John H. Higgins 2004-2005 MACPA Chair of the Board

As baseball great Yogi Berra once said, “You’ve got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.”

His advice holds true for individuals – and for our Association. And fortunately, in my new role as 2004-2005 chair, I can rely upon MACPA’s Strategic Plan to see where we are going. The Plan, developed with a broad cross-section of our membership constituency, provides our officers, board, committees and staff with a roadmap to guide decision-making.

I’d like to comment on one of the five initiatives in our Strategic Plan: Legislative Advocacy.

As we continue to shove our finger in the dike of regulation, we have a responsibility to educate and inform lawmakers of the unintended consequences of well-intentioned legislation.

We also have the responsibility to protect our clients from expensive and ineffective regulation that drives up the cost of business and impairs our ability to compete effectively in a global marketplace.

And, most importantly, it is our responsibility to protect the public from a regulatory model that makes the assurance of basic financial information incomprehensible and unaffordable.

Where are we at with legislative initiatives? Through grassroots efforts, the MACPA organizes and hosts events for legislators throughout the state, developing relationships and creating two-way information channels. We serve as an important resource to the State Board of Accountancy. And, through our PAC, we support campaign efforts of like-minded legislators – critical in this big election year. With your involvement and support, we can continue to make a big impact in Washington and in Lansing.

I’ll touch on other strategic initiatives through the course of this year, as we work together to accomplish goals set forth in our Plan. MACPA is all about teamwork – teamwork with members, the task forces, the board, the executive committee and the staff.

It’s a great time to be a CPA, and a great time to serve as chair of this prestigious Association. I appreciate your confidence in me, and I look forward to serving you during the coming year.

Members can e-mail John Higgins, and all our board members – access their e-mail addresses on the MACPA web site.

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