By Thomas W. Morris, CPA Journal Managing Editor

Accounting, finance and legal professionals who serve nonprofit organizations, as well as others who work or consult in the nonprofit sector, are looking forward to the upcoming 25th Annual Nonprofit Conference. As one of the Foundation for Accounting Education’s most popular industry conferences each year, the event will be held twice: Jan. 16, 2003, at the Holiday Inn Airport in Rochester, and Jan. 23, 2003, at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers in midtown Manhattan.

“Our keynote speakers will be NYSS-CPA Executive Director Lou Grumet in Rochester and New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, with Mr. Grumet, in New York City,” said David C. Ashenfarb, conference co-chair and chair of the NYSSCPA Not-for-Profit Organizations Committee. “Spitzer has a strong reputation for ethics and as a leader in the charge against corporate and other crime, so our audience will get a lot out of whatever he has to say.

“We’ll continue our tradition of first-rate speakers,” Ashenfarb added. In addition to Spitzer, experts from the government sector will include Warren Ruppel, from the New York City Comptroller’s office, and Charles Kolb, a former deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy, from the first Bush administration. Two speakers from the Washington, D.C., area will present updates on government audits, including OMB Circular A-133 issues as well as fraud. Popular speakers from past years, Allen Fetterman and Michael Cooney, will present updates on accounting and legal matters.

Ashenfarb said the full-day program’s breakout sessions are designed to be of particular interest to CPAs in industry. They will include:

• How to use your 990 as a marketing tool,
• Understanding the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance new accounting standards,
• How to set up effective audit committees, and
• Return on investment in fundraising.

Networking opportunities will round out the conference.

Further information on the Nonprofit Conference is available online at www.nysscpa.org or by calling (800) NYSSCPA or (212) 537-3635. The fee is $245 (Rochester), $275 (New York City) for NYSSCPA members and $345 (Rochester), $375 (New York City) for nonmembers.