PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
New, Member Centric Mission Statement
When I last wrote, I described the efforts being put forth by the Board of Directors to reformulate the Society’s mission statement at our annual retreat. Since that time, I am pleased to report that the Board approved the following mission statement at a recent board meeting.
“THE RI SOCIETY OF CPAs ENHANCES THE IMAGE OF THE CPA PROFESSION AND THE SUCCESS OF OUR MEMBERS THROUGH EDUCATION, LEADERSHIP AND ADVOCACY.”
You will note that this new mission statement is more member centric than our previous statement. As always, the Society’s first and foremost priority is our members and the professional designation we all worked hard to achieve. For that reason, every decision made by the Board, the Executive Director and our dedicated staff will be evaluated to ensure that the outcome is one that benefits our members including their firms and their employers.
Our core activities involve education, leadership and advocacy. As you likely know, the Society recently hosted its annual Membership Day followed by an evening networking event. All of the day’s activities were a clear reflection and affirmation of our mission statement. From the speech given by our national leader Greg Anton, Chair-Elect of the AICPA, to the remarks made by RI House Majority Leader Gordon Fox about national and local issues, to educating members about the new professional designation - Chartered Global Management Accountant, the day was focused on fulfilling this revised mission statement. That theme of education and leadership carried over into the networking event as our young professionals and many students joined the many seasoned attorneys, bankers and CPAs. I was thrilled to see several students engage Greg Anton with informal discussions about careers in public accounting and I’m sure there will be many coffee and lunch meetings to follow up with one another as a result of the connections made that day.
One of the core values of being a CPA is life-long learning. CPAs believe that a commitment to education provides us with the necessary tools to continually add new value to our clients and our employer-organizations. This focus on life-long learning is why the Society now offers over 80 live continuing professional education courses per year. Many of these course are led by nationally known experts in tax, auditing and accounting. This year we have also started to offer webinars through our association with the Accounting CPE Network (ACPEN). For those interested, we encourage you to visit our webpage at www.riscpa.org for more information – especially those needing to obtain a few more credits by the end of the year filing deadline! One final note about the Society’s CPE program – is a note of thanks to the more than 300 members who responded to our recent CPE survey. Your insights will be used by the CPE committee, the board and employees of the Society as we begin to develop our offerings for future CPE courses and ensure the content remains relevant and engaging.
Our volunteers are also an important component to meeting the Society’s leadership and operational goals. In fact, much of our advocacy and education efforts come from the contributions of members who serve on one of the Society’s voluntary committees. There are a variety of issues that are important to you and your employer-organizations, such as private company financial reporting, tax preparer registration, sales tax on services, and pension reform, to name just a few. Therefore, these issues are also vitally important to the Society. It is our volunteers and employees that focus on these issues at both the local and the national level through the committee work, and help the RISCPA and it’s members navigate how to move forward with them.
For those who may have forgotten, all dues paying members are eligible to serve on the Society’s committees and we encourage you to consider learning more about them. A list of contact information for committee chairs, vice-chairs, and board liaisons, is posted on our webpage. Please contact one of these individuals for additional information.
As we approach the Thanksgiving season, I extend my sincere thanks to those individuals who donate their time, talent and treasure to the Society. I also wish you and your loved ones good health and good times as we enter the Holiday Season.
