PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Great Results from Volunteer RISCPA Committees

We have passed the mid-point of our Society’s year, and you will see from this issue, our committees are hard at work.  For example, you can read how our Strategic Plan champions are moving us toward reaching our first year goals, how the Personal Financial Planning & Literacy Committee is working with the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy to bring financial literacy into high schools, and how the Tax Committee is staying on top of any potential tax law changes.

All these activities are related in that they are performed on a volunteer basis by our members. This is time away from billable hours, from projects piled up on desks, even sometimes from other volunteer activities.  And while the impact is not always quantifiable the way we as CPAs would like it to be, the time spent doing committee and task force work does generate results.  These efforts create an impact in our Society (upgrading our technology for greater collaboration), in our community (teaching high-school students how to manage their money) and in potential tax legislation (posing questions regarding proposed tax legislation).  Organizations are coming to us for insight, and we are emerging as a truly reliable resource in the business community. So while our work might not be quantifiable, the efforts of our many volunteers are priceless.

We are hoping to engage our newer professionals in the Society by offering the opportunity to become involved with the creation of the NYPN 10.  As you can read, we are in the process of creating this task force and will be putting them to work on helping with our strategic initiatives. I am sure that there are other individuals who would like to get involved, and we encourage them to do so. I challenge you to help us explore ways of getting others involved in a committee or taskforce. Many of these opportunities are unique to our state, because of its geography and size. In how many states can a committee member meet and sit at the same table with people such as the Director of the Department of Administration and the Tax Administrator for the Division of Taxation?

Speaking of meeting people, the RISCPA hosted a great opportunity to meet some new people and reconnect with others on Jan. 19.  If you missed it, don’t worry. Our next opportunity to catch up will be on Tuesday, April 27, when we will hold our annual meeting and dinner.  Be sure to mark your calendars to celebrate not only the end of our collective busy season, but our new CPAs, scholarship winners and maybe a few surprises, too!

A calm, efficient and successful season to you all!

Jackie