Common Interest Realty Associations Conference Recap

The FICPA Common Interest Realty Associations (CIRA) Conference was held November 8-9, 2007 in Ft. Lauderdale.  This year’s conference attracted around 180 CPAs with several “need to know” topics.

Following is a list of the great topics and speakers:

• Profession and Legislative Update, presented by FICPA Executive Director Kathy Anderson, DBPR Secretary Holly Benson and DBPR Ombudsman Danille Carroll
• Disaster Recovery by Tom Risalvato
• Developer Turnover Issues by John Stroemer and John Ralph
• Country Club Design by Bob Patasnick
• Condo Conversions by Steve Brettholtz
• Tax Update by Pat Patterson
• Timeshares by Stuart Furman
• Workpapers by Steve Gladstone
• Attest vs. Non-Attest by Kevin Payne
• Multi-Condos by Dave Hochsprung
• Pooling & Reserves by Don DiCrescenzo
• Financial Statements by Stu Furman and Tom Durkee
• DBPR - Process & ListServ Questions by Jon Peet
• Going Paperless by Carol Eskew and Louis Brawer
• Condos, HOAs, Timeshares, and Co-ops – Differences and Similarities by Cindy D’Artagnan
• Case Law Update by Peter Mollengarden
• Insurance Update by James Breedlove
• CIRA A&A Update by Pat Patterson
• Risk Assessment by Guy Strum

In addition to great topics and speakers, the attendees enjoyed a cocktail reception Thursday evening, hosted by the CIRA Section, where they networked with other CPAs practicing in the CIRA industry.

Two vendors were at the conference providing information about their services for CPAs in the CIRA industry.  Thank you to Colonial Bank and Community Associations Banc/CondoCerts for their support of this conference.  (An extra thank you goes to Community Associations Banc/CondoCerts for the cookies during Friday’s afternoon break!)

A special thank you is extended to the CIRA Conference Planning Committee for all their hard work in making this conference a continued success each year.  These individuals are passionate about their work and strive each year to provide as much “up to date” information as possible to everyone with CIRA clients. Any suggestions for future topics or speakers are always welcome.

Members can communicate with other CIRA CPAs through the FICPA CIRA Section.  If you haven’t already, be sure and join this free online community and receive up to date information throughout the year through its active and informative listserv.  For more information about joining the CIRA Section, contact the FICPA Sections Department at 800-342-3197.

Led by Chairman Cindy D’Artagnan, the 2006-2007 CIRA Conference Planning Committee includes:

Sandy Bennett
Marc Berenfeld
RonDiCrescenzo
Carol Eskew
Stu Furman
Glenn Gillyard
Pat Gordon
Nicole Johnson
Patricia Jones
Alan Jowers
Percy Legendre
Augusta Nanney
Norman Neal
Stephen Needleman
Pat Patterson
Thom Risalvato
Donna Seidenberg
John Stroemer
Guy Strum
Kathryn Tushaus

CIRA attendees during the “Ask the Experts” panel discussion

CIRA attendees networking during the afternoon break

Thank you Community Association Banc and Condo Certs for the cookies!

DBPR Senior Management Analyst Jon Peet before his presentation

View all the pictures from the conference below.

Thank you to everyone who attended this year’s conference.  Be sure to mark you calendars for next year’s conference, scheduled for November 6-7, 2008 in Orlando.