Back to the Beginning

By Jamshed Behram Gandi, CPA

Auditing and tax services have been the bedrock of our profession. However, the interest level in both these areas has been recently waning at the committee level. Chapter board members have been grappling with this issue for quite some time, and in my opinion, it is imperative to have vibrant committees addressing current topics and needs.

The committee format has always been a combination of acquiring continued education and social networking. Over the past 20 or so years the modes of acquiring continued education have evolved dramatically with the advent of the internet and personal computers. The social aspects of networking, and affinity afforded by peers of course, can never have substitutes.

To address this challenge, your board decided to attack this problem by inviting members to a series of breakfast meetings to address how we get these two committees back on track. Due consideration has been given to the shift in generational aspects of what the goals of these committees should be going forward. We plan to continue with the dialogue and come up with a road map to more participation. In my previous President’s Message, I alluded to the importance of addressing issues relating to the globalization of the accounting profession. Having an infrastructure to cope with these changes, therefore, is vital, and committees have always been the lifeblood of our chapter in providing value to our members. I remember, as I’m sure many of you do, the time when the chapter had waiting lists to join committees. I welcome feedback, thoughts and suggestions as to achieving our goals. Participation at all levels is paramount.

On a different note, we recently celebrated the 100th year of CalCPA, an occasion truly to be proud of. At a chapter lunch in honor of that event we recognized our 40-year members. We have come a long way, and it is the dedication of our members that makes all of this a worthwhile and rewarding enterprise.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 2nd, 2009 at 1:51 pm and is filed under President's Message. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.