Committee Activity on the Rise
Society Sees an Increase in Meetings, Attendance and Comment Letters

By Simon Eskow

More members are participating in their committees as attendance and meetings have increased, according to New York State Society of CPAs records.

A comparison of current committee activity to that of 2001 indicates a 25 percent increase in attendance and a slight rise in monthly meetings, despite a decrease in the total number of committees. The NYSSCPA had 70 committees in the 2000-2001 fiscal year compared to 60 committees currently.

(Most comparisons are made to the 2000-2001 fiscal year because the Sept. 11 attacks dramatically skewed attendance and meetings held in the first half of fiscal year 2002.)

“I think people are just more interested in becoming involved, after 9/11, after all that’s happening to our profession,” Committee Operations Committee Chair Spencer L. Barback said. “People don’t want to be on the sidelines.”

Increased attendance and participation have charged up the emergence of committees as educational and advocacy outlets. Numbers show an increase in teleconferencing, meetings per month and attendance, and there also has been a parallel rise in continuing professional education sessions during committee meetings, along with increased visibility on policy issues through committee-authored comment letters. The surge of activity has dovetailed with the long-term goals forged by the Society’s Strategic Planning Task force last year.

Society committees offered CPE sessions in 25 meetings during the second quarter of 2002, compared to 16 in the same period the year before and none in fiscal year 2000.

Committees also have written 13 comment letters so far this year—submitted to government and regulatory agencies, among others, on topics ranging from state tax cases to American Institute of CPAs exposure drafts. Committees submitted six comment letters in the entire 2001-2002 fiscal year. (To read Society committee comment letters, click on the “Professional Resources” link at www.nysscpa.org and then click on “Society Comment Letters.”)

Committees have made a more concerted effort to include members from around the state who cannot appear in person at the Society’s headquarters in New York City. The number of conference calls in the first half of the current committee year is more than double the conference calls placed in the entire 2001-2002 committee year. Committees placed 13 such calls this year so far, compared to five the year before. Anecdotally speaking, Barback and others say the number of members participating by phone is probably significantly higher, since the Society only tracks conference calls where more than three people call in during a meeting; there have been many more committee meetings where two or three members call in to participate.

Membership attendance at committee meetings also has increased to close to 50 percent this year, compared to 37 percent in the first six months of the 2000-2001 year. Aside from the attraction of networking and CPE opportunities, Barback said the increased attendance was due in part to the leadership of committee chairs.

“I think the committee chairpeople are good in getting the members to come out,” Barback said. “We’ve told members, if they don’t show up, the chairs will tell us, and they won’t be allowed to serve on committees if they don’t show up.”

Barback also credited the Society for improving committee meetings with a better staff liaison system, and for encouraging committees to write comment letters with an improved approval process.

Members also have found new ways to direct interest in subject areas by establishing three new committees in the last year: Global Accounting and Auditing; Relations with the Legal Community, and the Technology Assurance Committee, which is the new form of the Emerging Technology Committee.