President's Commentary

By George T. Foundotos, CPA

Influence and control--who has them and who does not? An interesting question. I am always amazed at the inferences heard around the state. And beyond the inferences and innuendos, there are the absolute statements of fact I am confronted with as I travel about.

Let me pick on the "Big Five" this month. Why not, everybody else does. It is a "God given truth" that they are not nice people; they are arrogant, they are consultants and look down upon us who still practice accounting. Heck, they don't even call themselves CPAs anymore. They are Professional Services Firms.

Right? Well ... maybe and maybe only sometimes. And maybe some of the barbs and epithets that we hurl at them, we should hurl at ourselves. Many of us are doing the same things, only not on such a grand scale as they.

The Fab Five have my problems and yours: staff recruitment/retention, client recruitment/retention, encroachment, the need for continuous training, cash flow management etc. ad nauseam.

I also recall, from my chapter days in Suffolk, that when a chapter meeting had light attendance no one hesitated to call the Big Eight to fill tables, and they did. Or when we needed a speaker with a good outline for the annual tax conference, we got two speakers. Or if we needed a conference room for a committee meeting, it was offered.

At the Society level, the Big Five make up 7 percent of our membership--down from 18 percent. They were as surprised by this as we were. At upper leadership levels, you do not see too many of them besides past presidents. At our request, the big firms are working on correcting this imbalance.

For those of you who still do not want to believe and cut some slack let me be blunt. If the Big Five want to get or prevent something in New York state, the first question Albany asks is "What is the Society's position?" And when the Society wants to get or prevent something, the first question Albany asks is "What is the Big Five position?"

We need them. They need us. So let us cut each other some slack. We can chop up each other within the profession but in public we are all nice guys and gals. Like they say, "One stick is easily broken, while many are unbreakable."

Have a good tax season everybody. I hope to have one.