NYSSCPA Executive Committee Ratifies Four Recommendations for AICPA Council

The Executive Committee of the New York State Society of CPAs on Jan. 15 ratified President Jo Ann Golden’s recommendations to replace the four elected members of the American Institute of CPAs’ Governing Council who will rotate off Council in October. The four recommendations are Sharon S. Fierstein, Stephen F. Langowski, Kevin J. McCoy and Maryann M. Winters.

All four individuals have served as recent Society vice presidents, with Fierstein also having served as a recent Society secretary. They will replace Joseph L. Charles, Jeffrey R. Hoops, Henry J. Krostich and Nancy L. Newman-Limata, who are nearing completion of their three-year terms. NYSSCPA President-Elect Hoops will be recommended to replace George T. Foundotos, who is currently serving as the one-year Society representative on Council.

In recent years, the NYSSCPA president made these recommendations without further consultation. This year, however, Golden chose to expand her input and the recommendations became a matter of Executive Committee discussion.

“The decision of who should serve on the AICPA Council from a state society significantly impacts the future of the organization that represents our profession nationally,” Golden said after the meeting. “In addition to reflecting the future leadership of the NYSSCPA, I am confident that the four people we are recommending this year will continue the recent tradition of the New York Council delegation to forthrightly take courageous positions that might conflict with those of the AICPA leadership.”

With 265 members, Council is the governing body of the AICPA. There are five types of Council members. The first is the AICPA Board of Directors, which is comprised of 23 members. At present, the following four people from New York are serving on the AICPA’s board: David A. Lifson, Michael A. Conway, Richard P. Kearns and Barry C. Melancon.

The second group of Council members, the “directly elected” group, includes 139 people, who serve for three-year terms. The state societies each recommend members to the AICPA Nominating Committee who serve as directly elected Council members. At present, there are nine such members from New York. In addition to the four rotating off in October, this group includes Ronald Benjamin, Victor S. Rich, Barry B. Seidel and P. Gerard Sokolski, whose terms expire in 2004, as well as Golden, whose term runs through October 2005.

AICPA bylaws provide for 21 “at-large” members of Council, who serve for three-year terms. Generally speaking, at-large members are AICPA members who are nominated by virtue of their exemplary work within the AICPA committee structure. The following four at-large members are from New York: Allen A. Boston, Herbert Schoenfeld, Thomas J. Craren and James Metzler.

Each recognized state society is permitted a Council representative, who serves a one-year term. There currently are 54 such members.

The final category of Council members includes those individuals who serve in an ex officio capacity, including the following former chief AICPA chairs from New York: Robert K. Elliott, Robert L. Israeloff, Stuart Kessler and Ray J. Groves.