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April 2002 Articles

Society Educates Albany on Profession

ALBANY—A delegation from the New York State Society of CPAs visited Albany over two days in March to educate legislators about accounting issues as senators and assembly members hammer out new bills that would alter how the state regulates accountants in the post-Enron era. (Article)

Board Takes Stance on Post-Enron Accounting Legislation

NEW YORK—In the wake of increased governmental scrutiny of the accounting profession, the Board of Directors of the New York State Society of CPAs took a firm stance last month on proposed New York state accountancy legislation. (Article)

Foundation Establishes Plan to Better Meet Members’ Educational Needs

NEW YORK—Following an unprecedented, near year-long initiative, the New York State Society of CPAs and the Foundation for Accounting Education (FAE) have established a course of action that is designed to significantly enhance the quality of continuing professional education (CPE) that is provided to the Society’s membership. (Article)

President's Commentary

After the misdirected efforts leading to the failed global credential (XYZ) and CPA2Biz, is the American Institute of CPAs going to strike out on its third initiative – the computerized CPA examination?

As with many of the ideas incubated at the AICPA, the initial blueprint looked good, it’s the subsequent development and execution that seems questionable. (Article)

150 Hours, Graduate Programs Discussed at CPA Journal Forum on Education

A recent CPA Journal forum on accounting education stimulated discussion between practitioners and educators over the education of the next generation of accountants.

The three-hour event, held on March 20 at the Yale Club in New York City, focused on the 150-hour educational requirement—as originally conceived in 1958, adopted by the American Institute of CPAs in 1988, and variously implemented by the states. (Article)

Survey Gauges FAE’s CPE Offerings, Reveals Foundation Can Be “Premier Choice” Provider

In an effort to better accommodate the needs of CPAs and other professionals who take continuing professional education (CPE) courses offered through the Foundation for Accounting Education (FAE), the Marketing Department of the New York State Society of CPAs conducted a survey last October. (Article)

Free CPE Winners (Article)

Society Takes Lead Role in Representing CPAs to the Media

The unfolding Enron story has put the New York State Society of CPAs square in the media crosshairs. From the moment the story became front-page news late last year, Society spokespeople have responded to over 100 media inquiries regarding the bankruptcy and its implications for the accounting profession (Article)

The Right Steps to Regulate CPAs

New York legislators want to do something about the Enron mess, and they should—by overhauling state regulation of the accounting profession to raise standards. Consider this: Only one of the 50,000 accountants in the state last year lost his license for professional misconduct. (Article)

After Enron

As Congress continues to investigate the Enron collapse, lawmakers are trying to find out who in the company knew that trouble was brewing, and when they knew it. (Article)

NYSSCPA Announces Financial Journalism Award Winners (Article)

Members Proffer Advice to Daily News Readers

Peter Chen and Ronald Hegt leapt to life, cast aside their newspapers, placed the coffee on the conference table and turned to the telephones that had begun to ring as if someone had fired a starter-pistol. (Article)

The Professional Implications of Missing the April 15 Deadline

April 15 has come and gone and New York state CPAs have spent the last several months in a frenzy, filing income tax returns for their clients, their family members and themselves. Some CPAs were not worried about the deadline because they filed extensions. Other CPAs were not concerned because they were certain they would meet the deadline. (Article)

A Case Study: The Story of a CPA Who Failed to File Her Individual Tax Return

The New York State Society of CPAs member had been overwhelmed by an unfortunate series of professional and family crises that went on for years. No matter how hard she tried to catch up, there was always a new crisis. Her practice and her family life suffered. She sought assistance through professional counseling. The problems persisted. (Article)

How Can We Become Truly Independent?

I believe that there are at least two significant reasons why we as accountants may not be considered truly independent: 1) companies pay our audit fees, thus creating the possibility for compromise; and 2) Wall Street’s expectations. (Article)

Avoiding Pitfalls When Combining Business and Personal Travel

The recent news that the Internal Revenue Service will not treat frequent flyer miles as taxable income may spur a lot of people to redeem their miles and take a vacation or use the miles to bring spouses, significant others, children or friends along on business trips. (Article)

Aggressive Tax Strategies and Client Expectations

Business partners Emory Hammer and Preston Wood own six hardware stores and lumberyards, which are considered six separate S corporations, in the Buffalo-Rochester area. The partners own equal shares of 100 percent of the stock of the six corporations. (Article)

2002 CPAs in Industry Conference to Cover Variety of Topics for the “Business Generalist”

CPAs and other financial executives operating in industry will be exposed to a orld of knowledge when they attend the Foundation for Accounting Education’s CPAs in Industry Conference, which will take place on June 11 at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers in New York City. (Article)

The Benchmark for Buying Accounting Software: Purchase Price or After-Sale Support?

With the rapid growth of accounting software in the marketplace, CPAs now have myriad choices to accommodate their unique business and professional needs. If a market niche remains unfilled, scores of software vendors already are scrambling around to develop and release new products to close the gaps. (Article)

The System Administraton, Networking, and Security Institute: www.sans.org

The System Administration, Networking and Security (SANS) Institute, founded in 1989, is a cooperative research and education organization through which more than 156,000 security professionals, auditors, system administrators and network administrators share the lessons they learn and find solutions to the challenges they face. Security practitioners in government agencies, corporations and universities make up the core of the Institute. (Article)

The Pros and Cons of LINUX Explored in Free CPE Session

Do you or your client have a Novell- or Windows-based Local Area Network (LAN) that is constantly crashing and suffers from performance and reliability problems? Did you buy your Windows NT networking software because it was inexpensive and easy to install, only to find out that you have never-ending and increasing consultant bills to maintain your network because your Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE)-trained network administrator lacks the required skills? (Article)

Making a Commitment to the Future Through Junior Achievement

Part of my role as marketing communications director at a regional CPA firm is to encourage and facilitate our employees’ involvement in the community. Like many good firms across the state, our firm understands that it makes sense to do this. (Article)

Society Launches Campaign for Associate Members

The New York State Society of CPAs has launched a membership recruitment campaign that was developed by the NYSSCPA Membership Committee and approved by the executive board earlier this year. NYSSCPA members who refer a colleague eligible in associate membership classes will receive a coupon worth up to eight credit hours of continuing professional education (CPE) sponsored by our education partner, the Foundation for Accounting Education (FAE). (Article)

Member Categories Eligible for the Advance a Career Program: (Article)

The Important Fine Print to the Advance a Career Program

All members are eligible to receive one free CPE coupon for referring each eligible applicant. However, only referrals for associate CPA firm employee, associate academic, and associate international memberships can earn free CPE. (Article)

New FAE Rules and Administrative Procedures

As the Foundation for Accounting Education (FAE) revamps its educational programming, the New York State Society of CPAs’ Board of Directors and the FAE Board of Trustees have instituted new rules and procedures pertaining to the registration and delivery of FAE’s continuing professional education (CPE) courses and events. (Article)