Call
to Order
A
quorum being present, the meeting was called to order
at 9:00 a.m.
Committee
Action Plan (CAP)
The
committee members reviewed and recommended changes
to the current Committee Action Plan for further approval.
Chair Grusd reminded that the Finance Committee’s
main task is to present some meaningful report to
substitute the sixty pages of financial statements
prepared by the staff. He also explained that both
the Audit and Finance Committee reported separately
to the NYSSCPA Board of Directors.
As
required by the Committee Action Plan to evaluate
and make recommendation regarding investment policies,
Mr. Pearson was appointed by the Finance Committee
unanimously as the representative to the Investment
Subcommittee jointly run by both NYSSCPA and FAE.
A meeting would be scheduled to review the investment
accounts established at Merrill Lynch and Sanford
Bernstein & Co.
Review
of Financial Statements
The
financial statements of NYSSCPA, FAE, NYSSCPA Benevolent
Fund and NYSSCPA PAC for the year ended May 31, 2005
and for the 2-month period ended July 3, 2005 were
reviewed. (These statements are attached to the original
of the minutes.) Chair Grusd questioned about the
dollar amount limit of net profit that NYSSCPA could
make. Mr. Grumet explained that there was no limitation
set by the IRS but the net profit from the CPA Journal
advertising was subject to the unrelated business
income tax. He further mentioned the plan to build
a reserve fund at $ 200,000 a year for 5 years for
any disaster recovery or adding a new program in the
future. Mr. Bronstein asked how NYSSCPA was compared
to other state societies. Mr. Grumet noted that only
Texas and California state societies of CPAs came
close to the size of NYSSCPA.
Mr.
Grusd then distributed the Treasurer report to be
presented to the NYSSCPA Board of Directors on September
22, 2005. (The report is attached to the original
of these minutes.) He also welcomed any suggestion
to the presentation of the current internal financial
statements and suggested to create a dash board as
performance indicator. He also recommended that the
committee members read the audited financial statements
and the management letter for the year ended May 31,
2005. Mr. Cheung was asked to send out a copy of each
and an organization chart to the committee members.
Discussion
ensured as to the finance of the NYSSCPA. Mr. Bronstein
asked about the growth of CPA members in the last
5 years. Mr. Grumet answered that membership fluctuated
in the range of high 29,000 to 30,000. Mr. Grusd questioned
about any guidelines for the NYSSCPA chapters. Mr.
Grumet explained that budgets submitted by chapters
were approved by the NYSSCPA Board of Directors.
Mr.
Grusd concluded the discussion and asked Mr. Cheung
to prepare a digest on the 60-page financial statements.
The next Finance Committee Meeting was agreed to be
held in the second week of November 2005.
Adjournment
There
being no further business, the meeting adjourned at
approximately 10:35 a.m.
Respectfully
submitted,
Adam
Cheung
