I hope you have had a successful and productive tax season and are able to take a well-needed rest in the days ahead. As my tenure as NAEA president draws to a close, I want to express my deep appreciation for the privilege and honor of serving you. This has been an exciting year filled with many challenges. From my perspective, potentially the most significant impact on our profession and our association will come from the circumstances surrounding the regulation and oversight of paid preparers.

In high level meetings between NAEA and IRS officials, discussions centered on the changing landscape for the taxation industry, specifically, the new category and oversight of the Registered Tax Return Preparer. Although NAEA was not mandated to do so, IRS leadership strongly suggested that we take this opportunity to consider changing the designation "enrolled agent" to a name that could be more easily recognized by the general public and clearly describe the exceptional skills demonstrated by our practitioners and our special status under law. We would be totally remiss if we did not take this opportunity for consideration, and fully investigate the advantages and disadvantages that a name change would have on the profession, now and in the future.

This is not an issue the Board takes lightly. We know that our profession has proudly borne the enrolled agent name since the Civil War, and that NAEA members and non-member EAs have tremendous investments of time and money in the designation. However, it has been a constant struggle to build name recognition for enrolled agents due, in majority, to the non-descriptive name. In a member needs survey taken in the fall of 2008, nearly 96% of our members stated that elevating the profession in the minds of the taxpaying public was a primary consideration.

As a membership organization we have gone to great lengths to include our members in every step of the process of researching the name change option. In June of last year we polled NAEA members to obtain their opinions on a name change. However, the highest rated descriptor selected by our members, "certified," was summarily dismissed by IRS leaders. At the 2010 Annual Meeting, a town hall assembly was held by the Board to hear member comments on the name issue. Because of NAEA's commitment to make a decision with the best possible research and knowledge, the Board engaged a national market research firm, Avenue M, with substantial experience dealing with similar issues within the association community.

Avenue M conducted a survey of the general public using methods employed by major pollsters such as Gallup and Harris. They were able to select taxpayers from forty-four states with approximately equal gender participation. The major objectives were to evaluate the term "registered tax return preparer" against the term "enrolled agent," and to describe the work performed by EAs and ask the public to choose terms that best describe the profession. The results of that poll reflect a 97% level of confidence with the findings, with +/- 3% margin of error. One important finding that was shared at the November Affiliate Presidents Exchange and at the NAEA Board meeting was that 87% of the taxpaying public has never heard of the term enrolled agent nor do they have any idea of what those in the profession do.

In addition to the consumer analysis, in early January, 2011, an electronic survey on the possible name change was sent to all NAEA members with a valid email address on record. The survey was open from January 6th to 21st, in order to beat the tax time rush. Out of over 10,000 polled, Avenue M received an unprecedented response rate of 46%. That exceptionally strong response rate relates to a statistically significant confidence interval of 99.5%, with a margin of error of +/- 1.5% in that segment of the market research.

To gain access to the results of both the consumer and membership survey findings, you may follow this link to our website and log in using your NAEA user name and password. Because this survey contains proprietary information, I ask that you not share this information outside the NAEA membership.

On April 30, the Board will vote whether or not NAEA will recommend to IRS the adoption of a more descriptive name for the EA profession. The final determination will rest with the IRS. A major challenge for the Board, in this extremely important and difficult decision, is to jointly consider the impact a name change would have on today's practitioners as well as future practitioners. Additional time has been allocated to discuss this important issue. As always, Board meetings are open to all NAEA members and we hope that as many as possible will attend and weigh in on this vital issue.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter. If you have any comments or questions please feel free to contact me at ginajonesea@bellsouth.net, or NAEA Executive Vice President Mike Nelson at mnelson@naea.org.

Sincerely,
Gina Jones, EA
NAEA President

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