May 2008 | Silicon Valley San Jose Chapter Bulletin

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CalCPA NEWS

CPA Day at the Capitol

Help legislators understand key issues facing California CPAs including the importance of CPA mobility and achieving substantial equivalency in our state. California is a part of a national effort to remove unnecessary barriers to providing services across state lines, which is unjustly costly to the clients of CPAs and may in fact interfere with consumer choice.
   The connections you make will prove to be crucial in educating legislators and their staff before they vote on issues important to you as a California CPA.
   You will establish meaningful relationships that ultimately will create a more favorable business environment for CPAs throughout California.
Date: Tuesday, May 13
Time: 9:30 a.m./registration; 10–11 a.m./issues briefing; 11 a.m.–3 p.m./appointments with legislators; 3:30–4 p.m./debrief
Location: Sheraton Grand Sacramento; Sacramento
RSVP: Online

 

CHAPTER EVENTS

Silicon Valley Forum: 2008 Asia Business Forum

China has become one of the fastest-growing markets in the past decade, and an increasing number of U.S.-based companies have established significant manufacturing and sales operations within the country.
   Our 2008 Asia Business forum will explore economic, accounting, tax, legal and cultural issues that are important to U.S. companies considering or already establishing a presence in China.
   This event is co-hosted by CalCPA’s Peninsula Silicon Valley and Silicon Valley San Jose chapters in association with Ascend and the South Bay Chapter of the Haas Alumni Network. It is sponsored by Deloitte LLP, Morrison & Foerster and United Commercial Bank.
Keynote Speaker: Paul Tiffany, Ph.D. and senior lecturer, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley
Date: Saturday, May 17
Time: 10 a.m.–2:30 p.m.
Location: Sun Microsystems Auditorium; Santa Clara
CPE: 4.5 hours
Cost: $50/CalCPA, Ascend and Haas alumni members; $75/nonmembers
RSVP: Online

SVSJ Attorneys, Bankers & CPAs Springfest

Join us for one of our most popular networking events. This spring, History Park will buzz with more than 300 attorneys, bankers and CPAs for an evening of delicious hors d’oeuvres and profitable conversation.
   With 27 original and reproduction homes, businesses and landmarks, History Park highlights Santa Clara Valley’s past—complete with running trolleys for your pleasure and entertainment.
Date: Tuesday, May 20
Time: 4:30–7:30 p.m.
Location: History Park; 1650 Senter Road; San Jose
Cost: $45/per person ($55 at the door)
RSVP: Online

New Member Orientation

Time: 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. (preceding ABC Springfest)
Location: Meet in Conference Room  
RSVP: Online

Silicon Valley Forum Workshop

Topic: Fixed Asset Clean--up and Your Options for Form 571L Reporting
Speakers: Shannan Posluszny and Mark Ong, Thompson Tax & Associates, LLP
Date: Wednesday, May 21
Time: 7:30–9 a.m.
Location: Ramada Silicon Valley; 1217 Wildwood Ave.; Sunnyvale
CPE: 1.5 hours
Cost: $15/members; $20/nonmembers
RSVP: Online

Tax Interest Committee Meeting

Topic: International Expansion: Tax Opportunities and Pitfalls, Part 2
Speakers: Doug W. Wright, U.S. Tax Advantage, LLC.
Date: Wednesday, May 21
Time: Noon–1:30 p.m.
Location: Bella Mia Restaurant; 58 S. First St.; San Jose
Cost: $30/members; $15/student and candidate members; $35/ nonmembers ($5 additional at the door)
RSVP: Online
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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

A New Beginning

By David Veyna, CPA

May has always been one of my favorite months of the year. Winter, with its rain and cold (for California), has ended, and we are squarely into spring with flowers blooming, trees leafing and lawns turning bright green again. As professionals, May is the start of a new season for many of us. Our busiest season is behind us, and we start to look forward to next year.
   This past year we enjoyed the wonderful leadership of Roger Laux, the continuing growth of our Young & Emerging Professionals group led by Natalie Quan and the strong commitment and dedication of all our officers, board members and committee leaders. Sadly we will bid farewell to both Elizabeth Flores as our Personal Financial Planning Committee chair and Ilene Eisen, who is stepping down after being our Monterey Technology Discussion Group chair for most of a decade. Both have unselfishly shared their knowledge and experience and given of their personal time to help enlighten us and advance our careers.
   I would like to welcome Jeffrey Ford, who is our newest board member; Mike Lorilla, who will head up the Santa Cruz Discussion group; and Philip Hulme, who will take over as the chapter’s new Personal Financial Planning Committee chair.
   We start off this year with some great events. Thursday, May 9 will be the 2008 Young & Emerging Professional Conference in San Francisco. This event is geared toward members who are starting their careers, but also provides a lot of insight and information to those of us who may not be so young.
   Tuesday, May 13 is CPA Day at the Capitol. One of the greatest benefits we can give to our members and our profession is to provide our input into the legislative process that affects us all.
   And Tuesday, May 20 is our Attorneys, Bankers and CPAs Springfest. For those of you who have not attended one of these events, you are missing out. I encourage you to take this chance to get together with friends and colleagues and develop some new contacts. Preceding the ABC event, we will hold our new-member orientation, an opportunity for our newest members, or those looking for a refresher, to learn more about our chapter and CalCPA and to meet some of our chapter leaders. Contact program associate Stephanie Stewart for more details or register online.
   I look forward to serving as your new president and promoting CalCPA as a resource for contributing to the success of our members.
— David Veyna, CPA
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CHAPTER NEWS

