October 2000

Board Approves Creation of New Chapters

New York -- In an effort to better serve its members, the New York State Society of CPAs board of directors has given the Society the “green light” to create six new chapters, including three in the New York City area.

On October 4, the board approved the Society’s plan to establish chapters in the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn as well as Rockland County, Ithaca, and the region north of Glens Falls.

The creation of new chapters in New York City is expected to correct an apparent paradox: While New York City boasts a great number of Society members, the area has lacked easily accessible chapters. Other than Staten Island, the five boroughs of New York City have had no formal chapters.

The new upstate chapters will accommodate members that currently travel long distances to participate in chapter activities. Travel time is blamed for the diminished chapter involvement of members living in remote areas.

The board based its decision to create new chapters on the recommendation of the Society’s Executive Committee, which passed a resolution on August 9 supporting the findings of the Task Force on Chapters.

“Membership is the lifeblood of the Society,” concluded the task force report. “New chapters can reasonably be expected to enhance the Society’s appeal to potential new members, and to increase the satisfaction of existing members.”

The task force, comprised of former chapter presidents Ronald J. Huefner (Buffalo), Rosemarie Barnickel (Staten Island), Micki Levine (Nassau), Kevin J. O’Connor (Mid Hudson), and Philip G. Westcott (Southern Tier), was created by former Society President George Foundotos in May 1999. Foundotos believed that geographically remote members inadvertently were being excluded from chapter participation, and the task force’s statewide survey confirmed his theory.

Initially meeting on July 16, 1999, the task force examined some of the broad issues involved and first discussed the possibility of splitting the Rockland County members from the Mid-Hudson Chapter.

The issue of forming New York City chapters was also raised in the first meeting when Barnickel indicated that the Staten Island Chapter had a group of members from Queens who were interested in forming a chapter in their own area.

Surveys of Society members across the state, conducted in January by mail and online at www.nysscpa.org, indicated that adding new chapters may be necessary and warranted.

Based on initial findings, the task force’s discussion of new upstate chapters focused on five areas where a number of members were located far from the chapter’s base, including northern counties of the Northeast Chapter, the Ithaca-Elmira area of the Southern Tier Chapter and Rockland County.

Members in Rockland County and the Ithaca-Elmira area were surveyed as to their preferences regarding a chapter or affiliation with another chapter.

The surveys generated a high response: In some areas that historically have had low chapter participation, 20 percent of the surveys were returned. Huefner, who chaired the task force, said the positive response indicates a strong interest in chapter participation.

Barnickel also noted the respondents’ enthusiasm, characterizing the response rate as “exceptionally high.”

Based on the responses, the task force recommended new chapters for both regions.

The task force also reported that a majority of members lived in non-chapter areas of New York City, with nearly one-third of the Society’s active membership, almost 10,000, living in Manhattan alone.

The task force’s report indicates that the six new chapters would increase the benefits and services to members in the affected areas, representing a greater fulfillment of the Society’s mission.

The new chapters will be established by June 1, 2001, on a three-year provisional basis. The Society expects them to be up and running by that time.