Society Announces Award Winners

Society Announces Award Winners

By Lois Whitehead

The New York State Society of CPAs’ Awards Committee has selected the recipients of the 2004–2005 awards, which will be presented at the 108th Annual Election Meeting and Dinner on May 18 in Manhattan.

Hall of Fame

The Society established the Hall of Fame in 2000, when a special Selection Committee inducted five members posthumously for their demonstrated leadership, impact and distinguished service in and out of the profession. This year’s inductees are Samuel D. Leidesdorf and Robert L. Israeloff.

Samuel D. Leidesdorf

Samuel D. Leidesdorf was a nationally and internationally known accountant, born on Sept. 25, 1881, in New York City.
When he was just a young teenager, the death of his father necessitated that Leidesdorf take a $3.50 a week job as an errand boy to help support his widowed mother. He rose to the position of bookkeeper and credit man, earning a salary of $5,000 a year by the time he was 20.

Leidesdorf pursued his studies at the New York School of Accounting and at Pace College (now University), where he launched his lifetime vocation. In 1905, Leidesdorf organized his own accounting firm, S.D. Leidesdorf & Co., CPAs, which grew and eventually became one of the largest accounting firms in the nation. Fortune magazine recognized it as a “pioneering firm” in 1932.

As a young man in his 20s, Leidesdorf was the accountant for Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx and became a member of its board of trustees. Around that time, the hospital was in dire need of funds, and Leidesdorf helped raise the necessary capital to keep the hospital running.

Over his career, Leidesdorf became renowned for his ability to successfully solicit financial and professional help for causes in which he was involved. Among those, Leidesdorf volunteered his time and expertise to the Red Cross, the United Jewish Appeal, the Young Women’s Christian Association, the United Negro College Fund and New York University Medical Center.

“Samuel Leidesdorf was a visionary and a rainmaker who built a quality and large accounting firm with vigorous professional standards. He left behind a legacy of caring, concerned involvement and tangible evidences of his philanthropy,” said NYSSCPA member Martin Leventhal of his nomination for Leidesdorf’s induction into the Hall of Fame.

From the beginning of his career, Leidesdorf demonstrated he was a man before his time. For example, he insisted that inventories be observed and checked thoroughly along with accounts receivable. Not until after he publicly testified in a 1939 financial reporting case did these practices become generally accepted. Leidesdorf also prohibited his employees from owning stock in client firms long before this restriction became mandatory.

In 1961, Leidesdorf received the Society’s Distinguished Service Award. At the time of his death in 1968, the firm he founded was considered one of the top 10 accounting firms in the country.

Robert L. Israeloff

Robert L. Israeloff has been both the Society’s president and the chairman of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Accounting Today magazine named him one of “100 Most Influential CPAs in the United States” on five different occassions in the 1990s. A member of the Society since 1964, Israeloff is the founder of Israeloff, Trattner & Co. CPAs, PC, of Garden City, N.Y. Last year he received the Society’s Distinguished Service Award.

He also has served as the Society’s vice president, secretary, and treasurer, and chair of the Nominating, Managing Partners, Annual Leadership, Awards, Professional Achievement Registry Review, Staff Compensation, Budget Policy and Administration of Accountants Practice committees, as well as on 25 other committees and special task forces. He is the current chair of the Mediation and Arbitration Committee, a past president of the Society’s Foundation for Accounting Education (FAE) and a former member of the AICPA’s Board of Directors. He currently is in his 22nd year as a member of the AICPA’s Governing Council.

NYSSCPA members Stuart Kessler and Arthur Sanders nominated Israeloff for placement in the Hall of Fame.

“Israeloff is one of the recognized leaders of the CPA profession for the past 40 years,” Sanders said. “He has been recognized as a strong advocate for the positions of small and medium-sized firms and as an expert in management and merger issues.”

