A Look Back: 12 Months of Progress and Pride

By Jeffrey R. Hoops

This is my last column as president. Over the past two years, first as president-elect and then as president, I’ve had the opportunity to travel the state and meet with thousands of you, the members. It has been a wonderful experience, and, more important, I know that our great profession is serving our clients and the public interest with enthusiasm, integrity and exceptional skill. I leave this position with immense pride in the words “Certified Public Accountant.” Thanks for this tremendous opportunity.

I believe that our board of directors and staff did much this year to advance the Society’s core purpose of representing you, and contributing to your success while maintaining the public’s trust in the CPA profession. Here is some of what we have accomplished.

We changed the bylaws to establish new ground rules on ethics, and to rework the nominating process. We approved nominating committee protocols and fashioned Board Standing Rules to, among other things, make the nominating process for officers, board members and American Institute of CPAs Council members more open and democratic. This year for the first time we solicited the entire membership for candidates to serve on the Nominating Committee and the AICPA Council. We received more than 70 applications for service on the AICPA Council alone. Our outreach to the members to solicit candidates for the NYSSCPA netted more than 30 responses.

We received recommendations from a task force chaired by Brian Caswell on quality control and ethics. As a result, the board of directors endorsed mandatory quality monitoring of all members performing audits or reviews. The board established a senior policy committee to oversee quality monitoring, ethics and continuing professional education.

We continue to work with the legislature, the State Board for Public Accountancy and the State Education Department to enact meaningful and effective accounting reform legislation. As you have heard me say many times, the rules governing the accounting profession in New York have not been substantially updated in more that 40 years and are in desperate need of modernization. I remain optimistic that a bill will pass in this legislative session.

The Foundation for Accounting Education is running strong, both financially and in the number of quality offerings. We responded to the need for information on the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board by conducting conferences where Chairman Bill McDonough and Chief Auditor Doug Carmichael were featured speakers.

We continue to make strides in making our profession more visible and attractive to students from minority groups and underprivileged backgrounds. We increased both the number and quality of Career Opportunities in the Accounting Profession (COAP) programs, our most important high school outreach. We need to do more. Our Annual Dinner journal raised almost $100,000 for COAP, so we now have added resources.

This past year we worked to have our profession portrayed positively in the media. We implemented a communications policy and provided our committee chairs and board members with media training. We participated in countless interviews on tax issues, auditing reform and other important public issues. We conducted a survey on the state of the economy in New York. These activities helped us rebuild our image as the trusted profession.

It’s important to note that we achieved these results within budget, without debt, and we added to the Society’s reserves.

We could never have accomplished this much without our many dedicated, active members or without our first-rate staff. I’ve had the chance to observe firsthand the enthusiasm, dedication and professionalism of our Society staff. Our executive director, Lou Grumet, is a dynamo whose high energy is infused throughout the entire organization. The senior members of Lou’s management team—Bob Colson (professional issues and ethics), Joanne Barry (communications), Lynn Chambers (finance), Ernie Markezin (committees), Dennis O’Leary (legislation and regulation), Bill Pape (membership), Alan Schmelkin (operations and FAE) and Jim Woehlke (legal counsel)—deserve tremendous credit for advancing the Society’s goals and objectives. Sincere thanks to all of you.

Thanks again for the honor of serving as your president. Serving involves sacrifice, not just by me, but also by my partners at Ernst & Young who had to make up for the reduction in my billable hours, and by my bride, Glenda, who got to see less of me than either of us would have liked. I could never have served without your support. Thank you.

Finally, I want to wish John Kearney the best of luck and as much fun as I had as president. I know that our profession will be well served with John at the helm.