Focus...

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.
Read more...

Focus...

“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.
Read more...

Focus...

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?
Read more...

Focus...

I don’t know about you but I have been contacted by most of my friends and colleagues from around the country in regards to the flooding! It was a sad reminder of the power of Mother Nature. We had one staff that lives in Douglas County and was unable to commute one of the days. Another staff had water in her basement and it came right up to the front door, but did not make it in the house. It was an interesting time and I see it is supposed to rain on Saturday (9/26/09). Let’s hope it does not rain too long or too hard.

Good news: Lake Alatoona rose 15 feet and is at full pool! Lake Lanier rose 3 feet.

We had our first board of directors meeting last Friday (9/18/09) and it was an interesting meeting. We discussed our strategic plan and how we want to go forward with the initial projects which are to objectively evaluate each and every program and service we offer to make certain we are current. This will include our conference area. This is an interesting exercise as no matter which program or service we are focusing on, that particular program is a “Sacred Cow” to someone! Objectivity is the key concept here. But that can be subjective…right?

Another topic at the board meeting was how this economy is affecting our membership. We have an unusually large number of members that have not renewed and we have an unusually high number of members that show no affiliation with an employer in our data base. Not good. The board voted to extend a onetime offer of $50 dues to members that are either unemployed or experiencing financial hardship. We are already receiving many requests for this status. It is tough times out there for many, many of our members and the Georgia Society of CPAs wants to extend this hand to keep our members in the family. I hope better times are in store for the coming year for everyone.

CPE is churning along and although we did not have a great start participation by you the members is picking up and we are expecting to have a busy fall and early winter. We continue to build from this point forward, culminating with the Don Farmer days and a CPE cluster of courses towards the end of the season. It is a reporting year and we expect to be busy so register now!

A familiar subject over the last two years is Mobility. Just a reminder that we passed a Mobility bill in the 2008 legislative session and that bill became law on July 1, 2009. The state board completed all Rules for implementation before that time and is proceeding with business with this new portion of the Accountancy statute. There is a Mobility link on our website that takes you to the hallmarks of the bill and even has a question and answer section. At this writing every state has passed Mobility with the exceptions of New York, California, and Massachusetts. California and Massachusetts have bills in progress and expect to have Mobility next year.

In my last two Blogs I have signed off with the hope that Georgia and Georgia Tech might each win their conference in the world of college football. Both are still alive, but the signs do not look good. However, they are not eliminated just yet. So..I’ll stick with my hope!
Read more...

Focus...

I hope everyone had a fun and restful Labor Day Holiday; I was in the mountains of North Georgia where it was quieter than other Labor Day weekends I’ve spent there. I would guess the economy has something to do with that. However, a new Walmart just opened in the little town I go to and there was plenty of traffic in and out of there. The economy comes and goes but Walmart never sleeps I guess!

Speaking of the economy, I watched the President’s address last night on health care reform. Such a tough issue for this country and congress is struggling to find the right road. Like most of us, I don’t really know what is right and what is wrong here. I do know that in watching the address, I was fresh off a meeting of our own GSCPA Insurance Trust and looking at renewal rates and the factors that go into that. It is a tough year for our Trust but our renewal rates for most firms should still be lower than the national average. That meeting and the President’s address really made me focus on whether we need to only reform the process of coverage and access or do we need to put added emphasis on reforming the cost, administration and liability in the health care industry as well. I guess it is all connected, but I hear most of the rhetoric focused on coverage alone.

Staying with the theme of the economy, we are looking at dues renewals here at the GSCPA and we’re not seeing the renewals that we have been hoping for. We know everyone’s budgets are tight, but we hope you’ll keep us in your budget and stay connected professionally through the GSCPA. We have raised non-member CPE and conference fees, so if you take two CPE courses from us you’ll more than pay your dues with savings. Please continue your membership and encourage others to do the same.

Well…this economy is dominating my thoughts today as I write. We have a big conference coming up Friday, September 18 that seems to have captured the interest of many of our members. The topic? Fraud. I guess with the economy and recent cases such as Madoff there is accelerated interest and we’re pleased to be stepping up with an excellent conference. I won’t see you there as I will be with our board of directors at our board meeting. If you’re going I hope you have an excellent day.
We’re still at this social networking thing and it seems to be going well! Look for changes in the way we manage our blogs and other types of social networking in the near future. Also, Current Accounts is in the mail presently and focuses on this topic. Hope you enjoy it!