Meet the Board: Carol Wagner

“The best job I ever had and the worst job I ever had were both in public accounting,” says chapter board member Carol Wagner, a principal at Abbott, Stringham & Lynch, where she oversees the audit and accounting department. “I’m lucky because the worst was pretty good. The people you get to work with can make all the difference.”
   A career as a CPA seemed like a natural choice for Wagner as there are several CPAs in her family. Still, “in high school, I wanted to become an English teacher,” she says. “My dad, who was a career educator, advised against it, saying there was no money in teaching.” So Wagner majored in accounting at Lubbock Christian University. Her first job out of college was as a staff auditor with KPMG Peat Marwick.
   She enjoys volunteering at her church’s children’s programs, and says her family is the most important thing in her life. “Seeing my children grow up to become independent and responsible adults has always been my No. 1 goal.”

Is Technology Your Forte?

While some of us barely know how to operate the on/off button on our computer, others flourish by exploring the fascinating world of technology. As the accounting profession surges forward with faster and more efficient ways to process and analyze data, we need a fearless leader to pave the way. If you are that person, contact chapter program associate Stephanie Stewart to discuss starting a Technology Interest Group in your area.

Santa Cruz Discussion Group: We Need You!

We are excited to announce the start of a discussion group that will serve our members in the Santa Cruz area. Among his other ideas, chair Mike Lorilla from UC Santa Cruz has plans for a quarterly speaker series and would welcome members to join him on a steering committee to plan this group’s future. If you are up for this engaging challenge, e-mail Mike.

In Memoriam: Professor Donald Roark

Dr. Don Roark died April 1, 2008. He was 87.
   Dr. Roark was a professor of accounting and finance at San Jose State University for 33 years and was the principal tax class instructor for the bachelor of science in Business Administration Program for many years.
   Michael Gray, former CalCPA Silicon Valley San Jose Chapter president, took both the individual and business tax classes taught by Dr. Roark and says, “Dr. Roark was a very engaging and supportive professor with a gentle sense of humor—one of my favorite and most admired teachers.
   “His knowledge of the tax law was phenomenal. He crammed an enormous amount of material into a semester. With the preparation I received in Dr. Roark's class, I pursued a public accounting career in taxation.”
   Dr. Roark and professors like him inspire students to pursue careers in public accounting. To encourage others to follow in his footsteps, CalCPA and the AICPA have scholarship programs to help individuals who are interested in pursuing Ph.D.s in accounting and becoming accounting professors.

New Members

On behalf of the Silicon Valley San Jose Chapter’s officers, directors and members, we extend our warmest of welcomes to our new members:

Licensed CPAs
Thomas Crotty, CBIZ Accounting Tax & Advisory Svcs
Astrid Eichner-Sato, Ernst & Young LLP
Andrew Housley, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Elizabeth Jenkins, San Jose State University
Sarvesh Mathur, Ernst & Young LLP
Ralph Pepper 
Robert Shepherd, UC Santa Cruz
Karen Tyler, Ernst & Young LLP

Candidate Members
Allison Bagley, Hutchinson and Bloodgood LLP
Nicole Bennett, Vasona Financial & Tax Services
Gordon Brooks 
Jeffrey Grabow, Ernst & Young LLP
Kyungsoo Ha, Jeffrey J Lee CPA
Kristen Laubscher, Symantec Corporation
Elise Levine, Grant Thornton LLP
Chia Fui Liau, Seiler LLP
Carrie McBride, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Keanolani Noa, Petrinovich Pugh & Co LLP
Celso Vianna, Ernst & Young LLP
Linda Wilczewski, Allied Waste Services Inc

Candidate Members Converted to Licensed CPAs
Charlotte Chang, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Vaishali Dhamankar 
Varsha Gupta, International Game Technology
Dana Ingols, Frank, Rimerman + Co. LLP
Michael Johnson, Abbott Stringham & Lynch
Michael Jurewicz, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Yang Li, Abbott Stringham & Lynch
Nicole Nadvornik, CresaPartners
Adrianne Phillips, Vavrinek Trine Day & Co LLP
Joy Upalakalin, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP
Ravindra Vora 
Jennifer Windmueller, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Mei Yang, Fannie Mae

