Young CPA Committees Challenge Employers to Stimulate Participation

Young CPA Committees Challenge Employers to Stimulate Participation

By David A. Arcara

The prevailing opinion from the third annual Leadership Conference in Saratoga Springs and the third annual Young CPA Conference on Long Island was that Young CPA committees are a statewide cornerstone for shaping the accounting leadership of tomorrow. The conferences, both of which took place in July, also revealed that the Young CPA committees around New York state are some of the New York State Society of CPAs’ most active committees.

Although fundamentally different groups, most Young CPA committees face the same problem: attendance at meetings and involvement in various charitable and networking activities often lack the numbers the committees hope for. Given the prevailing statewide support for the Young CPA committees, this problem can be overcome.

The committees need help from public accounting firms and industry to encourage their young staff to participate in Young CPA activities and possibly volunteer to sit on the committee. Joining a Young CPA committee can help develop public speaking and presentation skills and provides experience in how to conduct a professional meeting. Employees who join the committee or participate in Young CPA activities help promote the profession, raise the image of CPAs through volunteering and encourage students to consider accounting as a profession.

Events like the Young CPA Conference also offer continuing professional education credits for sessions specifically targeting young CPAs. Sessions at the July 24–25 conference covered relationships with clients, leadership skills, current technology and clues to professional success.

The accounting firm or private company in turn benefits from a well-rounded employee who has developed meeting and social skills while establishing a networking base that may become valuable to the employer in the future.

The Young CPA committees hope to ensure they are around for a long time with a consistent number of committee members and a sufficient volunteer base to accomplish their goals and help foster new ideas to keep Young CPA activities fresh. So far young CPAs are forging solid roots to prevail in the long run.

By including Young CPA committee chairs from across the state, the Leadership Conference emphasized the significance and breadth of this group. The state’s Young CPA committees are appreciated by the Society for what they represent: the link to getting the young members of the profession involved in shaping the future leadership of the NYSSCPA and the profession as a whole.

During the Leadership Conference, the Young CPA Committee chairs assembled together for a roundtable discussion of the activities their individual committees sponsor as well as the problems and challenges each of the committees face. The chairpersons appeared to bond during the conference, continuing to discuss and exchange ideas even after the event ended.
For a committee application, visit www.nysscpa.org and select “Find Committees” on the left side of the page.

David A. Arcara, of Arcara & Borczynski in Buffalo, is the NYSSCPA Buffalo Chapter’s Young CPAs Committee cochair.