I signed off my last blog by mentioning that football season is here and that I am in hopes of Georgia and Georgia Tech. winning the SEC and the ACC. I have not given up hope.

Believe!
Read more...

Focus..

Just returned to the office today from SEAS (Southeast Accounting Show) on Wednesday and Thursday. We had over a thousand people each day! It is a fun (and tiring) two days. 45 vendors/exhibitors and excellent speakers from all over the country and from right here in Georgia offered 16 hours of CPE for the two days.

We changed venues this year and placed SEAS at the Georgia International Conference Center which is off Camp Creek right at the airport. This move was a bit controversial for us as the event had been held for many years at the Galleria in Atlanta. We moved it simply because we needed more space for the event.

The new facility itself is excellent with quick access off the freeway and ample parking, as well as enough space to comfortably accommodate us. The comments I received were mostly positive regarding the location although I did hear some negative feedback. I guess it comes down to if you are coming from North Atlanta you’d rather have SEAS at the Galleria, but if you’re coming in from the south, or from out of town, you loved the location. It is difficult to please everyone because of the traffic we all have to fight while living and working in a major city. We’ll look closely at the final evaluations before making final decisions on future location of SEAS.

The economy seems to be making a mild comeback doesn’t it? I am personally still nervous about business this year and I’m hoping the modest gains made in the economy so far stay with us and the news continues to be positive for 2010. Here at the society, our budget, while scaled down significantly from previous years, is holding its own. Our CPE participation is on target (thank you!) and conferences, while not excelling, are “hanging in there.” At this point, it looks like we’re going to be on target also with our dues projections (thank you again!). So, we are breathing a little easier and hoping for a busy fall in the CPE area. It is gratifying that our members have kept the GSCPA in their budgets because we are well aware that we’re in a time of prioritizing where we spend our dollars.

Summer is slipping away and fall is nearly upon us. I guess that means football season and lost Saturdays! Would love to see Georgia win the SEC and Georgia Tech win the ACC.

It could happen!
Read more...

Focus...

In my previous blog, I mentioned a CPA (from Tennessee) that was leading the Senior U.S. Open golf tournament after the first two rounds (as an amateur, playing against the professionals). It would have been a great story if he had won the prestigious tournament and could have garnered much publicity for the CPA profession. But as these stories often go, he faded in the last round and did not win. I did find it interesting that in referencing him during the TV broadcast, the announcers referred to him as “an accountant” rather than a CPA. Interesting…we, in the profession, feel that he should have been referred to as a Certified Public Accountant; not just an accountant.

A few years ago, a CPA from Chattanooga, Tennessee actually won the extremely lucrative World Series of Poker and was on TV often during that tournament and has been spotlighted many times since in subsequent poker tournaments. Chris Moneymaker is his name and the broadcast team consistently referred to him as a “CPA” rather than an accountant. Interesting.

I’m wondering if the analytical nature of “Texas Holdem poker” lead the researchers and broadcast team to be specific and use CPA rather than accountant, or rather if Mr. Moneymaker himself made certain they used CPA.

These recent PR/recognition type opportunities for the CPA profession bring up an interesting trend that began emerging in the 90’s: CPA firms, especially larger firms, are expanding their brand to encompass a broad range of business advisory services to the client rather than the traditional tax and audit services. To promote the knowledge and expertise of their services, many firms went away from using CPA in their firm name. They have gone to “business advisors” or Trusted Business Advisors” and other such verbiage. Some have CPA in their tag line at some point and some don’t.

Also interesting is that the CPA profession has become very specialized in many areas and the achievement and use of specialty designations has risen greatly in the last decade; however, I notice that in using these designations the CPA designation is still (usually) listed first. The CPA designation, as a brand, still promotes trust and expertise and in niche markets the CPA brand still holds the trump card.
The trend is still emerging and if one watches trends closely one finds that they often go in circles. The CPA designation has never lost its “positive power” and CPAs have successfully expanded their services. I believe that the CPA designation will eventually find its way back to prominence in firms “tag lines. “

And congratulations to poker millionaire Chris Moneymaker for having CPA prominently mentioned by the broadcast team! He’s more than an accountant…he’s a CPA!

GJ
Read more...

Focus...

