July 2006
In This Issue:President's Message: New Goals
Chapter News
Chapter Committees—An Opportunity for Leadership
Calling All Golfers (and Sponsors)
Aiding the Profession’s Future
Other Events of Interest
Government A&A CPE Series 2006
CompassPoint’s 19th Annual Nonprofit Day Conference
California CPA Education Foundation Conferences in San Francisco
View all Peninsula Silicon Valley Chapter Events
California CPA Education Foundation CPE in the Peninsula Silicon Valley Chapter
Committee Meetings
MAP Committee
Litigation/Business Valuation
Nonprofit Interest Group
Estate & Trust Committee
Taxation Committee
CalCPA News
Register Online
A&A Answerline
Resources
President’s Message
New Goals
By John Ying, CPA
There is a saying from Theodore Hesburgh, “If it is to be, it is up to me.”
Dear Colleagues,
Please welcome all the most recent new members who have joined our chapter:
Licensed Members
Tracy Chan, C G Uhlenberg LLP
Jason Cheng, C G Uhlenberg LLP
Aletha Coleman, Aletha Leong Coleman, CPA
Rebecca Colman, Burr Pilger & Mayer LLP
Carl Dommeyer, Burr Pilger & Mayer LLP
Julie Dull, Visa International
Julieta Guenley, Julieta Guenley CPA
Dino Kachhi
Clarence Yip, Cisco Systems, Inc.
Ying Courtney Zhang, C G Uhlenberg LLP
Candidate Members
Hicham Ait Belhoucine
Leonore Andreae, Seiler & Company LLP
Catherine Chang, Facebook Inc
Marvin Chee
Melissa McConnell
Hani Qaddoura
Jenny Ren, Mah & Associates LLP
Brian Yoshino, Symantec
Associate Member
Christopher Park, Washington Mutual Bank
Student Member
Mary Jane Narron
Candidate Members Converted to Licensed CPAs
Edward Lam, Morton & Associates
James Wheat, Asyst Technologies, Inc.
Jennifer Zabel, Brown Adams LLP
CalCPA’s bylaws require 1,000 licensed members for our chapter to have three seats on the CalCPA Council. Because we are short 60 licensed CPA members, our chapter can send only two members to the CalCPA Council meetings. Hence, membership recruitment is one of our top priorities for the coming year.
Former chapter president Roger Stroud has been nominated to champion this task and I am confident that he will be effective in recruiting new chapter members. That said, all of us should chip in and support him. I ask all our officers, directors, committee chairs and members to try to bring in one new member this year. There is always strength in numbers and unity.
Young and Emerging Professionals
CalCPA has announced plans for a conference in 2007 specifically targeting this member segment. If you have ideas or suggestions for this event, let me know so that Sharon Selleck and I can pass them on to the CalCPA Council later this month. Parisa Nesva Derani is chair of our chapter’s new Emerging Professionals Interest Group and has many ideas for fun events, such as a World Cup soccer no-host social and a repeat of last year’s Tour de Peninsula bike ride. If you have suggestions for this group, let her or the officers know.
Business and Industry Group
David Sacarelos will continue to co-chair the Silicon Valley Forum with Bill Lewis of the Silicon Valley San Jose Chapter. With the help of other committee members, such as Mike Thompson, they will plan bi-monthly breakfast workshops covering hot topics of interest to our industry members in both chapters.
To complete these projects, David and Bill are looking for new SVF committee members, so your board and I urge every member to pitch in and help. We welcome all your suggestions and ideas.
Also, since we are part of the global economy, Audrey Szutu and Marianne Zhen will promote international business issues and events to draw a diverse group of members. Audrey and I attended the launch of the National Asian American Society of Accountants May 18. We met with its president, Anna Mok, from Deloitte, and other officers. We felt the energy of a very young and enthusiastic group. The three of us also discussed the possibility of future joint projects.
Ask yourself what you can contribute to our chapter and contact the committee chairs with your ideas. You can find their contact information at www.calcpa.org/PEN/Committees.htm:
Dennis Young: Accounting Education
Marianne Kristofferson: Accounting Principles & Auditing Standards
Parisa Nesva Derani: Emerging Professionals
Vivek Kumar: Entertainment Focus Group
Carol Ach: Estate & Fiduciary Taxes
Leonard Williams: Governmental Relations
Marianne Zhen & Audrey Szutu: International Business
Brian Sullivan: Litigation/Business Valuation
Mary Jo Murphy: Management Consulting Services
Tim McCrone: Management of an Accounting Practice
Jerry Nightingale: Media Relations
Roger Stroud: Membership
Laarni von Ruden: Nonprofit & Financial Literacy
James Knight: Personal Financial Planning
Sharon Selleck: Scholarship & Programs
David Sacarelos: Silicon Valley Forum
Mitra Ehsanipour: Taxation
Michael Thompson: Technology
In closing, CalCPA CEO Loretta Doon discussed pending state legislation affecting the profession at our board installation meeting. She shared war stories and spoke of the recent election to the state Assembly of CalCPA member Fiona Ma, who may be a keynote speaker at the next CalCPA Council meeting. CalCPA needs to be proactive rather than reactive in dealing with our legislators, so please get involved. Have a great year!
Best regards,
John Ying, CPA
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Chapter News
Which chapter interest groups and committees are relevant to your practice? Sign up and let us know. There’s no obligation; it just means that you’ll receive meeting notices for the group. And it could be your first step on the path to CalCPA leadership positions.
For more information, visit www.calcpa.org/PEN.
