Attendees Committed to Improving the Society and the Profession

By Jay Dismukes

NEW YORK—The statewide leadership of the New York State Society of CPAs took a decidedly proactive stance in July participating in a strategic planning process that is intended to create a more effective, meaningful society, capable of addressing all member needs and the challenges that face the CPA profession.

During what President Jo Ann Golden called a “very reflective time in our profession,” NYSSCPA leaders—nearly 200 strong and from every level of the organization—convened on July 15 to help shape the immediate and long-term future of the Society and the profession it represents. Held at the Mohegan Sun Hotel in Uncasville, Conn., this year’s Annual Leadership Conference served as the second phase of a strategic planning process that began under past President Nancy Newman-Limata. (For information on the NYSSCPA Strategic Planning Task Force and its recommendations to the board of directors late last year, see the front-page story in the December 2001 issue of The Trusted Professional or access The Trusted Professional archives at www.nysscpa.org under the Society’s Pubs. link.)

“This is one of the first times that we have involved so many people, asking them for their direct input,” Golden said of the conference and the strategic planning process. “It’s an awesome task, in a sense, particularly given the tenor of the times.”

During the conference, the broad array of Society leaders, directed by professional facilitators Tecker Consultants, participated in roundtable discussions to review and amend previous goals and objectives established over the last several months during various board meetings. In some instances, the discussions led to proposed alternate statements and a changing of priorities and resulted in “some great, new, fresh ideas,” according to NYSSCPA Vice President Carol C. Lapidus, who attended the conference.

For example, the original primary goal, of creating a CPA society that is instrumental to its members’ “realizing the full potential of their credential,” gave rise to a number of alternative statements that the leaders felt should be the Society’s focal point. While these statements each differ somewhat, they all aspire to help develop and define a society that includes all New York state CPAs as members, shapes the public’s perception of CPAs into the trusted professional, and reaches all members, not just active ones.

The discussions yielded two separate draft documents—a comprehensive strategic plan, and supporting resolutions, to be incorporated into the plan, specifically concerning education, committees, chapters and advocacy—that were presented to the board of directors the following day, July 16. To help the board formalize the plan, which leaders acknowledge will evolve over time, and put its ideas to work, Golden appointed Lapidus to chair a task force that is continuing to communicate with the broader leadership, reviewing their comments and suggestions, and refining the plan accordingly.

Other task force members include: Golden, Newman-Limata, President-Elect Jeffrey R. Hoops, Treasurer Frank J. Aquilino, Board Member Andrew M. Cohen, Vice President Laurence Keiser, Vice President Stephen F. Langowski, Vice President Ian M. Nelson, Secretary Thomas E. Riley, and Foundation for Accounting Education (FAE) Trustee Sharon Sabba Fierstein.

The task force and the Executive Committee will discuss the revised plan at the committee’s Aug. 21 meeting. Based on those discussions, the task force will continue to fine-tune the plan and will take it to the board of director’s Sept. 25 meeting for final decision making and approval.

Envisioned Future

The draft strategic plan focuses on the direction the Society will take over the next 30 years and encompasses a number of core objectives that collectively and on the whole seek to better serve the membership, advance the profession and maintain the public trust in the CPA brand. To achieve this vision, the plan places a particular emphasis on the next three to five years and incorporates three separate goals that address professional development, advocacy, and recognition and visibility of the CPA and are strategically tied to the resolutions previously mentioned.

“NYSSCPA members will have access to resources to realize their full potential as ethical, competent, educated and trusted professionals,” states the leadership’s proposed, slightly modified statement to the original professional development goal. This goal principally concerns the continuing professional education (CPE) offered through FAE. It calls for increased member usage of CPE and FAE, improved access to information and education programs, higher-quality education programs––including strengthening the peer review program––improved efforts to match education programs to member needs, and other measures.

The advocacy goal involves the Society’s need to define and promote the professional interests of the public and private sectors while recognizing a responsibility to the public. Among other things, it calls for improved communication with chapters, the state legislature, regulators and key professional organizations, improved recruitment efforts at the high school and college levels, improved member perception of the Society’s role, improved public awareness, and expanded outreach efforts to inactive members.

The third goal states that the value and contribution of CPAs will be universally recognized and respected, taking into consideration that the CPA’s attributes will grow increasingly difficult to distinguish given the dilution of the public accounting practice with other services. To reach this goal, the leadership suggests that the Society set it sights on a number of strategic objectives, including increasing and improving recognition of the Society’s name and logo, strengthening the reputation of CPAs as trusted professionals, increasing positive publicity of CPAs’ successes, promoting the value of CPAs, as well as what they do to improve the quality of audits and reported financial information, and increasing member involvement and satisfaction.

Though Lapidus and Golden each cautioned that the biggest challenge of actually realizing the plan still lies ahead, they are both excited about the strategic planning process and feel that it’s highly appropriate and beneficial to the current and future state of the profession and the Society.

“Right now, our profession is in the limelight, whether we like it or not,” Lapidus said. “We as a society are committed to improving what we do.”

Golden added, “What I am hoping is that we can really sink our teeth into what we have planned.”