Due mainly to the efforts of Mr. M. R. (Roy) Beeman, Cleveland Regional Manager, U. S. General Accounting Office, the Cleveland Chapter was founded and granted Chapter number 9 to the Association on March 24, 1954. Mr. Beeman, since retired, served as the first president of the chapter, which had approximately 12 members at that time. The intervening years have been full of ups and downs in both membership and activities. Present membership approximates 70 for which 20 to 30 actively participate in the chapter meetings and other activities such as the Office of Minority Business Enterprise (OMBE) training program.
The history of the Cleveland chapter since the last formal history can be traced most easily by looking at the persons who served as president and the organizations where they worked. Historically the chapter leadership fell upon one or two key organizations. In the late 1970s through the mid-1980s, the General Accounting Office held the key leadership positions. The GAO office started to close in the late 1980s and the City of Cleveland and NASA members took on the job of keeping the chapter alive.
AGA National office seriously considered revoking the charter and the chapter was on the "to be closed" list in the early 1990s. Membership dropped to about 30. However, past presidents, new members from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, and other concerned individuals met on May 26, 1993 to discuss revitalizing the chapter. DFAS took the lead and since 1994 has provided the president for the chapter.
Under the leadership of Alan Bruskin the local chapter has partnered with other local chapters such as the Association of Military Comptrollers (ASMC) and the Ohio Society of CPAs (OSCPA) to conduct conferences that offer CPEs with topic of interest to government offices.
Membership is around 80 and growing, and include employees from DFAS, NASA, the state of Ohio, several counties' government agencies, public universities, city governments and private industry. While most members reside in northeast Ohio, some members stay with the Cleveland Chapter after moving out of state.
A concerted effort is being made to expand the membership to include more state and local professionals and the chapter continues to focus on the issues on which FGOA was founded; service, training, ethics, and professionalism.