October 2007 | Silicon Valley San Jose Chapter Bulletin

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CHAPTER EVENTS

AP&AS Committee

Topic: Financial Statements from a Lender’s Point of View
Speaker: Dori Hamilton, Bridge Bank
Date: Tuesday, Oct. 9
Time: 8–9 a.m.
Location: Abbott, Stringham & Lynch; 1550 Leigh Ave.; San Jose
Cost: Free
CPE: 1 hour
RSVP: Online or contact chapter program associate Stephanie Stewart

Upcoming AP&AS meetings:

Topic: Auditing Companies with International Considerations
Date: Tuesday, Nov. 13
 
Topic: IT Risk Assessment in Applying the New SAS Risk Assessment Standards
Date: Tuesday, Dec. 11
 
Topic: Implementing the New SAS Risk Assessment Standards
Date: Tuesday, Jan. 8

Joint meeting of the Tax, PFP and Estate & Trusts Committees–Advising Opportunities: Understanding the Health Insurance Aspect of Health Savings Accounts

Speaker: Susan Shargel, Shargel & Co. Insurance Services
Date: Wednesday, Oct. 17
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)
CPE: 1 hour
RSVP: Online or contact chapter program associate Stephanie Stewart.

Litigation Consulting Services Meeting: IRS Update

At this joint meeting with the Peninsula Silicon Valley Chapter learn about Sec., 6701 penalties; how audit processes work; the best way to resolve disputes; what the IRS looks for in a qualified appraiser; and whether an attorney without a valuation credential can be a qualified appraiser.
 
Speaker: Brenda K. Woolbert, IRS Team Manager for Engineers and Appraisers
Date: Thursday, Oct. 18
Time: Noon–1:30 p.m.
Location: MacArthur Park Restaurant; 27 University Ave.; Palo Alto
CPE: 1 hour
Cost: $30/members; $15/student and candidate members; $35/nonmembers
($5 additional at the door)
RSVP: Online or contact chapter program associate Stephanie Stewart.

Nonprofit Interest Group

Date: Friday, Oct. 19
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 contact chapter program associate Stephanie Stewart.

Monterey Technology Group Webinar

For decades, CPA professionals have had a love-hate relationship with payroll. Find out why CPAs are now embracing payroll as a service for their clients like never before. Discover a solution that may be right for you and your clients.
 
Topic: CPAs Find New Profit in Payroll
Speaker: Kathleen Echeverria
Date: Thursday, Oct. 25
Time: 11 a.m.–Noon
Cost: Free
RSVP: Online

SVSJ Bay Area Regional Education (BARE)

Topic:GAAS Audits Under the New Risk Assessment Standards: An Overview
This program is specially designed for CPAs who are currently involved with audits and concerned about transitioning from their current approach to 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 contact chapter program associate Stephanie Stewart.

Peninsula Silicon Valley BARE Event

Topic: California Taxation for Individuals
Understand how conformity issues affect the 540; learn how to report income/expense of multistate flow through entities; and understand residency requirements and how to prepare the part-year tax return.
 
Speaker: Kathleen K. Wright
Date: Monday, Nov. 5
Time: 8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Location: Crowne Plaza Foster City; 1221 Chess Drive; Foster City
Cost: $140/members; $190/nonmembers
CPE: 6.5 hours MCLE; 8 hours continuing professional education
RSVP: Online or contact Jane Dunbar,  Peninsula Silicon Valley Chapter program associate.

Attorneys, Bankers & CPAs Fallfest

Don't 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: Sainte Claire Hotel; 302 S. Market St.; San Jose
Cost: $45 (advance registration)
RSVP: Online or contact chapter program associate Stephanie Stewart.
Info: Renee Hazel or Howard Loomis, (408) 385-3400.

New Member Orientation

All new chapter members are invited to this new member orientation where you will meet the chapter leaders who make things happen and get an overview of our chapter’s special interest committees. But that’s not all. After the orientation you may attend—for free—our ABC Fallfest (a $45 value). The Attorneys, Bankers and CPAs Fallfest is one of the most popular networking events of the year, drawing more than 300 attorneys, bankers and CPAs.
 
Date: Tuesday, Nov. 13
Time: 3:30–4:30 p.m./new member orientation; 4:30–7:30 p.m./ABC Fallfest
Location: Sainte Claire Hotel; 302 S. Market St.; San Jose
Cost: Free
RSVP: Online or contact chapter program associate Stephanie Stewart.

