Message From the President

Message From the President

By Mark Koziel, Buffalo Chapter President

March seems like a good time to reflect on where we have been as a chapter. The NYSSCPA developed a scorecard to help us evaluate what we’ve done for our members.

Printed below, this scorecard includes a schedule of our activities from June 1, 2003, through January 31, 2004. To date, the Buffalo Chapter has offered 18 separate programs or initiatives, which have involved over 1,300 participants. We have offered 35 CPE-related topics, either as part of a conference or as stand-alone programs. In total, there have been nearly 60 hours of CPE presented for the chapter. All this, and the programs have been very reasonably priced!

We hope you have been able to take advantage of the wonderful programming the committees have put together. There will be more to come after tax season.

The Schedule of Activities also details both the social and public relations events that have taken place. We have participated in numerous PR events, including high school visits, the Volunteer Initiative with the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority, the Young CPAs volunteer program for the Taste of Buffalo, and a Financial Statement Presentation for the Buffalo News Business Reporters.

In tough business times, all of these efforts have helped keep the CPA in a positive light in the Buffalo community.

The social events were typically attached to a CPE-related program and have offered members the opportunity to network with attorneys, financial executives and each other. I have seen firms benefit from the various social events by strengthening relationships with clients and expanding spheres of influence.

I am proud of our committee chairs and members for providing our members with a strong variety of programs and events. Be sure to thank our committee members and let them know that the hard work they performed for our chapter is well appreciated. A list of committees with the committee chairs and their e-mail addresses is provided at right. If you know them, thank them. If you don’t, send them an e-mail and get involved in a committee.

Don’t miss our next program, the Education Night Dinner with a two-hour CPE session entitled “Fraud: A Better Strategy for CPAs.” Toby Bishop, president and CEO of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, will be the speaker. We will also be voting in our officers for the 2004–2005 fiscal year at this meeting. So if you’d like to vote, please join us for the dinner. Visit the Buffalo Chapter webpage at www.nysscpa.org for more details and the registration form.

Also, if you have not been receiving my periodic listserve updates, you may be missing out on receiving more timely information on programs and initiatives. The listserve subscription instructions are on our webpage. Subscribe today. If you are having trouble subscribing, please e-mail me and we’ll get that fixed right away.

Mark J. Koziel can be reached at 716-316-7329 or markkoziel@adelphia.net.