Message From the President

Message From the President

By Rich Zerah, Nassau Chapter President

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Is it really the year 2004? Weren’t we all just dealing with Y2K compliance issues? Where does the time go? As CPAs enter the busy season, and most of us move into overdrive, we should periodically stop and recognize that we are very lucky to have the ability to serve our clients and industries through a great profession. As the saying goes, enjoy the ride, because it goes quickly.

Our chapter meeting this month, which will be held on Thursday, Jan.15, at the Chateau Briand in Westbury, will be a very special event. We will begin the program with a presentation to our chapter’s past presidents, honoring them for their service throughout the past 50 years. Our Executive Director Lou Grumet, our Society President Jeffrey Hoops and Society President-Elect John Kearney will address our members during this meeting. Finally, we will hold a free two-hour CPE course on ethics which can be used to satisfy the four-hour CPE requirement.

Our October and November chapter meetings were well attended and, as usual, well run and very organized. Our October meeting, which included bankers from our region, was jointly held with the Suffolk Chapter. Mr. Stephen N. Garfinkel, Supervisory Special Agent of the FBI, addressed the audience and certainly enlightened us on various aspects of commercial fraud and fraud prevention. At this meeting, we introduced a new format: we extended the cocktail hour, excluded the sit-down dinner and offered a light dessert during the presentation. We are interested in hearing your feedback on this format as compared to the traditional sit-down dinner we usually have at chapter meetings. Please contact either Mark Cirelli or me with your comments and suggestions.

Our November meeting featured our traditional Student Night. The event was attended by CPAs and students from area colleges and universities. Our speaker, Calvin O. Butts III, president of SUNY College at Old Westbury, was electrifying. His message included discussing issues surrounding ethics in our profession. But it was his delivery that was truly amazing. For those of you who attended, you know exactly what I mean. For those of you who did not attend, if you ever have another opportunity to hear Mr. Butts speak, don’t miss it. He is a very dynamic and prolific speaker.

Finally, I would like to remind everyone that we will be having our 51st chapter dinner dance on Friday, May 7, at the Cresthollow Country Club, where we will be installing Robert Schaffer as our incoming president. Bob has begun the process of planning this event, and from all indications, it promises to be a great evening. I know it appears kind of early, but please let Bob know your intention of attending this event so he can continue to properly plan accordingly.

As always, I am available for your input, comments and concerns.

Rich Zerah can be reached at 516-735-4717 or rich@zerahco.com.