Reflection Time

By David Chavez, CPA

Summer is a time for many CPA firms to reflect on how their tax season went. Some CPA firms have realized that the ability of some of their clients to pay has diminished somewhat during the course of the year. Some clients may have the ability to pay, but are not willing to pay what they would consider a “premium” price for service.

As a profession, we have to continue to educate our clients as to the value of our service. CPAs provide the best resources to any business or individual that money can buy. We tend to under-appreciate our own service and discount it as a necessary burden for our clients. Our clients now need us more than ever. We do provide value to those we serve.

As indicated below, we have a committee that meets regularly to discuss various matters regarding the management of an accounting practice. Committee chair Perry Ghilarducci has been able to provide resources and insight into the difficulties of managing an accounting practice. Please contact him for more information.

The chapter has strength in its committees. After meeting with our committee chairs, I realize that our leadership group is as strong as ever. Each of our committee chairs is committed to making this year successful. Keep in mind that the chapter provides ongoing technical discussion groups. One of special importance this year is the Members in Industry group, which specializes in providing resources and discussion opportunities on topics for CPAs working in industry. We are going to make a concerted effort to reach out to this group so that our members in industry can realize the benefits of CalCPA. We have events planned to enable this group to become more active and take advantage of the resources available to assist them with their needs.

Some of our other technical groups include Accounting Principles and Auditing Standards; Estate and Financial Planning; Governmental Accounting and Auditing; Management of an Accounting Practice; Nonprofit; Real Estate; Taxation; and Technology. We send out monthly notices on when and where the groups meet. I encourage each of you to seek out your interest and participate in these committees. This is where CalCPA provides some of the best peer-to-peer interaction and discussion.

As always, I would love to hear any comments, suggestions or questions you may have. You can contact me via e-mail and I promise to read and respond to every question.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at 5:52 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.