New Year, Same Menu

Welcome back.

I would have returned to this space a bit earlier but for the past week I have been fulfilling that always joy-filled civic obligation better known as jury duty.

But I hope everyone had a happy and healthy holiday season and here’s wishing the best for 2017. I’ll let you know how I’m doing once the credit card bills come due. My first inkling that I may have to get a part-time job was when the postman delivered the initial batch with a hand truck.

Now that my stint as a juror is over, I can concentrate on matters that affect the accounting landscape.

The pending changes coming along the Beltway – particularly concerning the Tax Code and the ACA, would, in my estimation, comprise the next three blogs so it’s probably best to sit back and see what unfolds.

Because we all know that whatever a politician promises if elected will more than likely happen during his or her administration.

Right?

Political sarcasm aside, today’s missive is directed not toward the workings of the Oval Office, but rather to the upcoming conference season.

More like a plea from a long-time attendee.

It’s no secret that for years, attendance at various accounting-centric confabs has been sliding. With the emergence of online options such as webinars, Skype, Go to Meeting, there are far more economical avenues to get the required CPE than booking airline flights, hotel rooms and shelling out for overpriced meals.

Sadly, those in charge of logistics for live or in-person conferences have done little or nothing to help reverse that trend.

Take the State Society Shows for example. In the Northeast (the exact states shall remain anonymous) the annual events are staged in crumbling and outdated venues, with sessions led by the identical speakers 10 years running. You would be hard to discern the difference between a program agenda from 2006 to that of 2016 if someone marked over the date. Case in point, two states are actually combining their annual events due to dwindling attendance.

Stepping up several tiers in quality, even some of the major events continue to feature the same presenters year after year – conjuring up images of Bert Parks emceeing the Miss America pageant for those of you old enough to remember his 35-year run.

What’s even more discouraging is that whenever I mention this repetitive trend to conference organizers, I’m treated like a Jehovah’s Witness who just woke a homeowner up from an afternoon nap.

So when you hear a claim that “it was the best attended event ever” my suggestion is treat it with the same authenticity as when Vladimir Putin swears he’ll be hands off.

When the venues begin to eventually resemble haunted houses in terms of attendance it will be too late to say I told you so.