Financial Literacy in Pennsylvania

History

In April of 2004, Governor Edward G. Rendell, responding to a decade-long decline in personal savings rates and rising personal-bankruptcy and foreclosure filings, signed an Executive Order establishing the Governor's Task Force for Working Families and creating the Office of Financial Education.

The task force is charged with identifying strategies and programs to build incomes and assets for working families, promoting financial education and literacy and protecting working families from abusive financial services.

The Office of Financial Education is responsible for ensuring that Pennsylvanians have access to financial education programs and information and will work across state agencies under the Governor's jurisdiction to promote financial literacy within the Commonwealth.

PICPA's Dedication to Financial Literacy

To encourage life-long economic responsibility, the PICPA supports financial literacy curriculums in schools by providing free materials to educators and CPA speakers to make presentations.

Materials for Teachers and Classroom Speakers

Many of the materials PICPA offers to high school educators satisfy the goals of supporting financial literacy at the childhood stage.

PICPA's Speakers Bureau
Schedule a CPA Speaker. Free CPA speakers are available for your classroom or accounting club. If you would like to schedule a free CPA speaker visit PICPA's Speakers Bureau.
PICPA’s Mad About Money High School Program
PICPA’s speakers will provide students with reference materials and worksheets, as well as real-world skills to help them lead financially responsible lives. You can also download materials for your classroom.
AICPA's Takin' Care of Business Education Handbook
The handbook features 15 lesson plans based on national teaching standards. Plans include lesson objectives and procedures, topic overviews, student learning activities, and solution sets.
AICPA DVD, Business Building Blocks
The DVD follows a student who contemplates life after high school and learns about the various career paths available to CPAs.
Kids Financial Literacy Brochure
Teach your elementary students a lesson about spending and saving with the Hey Kids: Money Doesn't Grow Trees brochure. Order copies to share with your class.

Activities and Games for the Classroom

Puzzles
The PICPA has developed puzzles for students about financial literacy and the accounting field. This is a great way to test your students knowledge of the industry. Print them out and share them with your class.

The puzzles cover topics such as

Paycheck
Savings
Credit card use
Debt
Accounting terms

Download the puzzles

Accounting (.pdf)
Finanancial Literacy (.pdf)

Games at StartHereGoPlaces.com
Send your students to the AICPA Web site, StartHereGoPlaces.com,for interactive games and activities and chances to win cash and great prizes. They will have the chance to have a little fun while preparing for a future in business.

Financial Literacy Links

360 Degrees of Financial Literacy
The AICPA's Web site provides consumers with information to help them make financial decisions at every stage of their lives.

Jump$tart
Their mission is to improve the financial literacy of Pennsylvania youth by promoting the teaching of personal finance in kindergarten through twelfth grade.

Junior Achievement
JA Student Center is an online navigational tool geared toward helping students become workforce ready.

Youcandealwithit.com
Tells the real story on money, student loans, and life.

The National Endowment for Financial Education®
The National Endowment for Financial Education® is a non-profit foundation dedicated to helping all Americans acquire the information and gain the skills necessary to take control of their personal finances.

FinAid
FinAid is comprehensive, informative, objective--and it's the first stop on the Web for students looking for ways to finance their education.