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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Finding the Middle Ground

By Roger Laux, CPA

I just finished helping a client with a Sarbanes-Oxley Sec. 404 compliance audit and 10-K filing, and let me tell you, I am looking for the pendulum to settle in the middle.
   SOX compliance became law in 2002, primarily as a result of the stockholder devastation caused by the Enron, Tyco and WorldCom fiascos, as well as the general lack of investor confidence in public accounting and reporting practices. As any of you involved with publicly traded companies or companies that intend to go public know, SOX has become a major factor in company resource planning.
   The SOX premise of solid, quantifiable internal controls is basically a good one. Many of the controls are, or should have been, in effect operationally for well-run companies. However, what happened (and this should come as no surprise) was the knee-jerk reaction of SOX, an extremely conservative, highly cautious overkill of SOX compliance application. The CPA firms attesting on SOX compliance leaned to what many companies felt was an excessive interpretation of SOX. I find this understandable since the official directives for SOX compliance were somewhat vague and the penalties to CPA firms for “under-kill” potentially severe.
   Now, after a few years of SOX in practice, it is apparent that the legislation has had a significant impact on the financial and personnel resources of affected companies. Although some of the tenets of SOX are valid and beneficial, compliance is often frustrating and painful.
   The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and the SEC have attempted to tune the effects of SOX with the recent release of Auditing Standard No. 5 (June 12, 2007) and by repeatedly extending compliance deadlines for smaller public companies.
   I suspect, as I suspected four years ago, that it’s going to take five to seven years or so for the Sarbanes-Oxley guidance to swing back and forth and finally settle on a functional middle ground that accomplishes the goals of the original legislation, yet still allows reasonable, ongoing corporate operations.
   In the meantime, “I’m from SOX and I’m here to help you.” (Oh, and the check’s in the mail).
—Roger Laux
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CHAPTER NEWS

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
John Gemetti
Shaun O'Connor, Aviza Technology Inc
Maciej Kurzymski, KPMG LLP
Carrie Whelton, KPMG LLP

Associate Members
Christopher Mok

Anjela Anderson, Johanson & Yau Accountancy Corp
Andrada Anghelescu
Michael Bayer, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Erica Clardy, Blanding Boyer & Rockwell LLP
Melanie Diels, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
Destiny Duong Diep, Sunrise Telecom Incorporated
Cecily Fung, Berger/Lewis A/C
Lisa Han, Symantec Corporation
Kathleen Hevland, Ernst & Young LLP
Dennis Hsieh
Iskandar Islamov, Hitachi Data Systems
Greg Lindsay, Berger/Lewis A/C
Maria Martinez, Abbott Stringham & Lynch
Jeffrey Nichols, KPMG LLP
Guanmin Qin
Brooke Reid, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP
Smita Sane
Preethi Srinivasan, Bhatia & Company Inc
Christopher Torres, Irvin, Abrahamson & Co., CPAs
Diana Weddigen, Lautze & Lautze
Andrew Zilli, KPMG LLP

Candidate Members Converted to Licensed CPAs
Emily Ah Sing, Deloitte & Touche USA LLP
Pwu-shiuan Chu
Meredith Strong, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Student Members
Kanwal Atwal
Tingting Pan

Anniversaries

One to Five Years
Vikas Agarwal, Lorraine Bayer, Anthony Belleci, Lydia Botsford, James Bouchard, Ron Brill, Crystal Callahan, Jessica Cassinelli, Ann Chiang, Taiyoung Choi, Henry Chow, Teresa Chuang, Alexis Dargie, Robert Davidson, Amado DeGuzman, Michelle Demps, Osvaldo Diaz-Christians, Jr., Ying Dong, Agustina Gani, Elaine Guan, Jennifer Guzowski, Claire Hayes, Lee Henderson, Perpetua Hernandez, Muhammad Jeddy, Kim Le, Janet Liberatore, Julie Malekhedayat, Takayuki Matsumoto, Brett Matzen, Marina Meerovich, Mythili Murali, James Poulos, Roshini Prasad, Matthew Preston, Raman Rangarajan, Nancy Rimberg, Daniel Russell, Sara Savage, Darren Sparks, Kevin Strain, Yazhen Sun, John Sung, Matthew Taggart, Wesley Tai, Siew Tay, Edmund Tse, Karla Urata, Cameron Van Noy, Jr., Grace Wang, Michael Warren, Yan Wen, Zhiqiang Zhou

Six to Ten Years
Shomin Chiou, Tabitha Chung, Calvin Hoagland, Ronald Kellermann, Brandon Lauletta, Franklin Noto, Stephen Rauwolf, Randall Reynolds, Michael Thomsen, Thomas Wagstaff

11 to 15 Years
Stephen Baroni, Marie Blankley, Felicite Desire Bourke, Steven Carte, Elaine Chan, Cindy Cheng, Virginia Davi, Joseph Dileo, Thomas Glascott, Ronald Gong, Cynthia Hansen, Eric Hornsten, Paul Michael, Wendy Phillips, Wendy Sun, Robert Taylor, David Veyna, Juliet White, Gary Williams, Deborah Zajac

16 to 20 Years
Norman Brouwer, John Dasch, Patrick Hyek, Kenneth Kawamoto, Sara Kelley, Craig Lutz, Donald McGovern, Jr., Timothy Morris, Richard Ostiller, Laurie Raney, James Reddell, Richard Roth, Laura Sangster Fovinci, Kim Silverman, Sally Tang, John Vaughn

