September 2007 | Silicon Valley San Jose Chapter Bulletin

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CHAPTER EVENTS

Annual Golf Tournament

September is finally here and we are gearing up for a great day of golf and networking at our annual golf tournament. Whatever your skill level, our four-person scramble format will guarantee an enjoyable day for all. Register as a single player or invite a client, friend or colleague to join in on the fun. A dinner program complete with prizes is included. There are still opportunities to join our rapidly increasing sponsor list. Net proceeds are donated to our chapter’s scholarship fund.
 
Date: Friday, Sept. 21
Time: 11 a.m./registration and box lunch; noon/shotgun start
Location: Coyote Creek Golf Club
Cost: $180/per player (mulligans extra)
RSVP: Online

Bay Area Regional Education (BARE)

Topic: GAAS Audits Under the New Risk Assessment Standards: An Overview
This program is specially designed for CPAs currently involved with audits who are concerned about transitioning from their current approach and applying the new standards.
 
Speakers: Daniel Dangel and Daniel Morris
Date: Friday, Oct. 26
Time: 8 a.m./registration; 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m./program
Location: Holiday Inn, 1740 N. First St.; San Jose
Cost: By Oct. 21: $125/members; $175/nonmembers (after Oct. 21: add $15)
CPE: 8 hours (A&A, fraud)
RSVP: Online or e-mail chapter program associate Stephanie Stewart or call (408) 983-1122

ABC Fallfest

You will not want to miss this opportunity to talk with your attorney, banker and fellow CPA friends and to meet new contacts. This twice a year event always draws several hundred people, so register today.
 
Date: Tuesday, Nov. 13
Time: 4:30 p.m.
Location: The Newly Renovated Sainte Claire Hotel; 302 S. Market St.; San Jose
Cost: $45 (advance registration)
RSVP: Online or e-mail chapter program associate Stephanie Stewart or call (408) 983-1122
Info: Renee Hazel or Howard Loomis, (408) 385-3400

Joint Tax Interest and Estate & Trusts Meeting

Topic: The Scope and Impact of Philanthropy Today
Speakers: Sean Stannard-Stockton, CFA, CAP and Eric DePaepe, CAP
Ensemble Capital Management, LLC
Date/Time: Wednesday, Sept. 19; Noon–1:30pm
Location: Bella Mia Restaurant; 58 S. First St.; San Jose
(validated parking behind the restaurant)
CPE: 1 hour
Cost: $30/members; $15/student and candidate members; $35/nonmembers
($5 additional at the door)
RSVP: Space is limited! Register online or e-mail chapter program associate Stephanie Stewart or call (408) 983-1122

Nonprofit Interest Group

Topic: Revenue Recognition
Speaker: Nicole Letellier, Berger/Lewis AC
Date: Friday, Sept. 21
Time: 7:15–8:45 a.m.
Location: Hobee’s Restaurant; 1875 S. Bascom Ave. (in the Pruneyard Shopping Center); Campbell
Cost: $25/members; $10/student and candidate members; $30/nonmembers
CPE: 1 hour
RSVP: Online or e-mail chapter program associate Stephanie Stewart or call (408) 983-1122

Management of an Accounting Practice Committee Meeting

Please join us for a roundtable discussion highlighting key issues impacting CPA firms.
 
Topic: People, Partners and Productivity
Facilitator: Dan Morris, Morris + D’Angelo
Date: Thursday, Sept. 20
Time: Noon–1:30pm
Location: Bella Mia Restaurant; 58 S. First St.; San Jose (validated parking behind restaurant)
CPE: 1 hour
Cost: $30/members; $15 student and candidate members; $35/nonmembers
($5 additional fee at the door)
RSVP: Online or e-mail chapter program associate Stephanie Stewart or call (408) 983-1122
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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

