Never fear change.

Barry C. Melancon, the new president of the American Institute of CPAs, believes member service should be the Institute's top priority as it heads into the twenty-first century. In taking over the reins from outgoing president Philip B. Chenok this month, Melancon, 37, vows to make the AICPA a more user-friendly resource for its vast and varied membership. "We'll create an environment in which the members will look to the Institute to get the answers to their questions," he promises.

As the executive director of the Society of Louisiana CPAs since 1987, Melancon (ma-LAHN-son) lobbied successfully for the profession's interests at the top levels of government, but he also regularly visited practitioners across the state to better understand their day-today concerns. He has ambitious plans for improving the Institute's responsiveness to members and he strongly believes that change is to be embraced rather than feared.

UPHOLDING THE STANDARDS

Melancon is committed to carrying on some of the Institute's most important endeavors. He clearly believes the standard-setting process, and the Institute's role in it, are very relevant. "The Institute's role as a standard-setter in auditing standards and as a participant in the accounting standard-setting process is significant," he says.

He also believes it's important to improve the Institute's relationship with large national CPA firms in order to address trends in assurance services and in services for larger entities. This connection will help the AICPA continue to be responsive to changing issues on a national scale.

Also from a national firm perspective, "the Institute has a significant responsibility to remain at the forefront in the effort for tort reform," Melancon says. Having helped make significant headway in legislative reform in Louisiana, he believes the Institute should continue its successful efforts to limit CPAs' exposure to liability.

FORGING A BETTER CONNECTION

At the same time, Melancon wants rank-and-file members to feel a connection to the Institute, its staff and its service mix, and he believes that gathering more information about CPAs and their needs and using it in more technologically sophisticated ways will help achieve that goal. He plans to make a significant investment of time and energy in technology to bring the Institute's capabilities up to the state-ofthe-art. "If you buy something from a catalogue company, by the second time you buy from them, they know more about you than you do. As a member service organization, we ought to have those kinds of capabilities," he says.

For example, "when a member switches careers, we need to recognize that switch and contact that person with information about how the Institute can help him or her in the new employment direction," he says. Since these changes typically happen early in one's career, this service also could make the Institute a better resource for its younger members, according to Melancon.

Another method to improve the connection between the Institute and its members is decidedly low-tech: personal contacts with CPAs across the country. Louisiana, Melancon and the society president made 120 grassroots visits around the state during the last four years, divided evenly among CPAs in large and small firms and those not in public practice. "You'd be surprised how people react to these visits," he says. "We've had people take pictures of us to put in their lobbies, but we've also had people pull out two-page typewritten lists of items to discuss." In these meetings, which typically lasted from 60 to 90 minutes, the staff brought no agenda and the members chose what to discuss.

Melancon will ask Institute staff to arrange such grassroots visits when they go on business trips. "A staff person sitting in New York or New Jersey or Washington doesn't see where our members actually work. I've visited firms in high-crime areas where there are bars on the windows. That gives you a sense of what that member is dealing with that's different from what you might imagine sitting in an office on the Avenue of the Americas in New York. I've visited sole practitioners who work out of their homes and sat across the desk from practitioners whose technology is very poor--or very sophisticated. What do members in industry really do? What kind of equipment do they have in their offices?" If the staff gain such insights, "the members will get a better Institute--I'm convinced of that," Melancon says. As a reflection of his commitment to this effort, Melancon scheduled three grassroots visits during the first week in his new job.

ADVOCATE FOR MEMBERS

Melancon will take a particular interest in members in smaller firms and industry--and in younger CPAs. For smaller firms, he believes the states' ability to regulate the profession is a major issue. In Florida, court battles between the state board of accountancy and American Express Tax and Business Services have touched on issues such as what kinds of services CPAs can perform when their employers are not licensed CPA firms--and whether those practitioners can hold themselves out as CPAs. Melancon says such cases are important to small firms because of their impact on the profession and on what it means to be a CPA firm.

