Unexpected Rewards.

Volunteering Builds Knowledge, Referrals, Skills, Visibility and Friendships

The reasons CalCPA leaders participate vary greatly, but more often than not, it's the unexpected rewards that keep them active.

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE BEEN PROMOTED!

Nobody would call Larry Russell a sucker, but he admits that his initial impulse to join CalCPAs Santa Cruz Discussion Group in the early 1980s snowballed out of control even before he attended his first meeting. All he did was call member relations for information about the group. A few days later, he received an information packet and its cover letter said, "Congratulations! You've been promoted to the discussion group chair."

"They must have seen me coming a mile away," jokes Russell, now a principal with Valencia-based Sitka Systems, a management consulting firm that specializes in computerized business information systems and a CalCPA Council member. Russell says that he worked with the discussion group for six years and enjoyed the professional contacts he developed within his community. Then, when he moved to Los Angeles, it happened again. "Somebody invited me to the Westside Technology Users Group meeting not telling me it was a steering committee meeting. They must have seen the big red 'X' painted on my back."

All joking aside, Russell wouldn't have stayed involved if he hadn't gained, both professionally and socially. "Bottom line of all my CalCPA leadership experiences is that I was asked to fill a need and I felt it was my obligation to help the profession that has provided me with a good living," he says. "The unexpected benefit has been that I've gained many dear friends."

DEFINING EXPERIENCE

CalCPA 2000-01 President Don Cursey's initial attempt at involvement was less embracing, and it made him angry--an experience that colors his leadership style to this day. Back in the 1970s, Gursey wanted to form a litigation committee, so he wrote a letter to CalCPAs president. When he received no response, he began leaving phone messages. Still no response. So he sent a telegram, which triggered an impersonal from letter. I probably would have left CalCPA except I had a perma-plaque on my office wall," he says with his characteristic straight talk.

It wasn't until 1984, when CalCPA finally formed a state litigation committee that Gursey became active. "We spent five years creating guidelines for litigation practitioners," he says. By 1989, he was the state Litigation Committee chair and also was involved in the Government Relations Committee. "We smoked cigars, worked on our papers. I always felt a responsibility." But he never forgot his initial treatment. Now, as CalCPA president, he has an open-door policy. "I make myself available to anyone who has anything to say."

MYRIAD BENEFITS

CalCPA's chief executive, Susan Waters, emphasizes that the personal benefits of involvement in any professional association are not necessarily those that first meet the eye.

"It's multi-layered," Waters says, explaining that many CalCPA leaders tell her that they simply feel it's their duty to join other CPAs who are striving to maintain the integrity of their profession. "I think that is a very valid reason," she says. "But I also think that associations don't talk enough about the benefits you get aside from feeling good about yourself. That's important, but other benefits ought to be highlighted too."

If you're wondering whether you should attend your next chapter meeting, join a committee or attend the Annual Meeting, keep in mind that you might be inspired to bring your leadership skills to bear. You'll not only be strengthening the CPA profession, you'll reap the following collateral gains as well.

KNOWLEDGE

You will have access to information that you couldn't get anywhere else. Knowledge gained is both technical and political. Says CalCPA Past-President Paul Kuperstein, "There are things going on within the industry that you don't even know exist. The only way you can learn about them is by participating."

Using insights gained as a Government Relations Committee member, Gursey was instrumental in changing a rule governing how he practiced as a litigation specialist. "I realized you have to watch the legislators in Sacramento," he says. "A stroke of the pen can cause you a lot of grief. I started watching. I stayed on the board to keep my finger on the pulse of things."

San Diego-based sole practitioner and CalCPA Council member Steven Wimmers found that other members were eager to share knowledge and expertise. "I was very surprised to learn how supportive the people in the group were," Wimmers says of the MAP Committee, which was his first foray into CalCPA involvement. "I no longer looked at other CPAs as competitors, but as colleagues who were happy to share experience and knowledge to help each other out. As a sole practitioner, this was very important to me, since I didn't have any partners to bounce ideas off of."

Council members gain a particularly useful outlook. "The information that is gathered for council (formerly board) meetings is more comprehensive and in-depth than what the average member has access to," says Waters. "With that information, your perspective begins to change a bit. It puts you in a better spot to assess the future of your own practice."

REFERRALS AND CONTACTS

You will meet people who you may want to refer clients to or use as resources for yourself. "You begin to understand who the people are with particular expertise," says Waters.

John Benson says he and business partner, fellow council member Chris Yahng have found CalCPA members to be a good source of client referrals. "You meet somebody who doesn't want to handle a particular client for a particular reason and they refer them to you," Benson explains. "People retire and they refer clients to you. People get clients with problems that they can't handle and you end up with a client."

