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Message From the President

By Lauren L. Kincaid, Syracuse Chapter President

I would like to start my message with sending our condolescenses to our colleagues in the Northeast Chapter on the loss of Timothy O’Connor, their chapter president. This was a tragedy for not only his family and friends but also his coworkers and fellow accounting professional peers. I’m sure he will be missed greatly.

On behalf of the Syracuse Chapter’s members, I would like to thank John Kearney, Lou Grumet and Bill Pape for coming to Syracuse in October for the annual officers visitation luncheon at Bellevue Country Club (see photo). The luncheon was well attended, and it was great to get an update from the state officers on where the profession is heading and what we can expect in the political arena. Immediately following the luncheon was a two-hour ethics CPE session with guest speaker Ray Nowicki, current NYSSCPA secretary, from Buffalo. Thanks to Ray for stepping in for Bob Colson; he did a great job. As usual, we had a sold-out crowd for this event, with approximately 160 attendees.

The day was topped off with the annual student awards dinner, held that evening at the Genesee Inn in Syracuse. It was also a well-attended event, with 16 tables sponsored by local accounting firms and approximately 35 accounting students from local colleges and universities, including Syracuse University, Le Moyne College, SUNY Oswego and Clarkson University. This annual event is to honor students from each educational institution with an academic achievement award and a career preparation award. The winners were:

Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks to all the firms that continue to support this event, which is a great recruiting opportunity. The event is a great way to get the message out to these upcoming young professionals that the accounting profession is truly an ever-changing and ever-challenging career.

We held a roundtable discussion on Nov. 4, sponsored by the chapter’s Management of an Accounting Practice Committee, which is chaired by Howard Port. The purpose of these meetings is to share issues and/or problems with fellow practitioners, who then attempt to assist with solutions and/or resolutions based on their own experiences with their practice. If you are interested in attending these types of meetings in the future, please contact Howard at Port & Company at 315-449-1200 or Portco@portcocpa.com for additional information.

The Annual Tax Conference was held on Nov. 11.

And, finally, our Young CPAs Committee has several events planned for November and December, including participation in the annual food drive and Toys for Tots program for the holiday season. It also hosted its Annual Networking Cocktail Party in downtown Syracuse on Nov. 19. I hope that you’ve all had a chance to attend some of these events.

Please feel free to contact me with any concerns and/or suggestions you might have for the chapter.

Lauren Kincaid can be reached at 315-472-7045 or lkincaid@fmfecpa.com.

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