21 to 30 Years
Kathleen Benson, Nancy Callahan, Karen Cleveland, Michele Cook, Michael Corlett, John Evans, William Feichtmann, William Finn, Barbara Hague, Chad Hoesing, Randolph Kay, Thomas Kearns, Steven Kern, Kristi Kolln, Lorraine Lam, Jerome Liebling, David Lund, Timothy Lutz, Diana Manfree, Bud Mine, Michael Mingram, Frank Minuti, Jr., Daryl Morford, David Osburn, Nai-Yu Pai, Alfred Panetta, John Proulx, Richard Rammer, Michael Rebholtz, Bonnita Ruesch, Bret Schaefer, Michael Senadenos, Philip Seydel, George Shannon, Diane Shuflin, Patricia Smith, Terry Sullivan-Turner, John Teuteberg, Debbie Tidwell Bylina, Peter Vernaci, Steven Vidlock, William West, Annela Wong, Gordon Yamamoto

31 to 40 Years
Alex Alonzo, Robert Bettencourt, Richard Bialek, Anthony Crivello, Bruce Dunlap, Richard Duryea, Stephen Hall, Robert Higgins, Gary Johnston, Thomas Lindsay, Michael Machado, John O'Toole, Noel Pearman, Michael Rubenstein, Thomas Shumate, Ray Wahba, Patricia Yates

1966 or prior
Edward Gianni, Leonard Rosenthal, Cecil Weintraub

Meet the Board: Elizabeth Flores, CPA

Elizabeth Flores is a registered investment adviser, trustee and fiduciary of the Ben Vernazza Investment Advisor Trust, and partner of the Overseas Oversight Group, LLC (Anguilla and Liechtenstein) and ITCG (the International Tax Compliance Group, LLC). She’s come a long way from working behind the coffee counter at a Farmers Exchange when she was 16.
   “My father was an engineer and when I started college I thought that I would follow in his footsteps,” she recalls. Once in school, however, she found she was not cut out to be an engineer.
   “I left school and went to work for my mother, who owned a deli on the beach in Santa Cruz and I ended up managing it and doing all of the bookkeeping,” she says. “After working at the deli, I asked myself what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. Through some soul searching and talking to my then-mentor and now partner, Ben, I came to the realization that what I wanted to do was become a CPA. I was good in math, but what I really wanted was to work with people and help them. I went back to school, majored in accounting and received my bachelors degree from San Jose State University.”
   Being a CPA/PFS isn’t the only way Elizabeth helps people. She’s also a board member and treasurer of The Fallen Officer Foundation of Santa Cruz County, a nonprofit organization that helps first responders in their time of need. “It has been such a pleasure being able to provide assistance to those people who put their lives on the line for all of us on a daily basis,” she says.
   Flores has a 5-year-old son and a husband who is a sheriff in Santa Cruz County and with whom she shares the same birthday. “My husband and I were born on the same day and year—he is 12 hours older than me,” she says.

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, contact chapter program associate Stephanie Stewart or call (408) 983-1122.

Lifetime Achievement Award Nominations

During our upcoming Honoree Night, we will be awarding an individual who best epitomizes a lifetime of achievement both inside and outside of our profession.
   Distinguished past winners of this award include Alexander W. Berger (2003); John Bellitto (2004); Robert B Stringham (2005); Joseph P. Mori (2006); and Robert A. Petersen (2007). All have been leaders with a legacy in our profession, as well as tireless and invaluable volunteers in our community.
   Where do you come in? We need your help to nominate those people whom you admire, whom you find to be an inspiration in or out of our profession.
   Send your nominations, along with a paragraph describing their accomplishments, to Dan Morris or Ben Mozzetti Jr.
   Please don’t delay. Nominations will close Nov. 1 (or soon thereafter).
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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.

Leaders Wanted: Become a CalCPA Officer or AICPA Council Member

You are the driving force behind one of the world’s largest economies. Isn’t it time you put your leadership skills to use for the betterment of the CPA profession?
   The CalCPA Nominations Committee is accepting nominations until Dec. 1 for 2008–09 CalCPA officers and council members at large. Officer positions include chair, first vice chair, treasurer and two vice chairs. Three council members at-large also will be elected.
   Members can apply for more than one office and will be considered only for the positions to which they apply. Download a nomination form, review job descriptions and ideal leadership characteristics.
   For more information, contact John Angelo or Nominations Committee Chair D. Paul Regan.

Another Way to Serve–AICPA Council

If you’re an AICPA member and interested in representing your peers on AICPA Council, let us know. The Nominations Committee will recommend candidates to AICPA Council, which establishes AICPA policies and procedures, and enacts resolutions that are binding on the board of directors, officers, committees and staff.
   If you’re interested, send a letter of intent and your professional and volunteer history to: Nominations Committee; c/o D. Paul Regan, chair; 330 N. Brand Blvd., Suite 710; Glendale, CA 91203.
   All letters must be received by 5 p.m. Dec. 1. The AICPA makes the final selections.
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RESOURCES:

Silicon Valley San Jose Chapter Leadership