Strategic Planning is now complete! At least the PLANNING side of things; now the real work begins, which is to complete the projects agreed to by the board. There will be much written on the plan in the very near future so I won’t go into all of the objectives and initiatives that are identified in the plan, but I will say it was a good process with great participation and thoughtful discussion by our board of directors.

One initiative (I just can’t write without mentioning SOME of the plan) will be to fully explore all of the technology that is “out there” to deliver services and programs to you the members of the GSCPA. This is a big project that will be ongoing for many months. Obviously there is nearly unlimited technology available in the marketplace, and we want to become better aware of all of it; however, we want to capture what is realistically available to us now and in the future. We don’t intend to duplicate CNN nor do we have the resources, but we can and will need to, do more with technology. There are many reasons for this direction: time and distance barriers to members outside the metro Atlanta are being fully able to take advantage of GSCPA services, members being less willing to drive through traffic in Atlanta to attend meetings, and members’ time pressures being such that they require services to be available to them “on demand,” are among the thoughts here. While there will always be face to face meetings, and live seminars and conferences, it is our thought that technology will continue to play a greater role in our professional and personal lives both in the near future and long term. We need to get started now!

As of this writing, an amateur golfer that happens to be a CPA is leading the men’s Senior U.S. Open after the first two rounds and is setting scoring records! If he wins, what a public relations story for the profession! And…apparently, he plays a lot of golf. He plays amateur golf world wide and many pro tournaments as well. He definitely needs CPE and other services “on demand” as he is busy!
Read more...

Focus...

This is a busy week here at the GSCPA office. We have two pretty big seminars happening today, the Auditors are in all week finishing their field work and our board is meeting Thursday and Friday to do Strategic Planning that will carry us at least the next two years and possibly three years. And at around 11:30 this morning, our building was evacuated. A “suspicious package” was found across the street at the Marta station. It is amazing how quickly and orderly this building emptied out. No playing around with this sort of thing! We stayed outside a little over 30 minutes and then back in. Have not heard what the package was but they took it away.
Strategic Planning is an interesting time and an intense time. Harrison Coerver, a nationally prominent consultant on strategic planning will be here to guide us through the process. Harrison works with at least 20 state societies and has worked with the AICPA; he knows state societies and is well aware of the issues facing the profession and non-profits and their boards. Harrison worked with us here in Georgia in 2001, 2004, and 2007. He knows us!

The time is intense because it is so important for us to do well in staying current with the changing trends for CPAS, and for CPA societies. These current economic times certainly do not make it any easier to look forward and know where we want to go and where the profession is going to be in two to three years. However, it is important that we have organizational goals so that all of our leadership will be working towards the same goals; the boat that has everyone rowing together goes smoother than if each paddler is trying to go in a different direction. The continuity from one chairman to the next is also smoother as we have large goals in place to move towards and each new Chairman does not need to re-invent the society. We’re all moving together towards the same goals.
The new fiscal year is really beginning to move. Last week Bob Prator and I met with the Section Chairs and that was a productive time. Sections are continuing to grow and having more and more events, adding webcast, and their Section online areas are housing more and more information. Everyone needs to be a Section member; it is free and easy to join. Just go to GSCPA.org and click on the Section that interest you. The Vision for Sections is a product of our 2001 Strategic Planning session and I’m pleased that the vision has continued to grow.

Hope you are enjoying these blogs! It is fun to write and our Facebook page is continuing to grow. Join us there for dialogue and always updated information on upcoming events.

See you soon!

GJ
Read more...

Focus...

Well, the Annual Meeting is now history, the bylaw amendments have passed, and our new board of directors is getting ready for their first meeting of the year.

GSCPA Trivia question: who was the last person to be elected President of the Georgia Society of CPAs?

Answer: Stewart Carlin. The office of President has now (with the bylaw amendments) become Chairman. The second trivia question is who was the first Chairman of the GSCPA? Answer? Newly installed (at the annual meeting) Bob Prator. Lastly, who was the first CEO of the GSCPA? Well... that’s me. My title changed from Executive Director to CEO.

Doubtful that those questions will pop up on Jeopardy, or at your next dinner party; but if they do, you’ll know the answers.

