ACE, it's what we're about

The GSCPA has a mission statement but I don’t have it memorized. I prefer to keep it simple when I focus on the mission of the Society. I think of ACE: Advocacy, Community and Education. That is why the GSCPA exists; that’s how we serve our members; it’s the core of our value proposition. We advocate for our members’ interests from a position of strength in numbers. Think of our tag line...One profession. One voice. We provide community in many forms where our members enjoy the benefits of exchanging information and ideas with fellow professionals. We provide high-quality education to keep our members competitive in the marketplace. We evaluate all of our programs and initiatives by the yardstick of ACE; how well they accomplish one or more of our basic missions. Speaking of evaluation…one of the initiatives that came out of out strategic planning session last week involves evaluation criteria for our programs.

Associations are very good at starting programs but not very good at ending programs that don’t support the mission or are no longer effective. Every program has its champions. This maxim was reinforced by Harrison Coerver (Harrison Coerver & Associates, association management consultants) who facilitated our strategic planning session. Left unchecked this can produce a loss of focus, an organization that is a “mile wide and an inch deep” as the saying goes.

One of our strategic initiatives is establishing formal criteria for evaluating programs before they are begun. This initiative also includes formalizing the process that was begun last year of evaluating our current programs against the established criteria. The Board is very aware of its responsibility to oversee the effective and efficient use of the Society’s resources. The Society is blessed with a great, hard-working staff. I am amazed at the number of effective and high quality programs that they run and support and this initiative is not campaign to eliminate programs; it’s all about effective use of limited resources.
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Where do we go from here?

I have a lot of questions. For example, what role do Chapters play in our value proposition? What about Sections? How can we best communicate our value proposition to the CPAs in Georgia who are not members of the Society? What changes should we make in our CPE delivery system? Is our dues structure appropriate? How should chapter operations be funded? Are we effective in our advocacy for the profession? How do we identify and develop our future leaders? Do we use our volunteers effectively? Are members interested in what the Society does?

In a couple of weeks the GSCPA Board of Directors will hold a 2 day strategic planning retreat at the Society offices. The plan we develop will be the blueprint for the Society’s operations for the next two or three years. The board members devote significant time and effort to this and we try very hard to devise a plan that truly addresses the interests and concerns of the members.

As a group the board has a wealth of experience in the profession and the Society and I like to think that we have a fairly good understanding of what the members want from our Society. But do we? We need to know what you think is important as we chart the Society’s path for the next two or three years. What would you want to include in the plan if you were participating in our strategic planning session? I welcome your comments on this blog.
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