Committee Member Participation Is on the Rise

By Ernest Markezin

Members of the New York State Society of CPAs this year are taking a more active interest in committee activities than they did last year, Society records suggest.

Committees in the first six months of the current committee year—which began last May—saw a nearly eight percent increase in average meeting attendance compared to all of the 2000-2001 committee year.

The increase in meeting attendance lends empirical credibility to anecdotal evidence that members this year have taken a more active role in committee service. These numbers are encouraging, given the tragic events of Sept. 11, when committee attendance briefly fell off.

The rise is due to everything from human behavior to the tangible benefits of committee participation, experience and service. Members have taken the opportunity to hear guest speakers of interest, participate in technical presentations, and earn free continuing professional education (CPE) credit through their committees.

Committee meetings that include presentations qualifying for one hour of CPE credit have increased markedly. Through the first six months of this committee year, there have been nearly 20 CPE qualifying sessions, compared to about five for the entire prior year. Committee meetings with CPE during that period have covered a broad range of topics, from an Emerging Technologies Committee presentation on application service providers (ASPs)—featuring committee members Ken Burstiner and Frank DeCandido, and Tom Gosnell of Accenture—to a Not-for-Profit Committee presentation given by Jennifer Ahren Lammers of the U.S. Better Business Bureau on its not-for-profit sector initiatives. Committee CPE has also been available through the Healthcare, Hospitality, Real Estate and other committees.

Guest speakers have been a feature of committee meetings along with the CPE, giving members an opportunity to hear noteworthy speakers in a more direct setting. Barry Rashkover, associate regional director of the division of enforcement in the New York State Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission, addressed the SEC committee in the fall, and Rick Skorny, the Internal Revenue Service director of tax administration modernization, spoke to the Relations with the IRS Committee regarding tax technologies affecting practitioners.

The whole participation picture seems to be more than guest speakers and CPE, though. Regularly scheduled committee technical presentations have been on the rise, such as those conducted by the International Taxation Committee on topics including active financing subsidiaries and their benefits to clients. Breakfast conferences have awakened many members to the Apparel and Textile Committee, and as always, there are committee-sponsored evening technical sessions such as those held by the Estate Planning Committee.

Also, what may be the most subtle, yet significant, part of the picture is that member participation in committees is the catalyst for commentary by the Society on legislative and regulatory matters, and may likely become an even more active springboard.