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Calling All Golfers (and Sponsors)
The Peninsula Silicon Valley Chapter is co-sponsoring this Sept. 25 golf tournament at Harding Park Golf Course with the San Francisco and East Bay chapters to benefit all of our scholarship funds.
Players of all levels are welcome to this scramble-format tournament. Download a registration form [PDF].
We’re also in need of sponsors and raffle prizes. Last year, our chapter gave out $10,000 in scholarships and we’d like to do the same again. Download sponsorship information [PDF].
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Aiding the Profession’s Future [PDF]
Our chapter will give out scholarship awards in November, so please consider making a donation to our scholarship fund. Students are graduating from college with ever-increasing loan burdens, while others simply can’t afford to stay in school and complete their professional training.
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Other Events of Interest
This event is sponsored by the CalCPA Fresno Chapter Government A&A Committee
Topic:Intermediate/Advanced Governmental Accounting; Auditing & Reporting
Date: Thursday, July 27
Location: Bakersfield
CPE: 8 hours (government accounting, A&A or Yellow Book)
Topic:Generally Accepted Auditing Standards–New Standards for a New Day
Date: Friday, July 28
Location: Fresno
CPE: 8 hours (government accounting, A&A or Yellow Book)
Topic:SAS 99 and Fraud Auditing: What You Don’t Know WILL Hurt You
Date: Thursday, Aug. 10
Location: Visalia
CPE: 8 hours (A&A or fraud)
RSVP:www.calcpa.org/FRS
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CompassPoint’s 19th Annual Nonprofit Day Conference
A professional development event with 36 workshops for nonprofit staff, boards and volunteers.
Date: Tuesday, July 11
Location: Westin St. Francis; San Francisco
Info:www.compasspoint.org/conferences
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California CPA Education Foundation Conferences in San Francisco
Date: Tuesday, July 11: Management of an Accounting Practice Conference
Date: Wednesday, July 19: Estate Planning Conference
RSVP:www.educationfoundation.org
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Committee Meetings
The group will not meet in July. It will resume Aug. 1.
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Litigation/Business Valuation
Topic: Circular 230 Disclosure Issues in Forensic Accounting & BV Engagements
Date: Tuesday, July 11
Time: 8–9:30 a.m.
Location: Offices of Brian Sullivan; 177 Bovet Road, 6th floor; San Mateo
CPE: 1 hour
RSVP:Online or Jane Dunbar, (650) 802-2465 or jane.dunbar@calcpa.org.
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Nonprofit Interest Group
Topic: Creating a Nonprofit Accounting and Procedures Manual for the Small Nonprofit Organization
Date: Wednesday, July 12 (Note: The group is meeting on the second Wednesday of the month, not the first Wednesday as usual.)
Time: 8:30–10 a.m.
Location: Office of Jack Morton; 385 Sherman St., Suite 2; Palo Alto
CPE: 1.5 hours
RSVP: (650) 323-6666 or laarni@lvr.netbox.com.
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Estate & Trust Committee
IRAs and other qualified retirement assets are subject to both Estate and IRD tax upon the death of the participant. Many advisers recommend stretching out the IRA distributions as the solution to this double tax dilemma. There are, however, at least three other planning options that could increase the amount left to the heirs: a Testamentary Charitable Remainder Trust, an Insurance Trust and a Roth Conversion.
This presentation will examine the economics of each solution and offers a present value, apples-to-apples comparison provided by each solution.
Topic: IRD and IRAs—Are SOIRAs the Best Solution?
Speaker: Robert Lew, president, Planning & Financial Advisors, San Francisco
Date: Tuesday, July 18
Time: Noon–1:30 p.m.
Location: MacArthur Park Restaurant; 27 University Ave.; Palo Alto
CPE: 1 hour
Cost: $25/members; $35/nonmembers
RSVP:Online or Jane Dunbar, (650) 802-2465 or jane.dunbar@calcpa.org.
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Taxation Committee
Date: Thursday, July 20
Time: Noon–1:30 p.m.
Location: Hobee’s Restaurant; 1111 Shoreway Road; Belmont
CPE: 1 hour
Cost: $25/members; $35/nonmembers
RSVP:Online or Jane Dunbar, (650) 802-2465 or jane.dunbar@calcpa.org.
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CalCPA News
Register Online
Register and pay for CalCPA events 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Visit CalCPA.org’s Master Calendar to search for CPE and other events by chapter or key word. To explore the possibilities, visit www.calcpa.org/rsvp today.
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A&A Answerline
Dear Answerline,
Are you guys kidding? Eight SASs at one time? Are you trying to put me out of business? What’s wrong with the way I’ve been doing audits all these years? When will this ever end?
Help, Help, Help
Dear Help,
That’s a lot of questions for one letter. First, no, we’re not kidding. Second, although all eight standards, the Statements on Auditing Standards Nos. 104–111 (collectively referred to as the Risk Assessment Standards), have been issued together, they are all not effective until periods beginning on or after Dec. 15, 2006. That’s a year and a half down the road—more than enough time to read them, get some CE on them, study their impact on your audits and discuss any time and billing changes with clients.
With regard to your next two questions, I think these standards are designed to keep you in business, not the opposite. I don’t think it’s necessary to rehash all of the audit failures that have rocked our economy, eliminated a major CPA firm and resulted in many lawsuits against CPA firms. Gaining a greater understanding of your clients and the environment in which they operate might even make your work more enjoyable. As to your last question, I hope it never ends because, if that day should ever come, it would do away with the thought process that makes this profession what it is.
The A&A Answerline is a free member service that can be accessed at (800) 922-5752, Ext. 2355.
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Resources
Peninsula Silicon Valley Chapter Leadership
Contact Chapter Coordinator Jane Dunbar
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