Officers Update Suffolk CPAs on Professional Issues

Visits to Other Chapters Under Way

Editor's Note: Chapter visitations by NYSSCPA officers are now under way. The following article reports on the Suffolk event--the first scheduled meeting--and meetings at other chapters address similar topics, with specific agendas developed with input from local members. Meetings took place in Suffolk, Northeast, Rochester, Syracuse, and Utica in September, and in Mid Hudson in early October. Visitations also will take place in Buffalo (November 1), Staten Island (November 4), Southern Tier (December 7), Westchester (December 9), and Nassau (January 11). Members should consult their chapter newsletters for more information.

By Russell Glazer, CPA

The Suffolk Chapter held its annual officers' visitation meeting on September 22. The meeting featured updates on professional issues and Society news from NYSSCPA President Alan Weiner, President-Elect P. Gerard Sokolski, Vice President of Chapters Nancy Newman-Limata, Executive Director Louis Grumet, and Member Relations Director Lorrie Lamazor.

Sokolski addressed the group first, discussing various Society issues, including expansion of associate membership. The Society has established--based on a vote approved by the membership--new non-CPA categories for international associates, non-CPA employees of CPA firms, students, CPA candidates, and educators. These members can receive all NYSSCPA benefits, but they are not eligible to vote or be Society officers.

Sokolski also described a special task force assembled to determine how the Society can better serve all its members. Certain chapters serve large geographic regions and others have a high concentration of members in a small area. Among other things, the task force will review the feasibility of an additional chapter in the New York City metropolitan area.

The Society also wants to increase awareness of its Excellence in Accounting Scholarship fund. Sokolski stressed that scholarships of $1,500 for full-time students and $750 for part-time students are available for accounting majors attending colleges or universities in New York state. The Society awarded more than $113,000 in scholarships during the 1998­99 school year.

Next, Weiner announced the availability of special CPA license plates from the Department of Motor Vehicles. He also mentioned the Society's efforts to convince the AICPA to lobby Congress on fiscal year reform, and encouraged members to contact AICPA leaders on this issue. In addition, Weiner discussed the importance of the Society's website, www.nysscpa.org, and said it has a new Center for Fiscal Year Reform section that provides background resources on the issue and an e-mail that members can complete for the Society to forward to AICPA representatives.

Weiner also discussed the Society's newly formed political action committee, which has drawn in about $60,000 in member contributions. These funds will be dispensed to state lawmakers who share the Society's legislative objectives.

Grumet spoke about non-CPA ownership of CPA firms and other issues in the proposed legislation that the Society supports to reform the state's accountancy laws. Grumet said that while the Senate and Assembly bills were delayed in favor of health care issues at recent legislative hearings, the legislation's chances of passing are high. Grumet pointed out that the Society's PAC will help escort the bills along, and he encouraged members to contribute.

Grumet also discussed recruitment in the accounting profession. He said that there are few young people or minorities becoming CPAs and that by 2002, New York's public schools will be made up mostly of minorities. The profession must make an effort to attract students or face staff shortages in the years to come. To that end, the Society has formed a new committee to educate high school students about the benefits and rewards of accounting careers.

Suffolk Chapter President Robert Peare closed the meeting by imploring more members to get involved in chapter and Society activities.

Russell Glazer is secretary of the Suffolk Chapter and a partner with Horowitz, Waldman, Berretta & Maldow LLP.