0) Call to Order

President Maier called the meeting to order at 1:03 p.m.

The matter was deferred to the September meeting.

Mr. Maier asked Mr. Schmelkin to provide background information on efforts to consult volunteers regarding FAE course offerings. He reviewed the efforts of a special advisory group that had been formed several years earlier and the more recent Curriculum Advisory Committee that had been assembled the preceding year, including volunteers drawn from the following groups:

• FAE Trustees
• NYSSCPA Board of Directors
• Accounting and Auditing Oversight Committee
• Tax Division Oversight Committee
• NYSSCPA Large and Medium-Sized Firm Practice Management Committee
• NYSSCPA Small Firms Management Committee
• NYSSCPA Chief Financial Officers Committee

Mr. Jaffee, who had participated on the 2006-2007 Curriculum Advisory Committee, shared his views that the committee should meet more than once annually and should develop a mission statement. He also felt the committee should be briefed on what actions were taken in response to the committee’s suggestions together with feedback on the results of those actions. Mr. Schmelkin advised the Trustees that timing is critical to this process because vendor orders for courses to be given during the busy summer season need to be placed the preceding November.

Following additional discussion, Mr. Maier asked for volunteers to serve on the Curriculum Advisory Committee and Messrs. Bloom, Jaffee, Kahn and Kiamie volunteered. Mr. Maier appointed all four to the committee and appointed Mr. Kahn as chair. In addition, he asked that the chairs of all the NYSSCPA committees listed above and in addition the NYSSCPA Higher Education Committee, the Peer Review Committee and the Professional Ethics Committee be asked to suggest one volunteer each to serve on the FAE Curriculum Advisory Committee. He charged the committee to develop a draft mission statement or action plan, including the number of times the committee believed it should meet each year and submit the document to the Board of Trustees at their September meeting.

Mr. Maier asked Mr. Schmelkin to provide an update on the status of the pending consulting study. Mr. Schmelkin briefed the Trustees on the timing and research design for the study, noting that a report should be completed in time for the Trustees’ September meeting.

Mr. Maier asked Mr. Banerjee to report on the FAE financial statements. Mr. Banerjee noted that he had just learned the draft 12-month financials which were distributed to the Trustees, contained an allocation error, the extent of which was not yet entirely clear. He indicated that the statements would be revised and redistributed in the near future.

a) Awards to Conference Speakers

Mr. Maier recognized Mr. Kahn who indicated that he felt not enough was being done to recognize the volunteer efforts of speakers. Mr. Jaffee suggested that volunteer speakers receive a write up in The Trusted Professional. Mr. Hendler reminded the Trustees that in the past there had been an annual award given to Outstanding Discussion Leaders. Mr. Kiamie suggested a recognition lunch similar to that used to recognize winners of the media awards handed out by the NYSSCPA. Mr. Maier appointed Messrs Kahn, Kiamie, and Bloom to form a task force with Mr. Bloom as chair to develop a proposal on how better to recognize volunteer speakers for FAE. He charged them to provide a report at the September meeting.

b) Registration Discounts – Committee Conferences

Mr. Maier again recognized Mr. Kahn who noted that FAE’s practices in granting discounts and providing complimentary registration – “comping” – were not entirely consistent. Some members were given discounts, others were comped.

Mr. Schmelkin explained that conference speakers and members of conference planning committees, though not entire sponsoring committees, were given free conference registration. In addition, for many years, tax division committee members had received a discount of $50 or $100 to attend the Annual Tax Conference (previously the tax plenary session). This had been granted by staff for two reasons: to recognize volunteer efforts on tax committees and, at the request of the Tax Division Oversight Committee, to improve attendance because the oversight committee placed an expectation on tax committee members to attend this conference.

Mr. Schmelkin noted that the only formal policy in this area had been passed by the Trustees a year or so before and permitted government employees who spoke at FAE conferences to invite two other government employees to attend at no cost. As a point of information, he also mentioned that the discounts and gratis registrations discussed to that point were separate and apart from the discount granted to all NYSSCPA members as part of the affiliation agreement FAE had with the NYSSCPA and also those granted to AICPA members with respect to AICPA courses, for which FAE by contract received materials at reduced cost.

The Trustees discussed member discounts and concluded that, other than the discounts required by contacts with the NYSSCPA and the AICPA and the gratis registration for specified guests of government speakers, the only discounts should be the no fee registration for conference speakers and members of a conference’s planning committee who actually did the planning for that program.

By consensus, the staff was directed to draft a consistent policy regarding registration discounts for consideration by the Trustees at their September meeting. The draft policy was to be presented to the officers for comment before being sent to the full Board.

c) Post-Event Sales of Conference Manuals

Mr. Maier recognized Mr. Jaffee to discuss his suggestion that conference materials should be sold on a stand-alone basis after the conference. Mr. Schmelkin reminded the Trustees that conference materials are designed to be used by registrants in conjunction with the speakers’ presentation and remarks at the conference itself and that they represent only a part of the educational experience. In light of this, he observed, materials could be misleading on a stand-alone basis. Mr. Grumet added that in the legal community it was not uncommon for course sponsors to sell post-conference materials; however, those providers had staffs devoted to editing the conference materials to make them ready for broader distribution. He strongly advised against post-event sales unless the Trustees budgeted for the necessary extra staff. By consensus, the Trustees determined that post-event sales of conference materials should not occur at the present time.

Mr. Maier then opened the meeting for comments from visitors in attendance. Mr. Crystal, a FAE discussion leader, expressed his observation that some hotels hosting FAE events were not consistent in recognizing that FAE had a sales tax exemption. Mr. Nowicki expressed his opinion on the subject of post-event materials sales to the effect that the problems raised against the proposal could be solved if events were recorded and a DVD included with the materials. Mr. Crystal reported on positive feedback from registrants about the revised timing of events which were now being presented from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. rather than the default, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. NYSSCPA President David Lifson cautioned that if post-event sales of materials ever were to occur, they must be rigorously fact-checked. Also, he suggested that FAE statistics be maintained in terms of the number of FAE’s delivered CPE hours and seats filled. He believed this would be helpful in defining the market.

The FAE Trustees thanked members for these comments and did not take any further action about them.