At the annual meeting, Barry Melancon spoke and did his usual excellent job. He not only spoke on trends and professional issues, he also talked about the economy and recent legal dealings and ramifications of Madoff and others. On the topic of the economy, Barry mentioned that so far, $780 billion dollars have been approved by Congress in the Economic Stimulus package. He mentioned that for $880 billion (only an additional $100 billion which used to sound like a lot of money) we could have completely paid off every existing mortgage in America. Amazing. Obviously, that would never be a proposal, but it does put the $780 billion in perspective.

Question: whatever happened to millions? Going the way of the penny?

I hope your summer is going well!

GJ
Read more...

Focus...

As mentioned in my previous blog, CPE is off and running! We’re using 15 cities around Georgia this year and offering over 400 courses. A couple of interesting CPE thoughts has caught my attention so far.

We have a class this week in our GSCPA facility that has 60 CPAs registered. Have a guess what topic would bring out 60 CPAs? Tax update? Audit related update? No…it is a course on the Economic Stimulus package passed by congress! The times we’re living in are interesting indeed.

Second item: we recently held two Peer Reviewer training classes. The first was the introduction to becoming a Peer Reviewer and the second was an update for those that do Peer Reviews. Not large numbers for either offering. The trend that has emerged is that the national pool of CPAs that do Peer Reviews is not growing; younger CPAs are not entering into this realm and those CPAs that currently do Peer Reviews are often doing fewer each year. This does not bode well for the Peer Review program over the next 5 years. Where will we be 5 years from now with this program? Will it become necessary to significantly modify Peer Reviews because of this dynamic? This could be a very serious change within the profession in the relatively short term; this won’t be the only change due to the Baby Boomer generation reaching retirement age. This is a dynamic that all of us must be aware of and it will be interesting and challenging to deal with and it emerges at a time in history that is calling for more regulation of the profession. Again, interesting times!

Well, as the summer goes into high gear work is picking up the pace and my golf game is slowing down. Such is the life of an Executive Director! No one pays me for golf, so I’ll keep my eye on work!

Heading to the Annual Convention on Saturday, so no blogging next week! Unless I can figure out how to engage my trusty Blackberry from the convention.
Hope you are having a great summer!

GJ
Read more...

Focus...

We’re getting set here for the Annual convention in Amelia Island, beginning June 28th. Great spot and great location. I do wish more of us were going but that’s the “way of the world” these days. We’ve been very concerned with how this present economy will affect the GSCPA in the area of membership renewals as well as CPE seminars and conferences. We spent much time on the budget this year to anticipate a tough economy scenario. However, some good news is finding its way to us. Both dues and CPE registrations are coming in pretty well so far. It is early in the fiscal year, but so far so good. I do think it is a fair assessment that clients and companies have never needed CPAs more, but have never found it more difficult to pay the bill. Ironic I suppose. We hope you still need the Georgia Society of CPAs and we are here for you!

Speaking of the Annual Convention, AICPA President Barry Melancon is speaking on Tuesday, June 30th. Barry does a great job and is always interesting! He speaks to many of the societies in the summer and travels most of his time during June and July (and the rest of the year as well). I truly wish everyone had the opportunity to hear Barry in person; he’s become a polished speaker and has nearly lost his Louisiana accent! Although he does not like to hear that.

We’ll have our Annual Business Meeting during the Annual Convention and the “changing of the guard” will take place. Stewart Carlin will conclude his year as President and Bob Prator will take the reins as the first GSCPA Chairman. My own title will become CEO of the GSCPA. The jobs are the same, just the titles change, as part of our bylaw amendments. The last day to vote is June 26th and you can access the online voting via our website, if you have not voted already. Karl Rove (former Deputy Chief of Staff for George W. Bush) was once quoted as saying when he dies he wants to be buried in Texas so he doesn’t lose his vote. However, one can only vote once on the bylaws! If you have taken the time to do so, Thank You!

Hope you are having a great summer and I hope I might see you at the Annual Convention!
GJ
Read more...

Focus...

It is an interesting time of year around the GSCPA office. Our Spring Council meeting in Chattanooga a couple of weeks ago was the culmination of many months of work in the area of governance, bylaw changes, and budgeting in a tough economy. Those things finished, we’re now in the process of tying up loose ends and final projects to finish up this fiscal year and doing things to get the new fiscal year off and running. Stewart Carlin is still President! But we we’re working more with In-coming President Bob Prator to get his year off and running. It is a proverbial, “shifting of gears” here in the office.

