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December 2001 Articles

Strategic Planning Task Force Tackles the Future

NEW YORK—The New York State Society of CPAs should take a more active role in public policy issues, utilizing chapters as a strategic resource, and maintaining education as one of its most important services, a NYSSCPA task force has recommended. (Article)

Strategic Society Hosts MDP Breakfast Conference to Examine New Rules

NEW YORK—On Nov. 1, 2001, New York became the first state in the nation to enact multidisciplinary practice (MDP) rules that permit law firms to establish contractual relationships with nonlegal professions for providing cross-disciplinary services to law-firm clients. (Article)

President's Commentary

During the American Institute of CPAs 29th Annual National Conference on Current SEC Developments, Bob Herdman, the new chief accountant at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, told the 1,500 CPAs in the audience that “Tough economic conditions…exacerbate the challenges faced by auditors.” (Article)

Global Credential, AICPA Membership Alienation Dominate Accounting Club Discussion

On Nov. 14 at a breakfast meeting in midtown Manhattan, John Hunnicutt, senior vice president of public affairs for the American Institute of CPAs, updated the Accounting Club of America’s (ACA) members on current Institute priorities. (Article)

A Synopsis of the Nov. 12 PAC Meeting

The trustees of the New York State Society CPA PAC (Political Action Committee) assembled in Albany on Nov. 12 to review the first five months of the 2001-2002 year and to plan for the next four. (Article)

HIPAA: The Healthcare Industry’s Latest Challenge

The United States Department of Health and Human Services recently enacted regulations pursuant to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) relating to protecting the security and privacy of individually identifiable health information (referred to as Protected Health Information or PHI) and standardizing electronic transactions. (Article)

NYSSCPA Awards Program

Certified public accountants throughout New York state give generously of their free time to better their profession and to assist with community causes and projects in the public interest. (Article)

New York State’s Highest Court Gives Blessing to Handbook Disclaimers

The New York Court of Appeals in a recent case of first impression held that a statement in an employee handbook making clear that the handbook does not give a worker contractual rights will be upheld, and will trump other handbook provisions that arguably provide job security guarantees. (Article)

Society Seeks Nominations for New Officers and Directors

The recently designated New York State Society of CPAs’ Nominating Committee will meet Jan. 18 to begin the process of nominating people to fill those vacancies in Society officer and director positions that will be opening up on June 1, 2002. (Article)

A Funny Thing Could Happen After Attending a Venture Forum

Is venture capital really dead? From the conversations that I recently had with some of my fellow CPAs, you might think so, but the answer of course is no—nothing could be further from the truth. (Article)

Society’s Hall of Fame Award

The New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants established the CPA Hall of Fame award to honor exceptional certified public accountants for their work, vision and contributions to the profession and the larger community. (Article)

Members Encouraged to Join Committees

The New York State Society of CPAs has recently sent out committee service brochures for the 2002–2003 committee year. (Article)

Charting a Safe Course for Trusteeship

Claims against CPAs involving trusteeships have been slowly rising in frequency and dollar amounts over the past 15 years. (Article)

Buffalo Young CPAs Promote Accounting Profession to Teachers

The Buffalo Young CPAs Committee has ventured into new territory. Over the past three years, we have spent a lot of time focusing on the profession, encouraging young CPAs to get involved in the accounting practice and in the community. (Article)

Apparel and Textile Conference Series Begins on the Right Foot

Members of the New York State Society of CPAs Apparel and Textile Committee recently participated in an active exchange of ideas and information during the first of three breakfast conferences. (Article)

Wanting to Enhance Professional Possibilities, Committee Holds Seminar for Small Businesses

Small-business owners and advisers met with the Cooperation with Community Businesses Committee of the New York State Society of CPAs late last summer to learn about financing alternatives, business strategies, estate planning, business valuation, commercial insurance, and other topics. (Article)

Annual Dinner Serves Up the New Principal and Income Act

On Sept. 4, Gov. George Pataki signed into law a revamped Principal and Income Act that is considered the first major overhaul of the legislation since the 1960s and is designed to give trustees much greater flexibility and decision-making power. (Article)

Brooklyn Chapter Draws Students Through Seminars

A large number of accounting students attended three professional seminars sponsored by the Brooklyn Chapter of the New York State Society of CPAs in the fall, chapter officials reported. (Article)

2001 Tax Act Provides Great Opportunities for Employees to Save for Retirement

On Oct. 17, 2001, Len Carusi, a consultant with Watson Wyatt & Company, presented a technical session on the 2001 Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act for the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants’ Employee Benefits Committee at their company offices in New York City. (Article)

Computer Systems Security in an Internet Age–Viruses and Hostile Content

Viruses have grown over the last few years from an occasional annoyance to probably the most significant threat to network uptime. Viruses have become such a common and significant threat that it is almost impossible to go through a week without seeing some evidence of computer viruses in the news and mass media. (Article)

Society Offers Members New Privacy Option Online

The New York State Society of CPAs has implemented a new privacy option that will allow members to have greater control over the use and appearance of their name and contact information on the NYSSCPA website at www.nysscpa.org. (Article)

Website of the Month

An Application Service Provider (ASP) is defined by the ASP Industry Consortium as a business that delivers and manages applications and computer service from remote data centers to multiple users via the Internet or private network. (Article)