By Simon Eskow

The number of contributors donating to three New York State Society of CPAs programs has steadily decreased over the last three fiscal years, leading to a decline in overall contributions.

The number of members contributing to the Career Opportunities in the Accounting Profession (COAP) program, the NYSSCPA scholarship and the Political Action Committee (PAC) declined by an average of close to 30 percent for each program from the 2000–2001 fiscal year to the 2002–2003 fiscal year.

The decline has punched a hole in the dollar amount of donations to each program, hitting the PAC hardest, with an 18 percent decline over the last three years. Contributions to the COAP program dropped 7 percent, while the scholarship fund slid by 13 percent over the same period of time.

Members have the opportunity to donate to the three programs when they renew their NYSSCPA membership fees at the beginning of each year. The downturn in the economy in the last few years has had an obvious impact on donations, a decline that has prompted Society leaders to seek new ways for financial support.

For instance, Franklin Federmann, a member of the Society’s COAP Advisory Board, sent letters to a targeted list of Society leaders to bolster interest and support in the COAP program. There also are plans to demonstrate the value of the program in one-on-one meetings with partners of big firms to drum up further interest.

The COAP program is one of several Society efforts to encourage promising high school students to enter the profession. Every year, the program recruits high-achieving minority students for week-long residential and commuter summer sessions at five colleges around the state, in which the students learn about the profession through lectures, firm visits and other activities.

The Excellence in Accounting Scholarship also goes toward helping future CPAs. Full-time students majoring in accounting with a minimum GPA of 3.0 or higher can receive $1,500 for two years through the scholarship; part-time students can receive $750 a year. The Society created the scholarship in 1990.

Nine years later, the Society established its PAC to formally strengthen its voice in the New York state legislature.

Society members in 2000–2001 gave the PAC $117,552, according to NYSSCPA records. By the following year, the contributions fell 11 percent to around $103,000 and another 8 percent the following year to approximately $95,000.

By comparison, in 2000–2001, members gave $48,632 to the COAP program, increasing their contributions by about 3 percent in 2001–2002 to $50,251. The COAP dropped down to about $45,000 the following year.

The scholarship program saw a modest 3 percent drop between 2000–2001 and 2001–2002, from about $53,000 to $51,000, then dropped a steep 10 percent the following year to around $45,000 by 2002-2003.