PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE


First Order of Business

Many of you serve in volunteer roles, such as a member of a Board of Directors. As a volunteer, you are responsible for overseeing the strategic direction of the organization. 

When evaluating a course of action, board members often ask themselves “Is this consistent with the organization’s mission?”  Every so often, volunteers and management find it helpful to delve into the meaning behind the mission in light of current circumstances and economic conditions. Your RISCPA Board of Directors and Executive Director did just that in June 2011 when we spent the day together at a strategic planning session facilitated by Pamela Heffernan of Performance Management Associates.  

Our first order of business was to answer the following questions:

  •     What do we do?

  •     Who do we do if for?

  •     How do we do it?

“This is easy” we all thought, and we were able to generate numerous meaningful responses to these questions such as: educate, inform and advocate; provide resources for our members and their employers; offer seminars and networking activities.  

Then Pam put us to work. We compared our responses to the Society’s mission statement, which spoke of promoting the high standards of integrity and honor of the CPA profession to society. We soon realized that it did not accurately reflect the day to day operations of the RISCPAs. While there is still some tweaking needed before we release the final version of the mission statement, we focused on making the statement more member-centric. After all, the RISCPAs is first and foremost about its members!

At this point we were feeling quite pleased with ourselves. We felt like we’d moved the RISCPAs into the new millennium by creating a mission that would keep the organization focused for several years. But Pam, being Pam, put us to work on more daunting tasks: creating a vision for the Society and then developing areas of strategic focus for the next three fiscal years. Over the next several hours, fortified by a brisk walk and a quick lunch, we agreed on three key focus areas. We agreed that the organization will:

1.    Focus on enhancing CPE content and delivery, addressing member needs, resulting in maximum revenues for the organization.

2.    Build and maintain a stable fiscal position and focus on improving its operational effectiveness.

3.    Provide value-added programs and services to attract and maintain active members.

The board drafted outcomes and measurement criteria for these three areas and assigned preliminary responsibility for these areas to staff, the board, or both. I’ll fill you in on our progress in these areas, as well as the key volunteers, in future additions of What Counts. Your board and your Executive Director are looking forward to putting our ideas into action.  

Of course, these are just the high-level focus areas for the next few years. Our dedicated employees and committee members will continue to offer all members opportunities to learn and network.  Our advocacy and communication efforts will continue.  Please visit our web page for information on upcoming CPE sessions and events.

Finally, may all of you enjoy a safe and healthy summer in Rhode Island.