CPA as a citizen in his community;

              The CPA as a Citizen in His Community
BY COLIN PARK Partner, Buffalo Office
Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, New Orleans — October 1957
One reason why research is so rewarding is that out of it come delight­ful
dividends of unexpected facts — unsought facts hidden under the sur-face. No exception to this is the survey of the public-service activities of CPAs conducted last summer by the public relations department of the Institute.
A year ago, the Institute's Committee on Public Relations had a meet-ing in which a generally favorable attitude was expressed toward such a survey. Apparently, the Committee has agreed for some time on the pub­lic
relations values of service activity, both to individual members and to the profession as a whole. There has been some evidence that a good deal of public service was going on, but we have never before had a reliable measure of its extent. It was suggested at the meeting that if a survey showed public service by CPAs to be fairly widespread, this fact in itself would be an encouragement to those members who have not participated heretofore. It was thought that it might also result in a detail list of the kinds of services rendered by CPAs which would afford an example to others of the sort of work in which CPAs are welcome and are presum­ably
able to make a natural contribution. The results of the survey are now tabulated, and we do have answers to many questions that previously could only have been guessed at. We have proof that a great many CPAs are active in public-service activities.
We are not advocates, generally; for avoiding the controversial posi­tion
often enhances the objectivity of our work, atod we do take our work seriously. But perhaps we ought to become more accustomed to the lime-light, and in doing so be less sensitive about how other people rate us professionally, taking note of the survey's evidence that the public-service activities of CPAs are plainly not restricted narrowly to accountancy talents. Yet it is disconcerting to note the opinion of a number of the survey respondents who felt that accountants generally did not participate as greatly as they should in public-service activities. Many of these critics were themselves outstanding in their own significant public-service contributions. They are leaders holding broad responsibilities, not confining themselves to uniquely financial advisement. The paradox all this suggests is that per-
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