Student Members
Dhiren Mistry, San Jose State University
Long Nguyen 

Member Anniversaries

One–Five Years
John Advani, Beverly Amora, Stanley Anders, Julie Babcock, Robert Bengiveno, M Christina Bitong, Alan Black, Gregory Blanton, Anna Brunelle, Andrew Buckingham, Scott Butcher, Beth Carr, Bonaventura Cavaliere, E. Patricia Chantler, Somya Chauhan, Emily Chen, Yih-Ping Chin, Ruchi Chopra, Sarah Davis, Rebecca Dering, Vaishali Dhamankar, Jerry Dimaggio, Edna D'Souza, Caroline Eades, Robert Eulau, Yan Fong, Nobuko Fujita, Aimee Garcia, Constance Glosser, Jonathan Gochoco, Varsha Gupta, Al Guzman, Oksana Haidinyak, Prasad Hanchate, Paul Hancock, Lea Headley, Alexander Ho, Hidehiro Hosotani, John Houston, Rong Hu, Christina Hua, Michael Hubbard, Charles Ikekwere, Horace Ingraham, Stephen Johnston, Anuradha Joshi, Oleg Katkov, Christopher Keller, Stayce Kneebone, Shuichi Kurosaki, Nicholas Labao, Andrea LaCroix, Theresa Lam, Anna Lau, Joyce Lee, Emory Lee, Christopher Lee, Bing Li, Huizhuo Liu, Paula Lo, Linda Luu, Ana Lykken, Jonathan Martin, Marcia McIntyre, Michael Mohr, Amy Parker, Tejal Patel, Angelo Pezzoni, Ivan Pham, Jacqueline Phan, Natalie Quan, Gabriel Rodriguez, Timothy Scott, Michael Seifert, Kathleen Sercia, Mannen Shah, Lixiang Shu, Lori Silver, James Stevens, Meng-Lin Sung, Clarice Tam, Jamie Tan, Jim Tombor, Ching-wen Tung, Winie Tunggono, Julie Valenzuela, Ekaterina Vishnevskaya, Bichmy Vo, Xinyi Wang, Cecil Webb, Janet Williams, Darryl Wong, Aaron Wyse, Eileen Yoon, Roger Yost, Suzanne Yusuf, Yifan Zhang

Six–10 Years
Lori Adam, Tiffany Bay, Harpreet Chaudhary, Ming-Wai Chung, Candace Curtis, Paul Higo, Misty Ho, Mark Leavitt, Ada Lee, Emilie Lind, Chingting Liu, Carrie Lo, William Loveless, Holly Newman, Robin Praeger, Jennifer Riva-Kirk, Nicholle Rock, Karen Semingson, Coy Tran, Valerie Vasquez, Hsiuyang Yu

11–15 Years
Khorshed Alam, Timothy Allen, Cheri Boileau, Margaret Brady, Amrik Chand, T. Patricia Cripe, Sheba Dalaney, Hugo De La Torre, Melonee Hawkins, Kenny Kirk, Judith Lofink, Susan Minuth, Junko Miyata-Harriss, Amanda Oakson, Patricia Pruitt, Mathew Soares, Gregory Steinbis, Josephine Tsou, Le-Chung Yen

16–20 Years
Janice Becker, Timothy Bergholz, Roger Borzini, Jeffrey Calvello, Yen-Chen Chang, James Lynch, Marlene Macek, Michael Myhre, Joseph Niemann, Gordon Ostrem, Larry Phillips, Jeanette Russell, Rajiv Shenoy, Michael Stennes

21–30 Years
James Babcock, Donald Barkofsky, Christine Csubak, Charles Doglione, Jeffrey Froshman, Matthew Hale, Mark Hawkins, Pamela Hedblad, Joan Helm, William Ivison, David Maginnis, Joseph Maglione, Stephen Mangelsen, Leslie Murdock, Deborah Owen, Marc Parkinson, Robert Piini, Robert Raffo, Philip Robinett, Frederick Storek, Betty Tucker

31–40 Years
Dennis Armstrong, Harvey Armstrong, James Brookshire Jr., William Brown, James Camp, Kenneth Christian, Timothy Conley, Alan Cosseboom, Helen Danna, Suzanne Escola, Dennis Forest, Richard Frindt, Rudolph Hansen, Jerry Haushalter, Howard Hildreth, Richard Jones, William Lewis, Robert Martin, Betty Mayen, Terrence McCarthy, John Michaelson, Mila Murphy, Gerald Ray, Cecil Robbins Jr., David Seeba, Kent Stephens, Martha Stocker, Robert Stringham, George Uccelli, Alan Werba, S. Noreene Wilson, John Worden, Donald Young

More than 40 Years
George Delucchi, Jack Kazanjian, Robert Lanz, Kevin Loney, Charles Mahler, Ernest Patterson, Attilio Ruggiero, J. Ben Vernazza

CalCPA NEWS

Rising CPAs, Networking

CalCPA’s 2008 Young and Emerging Professionals Conference will provide an overview of what’s on the horizon for young CPAs, tips on becoming the “most trusted adviser” and feature keynote speaker Christopher Gardner, who will discuss his strategy for defining, finding and attaining success and focus.
   Other topics will include networking, creating a business image and learning the ins and outs of communications. And new this year will be a look at the do’s and don’ts of CPA fashion.
   The conference will take place May 7 in Los Angeles and May 9 in San Francisco.
   Register online.

RESOURCES:

Silicon Valley San Jose Chapter Leadership