July was an extremely busy month for the Buffalo Chapter. Over 70 young CPAs volunteered to work the annual “Taste of Buffalo.” Thanks to all the volunteers. The Young CPA Committee also hosted 30-plus members on the Buffalo Bison’s party deck for an evening baseball game. Thank you to the committee chair, Elizabeth Gawron, for her hard work organizing both of these events. Elizabeth has done an excellent job, following a long line of outstanding Young CPA Committee chairs.

Every year the Young CPAs in Buffalo provide countless hours of volunteer service to the community and the chapter. This group of young professionals has become one of the chapter’s most valuable assets. If you are interested in becoming involved, please contact me and I will put you in touch with Elizabeth.

I also want to offer a well-deserved round of applause to the members of Summer Symposium Committee (Ed Arcara, Paul Dayer, Ray Nowicki, Greg Altman, Vince Ferarro and Russ Arnst) for the hard work they put into providing our chapter 16 hours of CPE over two days at the end of July. Planning for the Third Annual Symposium has begun. If you would like to serve on the committee or suggest CPE topics for next year, please contact me.

The Chapter Golf Outing will be held on Sept. 20 at the Westwood Country Club. This year’s outing will be somewhat different than in the past. We have made this year’s tournament a joint outing with the Bar Association. If you are tired of hanging out with other CPAs (which I could not imagine), bring a client, an attorney or a friend. Golfers of all skill levels are welcome. Tournament and door prizes will be distributed at dinner. If you are unable to join us for golf, dinner-only tickets will be available; you won’t want to miss this year’s prizes. Registration forms may be found by selecting “Buffalo” at www.nysscpa.org/chapters.html.

The NYSSCPA Officers Visitation and Cocktail Reception, with two hours of free CPE, is back. It will be held on Sept. 28 at The Conference Center in Niagara Falls, N.Y. This newly opened high-tech facility is located across the street from the Seneca Niagara Casino. The CPE will be followed by a brief presentation by the Society officers, concluding with free cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. The ethics CPE is designed to help fulfill the State’s mandatory ethics requirement. Again, registration forms may be found by selecting “Buffalo” at www.nysscpa.org/chapters.html.

The traveling member-breakfast series continues this month. A detailed schedule of dates and locations may be found at the Buffalo website. We have already had several successful breakfasts. This is your opportunity to spend about an hour with a member of the chapter leadership and other local CPAs to discuss the NYSSCPA and the profession in an informal environment. I would like to sincerely thank those that have taken an interest in attending a breakfast and would strongly encourage others to join us. I guarantee it will be an hour well spent. To ask questions about or attend an upcoming breakfast, please feel free to contact me at any time.

In closing, I would like to address one of the items that has consistently been raised by Buffalo members at breakfasts and elsewhere: What happened to the chapter newsletter?

Two years ago the decision was reluctantly made to discontinue the paper version of the chapter newsletter. With monthly production and distribution costs of approximately $1,000, the NYSSCPA board as well as the local leadership determined that the money could be better used. For example, providing the free ethics CPE as well as defraying the cost of other chapter-sponsored events.

This monthly section in The Trusted Professional, along with more timely listserve e-mails, is believed to be a more effective way to communicate with our local membership. The advanced deadlines for printing the newsletter made it difficult to keep members current with the constantly changing issues and events of the chapter and the profession. If you are not currently receiving an e-mail update from me at least once or twice a month, please send me (jfalbo@sfmcpa.com) your e-mail address and I will add you to the list.

As always, your comments are encouraged and greatly appreciated.

Joe Falbo can be reached at 716-285-5276, 716-852-5400 or jfalbo@sfmcpa.com.