Chief among David Duner's many reasons for his involvement in CalCPA leadership is gaining professional contacts. "I would say that the primary reason I'm involved is the networking opportunities," says Duner, a sole practitioner in Irvine who is the incoming Orange County/Long Beach Chapter president. "I have been able to meet and get to know some of the best practitioners in our industry. And I have used this resource for assistance."

Wimmrs estimates that he's generated tens of thousands of dollars in revenue from fellow council members' referrals. "This is something that I never expected," he says.

By Gursey's estimation, this benefit is likely to get even better as the profession continues to branch out into new territory. "Accountants can be protective," he says. "However, as we become more specialized, there is an increased willingness to refer clients to CPAs with specialties that we may not have."

SKILLS

CalCPA is a place where you can hone specific skills, particularly the leadership and social talents upon which great careers are built. "There are a lot of different ways to get involved, some are more public, some are less," says Waters. "There are ways to ease yourself in. Especially if you're not sure whether or not this is for you."

If running a meeting makes your blood run cold, AICPA Council member Pat Zambell, a professor of accounting at Cal Poly State University, Pomona, says joining, and eventually leading, a committee or discussion group might do you a world of good.

"If you have a fear of speaking in front of a group, you quickly get over that," Zambell says. "[A leadership role] helps you learn how to organize, plan and conduct meetings in the most efficient way. Especially with chapter and committee work because you meet maybe three times a year, and a certain amount of work has to be accomplished in a short period of time."

Says Gursey, "Anybody who has got their eye on any particular area of interest ought to get involved in their local discussion group or committee. You get a group together and ideas come from those meetings." He adds that it is also an excellent opportunity for CPAs who are new to the profession to meet with and learn from more experienced professionals.

VISIBILITY

You will get to know the industry's movers and shakers. "Visibility is good for everybody's career regardless of your type of practice," says Waters. "Members in public practice are in a position to get more referrals from colleagues. If you're in industry, the visibility you gain benefits both you and the company you represent."

Zambell notes that her visibility in CalCPA has helped her students get jobs. "CPAs have expressed an interest in recruiting on my campus," she says. "Sometimes I am able to assist students in finding positions when times are difficult. I know enough people who trust my judgment and who might ask me to send them a [student's] resume. It's rewarding to be able to help a student in that manner."

FRIENDSHIPS

You will make important friends. Waters points out that frequently the people you meet professionally become lifelong friends. "At CalCPA's Annual Meeting last summer, members came with their kids, so the kids made friends with their colleagues' kids. The second generation even got attached to each other."

Last year, Wimmers, frustrated by the unwieldy size of the board of directors, decided he would quit. "At what I thought was going to be my last board meeting, I started feeling melancholy," he says. "I had developed a number of friendships on the board and would dearly miss seeing these friends four times a year."

It was a complicated time in CalCPA's history, one sometimes fraught with contention as major structural and organizational changes were made. Then-President Paul Kuperstein didn't want to lose Wimmers, so he asked him to help steer CalCPA's new course. "He shocked me by asking me to chair the Bylaws Implementation Task Force," says Wimmers. "I began the process of what for me was a wonderful, yet terrifying experience. It has been very rewarding for me to work collaboratively with people from around the state."

STRENGTHENING CPAs BIT BY BIT

Perhaps that's just it: Terror mixed with an equal part wonder at the impact that a single sometimes-dissatisfied, sometimes-inspired CPA can have on the profession that has brought them so much. "One simple idea presented at a meeting, a bit of praise when someone really does a good job, all seem to help CalCPA prosper," says Council Member Ira Gelfman. "No really monumental stuff, but little stones that help firm up the path we take. It really is a lot of fun and very satisfying. I've enjoyed it all the way."

Laurie Mason is a San Francisco-based freelance writer.

GET INVOLVED IN CALCPA

Following are some of the ways you can get involved in CalCPA:

Attend chapter technical committee or geographically organized discussion group meetings, or chapter-based CE seminars and workshops.

Contact: Your chapter coordinator

Develop leadership skills and opportunities by volunteering to chair programs, seminars and committees, or to serve on your local chapter board of directors. Chapters are eager for new faces and ideas.

Contact: Your chapter staff liaisons

Network with CalCPA's state leadership at the Annual Meeting. Learn about the key issues facing the profession and how CalCPA is addressing them.

Contact: Patti Sustin at [phone] or [e-mail]

Surf our Web site--CalCPA Online. Explore the site and its many related links. Review the master calendar of events for possible dates of interest, browse the chapter sites to see what they offer, or join a listserve.

Contact: http://www.calcpa.org

Speak at high schools and colleges to educate students about what a CPA does and help promote the profession.

Contact: Chapter Careers Committee chair (contact chapter coordinator)

Advocate for the profession and stay on top of all the latest in Sacramento via the government relations key contact program and interactive Web site.

Contact: http://calcpa.iris1.org or [phone]