CalCPA Needs You

By Patrick D. Rogan, CPA

When you need assistance on a particular tax or accounting problem, or want to network with other CPAs, where do you look? If you look to CalCPA, then the Sacramento Chapter has the resources to help.

Our chapter has a multitude of committees, discussion forums and special interest groups that you may find interesting. These groups, which you can review online, are comprised of CPAs who meet to talk about common interests. Discussions range from the latest income tax proposal or auditing procedure changes to trends affecting company financial officers. These groups meet monthly, and sometimes quarterly. The forum gives you a chance to interact with your peers and learn and discuss new ideas and topics. In essence, meeting with a group gives us the opportunity to expand both our knowledge and our interaction with others.

The following chapter technical groups would love to have you participate and be added to the committee interest list: Accounting Principles and Auditing Standards; Estate and Financial Planning; Government Accounting and Auditing; Litigation Consulting Services; Management of an Accounting Practice; Members in Industry; New Members and Emerging Professionals; Nonprofit; Real Estate; Taxation; and Technology.

A number of our discussion groups meet in specific geographic areas. We have such geographic discussion groups in Redding and Chico, and a new group is forming in the Roseville area. We also have enough members to create discussion groups in the Davis, Rancho Cordova and Folsom-Cameron Park–El Dorado Hills areas. Other areas not listed might also have enough members to support a discussion group. If you are interested in participating in or helping to form a group, please contact me.

The chapter also has standing or operating committees that offer services to the public, schools or students on an as-needed basis. These committees do not adhere to a regular meeting schedule, but when opportunities become available, the chapter calls on individuals to fulfill the requested needs. Our standing committees are Scholarship, Financial Literacy and Student Outreach.

The chapter offers accounting students scholarships through our Scholarship Committee, which generally meets once a year to decide on scholarship recipients from the 13 community and two four-year colleges in the chapter’s geographic sphere of influence.

The Financial Literacy Committee is a group of interested members who makes presentations to improve the financial literacy of Californians. These presentations may be to schools, nonprofit groups or any other group that wants to educate the public or its members on financial matters, such as managing debt, handling retirement accounts, using credit cards and more

The Student Outreach Committee presents accounting information to college students to inform them of the benefits and rewards of a CPA career and the doors it has opened for us. This committee also is responsible for coordinating our annual student event in November.

Do any of these topics interest you? I hope they do, but we need to hear from you to know your interest. You can sign up online. The chapter will then automatically notify you when an event of your interest is on the calendar.

If you are already on the CalCPA website reading this “President’s Message,” simply visit Join a Chapter Interest Group today!

I look forward to your participation in these groups and seeing you at some of our many chapter meetings. Be sure to check out our event calendar for upcoming chapter activities. You’re likely to find one that interests you, and I encourage you to attend, meet your colleagues and gather new information.

I welcome your comments and suggestions and would like to hear from you. Please contact me and I will read each comment and respond.
— Patrick D. Rogan, CPA

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 at 1:57 pm and is filed under President's Message. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.