{"id":139,"date":"2005-07-18t04:34:00","date_gmt":"2005-07-18t09:34:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2024-10-01t09:17:10","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01t13:17:10","slug":"state-cpa-societies-grapple-with-evolution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/2005\/07\/18\/state-cpa-societies-grapple-with-evolution\/","title":{"rendered":"state cpa societies grapple with evolution"},"content":{"rendered":"

chief execs navigate “the whitewaters of change.” <\/i><\/p>\n

by rick telberg<\/b>
\nat large<\/a> for the aicpa insider<\/i><\/p>\n

state cpa societies are going nose-to-nose with the issues all cpas ? whether in public practice or private ? are facing. only they’re doing it with a view toward thinking globally and acting locally.<\/p>\n

a thousand questions will no doubt be weighing on the minds of state society leaders at their annual gathering this week. and they may be surprised ? if not heartened ? to learn they’re all grappling with many of the same problems. the best of them will walk away with some smart solutions. all of them will be better informed and better equipped to deal with the issues and opportunities they all share within the profession.<\/p>\n

irrespective of the upcoming national meeting, we canvassed a few of the leading thinkers in the state society community. their views are penetrating and some of their solutions worthy of replication across the nation.
\nfor example, tom hood, executive director of the maryland association, is working from a list of almost 100 separate issues.<\/p>\n

“yet when we looked for the root causes or fundamental drivers, there were only four,” he said, namely:<\/p>\n

1) work-life balance (which includes staffing shortages, succession planning and student recruitment); <\/p>\n

2) increased regulations and greater risk (post sarbox impacts); <\/p>\n

3) training and development; and <\/p>\n

4) impact of technology. <\/p>\n

“each one of these had major impacts into each and every segment of our membership ? from sole practitioners struggling with the changing regulations and standards to public company cfos and large firms struggling to implement section 404,” hood said. “they all agreed that the profession was still navigating the whitewaters of change.”<\/p>\n

for jim ahler at the north carolina association, state societies need to innovate with value-added benefits, services and programs to maintain member involvement. one of the problems he cited was the new wave of firm mergers, which reduces the base of the organization, and sometimes leads to a dearth of large-firm volunteerism, because they can fulfill most of the needs in-house.<\/p>\n

in texas, john sharbaugh, like many other smart chief execs, is asking his members what they worry about. <\/p>\n

the answers he gets most often are:<\/p>\n

1. keeping current ? receiving timely and correct information, access to technical literature, keeping up with sarbanes-oxley requirements, keeping current with changes in technology.<\/p>\n

2. human resources ? recruiting employees, staff turnover, hr problems, training staff, managing employees.<\/p>\n

3. time management ? not enough time to do everything, deadlines, getting things done, managing priorities, time constraints, time demands.<\/p>\n

4. client issues and problems ? expectations gap, fees, billing problems, maintaining clients, attracting new clients, clients not valuing cpa services, clients procrastinating, clients’ lack of understanding of accounting and tax rules.<\/p>\n

5. regulations and standards overload ? increased number of standards, increased complexity of standards.<\/p>\n