January 2008 | Inland Empire Chapter Bulletin

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CHAPTER EVENTS

Finding and Evaluating Frauds: A Case Study Approach

Gain an understanding of how frauds are perpetrated; understand the economic impact of fraud on American businesses; develop procedures to reduce the risk of fraud; increase your sensitivity to situations that are susceptible to fraud; and find out what to do if you uncover a fraud.

Speaker: Stephen N. Getzoff, CPA, CFE, president of Business Fraud Detection Services and partner with Clumeck, Stern, Schenkelberg, and Getzoff
Date: Friday, Jan. 18
Time: 8 a.m./registration; 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m./program
Location: Canyon Crest Country Club; Riverside
Cost: $125/members; $180/nonmembers
CPE: 8 hours
RSVP: Online

Excel in Excel

This three-hour seminar will provide an understanding of Excel’s important features that will help you and your team work smarter and faster. The 2003 version of Excel (which is also applicable to earlier versions) will be utilized during this seminar.

Date: Tuesday, Jan. 22
Time: 3:30–7:30 p.m.
Location: Magic Lamp Inn; Rancho Cucamonga
Cost: $45/members, $60/nonmembers; $23/students
RSVP: Online

 

SAVE THE DATES

Board of Directors Meeting

Date: Monday, Jan. 7
Time: 7:30–9:30 a.m.
Location: Mission Inn; Riverside
RSVP: Online

Past Presidents' Breakfast

Date: Tuesday, Jan. 29
Time: 8–10 a.m.
Location: Mission Inn; Riverside
RSVP: Online
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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Happy New Year!

By Renee H. Miller, CPA

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday break and had a chance to spend time with family, friends and colleagues.
   In December, CalCPA’s Accounting Education Committee held a roundtable discussion that included about 10 faculty members from many community colleges and universities in the Inland Empire and surrounding areas, as well as the 21 committee members. Over a three-hour period, we explored challenges in teaching accounting and how CalCPA can best work with educators to further advance the accounting profession.
   We were also presented with an update on the status of the 150-hour requirement. Former CalCPA Chair Hal Schultz talked about the future educational requirement changes for CPA licensing. California is only one of five states in which the 150-hour education requirement has not yet been enacted. The other states include Colorado, Vermont, New Hampshire and Delaware.
   California has two pathways to CPA license. Pathway 1 requires a bachelor’s degree with 24 units of accounting and 24 units in business. In contrast, Pathway 2 requires candidates to complete 150 hours of college credit—which oftentimes translates into undertaking graduate studies. Effective 2012, Pathway 1 may be eliminated, which would make California a substantially equivalent state for purposes of mobility.
   CalCPA CEO Loretta Doon was also at the meeting and discussed student-related issues and reminded us that first-year membership with CalCPA is free for candidate members. Candidate members are those who have a bachelor’s degree, are pursuing one of the CBA’s pathways to licensure and have never been licensed as a CPA.
   We also heard from Kay Phelan, executive director of the California CPA Education Foundation, who highlighted needs in the area of instruction and course development. She said there is an increasing need for CPAs with teaching experience and interest in developing courses.
   John Angelo, CalCPA’s division director of strategic relations and part of the CalCPA Executive Management Team, talked about opportunities for students to list their résumés on CalCPA’s website and provided an update on the Young and Emerging Professionals (YEP) conference. Several of my students attended the conference last year and spoke very highly of its value to them.
   All 14 CalCPA chapters have a YEP committee. Here in the Inland Empire, chapter board member Patrick Cabildo is chair of our YEP committee. In November, Patrick hosted roundtable discussions to give young and emerging professionals an opportunity to discuss their views on the accounting profession, career issues and leadership development. Although these discussions were open to all members, the target participants were individuals with up to five years of work experience and upper level accounting students. The buzz has been that these discussions were very worthwhile for attendees.
   For our chapter lunch meeting on taxation in early December, the holiday spirit was all around us. Our venue was the Mission Inn in Riverside, which was beautifully decorated for the season.
   During lunch, several individuals were acknowledged and awards were presented. Four chapter members reached the 40-year membership milestone in 2007: Larry Garrett, Lloyd Brown, John McCallum and James Cho! The recipient of the Distinguished Service Award was presented to James C. Counts for his service to the CPA profession. James is a former chair of our chapter’s Committee on Taxation, a long-standing member of CalCPA’s Committee on Taxation and has a long list of accomplishments in service to the profession.
   Also during the event, I was proud and appreciative to have been awarded the chapter’s Public Service Award. A very big thanks to Johanna Sweaney Salt, who nominated me, and all those who voted!
   Following the awards, we had two excellent speakers: Jim Bone, western region state and local tax partner with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and Kip Dellinger, who is with Kallman & Co. and is a member of the CalCPA Committee on Taxation and AICPA Tax Practice Responsibility Committee.
   Later this month, we have two CPE events that you will not want to miss! We will have an eight-hour CPE event on Finding and Evaluating Frauds: A Case Study Approach Friday, Jan. 18. Our instructor will be Stephen N. Getzoff, CPA, CFE, president of Business Fraud Detection Services and partner in Clumeck, Stern, Schenkelberg, and Getzoff. He has more than 30 years of experience in this area.
   Then our chapter's CPE/dinner meeting will be held Tuesday, Jan. 22, where we will discuss technology. We are very excited about the return of Eric Augusta, an Excel expert who made a wonderful presentation at our November chapter meeting on Excel applications he developed for clients. For the January meeting, Eric will be teaching us many useful features of Excel for the intermediate to advanced user.
   We look forward to seeing you at these upcoming CPE events. Signing up is easy—you can do it all online at the CalCPA website.
   Good wishes to you for a very happy and healthy 2008!
   Respectfully,
—Renee H. Miller, CPA
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CHAPTER NEWS

New Members

On behalf of the Inland Empire Chapter’s officers, directors and members, we extend our warmest of welcomes to our new members: Rene Casillas, Francis Bernal, Natasha Demirjian... [see all new members]

Awards and Recognitions [Photos]

Congratulations to the following members, who were honored as 40-year members: Lloyd Brown, James C. Cho, Larry K. Garrett, Michael G. Hilliard and John McCallum.
   And congratulations to this year’s Distinguished Service Award Recipient James C. Counts II and Public Service Award recipient Renee Miller.

Bulletin Deadlines

Keep these due dates in mind if there is something you’d like to publish in the Bulletin. E-mail information to program associate Monica Thompson.

February issue: Jan. 9
March issue: Feb. 8
April issue: March 7

Golf Tournament

Mark you calendars now for the next Inland Empire Golf Tournament, to be held Monday, May 19 at the Greg Norman Course at PGA West in La Quinta.
   We have the opportunity to play a premier course during prime season at a great price—$175 per person, which includes lunch, dinner, carts, practice range, special contests, prizes, drinks, refreshments and more. Be prepared to take advantage of this great deal and get your foursome together now. Look for more details in future Bulletins.
   For sponsorship information, e-mail Monica Thompson or call (951) 242-7558.
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CalCPA NEWS

Find a CPA: Update Your Profile and Make Yourself Known

Have you moved recently? Changed contact information? Then be sure to update your records online. And while you’re there, take advantage of the opportunity to increase your visibility and show your expertise to the world by listing or updating your information in Find a CPA—CalCPA’s exclusive database of California financial experts.
   Find a CPA receives thousands of views each month, making it one of CalCPA.org’s most visited web pages.
   Don’t be left out. Update your profile today.
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RESOURCES:

Inland Empire Chapter Leadership