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by Stephen Parezo

Karen Vander Maas Walsh

February 13, 2006—Two Fiducial employees—Sara Spohr and Karen Vander Maas Walsh—have achieved some career milestones as Spohr became an official Certified Public Accountant and Walsh was certified as a Professional in Human Resources (PHR).

Spohr, who works as a business associate in Fiducial’s Indianapolis, IN, office, joined Frontier (which was acquired by Fiducial in October 2004) as an intern during her junior year at Butler University. This allowed her to accumulate the CPA-supervised experience that she needed for the CPA designation. CPA requirements include a four-year degree, working under a CPA for two years and passing the CPA exam.

Perseverance paid off for Spohr who missed passing the exam on her first attempt. But on her second try, she spaced out taking the 16-hour grueling exam which consists of four parts: financial accounting, business environment and concepts, auditing and regulation (tax and legal).

“I actually took my first section of the test in August of 2004 and the last one in August of 2005, so it took me exactly a year to get it out of the way,” said Spohr. “I found out in September or October that I passed and was licensed by November 2005.”

The CPA exam was every bit as hard as Spohr had been told.

“It was stressful so it’s nice for it to be over,” she said. “I’m still basking in [the accomplishment].”

Preparation makes the difference

For Walsh, a human resource generalist in Fiducial’s Technical and Administrative Support Center (TASC) in Columbia, MD, gaining the PHR certification demonstrates a professional’s knowledge in all functional areas of the HR field. This includes strategic management, workforce planning and employment, HR development, compensation and benefits, employee and labor relations as well as occupational health, safety and security. Certification must be renewed every three years either by taking another exam or through continuing education credits (CPE).

Walsh submitted her credentials to sit for the test that’s given by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) that oversees this designation. SHRM makes a study system available that includes an online tutorial and manuals which helped her prepare for the four-hour exam that covered legislation, labor laws and practice and workforce development. She took the test online and received her scores immediately.

“Some of the questions were straight forward while others were more complex,” said Walsh who has worked in HR and HR-related fields for 12 years.

She says the exam was a really fair representation of all the information presented in the study materials including hypothetical situations requiring application of the theories and processes presented.

Having earned a BS degree in sociology at the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s in counseling at the University of Scranton, Walsh has gained additional insight through the WorldatWork®, the world's leading not-for-profit professional association dedicated to knowledge leadership in compensation, benefits and total rewards.

Stephen Parezo is the Media Manager for Fiducial.

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