Kessler, also a Hall of Fame inductee, commended Israeloff for his extensive philanthropic and community work. Israeloff has served as president of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and treasurer of the Village of Hewlett Bay Park, and was a board member of World ORT (an educational Jewish charity), the New York UJA Federation, and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, among other offices. The American Jewish Committee, the American Heart Association, the Wharton Club of Long Island and Israel Bonds have also benefited from Israeloff’s involvement and charitable efforts.

“Bob deserves to be enshrined in the NYSSCPA Hall of Fame for his lifetime of achievement on behalf of the accounting profession, and for the time and effort he has expended and the impact he has had on our state Society,” Kessler said.

Other awards to be given at the annual election meeting include the Arthur J. Dixon Public Service Award and the Outstanding CPA in Industry Award. The public service award was designed to recognize New York state CPAs who give generously of their time to better the accounting profession and assist with community causes and projects in the public interest. The industry award recognizes outstanding service and professional developments by a member in industry.

Arthur J. Dixon Public Service Award

Janice M. Johnson

Janice M. Johnson has a distinguished record of public service. She has served on the board of the New York City YWCA for 17 years, including as treasurer of its Executive Committee and chair of development. She also has served on the board of trustees and as treasurer of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. She is a board member of the Women’s Economic Round Table, a member of the Advisory Committee for Womensbiz.US, and president of Accountants for the Public Interest and the Accountants Club.

A 25-year veteran of the securities industry who consults to A.B. Watley Group, Johnson sits on the board and Executive Committee of the Institute for Community Living, a $50 million organization that provides residences for individuals with mental impairments. Johnson serves as a strategic adviser to the Drama Department, a theater company based in Tribeca, and is president of the board of Community Residence Insurance Savings Plan.

Johnson joined the Society in 1982 and has chaired a variety of tax committees, including as the founding chair of the Taxation of Financial Institutions and Products Committee, where she still serves. She has served on the Society’s board of directors and the Executive Committee and currently is on the Tax Division Oversight Committee.

She has also played an important role at the AICPA, having authored and taught its annual tax update and serving as chair of its Tax Simplification Committee. She is a former member of the Institute’s Task Force on the Taxation of Capital Gains and its Tax Strategic Planning Task Force. She currently sits on the AICPA’s Member Tax Practice Improvement Committee and the Tax Executive Committee.

“Janice has served as a mentor to me,” said NYSSCPA member Leon Metzger of his nominating her for the award. “She cares about the profession and should be recognized for her outstanding public service achievements.”

Outstanding CPA in Industry

Mark Ellis

Mark Ellis is chief financial officer for Michael C. Fina Company, a New York City–based luxury retailer. Prior to this position, he was a division controller for Chanel, the corporate controller for Bruckner Supply, and the vice president of finance for Integrated Cable.

Ellis attended school in England, where he was a chartered accountant at the London office of Moores Rowland. He eventually transferred to the company’s U.S. affiliate, M.R. Weiser, where he spent five years as a senior manager.

Ellis has been a member of the Society since 1997. He is a member of the Society’s Board of Directors and has served as chair of the Chief Financial Officers Committee and as a member of the Apparel and Textile Committee. Ellis is also a member of the AICPA’s Private Company Financial Reporting Task Force and a member of FASB’s Small Business Advisory Committee.

“Mark is one of the few industry members who works untiringly to assist in promoting the objectives of the Society and to make it more attractive for CPAs in industry,” said NYSSCPA member Neville Grusd, who nominated Ellis for the award. “He did an outstanding job as chair of the Chief Financial Officers Committee, arranging many outstanding technical sessions and seminars that were very well attended. He has unselfishly volunteered his time to act on task forces, and recently became involved with the founding of the Quality Enhancement Policy Committee.”

Information about the 2004–2005 NYSSCPA awards recipients came from a variety of sources, including the Society’s own records, the award application and related materials provided by individuals who made the nominations, and, regarding Samuel D. Leidesdorf, the archives of the New York City Mayor’s Press Office.