By Jo Ann Golden

On the same day that nearly 200 New York State Society of CPAs leaders met to plan the Society’s future, the U.S. Senate passed a variation of a bill that encompasses some of the most sweeping reforms in the accounting profession since the Great Depression.

As the Senate voted 99 to 0 in favor of Sen. Paul Sarbanes’ (D-Md.) bill, our Society leaders, during the July Annual Leadership Conference, engaged in meaningful, in-depth debate and discussion to determine the direction that the NYSSCPA should take to address the needs of the CPA profession.

The conference was the first formal effort by the Society in recent years to attempt to develop a strategic plan. Professional facilitators served as a catalyst for discussion, which was lively and perhaps controversial at times. The contribution of views came from all corners of the Society, including chapter presidents and officers, committee chairs, statewide officers and members of the board of directors. Active participation was widespread and enthusiastic.

By the morning of the second day of the conference, the facilitators had prepared a summary of the information and ideas that emerged from the leadership group discussion and presented it to the board of directors. The board now has the task of formalizing the strategic plan and putting it into action.

The formalization process will continue through the remainder of the summer, until the board meets again in September. We will continue to listen to the Society membership and dialogue with the leadership to help fine-tune the plan. Final decisions will remain with the board of directors, which has the ultimate fiduciary responsibility for the operation of the Society.

It should be noted that the Society’s strategic planning process began before Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia and the like—not as a reaction to financial crisis, but from a desire by our leadership to make the Society more relevant to the profession, more responsive to the needs of its members. Ironically, however, the occurrence of these corporate scandals during the developmental stage of the strategic plan only serves to make the plan more meaningful and responsive to the immediate issues facing our profession.

While the emergence of the WorldCom fiasco and related events is dispiriting, our leadership conference provided tremendous encouragement. As a professional society, we are moving forward to address serious issues that, admittedly, need addressing. The conference aptly demonstrated that we have the active support of the Society’s leaders—CPAs from every type and area of practice, from firms both large and small. We are working together for the good of the profession. The sharing of ideas during our strategic planning has instilled a confidence in me that the process will make the Society and the profession stronger and better. (For more information on the leadership conference and the Society’s strategic planning process, please see the story)

As we develop the Society’s strategic plan, we also are reaching out to other organizations and leaders within our profession. Since the leadership conference, we have begun meeting with the American Institute of CPAs’ leadership to better understand and develop our respective roles and responsibilities. Working with the AICPA and other accounting boards and organizations is yet another effective way to advance the profession.

While the strategic planning process and our meetings with the AICPA provide us with a great deal of optimism for our profession’s future, there are other Society and Foundation for Accounting Education events and developments that we should take stock in.

Though this year’s media exposure of the accounting profession has not exactly been a public relations coup, it has nonetheless helped raise public awareness about what we, as CPAs, do. Similarly, over the last 15 years, the Society has helped raise student awareness through conducting the Careers Opportunities in the Accounting Profession (COAP) program that exposes minority high school students to the benefits of the accounting profession and helps them understand the complexity of our work and the financial world in which we operate. This summer the Society held another very successful COAP program, reaching more potential accounting majors by expanding to Long Island University-Brooklyn Campus and Westchester Community College, in addition to established sessions at Pace University and Hofstra University.

In late July, I attended part of the Second Annual Young CPAs forum in Syracuse, where I was able to meet with many of the participants. While there was a general concern about the profession and the issues it faces, the predominant sentiment was positive and enthusiastic. The conference revealed a genuine interest and strong belief in the Society and the profession by our young members.

At a time when the CPA community faces an array of challenges, it is very inspiring to witness such conviction by our profession’s future leaders. As a Society, we must seize on this inspiration and continue to provide encouragement and direction that will help our members, old and new, to stay the course during this challenging time.

At the start of my term, I emphasized that we must work together if we are to weather the storm and become a stronger, more relevant Society and profession. The events of the last month make abundantly clear that we are well on our way to meeting those objectives.

president@nysscpa.org