2022 Arthur J. Dixon Memorial Award

G. Edgar “Eddie” Adkins Jr., CPA, received the 2022 Arthur J. Dixon Memorial Award, the highest honor bestowed by the accounting profession in the area of taxation. The award, given by the Tax Division of the AICPA, was presented Nov. 2 at the AICPA fall Tax Division meeting in Washington, D.C., by Jan Lewis, CPA, chair of the AICPA Tax Executive Committee (TEC).

At the same meeting, Mary Kay Foss, CPA, received the 2021–22 Jonathan Horn Distinguished Service Award.

Adkins is a retired partner in the national tax office of Grant Thornton LLP in Washington, D.C., where his areas of expertise included tracking regulatory and legislative developments related to compensation and employee benefits. He has served on committees, task forces, and technical resource panels (TRPs) within the Tax Division. He is particularly noted for his work on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, P.L. 111-148. Adkins chaired the Tax Division’s Health Care Task Force from 2016 to 2018.

“For more than 20 years, Eddie has served as an expert and is always willing to share his knowledge and experience, which greatly benefits the AICPA and its members,” Lewis said. “He has served as an instructor to thousands, a mentor to many, and as an adviser to countless clients over the years.”

In introducing Adkins at the presentation ceremony, Jeffrey A. Martin, CPA, a member of the TEC, called Adkins a leading tax technical expert in the field of employee benefits who in his 31 years in the accounting profession also chaired the Employee Benefits Tax TRP, served on the TEC, and was on numerous Tax Division task forces. He also was a planner of, and speaker at, the AICPA’s Employee Benefits Conference, Martin said. Adkins also has written numerous articles published in The Tax Adviser and the Journal of Accountancy.

The annual award honors the memory of Arthur J. Dixon, a CPA with an outstanding record of service to the tax profession and the Tax Division. The award was established after Dixon’s death in 1981 to honor outstanding CPAs in the area of taxes.

Foss, the recipient of the Jonathan Horn Distinguished Service Award, is a current member of the Individual and Self-Employed Tax TRP and has previously chaired the Trust, Estate, and Gift Tax TRP and served in many other roles. Recipients of the award have made a substantial contribution to the Tax Division’s work through notable, extraordinary personal effort. Formerly known as the Distinguished Service Award, it was renamed to posthumously honor Jonathan Horn, CPA, a former TRP volunteer, AICPA staff member, and past award recipient.

“The AICPA and the accounting profession thank Mary Kay and Eddie for their tireless efforts in assisting the profession in many different areas,” said Edward S. Karl, CPA, CGMA, AICPA vice president–Tax Policy & Advocacy. “Their guidance and support make it possible for the AICPA to have valuable and productive relationships with Treasury, the IRS, members of Congress, and other important stakeholders. Eddie and Mary Kay have also had an instrumental role in providing meaningful support to state CPA societies, accounting students, and AICPA staff.”