April 2000

April 15th has come and gone and so has my money. - Henny Youngman

By Alan Weiner, CPA

What price honesty? This thought came to mind recently when I read about the many celebrities (most of whom are in their 20s and early 30s) who are accusing their money manager (age 37) of looting $6 million from their accounts. One of the products that we as certified public accountants sell is honesty. For most of us, it is the training that we received in our quest to become certified public accountants. The end result, nevertheless, is that there are very few bad CPA apples in the CPA barrel. We need to continue to impress the public and our clients of the integrity of the profession. Perhaps a plus to the unfortunate circumstance that these well-known personalities found themselves in is that an accountant (the facts do not disclose whether the accountant was certified) for one of the famous young bands discovered the misappropriation.

I had the honor of opening the festivities at the inaugural meeting of the Hall of Fame Selection Committee on March 29. As the person who conceived the idea in March 1999 and observed it being born nine months later with the creation of the Selection Committee, it was indeed an honor for me to address the nine notable professionals--each stars in their own right--who were charged by the NYSSCPA Executive Committee to review the nomination forms and histories of the candidates and come up with the best of the best. My special thanks to attorney Dan Goldwasser, a valuable adviser to the NYSSCPA, who served as chair of the Hall of Fame committee.

As an NYSSCPA representative, I attended the AICPA Council regional meeting on March 30 (a date that obviously was selected by a non-tax person). Most of the meeting was devoted to an explanation of how the AICPA intends to keep the accounting profession ahead of the curve. The ideas are quite exciting, but they certainly require further study by the NYSSCPA leadership and every other state society. AICPA President Barry Melancon fascinated Council members with a slide show about a vertical portal website that the AICPA is creating together with other parties. We heard terms like "VC" (venture capital), IPO, stock options, and "friends and family" mentioned at the meeting. If the AICPA Council representatives (about 400 in total) approve the concept at its May meeting, the AICPA will move forward with a public offering. The decision that the AICPA and Council members must make is the same decision that business people make when deciding whether to venture into a new line of business or, in this technological world, whether to fund a site for their business. Now we will experience what our clients experience when we offer them advice and, by the same token, we will ask the AICPA leadership the same questions that we are asked when we propose an idea to our clients.

AICPA Chair Robert K. Elliott presented a slide show on one of the Vision Process's conclusions, that CPAs should be more involved with international business matters. Accordingly, the AICPA, together with several other countries, is proposing an international designation that will incorporate many types of disciplines, of which the CPA will be one. This too will be the subject of much thought and study, since there were a number of people at the Council meeting who feared that the CPA designation might fade into obscurity. The question for Council members will be whether it is more important to maintain and enhance the image of the certified public accountant or whether, in the fast-moving business world, an international designation, which may not be held by every CPA, will be of more value. The AICPA has committed to supporting the CPA designation in the future since some of its members will not seek the internationally recognized designation, which, by the way, has no name as of yet.

The Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University sponsored a roundtable (actually, a square) to discuss the growing gap in the supply of and demand for accounting graduates. The subject, simply put, was "where are the auditors of the future coming from, and how do we keep them from leaving." Our Society was invited to send its president, and that it did. The group of participants included 10 representatives from the Big Five accounting firms, two representatives from the Independence Standards Board, 22 representatives from the major metropolitan area colleges and universities, AICPA Chair Elliott two AICPA staff members, one representative from the Financial Executives Institute, one representative from the Institute of Management Accountants--and me. What was missing? The educators were earnestly concerned with the reduction in the number of students wanting to major in accounting. They wanted to hear what they, as educators, could do in structuring their programs so as to build up the size of their accounting population. Again, I ask you, what was missing from this meeting? The answer is that had I not been invited (and please remember that I was invited as NYSSCPA president and not as a partner in an 80-person accounting firm), this group would NOT have had a representative from a small or medium-sized firm. Of the 335,000 CPAs in the AICPA, it is estimated that about 65,000 are with the Big Five, leaving 270,000 CPAs unaccounted for. Certainly the idea of the roundtable was valid, and many of the ideas that were put on the table were on point, but the thrust of the discussion was from the standpoint of the Big Five. As a former Big Five (nee Eight) employee, I related to and shared many of the concerns of my Big Five brethren, but I urged the educators to widen their perspectives since most of the future accountants will not work for the Big Five. Next month you will see a more comprehensive article in The Trusted Professional on the Ross Roundtable, as the event is known.

As I told you in the January issue of The Trusted Professional--you can access it on the Society website if you haven't saved the hard copy--April is the last month to find your name in a "Where's Weiner?" box somewhere in this newspaper, and if you haven't yet read the January, February, and March hard copies, hop to it. You must contact me (see address below) by May 15, 2000 to claim your prize. Send me the name of your favorite (noncontroversial) charity and I'll send you my personal $25 contribution to it, plus your own complimentary copy of "Taxpayer Boogie," performed by Robert J. Balopole, CPA.

My name is Alan Weiner. Any questions? *