M. N. Chetkovich and the AICPA: Our managing partner is elected chairman;

              iMviiKchnaaeeli Nix.. \C^nheettKkOovViicchn , Haskms & sdis
managing partner, was elected chairman of the American Institute of CPAs
at its 89th annual meeting held recently in Philadelphia.^ The naming of
Mike Chetkovich to the highest elective post of the AICPA is only the latest
attainment in a record of service to the professional organization stretching
back some seventeen years. •$• Mike is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the Univer­sity
of California at Berkeley, from which he holds a master of science degree.
He was a partner with the prominent west coast accounting firm of McLaren,
Goode, West & Company when that firm merged with Haskins a Sells in
1952. Partner in charge of our San Francisco office before coming to Executive
Office, he was active in the California Society of CPAs during this period. He
assumed the position of managing partner of H&S in June 1970.4* It was fol­lowing
his transfer to New York City, where AICPA headquarters are located,
that he entered his most active period of service with the national organiza­tion.
(This is in addition to considerable time devoted to activities of the New
York State Society of CPAs, the American Accounting Association and
numerous civic, educational and business organizations.)<&His service to the
American Institute of CPAs reflects his special interest in the international
aspects of the accounting profession. He served for two years as chairman of
the AICPA International Practice Executive Committee and since 1973 has
served as a member of the U.S. delegation to the International Coordinating
Committee for the Accountancy Profession.^In his inaugural remarks before
the Institute's annual meeting in October, Mike described the challenges and
opportunities that the accounting profession faces today. He said that, al­though
the profession has an impressive record of accomplishments, there is a
"pressing need to do more and to accelerate the progress we have been making"
in order to enhance its credibility. Mr. Chetkovich said that the Institute's
bmloe slte gimisplaotrivtaen at cttaisokn si nt htahte ccooumldin lge ayde atro winilclr ebaes teod mgeoevte rtnhme ecnhtaalll eningtee rovf epnotsiosin­and
regulation. <& The newly elected chairman emphasized the need for unity
within the profession in meeting these challenges, and in being responsive to
the needs of those whom the profession serves. At the same time, though, he
stressed that: •$*"...We should not be submissive, and should support
vigorously that which we believe in. We must be dynamic and respond posi­tively,
not merely self-assertively. We must not be reluctant to resist change
which is only for the sake of change, or which moves in the wrong direction;
but, we must avoid being reactionary in opposing all change. As we confront
these challenges, we should have a realistic appraisal of our shortcomings and
our needs, but we should not have any sense of defeatism or shame. For while
we may have much to do, or that we might do, we also have much of which we
can be proud." •frln outlining the important directions and efforts that he has
set for the Institute and for himself as chairman during the coming year, Mike said
that he wished most of all "to encourage, to move all of our membership toward
attainment of an ever-higher standard of performance - of excellence." This is of
utmost importance, he said, because "performance, while a responsibility of firms,
really is a function of individuals - and, unless we perform as individuals, we are
not going to perform as firms or as a profession."