1) Call to Order

President Maier called the meeting to order at 12:35 p.m. As Mr. Jaffee was not available at the time the meeting began, Mr. Maier appointed Mr. Hendler acting secretary.

Mr. Maier opened the floor for a discussion by the FAE Board to ratify adoption of the FAE financial statements for the fiscal year ended May 31, 2007, that has been discussed with the auditors and the NYSSCPA Board of Directors at a meeting which immediately preceded this meeting of the FAE Trustees. Some expressed concern about the timeliness with which they receive financial statements. For the future, Ms. Cohen asked to have the Trustees receive unaudited financials for the full fiscal year by the Trustees’ meeting in July. Mr. Schmelkin indicated he would speak with Messrs. Grumet and Banerjee about the turnaround. As an alternative, he suggested the possibility of preparing financials on less than a monthly basis, focusing instead on key times for the Trustees to review financials. For instance financials encapsulating the busy season ending in August, would be of particular importance for the Trustees to have by the December meeting

Mr. Kiamie moved to accept the results of the auditor’s report and Mr. Hendler seconded the motion which passed unanimously.

Mr. Maier asked Mr. Schmelkin to review POP usage over the past year. Mr. Schmelkin summarized the September 1, 2006 – August 31, 2007 POP coupon purchases as follows:

Individual Users — 257
Firm Users — 372

He noted that 56% of the individual POP usage clustered around five or six of their coupon numbers, which coincidentally corresponds to about a 40-hour CPE usage. Firms, on the other hand, tend to use nine or all ten of the coupons in their coupon books. He recommended that the full purchase prices for POP for the period September 19, 2007 – August 31, 2008 be adjusted to the following amounts:

Individual Users — $1,500
Firm Users — $2,600

This reflects an increase of $150 for individual users and $250 for firms. As in previous years, the “early-bird” discount of $100 off the full price would apply for purchases before December 1,

Mr. Jaffee made moved that POP coupons be offered based on the terms recommended by Mr. Schmelkin and Mr. Passikoff seconded the motion. After discussion, the motion passed unanimously.

Mr. Maier asked Mr. Schmelkin to provide background on the Trustees’ policy on complimentary attendance. Mr. Schmelkin noted that, historically, conference speakers were permitted to attend the entire conference at which they speak without themselves paying the registration fee. In addition, he noted that the Trustees had passed a policy on September 20, 2002 that permitted each government speaker invite one guest from their own office, who would receive complimentary admission.

In addition, Mr. Schmelkin noted that FAE’s practice had been to permit the members of each conference’s planning committee to attend conferences they had helped plan without paying the registration fee.

Finally, Mr. Schmelkin noted that there had been a practice begun before he returned to work at NYSSCPA in 1993 and continued to the present to permit tax committee members to receive a $100 discount for attending the old Tax Plenary Session, with that discount continuing even after the Tax Plenary had been rolled into the current Annual TDOC Conference.

He added that there is constantly pressure to expand these practices, a recent example being correspondence sent to the Trustees by NYSSCPA Tax Division Oversight Committee chair Susan Schoenfeld. He suggested that the Trustees should deliberate this area and define a more precise policy. Discussion ensued. One Trustee suggested that no discounts should be permitted as a reward for committee service, but that it was still appropriate to provide complimentary registration to conference speakers.

Mr. Jaffee then moved that the September 20, 2002 policy relating to government speakers be continued, and that it was appropriate to offer speakers complimentary admission, but that other than these speaker benefits, there should be no discounts provided to attendees as a result of service on NYSSCPA committees. Mr. Kiamie seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

Mr. Maier asked Mr. Schmelkin to review the results of the June through August FAE busy season. Mr. Schmelkin reviewed the statistics which are attached to these minutes in worksheet form.

He concluded by saying that Summer attendance figures were very close to budget. He indicated FAE and AICPA seminars were on target, but that some vendor events were showing a small decline due in part to a very few seminar cancellations resulting from two vendors’ inability to supply promised discussion leaders.

Mr. Maier asked for an update on the Advisory Committee on Curriculum, chaired by Alan Kahn. The first meeting of the advisory committee was set for September 26. Mr. Schmelkin said Mr. Kahn and he would keep the FAE Board informed on the suggestions made by the Curriculum Committee.

There was a Trustee discussion of the FAE scholarship program which resulted in a decision to conduct a follow-up meeting via conference call.

Mr. Maier requested a briefing on how FAE candidates are chosen. Mr. Schmelkin pointed out that the membership at large is approached via emails and articles in The Trusted Professional. The NYSSCPA Board’s Selections Subcommittee vets all submissions and enters something in excess of six names into nomination at the spring NYSSCPA Board meeting. Board members are invited to add additional names at that time then nominations are closed and an election held to determine the six best candidates. Those are then forwarded on to the Trustees for their selection of the final three people to fill vacancies on the Board. This approach is covered in the FAE Bylaws and the Affiliation Agreement between FAE and the Society. Trustees are not presently limited to single terms, but must go through the same nomination process as other members. Both Messrs. Jaffee and Martin sought second terms and were renominated by the NYSSCPA Board.

The next meeting was set for 10:00 a.m. on November 20, 2007 at the NYSSCPA’s offices.