THE SEVENTIES
For some reason, in
September 1970 at least one meeting was held in the famous old Lucas B&B
eatery on Oaklawn when John M Thompson, a senior planning analyst for the DFW
Airport, spoke about the economic impact of the new airport. The Lucas B&B is long gone but the sign
is preserved as a historical monument in front of Papdeaux's. The meetings then
reverted to the Melrose Hotel until September of 1973 or May of 1974.
In the mid-Seventies,
Dallas began to hold meetings at cafeterias in the North Dallas area. The chapter ran it's own bar at the
cafeterias in those days with Joe Quicksall and Billy Bowles from GAO pouring
the drinks and collecting the money. In
those days, as now, the last meeting in May was a "social" and included the
presentation of the chapter awards.
Competition and awards
from AGA National were a strong point for Dallas from the early years. One of the high points of the Chapter's
history occurred in June 1974 when Dallas/Fort Worth was proud to host nearly
700 paid registrants for the 23rd National Symposium for FGAA.
By August of 1975, there
were over 200 members from fifteen Federal agencies with DCAA, GAO and the
Postal Service being the organizations with the largest number of members. In keeping with changes to the National
Organization in 1975 when the FGAA became the Association of Government
Accountants, the Dallas Chapter began efforts to draw membership from financial
managers in State and local government, as well as the private sector - efforts
which continue to this day.
In the area of education,
Bob Willis and others provided workshops on "Time-Shared Computers" in Dallas,
Houston, Fort Worth and Oklahoma City in 1968-1970. Sometime during this period, the Chapter began participation in
making the Federal Tax Handbook available at low cost to the membership. Beginning in 1973 (and continuing to the
late 1970's) Dallas participated in the Department of Commerce's Office of
Minority Business Enterprise programs by providing training in accounting to small
and disadvantaged businesses. Dallas Chapter
volunteers taught some 80 students basic accounting courses.
In 1976, the Chapter
began an awards program which has continued since then. Robert F. Langlinais chaired the group,
which developed the guidelines for an Accountant/Auditor of the Year to
recognize contributions to the profession and a Member of the Year for service
to the Chapter. Mr. Claude A. Ryan
received the first Financial Manager of the Year award. In some years, awards were also been given
for "Best Technical Article" in the Chapter Newsletter and "Best Research
Project".
1977 was a hallmark year
in chapter administration. A new set of
bylaws was adopted as well as rules for the conduct of meetings. Texas Articles of incorporation for the
Association of Government Accountants of Dallas were drafted. On March 30, 1977, the Texas Secretary of
State issued a certificate of incorporation and Charter Number 401973 as a
Texas Nonprofit Corporation. On June
26, 1977, the IRS granted the chapter a 501(c) (6) letter and the Texas
Comptroller of Public Accounts granted a franchise tax exemption on August 29
that year. Those Articles of Incorporation stated our purpose to be:
To unite professional
financial managers in government service for constructive endeavors, by encouraging
and providing a means for free interchange of ideas among financial managers in
government services; and to foster improvements in financial management in
government.
We
don't have complete membership totals for all years but in 1978-79 the chapter probably
hit the highest number. Under John L.
Hood's leadership we reached 247 members that year.
