January 2000
The IRS must love poor people--it's creating so many of them. -- Henny Youngman
By Alan E. Weiner, CPA
I'm concerned. Was I wrong? Since Congress passed the law granting CPAs the right of "privilege" (see "Perry Mason," CBS, 19571966, 19731974), I have been advocating a course or seminar for CPAs since, unlike Perry Mason, a CPA still can be forced to testify as to (i.e., reveal) much of what he or she has heard in confidence. CPA privilege, for example, does not extend to any information gathered in connection with the preparation of a tax return; nor does it apply to information sought by an agency other than the Internal Revenue Service; nor does it apply to a state proceeding (unless state law provides otherwise). CPA privilege is a minefield. Well, I finally arranged for the seminar in Manhattan; speaker (a prominent New York tax attorney); and a date (January 21). I fully expected an overflow crowd and I had thoughts (perhaps "delusions" is more appropriate) of sending the speaker (or at least his or her outline) around New York state for local presentations. And what happened? The seminar had to be cancelled for lack of registration. So, what was the problem? Is it that you aren't interested? Is it that you thought you knew about CPA privilege? Is it that the course was scheduled for January 21? Let me know ( Alan Weiner ) with a copy to Director of Operations Alan Schmelkin ( Alan Schmelkin ). We'll either reschedule the two-hour seminar--or not!
In early December, I was the luncheon warm-up speaker for the SEC guest speaker at the annual SEC/FASB conference (which had an attendance of which to be proud). Herewith are some of my luncheon comments.
My firm (Holtz Rubenstein & Co. LLP, a Long Islandbased CPA firm) is about No. 24 in the nation in auditing public companies--an interesting statistic since we audit about 15 public companies. That tells you something right there. CPA firms are no longer in the business of focusing on audits, especially audits of public companies. That's because of the degree of knowledge required, the cost to run such a segment of the practice, and the liability--whether it be just being sucked into a lawsuit (requiring uncompensated hours devoted to the defense) or a true malpractice lawsuit, generally of a class action type.
Nevertheless, the public market is an integral part of business, and, at least as far as I can see into the future, independent CPAs will be needed--and will serve to protect the public.
My next assignment was a bloodletting. I founded the Long Island CPA Blood Drive in 1982, and, annually ever since, Long Island CPAs are requested to donate some of their finest liquid to save the lives of others. Immediately after my contribution, I drove to La Guardia Airport and I flew to Binghamton (via Philadelphia, where you can get the best and freshest handmade pretzels as you walk through the terminal to change planes) for a visit with the Southern Tier Chapter. This was followed two days later with the visit to the Westchester Chapter. This time I was the dinner warm-up speaker for Chris Chambliss (New York Yankee batting coach). What a nice guy! My thanks to the Southern Tier and Westchester presidents, Charlie Barrett and Sandy Napoleon-Hudson, for the good food, good company, and very good leadership of their respective chapters. Tom Rice, President of the New York State Bar Association, and I had lunch the following day to review items of common interest such as CPA-attorney multidisciplinary practice (Both of our respective organizations are still studying the matter. See the article on page 1 for an update.) and the official certification of our own FAE to give continuing legal education (CLE) credit to dual practitioners (so that the CPA-attorneys in our group--myself included--do not have to take 12 hours of CLE in addition to taking 24 or 40 hours of CPE annually). FAE continues to furnish the CLE board with whatever is necessary to satisfy the CLE board as to FAE's qualification to teach continuing education courses.
Midmonth activities included the Finance Committee (beginning the budget process for 20002001) and NYSSCPA Executive Committee meetings, and then a first: the New York City chapter visitation. Of course, there is no New York City chapter, but I believe that since the NYSSCPA is chapter-driven and since its president, president-elect, vice president for chapters, and executive director travel to the four corners of the state to expound upon the doings of the Society, we should offer the same service to the CPAs in the Manhattan area--and so we did. Later in December, I had the opportunity to be at the NYSSCPA staff holiday party, where I was able, on behalf of the Society's volunteer leaders, to say "thank you" to the team that works so diligently on your behalf.
Almost everyone knows "Where's Waldo?" (although they can't always find him). Well, for January, February, March, and April, I'm running "Where's Weiner?" with a slight modification, because I want you to read The Trusted Professional as it arrives on your desk in those hectic months, along with the slew of tax returns and financial statements that you have to get out. The modification is that it may be your name and your reward will be a personal $25 contribution from me to your favorite (noncontroversial) charity plus a complimentary copy (while supplies last) of "Taxpayer Boogie," performed by Robert J. Balopole, CPA (San Mateo, Calif.). So look for your name in the "Where's Weiner" box (there will be four each month) somewhere in The Trusted Professional.
My name is Alan Weiner. Any questions? *
president@nysscpa.org.
