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By Don A. Kiamie, Westchester Chapter President

What is the value of time? It seems that with our busy schedules in today’s mobile internet age, this question keeps cropping up. When we are faced with alternatives or conflicts in our schedule of activities, we must weigh the value of time. I thought I’d answer this question by relating it to membership in the New York State Society of CPAs.

I want to start off my answer with a definition of value I recently found in a real estate investment book I was reading for a presentation I had to make to a group of lawyers who were specifically involved with real estate transactions. Value was defined in a quantitative manner as a present sacrifice (the investment in real estate) for future benefits (the discounted cash flow of a stream of future earnings). Let’s take a look at this definition from a qualitative standpoint as it relates to our membership. The definition would look something like this: What is the present sacrifice of our membership, and what future benefits may we get from it?

Networking

From a public perspective, networking can mean two things: increasing the revenue stream of our firm by meeting prospective clients, or, having clients referred to our firm. Creating an intelligent support group and encouraging career development can also be seen as a benefit.

From an industry standpoint, the most important value to me is having an intelligent support network group, a place where I can go to get answers to something I may be needing help in at my place of business. Just recently, I had a question with regard to sales tax. We were capitalizing sales tax on a major capital project, but thought we might be able to get a sales tax exemption from the contractor because it was a capital project. The contractor said that he was required to charge us sales tax whether we capitalized the project or not. I phoned the NYSSCPA, was referred to an expert, and had my question answered.

Education

Do we ever stop learning? Whether you are a CPA in public practice or a CPA in industry, we must never stop learning. What better place to fulfill CPE requirements than through the Foundation for Accounting Education. Again, a practice I follow as an industry CPA is to take CPE in areas that either directly relate to the real estate business or in areas where my comfort level is not high. I remember learning years ago that a true learning experience comes from having to strive for educational value rather than only seeking an educational comfort level.

One thing I got involved in was running technical sessions or chairing conferences and committees. The benefit to me was talking with people who were experts in areas that I had no expertise in. I would have to educate myself in order to have intelligent conversations to recruit these people to give presentations at sessions or conferences.

I guess I really got carried away with this letter because I believe and I know that membership has its rewards. These are only some of them.

Once again, of course, I would like to thank you for your support, and should you have any comments, please feel free to e-mail me. I hope that you had a great holiday. For those who are entering the tax season, you are making a present sacrifice for a future benefit: a post-April 15 celebration.

Don Kiamie can be reached at 212-213-2112 or donalbert@mindspring.com.