Spearheading Success

Spearheading Success
CPAs on Boards Program a Hit

By Stephanie R. Myers

Continued from the Home Page

The statewide program, which places CPAs on the boards of not-for-profits to provide financial advice and counsel, has flourished thanks to the efforts of CPAs who have made the decision to lend their time and professional expertise.

In order to help make these volunteer opportunities available, the Society has partnered with the Better Business Bureau of New York, the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York, the Council of Community Services of New York State, Governance Matters and the United Way of New York.

All CPAs are welcome to join the program, even those who might not have volunteered in such a capacity before. The Society has volunteer opportunities available with nonprofit organizations of all sizes and types.

Wayne Grossman, a professor at Hofstra University, was recently appointed to the finance committee of the Mental Health Association of Nassau County, and anticipates taking on his duties with the nonprofit’s board sometime next year.

“Part of my job requirement is to get involved with the community, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to do that. I study corporate governance academically,” Grossman said. “I’ve never gotten involved with the actual governance, so this was a really good growth opportunity for me professionally. I believe in this particular entity’s mission.”

He added that the act of volunteering is something that helps him feel bonded with his community.

“I’ll hopefully meet some business leaders and community leaders in Nassau County as well,” Grossman said. “Based upon my limited experience, so far so good.”

Matching CPAs with nonprofit boards is a task that is helped along by Barbara Earnest, program associate at the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee. Earnest said that the response and interest so far from CPAs has been favorable.

“When we hear from volunteers, we talk to them about what they may be interested in and we put it on our match-up online, and then it really is up to the nonprofits to get in touch with them,” she said. “Sometimes there will be a couple of responses for a group and they will interview people, and other times the person may go to several groups and see which one they prefer. So a lot of these things are chemistry and being in the right place at the right time.”

For many CPAs who have joined the program, Earnest said, the process is still in its early stages, but those who have volunteered are “all very interested” in beginning the program. She added that there are sometimes various stages of a nonprofit’s getting to know a volunteer CPA and vice versa.

“We’re very happy to be helping with the coordination of this and working with these groups,” Earnest said.

David Morris found out about the CPAs on Boards program through Society e-mails and The Trusted Professional.

“It caught my interest, and I decided to go on the Web site and look at the list of nonprofit organizations that were interested in CPAs, and went through the list and found three that I applied to, and heard back from one, the Alley Pond group,” Morris said, who has also volunteered in his church for 15 years in addition to serving as president of his cooperative building association and on the parents’ counsel of Emory University.

Morris said that he had recently retired and wanted to get involved in working with a nonprofit, and that the creation of the program was “fortuitous timing” for him.

“I’m sort of an environmental person. I like to scuba dive, and I like to be outside, so a group that was trying to save the environment interested me. And after spending 32 years in financial activities, I believe I can bring value and add to their activities,” he said.

After being contacted by the nonprofit, Morris met with several of the board members, and they agreed he should join their board.

“I think the matching service the Society created is a good service, and there’s a lot of good nonprofit organizations that were interesting-looking. I think it’s a great idea for others to think about it also,” he said.

CPAs who are interested in serving on a board (short- or long-term opportunities are available) can get more information by accessing their chapter page, located at www.nysscpa.org/chapters.html. More information on the program can be found at www.nysscpa.org/cpasonboards/main.htm.