August 2000

Buffalo

By Kathleen S. Carey, CPA, President

The Buffalo Chapter had much to celebrate this past year. Early in fiscal 1999 - 2000 we held our very successful, very well attended annual golf outing. Every year the outing seems to be more successful, and in fiscal 2000 - 2001 the Young CPAs Committee will hold their own first annual golf outing. When the weather turns nice in Buffalo, everyone goes golfing! We also broke with tradition and passed over our annual dinner dance in favor of an end of the season social. We ate dinner and attended a play at Niagara-on-the-Lake, one of our area’s beautiful cultural spots.

Our chapter’s most important celebration this past fiscal year was the 75th anniversary of our official charter. (See photo on this page.) Just like the American colonies, our original number of members was 13, but we’ve grown to more than 1,200 members. It was a celebration of our chapter’s history and a time to honor our past presidents. We had a great time eating, drinking, and networking with our members and sponsors and dancing to the tunes of Lance Diamond. However, the best part was when outgoing President Ray Nowicki belted out Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild," backed up by the Lance Diamond Band. (Ray was so good that I think Lance was jealous.) Don’t worry, Ray will not fade away. He is now our chapter board of directors representative. So, look for good (and exciting) things from the Buffalo Chapter.

One of our goals last fiscal year was to bring quality CPE to our members at a low cost. All of our committees responded and delivered CPE that was timely and topical. Some of the topics included business management assessment, the CPA as a product provider, tips and tricks for surfing the web and using e-mail, environmental contingencies, redevelopment of the Buffalo waterfront, trial balance software tips, LLC versus LLP, applying PPC audit materials in small business audits, myths and realities of family businesses, partnership and LLC update, and planning issues and understanding real property appraisals from the appraisal institute’s perspective.

Our chapter understands the importance of networking with other professionals. Thus, during the past year we held joint meetings with the Financial Executives Institute and the Robert Morris Associates Group. We hope to further and expand the tradition of joint meetings in fiscal 2000 - 2001.

The Buffalo Chapter is very committed to giving back to the community, and this commitment has only deepened with the growth of our Young CPAs Committee and its enthusiasm for community involvement. This past year our chapter supported the American Cancer Society in its relay for life and our Young CPAs provided coffee and doughnuts to our associates sweating out the CPA exam and also volunteered as servers at the first annual Buffalo Winefest, held in our inner harbor. (We had many volunteers for this one!) The winefest was so successful that the committee plans to volunteer again in fiscal 2000 - 2001.The Young CPAs also led the way in raising money for charities by volunteering at an annual food drive and Christmas wrapping session. Our Young CPAs are energetic, hard-working professionals who remind us all that you can have fun while accomplishing your mission.