March 2001

Not-for-Profit Conference Attracts 400

By Tom Morris

The Foundation for Accounting Education’s 23rd Annual Nonprofit Conference, held in Rochester on Jan. 16 and in New York City on Jan. 23, brought together approximately 400 CPAs and other financial professionals interested in updates on the not-for-profit industry.

According to Conference Co-chair Julie Floch, who also chairs the NYSSCPA Not-for-Profit Organizations committee, the conference is FAE’s best-attended industry conference each year. Many people reported having a difficult time choosing which of the concurrent sessions to attend, reflecting the program’s success at providing a program with “something for everyone.”

Highlights of the full-day program included the following:

Accounting and Auditing Update, with Allen L. Fetterman of Loeb & Troper

Legal and Tax Update, with Michael J. Cooney, Esq. of Nixon Peabody LLP

OMB A-133 Update, with Jill R. O’Brien, of the Bureau of the Census, Federal Audit Clearinghouse

FASB’s Projects on Consolidations and Combinations, with Suzanne Q. Bielstein, CPA, FASB project manager

Board Accountability, with David L. Mair, director for risk management, U.S. Olympic Committee

HUD Audits, with Peter B. Bell, CPA, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Initiatives at the New York State Charities Bureau, with William Josephson, Esq., assistant attorney general in charge of the charities bureau

Fraud, with Michael R. Young, Esq., Wilkie Farr & Gallagher

Audit Risk, with John Heveron, Jr. of Heveron & Heveron, CPAs, P.C.

Charities Watchdogs—Where Are They Going?, with Jennifer L.A. Lammers, Philanthropic Advisory Service of the Better Business Bureau of Metropolitan New York, Inc.

Floch added that the networking opportunities round out the conference that many people attend year after year because “people look forward to segments like Allen Fetterman’s accounting and auditing update and Mike Cooney’s legal and tax update. The presentations are amazingly concise and up-to-the-minute. Even senior practitioners get a lot out of them.”

Bonnie Chambers, CPA, CMA, the director of finance at the Risk and Insurance Management Society, Inc., said that she has been attending the conference for about four years and that “this year especially, the speakers were good and at least one in every slot talked about issues that are relevant to me as a CPA in industry, such as fraud and risk management.”

Conference Co-Chair Jeff Green said the conference’s strength lies in the combination of strong content for both novices and senior practitioners. “For CPAs who are new to the nonprofit environment, Jill O’Brien’s and Peter Bell’s presentations showed them what federal agencies do and how they work,” said Green. “For networking, you always get to meet new people and if you attend every year, as I do, you renew friendships with other people you meet here every year.”

According to Green, the other conference co-chairs, which included Eileen Kilday, John Oehler, and Robert Taylor, are already working on plans for next year’s program.