A Taxing Question

By Roger Laux, CPA

Have you ever noticed that when people find out you are a CPA, they often say, “You must be really good at taxes” and launch an esoteric tax question at you?
   I don’t know how many of you out there deal with or specialize in tax accounting, and I apologize in advance if I offend the tax troops, but I can tell you that I hate preparing tax returns. I have not done my own taxes for a number of years because: 1) I hate preparing tax returns; 2) due to my hate of taxes, I have no inclination or desire to explore the nuances of personal taxes; and 3) (which is probably first) knowing my propensity to procrastinate, having to meet an outside imposed deadline for an appointment with my tax preparer saves me from getting pilloried at home for putting off our own tax return until the last minute.
   I put taxes in the same category as house cleaning. When my wife and I first shared a residence, I announced that I did not expect her to do any house cleaning and I did not intend to do any either. Hence, we hired a house cleaner and amicably resolved the whole issue. I have never regretted going to outside sources all these years for house cleaning—or tax services.
   But getting back to the “if you are a CPA, you must know taxes” theme, I think it is amazing that we CPAs are all painted with the same broad brush. Attorneys, very clearly, winnow down their playing field to areas of specialization: corporate, patents, divorce, real estate, labor law, intellectual property, litigation, etc. This could be why people readily roll over for hefty hourly rates for attorneys, but tend to expect K-Mart pricing from their CPAs.
   I don’t know if we sell ourselves appropriately. If you get a chance for a public forum, I think it is a good idea to take it and get more exposure for both you and the profession in front of the masses. Certainly some of our members, like past chapter presidents Dan Morris and Mike Gray, have been pro-active about reaching out in public venues. So, if you get an opportunity to speak or make a presentation, even if it is in front of a church group or at a high school career day, I think you should jump out of that comfort zone and go get ’em. Then you can fill them in on what CPAs can do and the various tracks that a CPA can take, and that no, you don’t automatically do taxes.
   I think I’ll go read an IRS pronouncement.
   Regards,
–Roger Laux, CPA
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CHAPTER NEWS

Meet the Board: Jim Babcock, CPA, Past President

Ironically, Jim Babcock finds that it isn’t always an accounting issue that causes problems for his clients’ businesses, and he believes his talent to realize this is the most critical skill for being a successful CPA. Regardless, Babcock is a CPA who has respect for “genius people in any profession” and, if given the choice, would cast Warren Buffet to play him in a movie because he’s a “financial genius.”
   Babcock, born in San Diego, was raised in Texas and attended Texas Tech University as an accounting major. He returned to California in 1986. “My cousin, who worked for a Big Four firm, got me interested in accounting in my freshman year in college,” says Babcock. “I have worked for a Big Four firm, as solo practitioner and in industry as a CFO during my career.” He has also worked for CalCPA as the A&A hotline guy, starting the hotline service in 1995. Babcock was the 2006–07 president of the Silicon Valley San Jose Chapter.
   His first career ambition was to be a forest ranger, which makes sense considering his outdoor hands-on work experiences growing up. Working on a farm gave Babcock both his worst and first jobs. His first job was picking cotton and his worst job was as a combine driver during the wheat harvest.
   Babcock, whose hero is Ronald Regan, is a partner at Mayer Hoffman McCann/CBIZ. He is a member of his local Rotary Club and, ideally, would like to be remembered for “supporting people with their life goals.
 

New Discussion Group for Santa Cruz CPAs

If you are interested in leading or hosting a chapter discussion group for local CPAs working or living in Santa Cruz or the surrounding area, please e-mail chapter program associate Stephanie Stewart or call (408) 983-1122.
 

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 CPA

Bob Avila, McCahan, Helfrick, Thiercof & Butera AC CPAs
Redge Bendheim, Redge Bendheim CPA
Parthiv Doshi, KPMG LLP
Ahmad Ejaz, BDO Seidman LLP
Qing Hua, Cisco Systems Inc
Mark Long, Brandon & Tibbs Accountants
Dale Matsuda,
Jeff Mollenhauer, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Steven Morgan, KPMG LLP
Jeanette Porter, McCahan, Helfrick, Thiercof & Butera
Aarti Ratnam, Nvidia Corporation
Wayne Schoene, Hood & Strong LLP CPAs
Yoko Soma, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP
Owen Williams, Ruzzo Scholl & Murphy AC CPAs
Yiu-Wai Wong, Hitachi Data Systems
Juliana Yaung
Piona Yick, Hood & Strong LLP CPAs
Patrick Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Candidate Members

Shireen Aladin, Ernst & Young LLP
Erika Codera, Loomis & Co. LLP CPAs
Michiko Dennis
Shannon Dunn, Johanson & Yau Accountancy Corp
Dominick Guidera, KPMG LLP
Kevin Haller, Lautze & Lautze
Jing Kang, Hood & Strong LLP CPAs
Doh Kim
Anthony King
Fred Kyama
Ivan Makarov, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Rachel Paredes, Frank, Rimerman + Co. LLP
Jennifer Pruett, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Donna Quan, Gilead Sciences Inc.
Gorett Rosa, Johanson & Yau Accountancy Corp
Judith Sandborn
Alpana Shah, Gallina LLP
Jarron Villano, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Urmi Vora
Sam Walker
Min Zhao, Hood & Strong LLP CPAs

Associate Members

Douglas Jones, Mortgage Magic

Candidate Members Converted to Licensed CPAs

Jillian Forusz, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP
Sanqui Rodriguez, Charles E. Mollett, III, A/C

