The Journey Begins

The Journey Begins

By Ed Arcara, Buffalo Chapter President

And so it begins. I have waited a long time to be in the position I now hold. Along the way, I have learned many things from those who have gone before me, and would like to thank them, but I will do that a little later.

In many ways, my position as President of the Buffalo Chapter will be easy (no, really, it will be). I will be assisting the many volunteers who will run committees, help in the communications between our members and the chapter leadership and ones that will help me in continuing to lead the chapter and our profession in a direction that, I think, will provide added value to our membership and ultimately will enhance the quality of our society and our profession.

Before I get into the upcoming events, I would like to take a moment to thank all of those who volunteer their time to give back to our chapter. These volunteers are the committee chairs and individual committee members, our board directors and the executive leadership of our chapter. I would like to encourage anyone reading this message to consider getting involved in our chapter’s activities. I think you will find it challenging, fun and rewarding. You will meet new people just like yourself and maybe some peers you will get to know better outside of the workplace. I will promise you one thing, that, as President of the Buffalo Chapter, we will try new things, analyze what works and what doesn’t work, and find new ways to improve our operations.

Our chapter is already at work organizing events. In July, we have the Young CPA Committee helping at the Taste of Buffalo (the second largest “Taste” in the U.S.). The committee is looking for approximately 75 volunteers to help hand out tickets and collect money. This event will take place on July 9 and 10. If you would like to volunteer, please contact Patrick Mathews (pjm@tsacpa.com) or Anthony Agostino (ata@tsacpa.com). Both Patrick and Anthony are with Tronconi, Segarra & Associates.

The State Society’s Leadership Conference is taking place on July 10–12. Many of our members of the Buffalo Chapter will be there representing our chapter through their positions on the State Board, along with the Buffalo Leadership helping by attending and giving feedback to our State Leaders help make the NYSSCPA better and more effective.

For those of you who are currently scheduling your firm’s CPE for the summer months, you should consider the following two events.

On July 27 and 28, the Accounting and Auditing Committee, chaired by Paul Dayer, from Gaines Kriner Elliott, LLP, will be presenting our 3rd Annual Buffalo Summer Symposium, which will be held at Millennium Airport Hotel (formerly the Sheraton Four Points Hotel) on Walden Avenue. As in the past, this event will contain several two-hour CPE sessions and two four-hour sessions and will cover two days, totaling 16 hours of CPE. I ask that you look for the registration form on our Buffalo Chapter Web site (go to www.nysscpa.org and then click the Buffalo Chapter). I will have that posted on the Web site shortly.

On August 15 and 16, members of the Young CPA committees throughout New York state have organized what appears to be a great two-day conference. I encourage all the partners, directors and managers to consider sending their young CPA staff to this conference. Some of the topics that will be covered are “Update on the Profession,” “Public Speaking,” “Technology Tools for CPAs” and “Leadership Negotiation Skills.” There will be a bus available to take the participants to the conference, and a price break for early registration. You can find more details on this conference, along with the sign-up sheet for the bus, on our Buffalo Chapter Web site.

On August 11, our Young CPA committee is holding their 6th Annual Golf Outing, at Chestnut Hill Country Club, 1330 Broadway, Darien Center, N.Y. For more information or to register, please go to the Buffalo Chapter Web site.

Now I would like to thank the people who came before me. I have been an active member of the NYSSCPA Buffalo Chapter since 1986, and I have met some of the great people who have helped me prepare for what I am doing now as the President of the Buffalo Chapter. Each committee chair that I served under, every Chapter President that I volunteered for (and there have been a lot), and every CPA that I served with on the numerous committees have given me the skills and foresight to do this job. I’d especially like to give my thanks to our past President Joe Falbo, from Swiantek & Falbo, LLP, who has allowed me as a President-Elect to participate in all aspects of his presidency. It was my pleasure to have worked with Joe, and I will continue to build on what he has accomplished in his year as President.