September 1999

President's Commentary

Taxes are a form of Capitol punishment ­ Henny Youngman

August was, at one time, a traditionally slow time for CPAs; however, that's not been the case for hundreds of our members this year. Many of you attended the Leadership Forum in Kerhonkson, NY; others have been busy setting up your chapter programs; still others have organized the operations and formulated the action plans of the State Society committees; and the Society's Executive Committee had its initial meeting. My thanks and appreciation to all of you who have devoted, and continue to devote, countless hours to the success of our Society.

The Leadership Forum was attended by a sampling of every type of member of the Society--young, mature, male, female, and CPAs practicing in public firms as well as in industry or education. The forum broke down into the main sections of chapters, committees, politically active CPAs, and young CPAs. The Society's staff organization, headed by Lorrie Lamazor, was excellent and the feedback from your current and future leaders as to the success of this type of training program leads me to believe that it will--no, it must--be continued.

FISCAL YEAR REFORM is a critical issue to all CPAs and their clients. Elsewhere in this month's Trusted Professional you'll see the details as to how you can help and how you can be heard. I implore you to take action. We have made it as simple as can be for you to comment, whether you choose the technological route or snail mail. Write to the AICPA to let it know that you are interested in the fiscal year restrictions for flow-through entities. The AICPA appears to believe that its members no longer care. This is a year-long, country-wide letter-writing and e-mailing (see the Society website) campaign to the AICPA. We need the AICPA to move this issue with Congress for us and our clients. I've asked the Presidents of the other 49 States to have their members also write letters to the AICPA. Your communication to the AICPA will be critical to the success of getting the AICPA's attention.

You may have read that the AICPA Vision resulted in a restructuring of its Committees' operations and the elimination of many committees. Our Society's Vision is different and while the responsibilities of an AICPA committee differ from the responsibility of a NYSSCPA committee, we believe that specialized committees have a most important function in an organization such as ours. We were ecstatic at the increase in committee membership this year. Our committees, either at the statewide level or the chapter level, give people an opportunity to grow within their particular field of expertise; to build confidence in themselves by leading or speaking; to meet and work with their equals; and from the Society's point of view, to give the NYSSCPA prestige in the business, governmental and educational arena, especially when the Society's input is requested or when we feel that we should volunteer our input. Many of our committee members serve year after year, and when special work is required, the committee structure permits a "ready-for-action" approach.

I have started a "Lunch With Lou" program. Lou Grumet, our affable executive director, has made it a point to meet as many CPAs as he can in the shortest possible time. He started with New York City and has since expanded to other areas of the state. I believe that it is in the best interest of the Society for Lou to meet the managing partners of the larger firms in the 11 regions of the state, and I test-piloted the program on Long Island by inviting the managing partners of eight major independent firms on Long Island who, in total, have hundreds of CPAs and CPA candidates working for them. There was no set agenda. Rather, Lou wanted to hear from them as to what their respective firms, and employees, wanted from the Society and what the Society would hope to get from them. I am pleased to announce that the "Lunch With Lou" program was a success (It will be repeated on Long Island in the near future with invitations extended to the Long Island managing partners of the multinational accounting firms and other large firms.) and I have communicated that fact to the presidents of each of our chapters along with guidelines for a successful and meaningful get-together. If you are the managing partner of a large firm ("large" is a relative term depending upon the area of the state in which you practice) and if you would like to "Lunch With Lou," contact your chapter president.

My name is Alan Weiner. Any questions? *

president@nysscpa.org.