PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE


A Busy Time for CPAs

Happy New Year!  As you know, January is often a busy month for CPAs. Those in public practice are gearing up for their most hectic time of year, while our educators are preparing for a new round of students. And for many industry members, they are putting the last touches on the current year budgets, while pushing to get the year-end financials finished.  

At the Society, we are celebrating the close of a busy season after having successfully delivered approximately 19,000 hours of Continuing Professional Education (CPE). And we too are looking at our numbers and preparing our budget for the fiscal year beginning May 1, 2012.

We accomplished a great deal at the Society in 2011, and our plans for this year are also taking shape. Some highlights follow:

  • Based upon the recommendation of the Accounting and Auditing Committee, the board sent a letter to the Financial Accounting Foundation in support of a separate standards setting body for private company reporting. To quote the A&A Committee: “Different standards and an autonomous standard setting body for private companies are needed NOW!! The solution to this long debated issue is an independent private company board.”
  • We’ve held two highly successful networking events for CPAs, attorneys, bankers and other financial professionals. Guests have included representatives of other state societies, all amazed that we are able to gather so many people in the same room. To hear about our more recent networking event, held on Jan. 24, click here.
  • Our CPE program continues to evolve. Not too long ago, traditional 8-hour CPE sessions were the preferred method for obtaining CPE at the Society. However, the advent of technology has impacted CPE and when coupled with recent economic challenges, the landscape continues to move towards a more diverse CPE delivery system. The Society’s management and staff, under the direction of our CPE committee, have established metrics to evaluate the quality and financial health of all of our CPE offerings. Core courses for the 2012 CPE season have been chosen, webinars will be available from various sources, and the Society plans to offer several short-duration courses per month covering various topics.
  • The AICPA and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) have developed a new designation, the CGMA, effective January 31, 2012. I encourage all members to learn about this designation by visiting cgma.com. The Society sees this designation as recognition of the contributions those CPAs in business, industry, education and government have made to our profession. We also hope that the designation will inspire CPAs in the public sector to become more involved in the Society.  Our board plans a limited review of our by-laws focusing on changes that may be needed so that the by-laws reflect current and future demographics of our membership.  Expect more on this topic at our Membership Day in September 2012.

On another note, I wanted to remind you that this May the AICPA will celebrate its 125th Anniversary in Washington, DC. What an accomplishment! The Society is not too far behind, having celebrated its 100th Anniversary in 2005. Several members of the Society who serve on the AICPA Council will be in attendance at the 125th celebration, which will coincide with the Spring Council meeting. Attendance at the Council meeting is open to all members of the AICPA, so if you would like to visit DC this spring you may want to consider timing your visit with the Council meeting.

Finally, I want to reiterate what an honor it has been to serve as your president of the RISCPAs Board of Directors. I look forward to my last 90-days in office and to hearing any suggestions or concerns that you may have about your Society. Best wishes for a healthy and prosperous 2012!

Martha Conn Hultzman