Recognizing the value. In addressing the concerns of CPAs in industry, Melancon wants to alert employers to the value of those who hold this designation. "There is a multitude of designations that mean different things to different employers, and we have to focus attention on the idea that the CPA is the bellwether designation for members in industry," he insists. "We have to get the employer to understand that the CPA brings a variety of things to the table that can help the business grow."

He pointed to the AICPA management accounting executive committee benchmarking project--which tracks best-practices benchmarking results of the accounting and finance function--as an example of a progressive service to industry members that shows employers the importance of a CPA's contributions.

Including younger members. To improve retention of younger members, Melancon wants to personalize services and encourage participation. For example, when it's time to volunteer for committees, "new members might get a letter explaining the committee process to help them develop an understanding of what it is they're joining.

"Younger people tend to be participatory yet have tremendous time pressures," he observes. "So we have to offer feedback opportunities--perhaps on an online Accountants Forum--that show they can have an impact on issues that affect their careers." He also envisions the possibility of using CD-ROM to inform members of strategic issues facing their segments of the profession.

THE PROFESSION'S BEST INTERESTS

A plaque in Melancon's office reads "Never fear change" and he believes the profession must accept and even embrace change in technology and throughout the business world "because there isn't a thing you can do to prevent it. The world is so fast-paced and dynamic. Those who are successful are those who can learn from change and adapt to it." He says that despite the profession's longevity and the respect it commands from the public, "if we don't change, there's a new generation of people stepping up to the plate who are going to look to other people to take over as their business resources."

He believes it is the Institute's responsibility to furnish members with the tools they need to address technology's strategic impact on how CPAs do business. "I'm not talking about the use of technology to do spreadsheets and prepare general ledgers. I'm talking about the market aspects of technology that are causing people to use CPA services differently--to use them less often in certain instances and in a different environment in others. How is technology affecting a CPA's clients or employer? Are we helping members respond to those changes? Those certainly are major issues."

The profession's leadership also must work to support its legislative interests. While Melancon was state society executive director, Louisiana became the second state in the country to pass limited liability legislation, reduced the statute of limitations for CPAs there and lowered the number of years CPAs must retain work papers.

The main thing he learned from these efforts is that "you can't ever be afraid of trying. We proposed things that people told us we couldn't do and we ended up doing them." He explains that a willingness to work on low-profile issues or those that are narrow in scope is key to long-term success because the small victories add up over time.

WORKING TOGETHER

Melancon himself is a man who seems to love to seek out opportunities to excel. He graduated from high school in three years, received a bachelor's degree from Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana, when he was 20 and became a partner of Bergeron & Company in Houma, Louisiana, by the age of 25. He was first in his class when he earned an MBA from his alma mater and was an adjunct professor of accounting there for several years--while continuing to work at Bergeron Company--before he took over the state society leadership. "I'm willing to roll up my sleeves and take on challenges:" he says.

Melancon believes it is CPAs themselves who hold the key to the profession's future success. "The members' insistence on accomplishing goals and dealing with change is what will make it happen--not any particular staff leader," he says. "I provide some leadership and vision, but we move forward as a group." He is tremendously optimistic about the future. "I see wonderful things for the profession. With the members' continued help and support, the Institute can be a major factor in achieving those things."

RELATED ARTICLE: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

* BARRY C. MELANCON, the new president of the American Institute of CPAs, believes member service should be the Institute's top priority. He wants to uphold the AICPA's established standards of serving the profession's interests on a national scale and improve its relationship with the large national firms, but he also wants to ensure that rank-and-file members feel a connection to the Institute, its staff and its service mix. To that end, he will use technology to gather more information about CPAs and their needs and use that information in more technologically sophisticated ways.

* THE NEW PRESIDENT ALSO INTENDS to make the Institute and its programs more responsive to the needs of small firms, members in industry and younger practitioners.

* MELANCON WILL ASK INSTITUTE STAFF to visit members' workplaces when they go on business trips. Based on his experience with such visits as the executive director of the Society of Louisiana CPAs, he believes that member service will be improved if AICPA staff gain greater insights into how practitioners do business.