The economic recession of the past few years continues to have a significant impact on the real estate industry and specifically on developers, landlords and investors who rely on their CPAs to help them plan and safeguard their interests during these challenging times.

The chapter’s Real Estate Committee provides support to members and helps them keep abreast of relevant strategies and changes in laws and requirements. Committee chairs Joel Dressner and Cynthia Sze bring solid real estate experience and a variety of expert presenters to the table. Joel is a partner at Gettry, Marcus, and Stern & Lehrer with more than 30 years experience and Cynthia is a senior manager in accounting and auditing at Marks Paneth & Shron.

While this is Cynthia’s first year as a co-chair, she has been a chapter member since 2003 and active with the Real Estate committee since 2005, serving as CPE coordinator last year. “We look to offer timely support for the questions and new issues and topics our members encounter.”

Among the topics of particular concern to many CPAs and their real estate clients are the unusual transactions needed to address losses. “Many are looking to move their portfolios into REITs,” says Cynthia, “which is a highly specialized area. Others are utilizing insurance vehicles like master policies to save money by bundling multiple properties together under one insurance package.”

“The ongoing financial crisis has complicated many of the issues surrounding real estate. Many of the clients I deal with are big developers, and we confront the problems you read about in the news every day.”

Joel has provided accounting, tax and consulting services in the analysis, acquisition and tax planning for real estate transactions to a variety of real estate clients. “I have always found the real estate industry to be very exciting. It requires the CPA to have an understanding about not only accounting and tax issues, but also about property management, legal issues, financing, construction, engineering, and compliance with government regulations. It also provides me with the opportunity to work with very innovative and interesting people.”

“I have been a member of the Committee for eight years and a co-chair for the past three years. The Committee has provided me with the opportunity to exchange information and experiences with other accountants, and to follow the trends and current issues that confront the real estate accounting professional and our clients.”

“We use ongoing assessment and Committee feedback to develop professional programming for the group. Identifying interesting topics and arranging for stimulating speakers for our technical sessions has been a very satisfying aspect of my role on the committee. We are very fortunate to be able to reach out to a varied and very knowledgeable group of real estate professionals who have been very willing to be guest speakers. We certainly appreciate the time and effort they have provided to the Real Estate Committee.”