examine it one piece at a time, before you finally perform it as a single piece of music. The time, effort and discipline involved in being a musician is similar to the CPA practice. You must see the big picture, then develop strategies to guide the client through each individual mine field – all while keeping your overall strategy top of mind.”
About the Texas Association of Certified Public Accountants (TACPA)
The Texas Association of Certified Public Accountants (TACPA) was started in 2001 by a group of sole practitioners and smaller CPA firms looking for an alternative to the Texas Society of CPAs. According to Frank Sands, President of TACPA, “At the time, larger CPA firms dominated the Society and smaller firms needed a peer-to-peer resource in order to stay current and benefit from a network of like-minded professionals—which is exactly what TACPA has accomplished.” TACPA officially became an affiliate of NCCPAP in 2017 after meeting with NCCPAP members and recognizing the value of NCCPAP’s involvement in Washington, D.C. with Congress, the Senate, and the IRS, as well as the Small Practice Division of AICPA. “Through NCCPAP, we feel we can communicate our opinions directly to the IRS and Washington—we now have a unified voice, as small CPA firms,” Frank says. For more information on TACPA, visit TACPA.net.
About NCCPAP’s 40th Anniversary
For NCCPAP’s 40th Anniversary, in addition to the Chapter recognition awards, a single Gold Award designee will be recognized for a lifetime of outstanding service to the organization and CPA community. All honorees will be recognized at a special event on October 23, 2019 at The Fox Hollow in Woodbury, NY. The event will be open to all NCCPAP members and their families, as well as prospective members and the press community.