2010-2011 Year in Review - California Society of Enrolled Agents

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OFFiCERS 8 CSEA 2010-2011 Year in Review Immediate Past President and TEAR Task Force Chair David A. Shaw, EA As the Immediate Past President (IPP), I have enjoyed supporting our great organization under the leadership of President Kastl, EA. During this past year, we have had many successes and many unique opportunities. We have been faced with the implementation of preparer regulations, the hiring of a new EVP, the completion of a new CSEA logo, and the conversion to new CRM software to better equip our Society to meet our Member needs. I am always amazed at the dedication and talent of our Members who volunteer to meet the challenges of our Members. One unique opportunity I was asked to lead during this past year was the Technology Enhancement and Redesign Task Force (TEAR). Building upon the work conducted during the 2009-2010 year, TEAR was able to assist staff in implementing a new CRM package which is the backbone of the computer system for CSEA. While we are tax professionals and not IT professionals, working as a team, the new software went live in June 2010. During the next CSEA PRESIDENTS 1977–78 Ken Drake, EA 1978–79 H. Thomas Smith, EA 1979–80 Franklin D. Lehman, EA 1980–81 Patricia Naud, EA 1981–82 Pat Thompson, EA 1982–83 Jack R. Sells, EA 1983–84 Nancy L. Nesbitt, EA 1984–85 Theodore Bernardi, EA 1985–86 Hayden Wisdom, EA 1986–87 Hayden Wisdom, EA 1987–88 Carole A. Atwood, EA 1988–89 Thomas N. Hunt, EA 1989–90 Donna G. Nance, EA 1990–91 Donna G. Nance, EA 1991–92 Jack Robishaw, EA 1992–93 Frederick L. Stine, EA 1993–94 Iris Kelley, EA several months, full integration was sought and the culmination was the unveiling of the new CSEA website in October 2010. Monitoring and improvements occurred during the next several months and the TEAR completed its purpose. As websites constantly change, the staff is now able to completely utilize the technology in order to meet the needs of our Members on a daily basis. Thank you to all TEAR members and the staff who made the job of TEAR a success. As my year comes to a close as IPP, I look forward to the bright future ahead for CSEA. We have great leaders ready to lead us and I know that our Society is in trusted hands. I wish to thank the Members for the support during my years on the Board and as an Officer of CSEA. Respectfully submitted, David A. Shaw, EA Immediate Past President 1994–95 Armand J. Baradat, EA 1995–96 Kirby L. Robinson, EA 1996–97 Sidney M. Norton, EA 1997–98 Sandra L. March, EA 1998–99 Joseph Schwartz, EA 1999–00 Lois Manning, EA 2000–01 Salvatore Romo, Jr., EA 2001–02 James Southward, EA 2002–03 Connie Lorz, EA 2003–04 Lonnie Gary, EA 2004–05 Richard Quarterman, EA 2005–06 Norman M. Golden, EA 2006–07 Irene Lawrence, EA 2007–08 Jennifer MacMillan, EA 2008–09 Connie Ferrell, EA 2009–10 David Shaw, EA 2010–11 Kim Kastl, EA
In the intervening time since the November meeting, many issues of significant strategic import have crossed my desk. Substantive efforts have been applied to resolving lingering legal issues, pursuing the Board directive regarding development of credible market research in regard to the issues surrounding the proposed name change, rebranding efforts, continuing discussions with IRS officials on Registered Tax Return Preparer (RTRP) oversight, and continuing efforts toward strengthening national/affiliate relationships. Following are highlights of our activity since November 2010: • • • • • • Meeting with IRS officials regarding preparer oversight issues. One meeting of particular interest was with NAEA volunteer leaders and Commissioner Shulman to discuss concerns the Enrolled Agent community has with ensuring that legacy 230 practitioners receive appropriate treatment in the ensuing new regulatory environment. Series of focus groups with staff, affiliate leaders, and members of the Board to identify major brand attributes of NAEA and how NAEA will communicate the brand strengths to myriad stakeholders. We ended a long-term relationship with our auditor in favor of a new auditing firm. This vendor brings in new systems and has taken NAEA in a more analytic direction with regard to our financial platform. Replacement of our long-term legal counsel, Jerry Panaro. We are now served by Gary Marx, an experienced association legal practitioner with skills in governance, intellectual property, membership, and affiliate relations. Significant emphasis has been invested in the development of a strong governance structure to ensure that the Board can deliberate policy issues from a knowledgebased perspective. NAEA President Sherrill Trovato, EA, USTCP and I have developed committee charges and standard operating procedures for all committees and we have established procedures to reduce the learning curve for new committee members. A leadership program is in development that will train member volunteers to be more effective in organizational areas which will provide a stronger affiliate base from which to draw future national leaders. FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION • The largest and most-awaited project is the redesign of the website. We have gone through an exhaustive process to evaluate our future website needs as well as strategies to improve outreach to our stakeholders. NAEA has selected and contracted with Balance Interactive, Inc. to begin the re-design and implementation of the new website. In addition, we are evaluating transitioning to a different web board option to possibly coincide with the new website. COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING • An extremely aggressive media outreach this tax season began with the hiring of Planned TV Arts (PTA), a New York-based public relations agency, to secure television and radio engagements for NAEA members. This effort is in keeping with our objective of expanding national recognition of Enrolled Agents. • Currently, 450 people “like” NAEA’s Facebook fan page, which was launched shortly before tax season. The fan page has been very successful at increasing engagement, as illustrated by the highly increased page activity, even during tax season. A recent addition to the fan page, “Thursday Tax Trivia,” is proving to be a successful tool for engagement. • NAEA staff is regularly using Twitter and Facebook to get the word out quickly on IRS announcements and other items of immediate interest to our members. • In response to an IRS query about a possible name change for the profession, NAEA launched a major initiative to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of a name change for Enrolled Agents. Avenue M Group, LLC was hired to conduct the research. Full information was presented at the April governance meetings and a substantial period of time for discussion was reserved for the Board of Directors meeting on April 30. • NAEA has begun a rebranding project aimed at defining CSEA 2010-2011 Year in Review 9 NATiONAl ASSOCiATiON OF ENROllED AGENTS
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2010-2011 Year in Review - California Society of Enrolled Agents

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