In the Footsteps of George Weber

By Jamshed Behram Gandi, CPA

First, let me express my honor and gratitude to serve as your chapter president. It is indeed a privilege that has greatly humbled me. On behalf of our board, I thank outgoing president Jerry Sample for his leadership, passion and zeal in promoting the chapter.

This year CalCPA celebrates its centennial, and our chapter, under the auspices of its first president, George Weber, was responsible for setting the stage for what is now a 34,000-plus member organization, the largest state CPA professional association in the nation. For the past 100 years, our profession, CalCPA and our chapter have functioned as an ocean liner rather than a speedboat, having coped thoughtfully with myriad changes that have come down over the years. We continue on a steady course during a time that is critical to the profession, and our job as stewards continues to be of paramount importance.

It is essential that we address the issues that will impact the future of our membership and our ability to serve our clients, the public and, of course, each other. We have noted the aging of our profession and the subsequent handover of management from one generation to the next. I think that over the next few years, succession management will be vital to our profession’s continuity and, consequently, CalCPA’s ability to remain as the premier organization that it is. To that end, I will work assiduously to bring greater visibility and further awareness to this issue through the appropriate committees.

The MAP Committee recently hosted a forum addressing succession and transition planning and the need to form a focus group to discuss the challenges that lie ahead. Attesting to the importance of this topic, a substantial number of practitioners and other interested parties attended. We hope this will be the first of a series of meetings on this topic.

We continue to hear that the world is becoming a smaller stage, and the accounting profession is at the very threshold of internationalization and globalization. Our membership will need to be apprised of new standards and mandates that will be coming our way and to which we will need to adapt. Again, CalCPA will play a vital role by offering members the necessary education to keep up to date on the changes.

Finally, we must continue to be outgoing as a profession and expand our awareness by working in tandem with other professional organizations to achieve common goals. I think this approach extends our reach and gives us the ability to add value to your membership.

I consider myself very lucky to be associated with a very vibrant and dynamic board that brings a lot of energy each time it comes to the table. Your board members are all seasoned professionals who consider their roles to be of significant importance. They therefore remain dedicated in providing their time and efforts. I look forward to meeting you at our events, committee meetings and other functions. In June CalCPA comes to San Francisco to celebrate its 100th birthday, and we are truly fortunate to showcase our city and our chapter during that time. This is, after all, where it all began.
— Jamshed Behram Gandi, CPA

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 1:17 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.