A New Sense of Purpose for the CPA

Many new issues have entered our business and personal lives in the wake of the events of September 11, most of them revolving around safety and security. Terrorism, in many subtle ways, insinuates into our lives, eroding faith in our institutions and in each other. Anyone who has had firsthand experience in a society that limits freedom will tell you that America is a comparatively free society and that Americans take our many freedoms for granted.

Those freedoms are based on our faith in the general trustworthiness of our fellow citizens and in our system of government, backed up by our own good judgment. But after September 11, we are extremely aware of how vulnerable we are while we go about working and living our lives. We realize that we can no longer be complacent and casual about security, even in such commonplace activities as travel and mail delivery.

The threat of bioterrorism, made real by the several victims claimed by anthrax, marks an insidious creeping of fear in our lives. It undermines our sense of security and-because at least some of the anthrax infections have been spread by the mail-disrupts our everyday lives. It has made some people afraid to use the postal system, the brainchild of Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, who knew something about perseverance in the face of adversity and uncertainty. Our system of roads and highways is another important part of our infrastructure and one that we generally assume will always be there. In its earliest days, the primary function of the road network was to support the postal system, and now it too is an area where our governments need to be extremely vigilant about potential threats to both civilian safety and the conduct of commerce.

A successful global economy also relies upon openness with respect to business transactions: all of the information about who the parties are, the terms of the transaction itself, and the product or service that is the subject of the transaction. At a time like this, the business world needs the CPA-the trusted professional-more than ever. If the CPA did not already exist we would have to invent it. With their role of attesting to the truth, validity, and soundness of financial information, they are a cornerstone of the public's trust in the global economy. Some say that the attest function is becoming less important, but with many people's confidence in our markets shaken after September 11 (when confidence in our economy was already weak), the CPA's role is more important than ever.

As many Americans reexamine their lives and their values, CPAs need to reassess their role in business and society and how to fulfill it. The New York State Society of CPAs has always been a place where members can find ways to become better CPAs, not just attend obligatory CPE sessions in the performance of a compliance-driven ritual. Looking into a future when we remember these times as an ordeal that ultimately made us stronger, I hope to see that the ranks of CPAs have grown. If ever the accounting profession should appeal to young people, it's now. And for young people who want a business career that engages their highest talents as well as the public trust, this is the time, and accounting is the work.

Louis Grumet Publisher, The CPA Journal NYSSCPA Executive Director

Visit the new cpajournal.com.