Accountants eat, sleep and breathe change; Manhattan/Bronx Chapter can help lead the way
By AARON BERSON
Manhattan/Bronx Chapter President
As incoming president for the Manhattan/Bronx Chapter, I am extremely honored and humbled to have the opportunity to serve in a leadership role within the Society. I want to thank everyone on the past board and current board for stepping up to help lead our chapter!
As accountants, we are the masters of change; it is our job to stay current on all that is changing for our clients. This past year is no exception, with new tax regulations, some significant overhauls to GAAP, and some exciting Financial Accounting Standards Board updates going into effect. No matter the subject, we live and handle change every day in substantial ways. With all the effort spent adapting to change for our clients, we as a group often overlook managing change for ourselves. That shouldn’t happen.
Let me give you some background on myself; I began my career at Deloitte as an intern in its national tax practice, helping large companies handle capital expenditure determinations, schedules and the related business effects. I moved on to EisnerAmper, where I advised small to medium businesses on business strategy, taxation and financial statements to connect the dots between all the different items affecting their business. I soon began teaching at New York University as an adjunct professor and later founded a technology-based client accounting services (CAS) group at EisnerAmper. Next, I moved to GettryMarcus CPA P.C. to do the same and head up the firm’s newest and most exciting division in an ever-growing area of the profession—outsourced services, or CAS.
Our group is founded on the premise that we can serve our clients better than ever by leveraging technology to augment our amazing people. The key here is technology: new technology, which is continually changing, and more rapidly than most of the other changes we see in the profession. The reason I expand on this is to emphasize that our profession is undergoing a major change—a technology renaissance, if you will.
During this year as president, my goals are to support our membership through CPE to grow our technical skill sets as well as our appetite for change. We will be holding events—in person and online—to accommodate our members. I would like to enable many practitioners to retain and attract talent to help us all grow; I believe technology is an underused tool to do so.
As a board, we will be using more technology to be more collaborative than ever, to be engaged and vocal. I encourage our members to do the same: Pick one collaborative technology, and implement it in your firm.
Change is the name of the game we have all been playing our entire career. It’s time to do it again—together! Come out to our events to leverage the experiences of others, grow your network and learn something new.
We have some great events planned for our members and are looking forward to helping everyone grow professionally and technically.
On Thursday, July 25, 6–8 p.m., we will be holding a CPE event titled “Social Security: Answering Client Questions on How to Maximize Benefits.” This course, to be held at the office of Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, 1166 Avenue of the Americas, will help practitioners better advise those individuals ready to move to the next phase of their life and how to navigate Social Security successfully.
Also in midtown Manhattan, we will be hosting “IRC §1031 Tax Deferred Exchanges of Real Property” on Friday, Sept. 20, 8:30–10:30 a.m., at the Wells Fargo Learning Center, 150 East 42nd St. This CPE event will offer attendees a high-level overview of the process, rules and regulations, as well as some practical usage for investment property owners. This can be an excellent way for some families to build wealth.
On Monday, Dec. 2, at 6 p.m., we will be holding a CPE event at 14 Wall St. titled, “Communicate Up the Corporate Ladder: How to Succeed in Business with Clarity and Purpose.” Attendees will learn strategies and tactics to improve their speaking skills. A goal is to be able to immediately engage and captivate an audience, whether it is a room of people or a client across the table.
aberson@gettrymarcus.com
MANHATTAN/BRONX CHAPTER NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT 2019
NOMINATING COMMITTEE
Iralma Pozo, CPA, Chair
Alan M. Willinger, CPA
Adam H. Reiss, CPA
The Nominating Committee is proud to announce the Slate for the 2018-2019 Year:
OFFICERS (one year term expiring May 31, 2020)
President: Aaron Berson, CPA
President-Elect: Jordan Frey, CPA
Vice President: Carnet Brown, CPA
Treasurer: Fred Kosnac, CPA
Secretary: Elysa Dauerman, CPA
BOARD OF DIRECTORS (Terms Expiring on May 31, 2020)
Michael Shuster, CPA
John Stanziale, CPA
Alan Willinger, CPA
BOARD OF DIRECTORS (Terms Expiring on May 31, 2021)
Rekha Chatterjee, CPA
Barbara Marino, CPA
Colin Mohamed, CPA
Alex Hamabuchi, CPA
Eric Hernandez, CPA
Election will take place on May 14, 5:00 p.m. (immediately preceding the How to How to Negotiate Panel presentation. Election is open to all) at NYSSCPA Offices, 14 Wall Street, 19 floor.