Thursday, November 19, 2009

Fall Leadership Council Meeting

The GSCPA Leadership Council met at Callaway Gardens last Monday and the agenda was full. The Educational Foundation Board of Directors met on Sunday afternoon and there was a reception and dinner for Council members on Sunday evening. Monday began with the Chapter Presidents’ breakfast followed by the Council meeting while spouses and guests enjoyed a tour of Callaway Gardens.

The highlight of the Council meeting was a panel discussion featuring Senator Mitch Seabaugh, majority whip in the Georgia Senate, Representative Howard Mosby, CPA, (who is a member of our Leadership Council) and Arthur “Skin” Edge, Jr. of Georgia Link Public Affairs Group, the lobbyist for the GSCPA. The extreme interest in this session was evident from the number of questions posed by Council members…I believe we could have extended the session another half-hour.

Our Treasurer, Scotty Jones, reported that last year’s cost cutting measures have paid off and we are successfully operating on what basically is a break even operating budget for 2009-2010. I hope that our CPE revenues hold strong in the last two months of this CPE reporting year, and membership renewals come close to meeting our projections. We will know the results for both of these areas by January. Also, our investment portfolio is performing well again and we have recovered some of last year’s losses.

We generally have breakout group discussions on various topics to give the members of the Board of Directors feedback from our Council members concerning important topics. At this meeting members discussed questions concerning CPE delivery and Chapter issues. The Board will weigh this valuable feedback in implementing the Society’s strategic plan.

Tom Fuller, President of the Educational Foundation, reported on the Foundation’s activities. Although the Foundation’s endowment funds have taken a big hit in the market they plan to award scholarships, although at a somewhat reduced level. The Foundation also has a new logo and updated website at www.foundation.gscpa.org
Bill Schneider, our past president who has recently moved to Texas, gave the report form AICPA Council. Bill was with us in his role as liaison to Georgia from the AICPA Board of Directors. You see, Bill was elected to the AICPA Board at the AICPA Spring Council meeting in Las Vegas. It was good to see Bill, but we still ragged him about leaving Georgia soon after his nomination to the AICPA Board. We really are proud of Bill for being elected to this prestigious position and expect to see him at future GSCPA functions.

The Fall Council Meeting could be described as routine, the agenda was normal and we followed procedures as usual. But the connections we made with our colleagues were current, the conversations with friends were current, and we cemented another brick in the foundation of GSCPA Community. All of our opportunities to get together are special not routine.