2004 Leadership Conference
Conference Sparks New Initiatives for Committees, Chapters

By Simon Eskow

The New York State Society of CPAs’ 17 chapters will soon have members designated to sit on statewide committees to help increase communication and coordination between chapter committees and their state-level counterparts.

That plan gained momentum at the Society’s annual leadership conference during two concurrent breakout sessions for chapter and committee leaders on July 12.

While both groups focused on issues largely affecting their respective interests, the idea of increased cooperation between chapter and statewide committees led to a plan for Society staff to help chapters select a member who would sit on one of the dozens of statewide committees.

The sessions led to several other plans and initiatives. In the committees’ session, led by Raymond Nowicki, members agreed to form two task forces to tackle specific issues. Nowicki appointed Richard Piluso to head up a task force that will review the Committee Operations Coordinating Committee’s action plan, in order to determine if the Society needs to revise COCO’s purpose. Robert Sohr will lead a second task force to determine other ways to coordinate between chapter and statewide committees. A third task force, led by Susan Schoenfeld will investigate whether the society should use annual report cards, similar to report cards that chapters have used, to ensure committee accountability.

Committee leaders during a panel discussion discussed how the Society might coordinate action, such as writing comment letters, in a time when issues have become complex enough to touch on the provinces of several disparate committees.

Chapter leaders meanwhile discussed ways to increase participation of local firms in chapter events and functions. Members broke into three groups, one for chapter presidents, one for presidents-elect and one for young CPAs, respectively led by Andrew Eassa, Katharine Doran and Deborah Bailey-Browne. Members of the Buffalo, Rockland and Nassau chapters discussed how they were reaching out to partners with breakfast meetings to encourage them to become active in local Society activities.