National Asian American Society of Accountants Is Established
Will Promote and Serve the Interests of Asian American Accounting Professionals

By Reynaldo Padilla and Jenny Wei

On June 8 the National Asian American Society of Accountants, Inc. (NAASA), will formally launch in a gathering of accountants and accounting students. The event will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Café 22, located on the 22nd floor of the Ernst & Young building at 5 Times Square.

On April 26 NAASA formally adopted its bylaws. The initial slate of nominated officers includes:
President	Jeff Chin, partner, Ernst & Young LLP
Executive Vice President	Reynaldo L. Padilla, partner, Padilla & Company LLP
Internal Vice President	Rajiv Basu, partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP
External Vice President	Liren Wei, partner, Wei, Wei & Company LLP
Student Affairs Vice President	Jenny Wei, manager, Ernst & Young LLP
Secretary	Dylan Jeng, tax manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Treasurer	Marc Bernardo, partner, Watson Rice LLP

The mission of NAASA is to continuously influence and encourage the development of accounting professionals and students while serving as a collective voice for Asian and Pacific Islander communities in the field of accounting.

NAASA began as a vision of dedicated accountants of Asian American heritage who held their first organizational meeting on Aug. 24, 2004. This meeting included partners and managers from the Big Four accounting firms, as well as representatives from the National Council of Philippine American Canadian Accountants, Inc. (NCPACA); the Chinese American Society of Certified Public Accountants, Inc. (CASCPA); the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA); the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA), and other accounting firms. Successive meetings followed, and the vision quickly became a reality.

NAASA members will gain a variety of benefits. The organization welcomes all members to attend various business functions to meet, learn and share their experiences with others in all aspects of the accounting profession. Networking events will open the door for members to provide and obtain business opportunities as well as receive professional guidance in the areas of taxation, accounting, auditing, management consulting and financial planning.

NAASA encourages the study of the accounting profession in various ways. It plans to organize student chapters to guide accounting students in furthering their studies and encouraging careers in the profession. In addition, NAASA plans to promote the accounting profession within the student community by awarding scholarships to outstanding accounting students. The organization will also conduct presentations and seminars for junior and senior high school students to provide awareness and knowledge of career opportunities in the accounting profession.

NAASA has achieved a great deal since last August, but more tasks lie ahead in the comprehensive effort to establish a national organization that will represent, develop and provide a broader sense of community for Asian American accounting professionals.

For further information or to join NAASA, visit www.naasa.org (to be up by June 15) or contact Maggie Sun at 212-773-4066, Rey Padilla at 718-558-5858, Jenny Wei at 212-773-5775 or Liren Wei at 718-445-6308, ext. 117.

Reynaldo Padilla is a parnter at Padilla & Company LLP and Jenny Wei is a manager at Ernst & Young LLP.