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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!
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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
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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
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