Meet the People
Members and former members of CPA Firm Management Association not only receive tremendous benefits from their membership, they are not shy when it comes to promoting the organization’s successes.
These are only a few examples of how CPAFMA members have used the resources available through the association to support their firms and advance their careers. If members are ever in need, we recommend they call CPAFMA first. It could possibly save a lot of time and effort.
When I started at this firm 18 years ago one of the very first things I did was search for a professional CPA firm peer organization. I found AAA (now CPAFMA) and have been a member ever since. I appreciate the value the organization brings to the profession and the opportunity to interact and share information with others in my role.
I attended the CPAFMA National Conference as a first-time attendee. I thoroughly enjoyed the conference; moreover, the take-away was invaluable. This conference brought together professionals that shared best practices, strategies and practical tools for firm successes, I will be back!
Our firm has been active in the Indiana Chapter of the Association for Accounting Administration since 1990. Initially, I was a bit reluctant to believe that we would reap recognizable benefits from the organization, since, by comparison to other member firms, we were a small firm.
I can now say, without reservation, that the benefits of this organization substantially exceed the costs in both dollars and out-of-office time. I would strongly encourage managing partners to attend at least one chapter meeting and would highly recommend their attendance at a National Practice Management Conference. Only then can they witness first-hand the wealth of management knowledge and experience that this group of administrators possesses and are unconditionally willing to share.
Our firm administrator just returned from her eighth National Conference and her membership in this network of administrators brings a whole new resource to our firm.
"Great Asset"
I want to take this opportunity to praise the organization for the good work that it has done in the past and continues to do. I have been involved with accounting firm administration for approximately three and one half years now, and prior to that, I was involved in law firm administration for approximately ten years. In the three and one half years that I have been a member of the CPAFMA, I have found it to be a great asset. Initially the organization helped me to get familiar with all of the industry standards and benchmarks. It has kept me informed on all new happenings in the industry and I have been able to meet a lot of good people who have been willing to share that knowledge. The annual conferences and the regional meetings are excellent in that we are able to spend several days and concentrate solely on accounting firm administration. No other group or organization specifically offers that in such a concentrated form. I have also had the opportunity to meet and develop friendships with other administrators throughout the United States and have utilized those friendships in various ways over the past several years. I also find that the periodicals and special projects that are published are very informative and have addressed many timely subjects.
At last year’s national conference, I attended the sessions on employment law. Not only was I able to use the speaker's handouts to bring our firm into compliance with ADA, but I have also put on seminars for several client groups and provided them with a very detailed handout. The clients love the hands-on, step-by-step material.
While attending a chapter meeting, I learned of unpublicized special discounts being granted by our professional liability insurance carrier. After follow-up calls and letters, I received a decrease of $16,000 on our renewal premium!
When our firm decided to prepare and process 1040s in-house on our new network, we encountered problems at the outset. Using the CPAFMA resources, I located a firm using the same software in much the same way. After talking with their firm administrator, we put our network administrators together and the problems were solved over the phone. The result was minimum downtime with an estimated value of $20-30,000.
CPAFMA has helped many administrators advance their careers. Three administrators who were recently named principals gave CPAFMA much of the credit for their promotions. The resources they used to support profession growth are available to all CPAFMA members. When a firm in Michigan lost a partner in the midst of tax season, another member (both in the same chapter) who had dealt with a similar loss was able to offer advice and active assistance.
Being part of the CPA Firm Management Association (CPAFMA) has been and continues to be a great experience for Rightworks as an IT services and consulting partner to CPA firms. CPAFMA has facilitated introductions to a significant number of cloud clients and referrers to our IT advisory practice through a multitude of education opportunities providing us direct access to Firm Managers, which are often key decisionmakers in accounting firms. I can’t recommend joining this association enough—it’s a wonderful community that offers great opportunities for networking, collaboration, and business growth.
- Roman Kepczyk, CPA.CITP, CGMA, Director of Firm Technology Strategy, Rightworks