New Year. New Blog.

The New Year is historically a time when people will establish goals and adopt resolutions to change behaviors and habits. I have never been big on New Year’s resolutions, as I know the dismal statistics on their success rate. Health clubs are notorious for capitalizing on this human phenomenon. The crowds are always large in the gym early in the year, but by summer the numbers dwindle as people’s stick-to-it-tiveness wears out. I jokingly say my New Year’s resolution is to not adopt any resolutions, so I guarantee my success!

But this year, I am breaking out of my mold, and I am making a new commitment to join the world of social media and start a blog. Now, I am really in trouble as my success or failure will be public knowledge, so the pressure is on me to keep this up now that I am starting.

My objective is to share some of what is going on at TSCPA and in the profession. Some of that sharing will be fact- based, but some will also be opinion- based. I welcome feedback from anyone who wishes to disagree or agree. The intent is not to convert readers, but to share and generate discussion if there is interest.

TSCPA Midyear Board Meeting
I just got back from the TSCPA Midyear Board of Directors meeting in The Woodlands. For those who are not familiar with our Board, it is a pretty large group - over 250 members from all around Texas. It is our own version of the House of Representatives with our 20 chapters each electing representatives based on the member population of their chapter. Some may feel our Board is too big, but in an organization our size, with over 28,000 members, it is important for us to get input from a representative sampling of our members and the Board enables us to do that. My hat is off to our members who serve on the Board. They give their time and talent to help make TSCPA an effective organization for its members.

Sustainability
At this meeting, we heard from the current chair of AICPA, Bob Harris. He gave an overview of the major issues AICPA is working on. One that stuck out for me was their work to educate CPAs on “sustainability.” CPAs have the skill set and abilities to assist their clients and their employers in looking for ways to save in costs of operations and use of resources. If you don’t think this issue has legs, Bob talked about the fact that Wal-Mart is asking all of its suppliers to begin measuring sustainability within their organizations with the intent that every product Wal-Mart sells in its stores will have a sustainability index in the next few years. I would guess that if Wal-Mart is focusing on sustainability then it isn’t a passing fad. What do you think?

Changing Demographics
Another speaker at our meeting was the former state demographer and Rice University Professor Steven Murdock. He presented some eye -opening statistics about the past and projected growth of Texas and the U.S. Texas is leading in what will be transformational change in our population, moving to a multiracial society. The face of Texas and the country will look much different in 20-30 years. We need to prepare now to deal with those changes, and the number one way to do that, according to Murdock, is through education. We must ensure that the next generation of Texans is as highly educated as today’s generation to guarantee the continued economic growth of our state.

Advocacy
We also had presentations by the leaders of the TSCPA Federal Tax Policy Committee and Professional Standards Committee. These are two critical groups within TSCPA that advocate on behalf of our members on tax and accounting issues. These committees have been doing great work for our members, and you can find the comment letters they have sent on the TSCPA website.

Enhanced Website
Speaking of our website, we are working to improve it through new content management software that will help enhance the site for members. It will allow you to customize the site to better meet your particular needs. We encourage you to check it out and provide us with your feedback. Our goal is to better serve you and make it easier for you to find information you are interested in. We encourage feedback, so please let me know how we’re doing.

Leadership Development
Finally, at our meeting we recognized the graduates of our first TSCPA Leadership Development Institute (LDI). This was a multi-session program supported by TSCPA to provide leadership training to help ensure future leaders for TSCPA and the profession. We had 23 graduates in the first program and based on its success, we plan to continue the program this year. So, if you have an interest or know someone who could benefit from this type of leadership program, be on the lookout for future promotional material after tax season. Some leaders are born, but most are developed over time, and we are trying to do our bit to help with leadership development for the profession.

Well, that’s all for this time. Be sure and leave your comments, I look forward to reading them. Now, I need to get to the gym.

Stay tuned for more.

Comments

[Leadership Training]

Good post! I realize this is an older post but I am looking to see how your efforts have paid off.

[discount coach]

these are times with more liberty,but less joy; we have much more food,but less nutrition;who could told me why?

[Tracy B. Stewart]

At MYB, speaker Steven Murdock quoted
Alvin Toffler, "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn." John, you are a touchstone for 21st century literacy.

[Charlotte Jungen]

Great start!