Approaching 15th year, The Business Institute continues growth, service to region

Since 2001, the SUNY New Paltz School of Business has offered a range of services to Hudson Valley entrepreneurs through The Business Institute, which draws on the efforts and expertise of students and faculty to provide training, continuing education, research and business advising.

“The original concept of The Business Institute was to link faculty, students and the business community,” said A. Rief Kanan, director of The Business Institute. “Over the years that has enabled it to emerge as a great tool for outreach in furtherance of the College’s objective of engaging with the community.”

For years the flagship service offered by The Business Institute has been the Tax Practitioner Institute, a Continuing Professional Education (CPE) program for Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), Enrolled Agents (EAs) and others. The next convening of the Tax Practitioner Institute will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 1 from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. in SUB 62/63. Attendees will earn eight CPE credits on compliance. Advance registration is $125 and includes breakfast and lunch.

The Tax Practitioner Institute connects local tax prep professionals with representatives from the IRS and NYS Department of Taxation & Finance, keeping them up to speed on changes to the tax code and helping them meet industry requirements for professional development.

“Many working professionals have requirements for a certain number of continuing education hours to keep up their credentials,” Kanan said. “We focus on that as an area of value for practitioners.”

A new partnership between The Business Institute and John Wiley & Sons, Inc., a major publisher of textbooks and certification exam preparation guides, is now enabling the School of Business to provide similar support to local residents who have not yet earned certification (a group that includes many New Paltz students and recent graduates).

These aspiring CPAs can take advantage of discounted rates on Wiley’s “CPAexcel” product, a collection of materials and study tools for the Uniform CPA Examination. Purchasing through The Business Institute also provides access to a suite of live CPA test-prep courses, taught by experienced School of Business faculty and structured cyclically to address each of the four main content areas covered on the test.

In addition to these educational resources, The Business Institute has made strides to offer a unique array of support services to local companies and organizations, including market research, strategic planning, executive coaching and general business consulting. In many of these areas there are opportunities for School of Business students to get real-world experience fulfilling the needs of businesses that contract with the Institute.

“We’ve had success in areas like market research, where businesses need people to execute questionnaires and conduct research,” said Kanan. “That’s a great opportunity for students to learn on the job and forge valuable connections with local business owners and executives.”

The Business Institute is chartered under the SUNY Research Foundation.

More information about The Business Institute and how to register to receive services is available online.