Member Anniversaries

One to Five Years

Vishnu Agrawal, Karen Alexander, Karen Arkley, Gillian Athayde, Khadija Ayub, Donald Carloni, Betty Charles, Pinjing Chen, Arleicka Conley, Jean Corradi, Michelle Doss, Sarah Dryden, Leland Embry, Enrique Flores, Danielle Fontaine, Kendall Fox, Michael Francisco, Jing Gao, Scott Grabau, Ruoqin Gu, Kate Gulbicki, Christina Hancock, Stuart Harmon, Muhammad Haroon, Chienli Huang, Darius Igras, Richard Johnson, Michael Kaplan, Roger Kent, John Kirk, Diane Kolomejec, Carly Lanini, Po Hung Lau, Min Li, Rouyu Loughry, Tracy Lucido, Shannon Marquardt, Jamie Mayeda, Rodney Mayr, Kellan McConnell, Arthur Perez, Sanqui Rodriguez, William Roeschlein, Rome Seifert, David Sheets, Richard Sloniker, Elif Soyarslan, Meredith Strong, Anna Su, Audrey Thorne, Danh Tran, Minh Truong, Joy Upalakalin, Mark Wallace, Richard Waterman, Annie Wu, Elaine Yim, Fan Zhaohui

Six to Ten Years

Lisa Cappelloni, Elizabeth Flores, Carlos Gonzalez, Kerry MacLennan, Teresa McDaniel, Dan Moors, Linda Speicher, Anita Stokes, Frank Teruel, Martina Umierski, Jung-Mei Wang, Yu-Ting Wang, Angela Wong, Wei Hui Zhu

11 to 15 Years

Therese Courtney, David Daggett, William De La Rosa, Kevin Deremigio, John Eicholz, Dana Evan, Gregory Genetti, Willis Hanna, Michael Jones, Marc Kirby, Milan Kojnok, Keith Laton, Phillip Lee, Debra McCall, Janet Moyer, Michael Owen, Judyth Peterson, George Pinto, Stephen Reiss, Uzi Sasson, Kerry Varney, Brenda Woods

16 to 20 Years

Brent Billinger, Edward Chiang, Katherine Hatcher, Tracy Hughes, James Johnson, Joni Kiefer, Stephen Laughlin, Michelle Law, Daren Mays, William McDermott, Karl Metcalf, Stuart Reid, Skip Sutton, William Tamblyn, Steven Thielmann

21 to 30 Years

Gerald Alves, Robert Anthony, John Beck, III, James Butera, Tzu-I Chiu, Armand Cohen, Shazad Contractor, Nancy Cooper, Mark Costantini, Joel Elliott, Jennifer Geranen, John Gibbons, James Grover, Robert Hausen, Michael Healy, Craig Isom, William Kelleher, Michael Kelly, Jr., Kathy Kobata, Carol Kolb, Sam Lazarakis, Melinda Litherland, Mary Liu, Todd Lowenstein, Mark Lyftogt, Michael McAndrews, Mark Milani, Thomas Nitta, Bradley O'Connor, Roger Olafson, Valerie Ornellas, John Pfahnl, Jr., Keith Plottel, Bryan Polster, Thomas Rogers, Richard Rowley, Gordon Rubbo, John Sallee, John Trinta

31 to 40 Years

Jeffery Bastow, Ronald Frye, Gene Gauthier, Joseph Green, II, Tom Hall, Kenneth Hirano, Daniel McNulty, James Murrieta, James Ottinger, Arnold Pahler, Robert Petersen, Mervin Roberts, Jr., Larry Rollins, John Snelham, William Swain, Helen Wang, F. Warren Wayland, Richard Williams, Jeffrey Wriedt

More than 40 Years

Michael Brady, Grace Kagawa, John Luckhardt, Ben Priest, Chester Young
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CalCPA NEWS

Celebrating Women CPAs

Join us for a day of leadership development, professional growth and recognition as we celebrate California’s women CPAs and their tremendous contributions to the profession.
   Attend Celebrating Women CPAs and leave with:

• A clear vision of the ascent of women within the CPA profession;
• Social and professional connections to last a lifetime;
• Action steps to effect social change;
• Keys to excelling as a mentor; and
• Strategies and tactics for managing and resolving conflict.

   Confirmed notable speakers include California Assemblymember and CPA Fiona Ma and Judy Olian, dean of UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.
   Don’t miss this phenomenal event, Friday, Oct. 19, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Century City.
   Register online today or call (800) 922-5272.
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RESOURCES:

Silicon Valley San Jose Chapter Leadership