The White House Conference on Small Business.

• Author: Winton, Lisa A.

Beginning in June 1994 and culminating in June 1995, small business owners will have an opportunity to participate in The White House Conference on Small Business. Lisa A. Winton, Conference Coordinator for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, has agreed to serve as the main point of contact for educating AICPA members about the conference and encouraging CPAs to serve as delegates to the state, regional and national meeting. The issues of primary concern to the AICPA include fiscal-year conformity, workload compression and securities litigation reform.

Members of the AICPA Tax Division's Small Business Taxation Committee have already served on issue task forces that developed fact sheets on issues of concern to small business. These fact sheets have been compiled into an issue handbook and provide background information to prospective delegates who register to attend their state conference. The goal of the CPA/delegates is to persuade their peers that the items on their agenda should be represented at the regional and national levels. Many CPAs have already been chosen as state delegates and have agreed to attend their regional and national conference. However, only 19 conferences have occurred, so there is still time to register to become a state delegate.

Interested parties should contact their state society and/or The White House Conference on Small Business at (202) 724-0891 for conference registration material. The advance registration fee is $40 (which includes the cost of lunch and refreshments); on-site registration is $50.

Following is a summary of the nine topics of primary interest to the small business community.

Overview

Capital formation, regulation and paperwork, and taxation continue to be the areas receiving the most attention--often other recommendations are directly related to these three areas. Most of the discussion and resulting recommendations can be classified into three underlying themes.

1. Access to capital: Participants continually cite the need for start-up and follow-up capital. In addition, loan simplification and relaxed collateral standards are high on their priority list.

2. Making government more "user friendly": Small business participants feel that most government regulations are cumbersome and redundant and ultimately inhibit their ability to do business. Simiarly, there is a sense that existing tax policies and costly regulatory compliance do little to encourage an environment in which small business can flourish.

3. Access to information: There are three major areas about which small business people want information: capital/loan opportunities; business opportunities; and existing and new government regulations.

   Issues

   Capital formation: Access to capital is the most pressing concern of conference participants. Small business people are frustrated with the complexity of applying for loans/funding, the scarcity of capital, and...