We’re also beginning to see more and more members in the office as the new CPE year kicks off and many of our staff are busy processing both dues and CPE registrations; both clear signs that a new year is beginning. The processing of dues and CPE registrations generates a sigh of relief, as we are, like everyone else, concerned about the effects this economy might have on us. We’ve worked hard with our board of directors to bring in a scaled down budget and responsible budget that delivers all of our member services and still saves money.

Other planning that is happening is for the Annual Convention in Amelia Island this year at the end of June. This is the last year of this meeting as a stand-alone meeting, as we are combining the spring council meeting and the annual convention in 2010 (to be held in Hilton Head). There will no be major differences in how the combined meeting unfolds, and the transition to this format should be fairly seamless. Still other activity this time of year is the Section Leadership Teams are beginning to meet here in the office and Chapters are kicking off their new year as well.

So, 2008-09 was a busy year that saw many changes for the GSCPA and 2009-10 promises also to be a year of new things and a year of accomplishments all as well.

Happy New year to you!

GJ
Read more...

Focus..

As you may have noticed, we are making efforts in new areas: Social networking. Blogging, space for comments/feedback on articles, a unique site for our GSCPA Leadership Council members, and instant polling is among our newest efforts. All of this is to leverage technology into creating communication, community and involvement in the GSCPA.

Our newest effort is a Georgia Society of CPAs Facebook page! We presently have a Facebook page for our Leadership Academy Alumni, but we’re expanding to create a society wide Facebook page and we’re hoping to have literally thousands of members! All GSCPA members can join, post status updates, make comments, ask questions, and seek friends they may have lost contact with. Of course there will be numerous other uses that will come forth and those are just a few examples. It should be quite an adventure to open the page and see all of the comments awaiting entrance.

Back in the early 1990’s I attended an AIPCA meeting in Seattle and the meeting featured a live video presentation by Bill Gates on new trends in technology. In those days, one had to call someone to find out if they had email and if so, did they ever check it. Sort of defeated the purpose of emailing someone. Bill Gates said at the time that in order for people to accept technology in their work and personal lives they needed to start with emailing and through that they would become aware of the joy and convenience of technology in their lives. People did begin emailing, and the rest is history. Facebook and other social media platforms is at a similar stage as emailing was in the late 1980’s to early 1990’s. One just has to try it: a leap of faith of sorts to see how it fits into living in this age. Here is a good opportunity to “just try it.” If you have a Facebook account just hit the button on the website or in “The voice” our online newsletter. If you don’t currently have a Facebook account, it only takes a moment to sign up. Try it! You might like it.

I have a personal Facebook page and very much enjoy connecting with present friends and friends from the past. Through Facebook we are connected daily. If you like people, if you like friends, if you like being part of a community, if you like FACES, join the Georgia Society of CPAs Facebook page. See you there..look for my face.

GJ
Read more...

Focus...

So..this is a blog? I feel pretty special writing one, even if I did volunteer for the duty (certainly, the staff was going to ASK me, I just beat them to it).

At this point I’m calling this blog “Focus” because that’s what it is; it’s about what I Focus on and about the time I spend as Executive Director of the Georgia Society of CPAs, which may seem easy when viewed externally, but believe me, it is interesting (and sometimes it is hard being me!). There is so much involved with my position, such as: organizational expert, CEO style management, ringmaster of many, many personalities, an internal world, and external world, national meetings with personalities and egos “aplenty,” state politics and lobbying, and much, much more. Not many people know the full responsibilities of the Executive Director and that’s one of the goals I have with this blog: to let those that are interested learn more about my specific job and the role I play in the CPA profession in Georgia and nationally. The other goal is simply to be me and have readers get to know me and how I approach work and life. I had a President once say, “before I was President of the society I didn’t really know what Gary did, and after I was President I didn’t know how he managed to do all that he does.” That’s about the size of it; I’m an enigma to many folks. We’ll get that straightened out soon enough I hope!

If you follow along, we’ll travel through the upcoming year and through the issues, experiences, personalities, frustrations and accomplishments and you may even hear a little about my golf game (feel free to skip over that part if you want to; It’s pretty sad anyway).

I hope you will follow along with our Incoming President Bob Prator as well. He’ll also be blogging through the year. He’s calling it “Just My Thoughts” and it will be interesting!

GJ
Read more...