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Hope Thanksgiving Holidays was good for you and your family. The way time seems to move Christmas will follow Thanksgiving in about one week. December is flying by with its usual quick pace.

We are heading into our December board meeting and will be discussing the Strategic Plan and other business. The 2010 Legislative session is right around the corner and the House is in an uproar right now due to the uncertain status of the Speaker of the House; this does not set a good start for a legislative session that is of extreme importance to Georgia. At our Leadership Council meeting in November, two of our CPA legislators told us that Georgia needs to cut over two billion dollars from the budget. That’s a lot of cuts to a budget that has been cut in recent legislative sessions.

I have spent two mornings this week at the Don Farmer sessions on tax at the Cobb Galleria. We have had tremendous numbers for these seminars. Don Farmer is truly a Star in both knowledge and presentation style; he is loved by you the members. The question that remains is when the next star of this magnitude in tax and also in other CPE areas will emerge. Don will retire some day (but not soon I hope) and will leave big shoes to fill, as will many in the giant Baby Boomer generation.

Speaking of that, in 1993 46% of AICPA members were over 40 years old. In 2009 75% are over 40. That is an amazing fact. Over the next 10 years, things are going to change at a startling pace in both retirements and demographic characteristics of younger people coming into leadership positions in the profession. “The Times they are a Changing.”

Something new is happening in January at the GSCPA. “The House of Blogs" will make its debut. The first message asking for members that are interested in being a blogger is going out shortly.

More on this in my next blog. Watch for it! It will be fun and it will be interesting.
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“Dear Folks: Sorry I haven’t written…”
That sentence is exactly how I started every letter home to my family when I was in the military. I would often think about writing, but long periods would pass before pen went to paper. And my Mom would be upset with me. This was, of course, before email. Or computers. Or electric typewriters for that matter. Yikes.
Today is Veteran's Day and I thought of that as I began to write, after a “blogless” month. Seems like time got away from me!

In my last blog, I was heading to Las Vegas and the national State Society Chairman Elect conference as well as the AICPA Fall Council meeting. Those meetings are behind us now and were successful and we picked up lots of good information. However, 5 nights in Las Vegas is a lot of nights in Las Vegas. The constant hustle and activity of the hotel/casino and the crowds does begin to wear on one. I was happy to be back home in Atlanta.

Right after I got home I had to drive to back to the home place in southern Indiana for the funeral of one of my Uncles. He was a great man and a veteran of WW2. He fought through Europe in the Rainbow Division under the Command of General Patton. Interestingly enough, one of our esteemed Past Presidents, Charlie Jenkins (Albany), and one of the founders of Mauldin & Jenkins, was also in that Division and followed the same trail through Europe as my Uncle. I’ve talked to him about this and he was in a different company and didn’t know my Uncle, but they landed together at Normandy and fought together through the historical battles in Europe.

After returning from the Great Hoosier State, it was in the office for a couple of days and then on to the GSCPA Council meeting at Callaway Gardens. We had prosperous meetings there and had an excellent turnout.

So..life has been busy, meetings have been busy, lots of miles on my vehicle, and my golf game is suffering.

Interesting facts:
The 2011 CPA Exam will have questions on IFRS. No need to wonder if IRFS is here to stay or not.

The next Generation of CPAS currently spends over 2 hours per day on their cell phones, will read 8 books this year, and visit 2,300 web pages and 1,280 Facebook profiles this year.

70% of the next generation of CPAs believe it is important to help other people. The highest per cent since 1970.

60 % of the next generation of CPAs will see interviews as a two way street and will thoroughly research a company online before accepting a job. Does your firm need a good website?

I’ll write sooner next time and please don’t tell my mom it took me so long to get back to this blog. She’ll be upset with me.
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Well, the rains have stopped, started again, stopped and getting ready to start again. There seems to be a pattern here. Hope everyone that was affected is now recovering and getting life back on track.

One week from today I will be joining our AICPA Council members and our Chairman Elect, Royce Duncan, in attending the annual state CPA society Chairman Elect conference followed by the AICPA Fall Council meeting. That’s a lot of meetings and makes for an interesting but long 5 days.

The Chairman Elect conference starts on Friday evening with a reception, goes all day Saturday (dinner that evening with all of the society Executive Directors-an interesting crowd-and meets until noon on Sunday. AICPA Fall Council begins mid afternoon on Sunday and goes through Tuesday. Sound fun? It is truly a working trip!
The President Elect conference is very interesting each year and involves President Elects in round table discussions each morning with their peers from other states; one morning will be states of similar size meeting together and the next, Chairman Elects will meet with neighboring states. This gives everyone the opportunity to discuss pertinent issues on the table as well as the process of transition into the role of state society Chairman. The remainder of the meeting is the full group meeting and interacting on issues updates and speakers on strategic management styles for non-profit organizations. This meeting begins the formal transition for us as GSCPA staff to work in earnest with the Chairman Elect to do appointments, set meeting schedules, discuss priorities for the upcoming year and other issues that are involved in the transition of Leadership.

It is an especially interesting year for me as Royce Duncan will be the last society Chairman that I will work with. He will be my 28th chairman in my career. I will be retiring on June 1, 2011. I started as Executive Director of the Arizona Society in 1983 and what a fantastic career it has been; always interesting and each year different from the last and different from the next. I will write more about this as the time becomes near, but I feel that this meeting will be a particularly sensitive one for me.

The AICPA Council meeting will focus on Federal legislation issues, especially in the proposed Financial Regulation area currently proposed as well as increasingly complicated international issues such as IFRS, non-USA residents sitting for the CPA exam, and other standard orientated issues. The CPA profession is certainly more and more bumping into international issues as the world continues to merge into one market.

My last two blogs have ended with hope that Georgia and Georgia Tech might both win their conferences. Each week has slimmed down that hope. At this point, I’m focusing on Georgia Tech still having a chance to win the ACC.

And there is always hope that Georgia will beat Florida...right?
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