Bakersfield Chapter
A blog for and by a community of professionals
Archive for the ‘President’s Message’ Category
February 25th, 2010
By Joel Bock, CPA
Well, busy season is here again! However, before we become too terribly busy, several CalCPA members recently enjoyed a Bakersfield Condors hockey game. Although the Condors didn’t win, it was a good opportunity to meet and network with other CPAs in the Bakersfield area. Thanks to those who attended the event and special thanks to Rick Brauer of Citizens Business Bank for allowing CalCPA to utilize the company’s suite for the event.
Congratulations to the new slate of officers and directors for the 2010-2011 year! The results of the election are: President: Rich Walton (Buchalter Nemer Fields & Young) First Vice President: Oscar Axume (Barbich Hooper King Dill & Hoffman) Vice President: Mark Taylor (Lehr Brothers, Inc.) Secretary/Treasurer: Lisa Coston (Daniells Phillips Vaughan & Bock) Past President: Joel Bock (Daniells Phillips Vaughan & Bock) Directors: Tom Maxwell (Fisher, Keathley & Ross); Ariadne Prunes (Brown Armstrong); Connie Perez (Brown Armstrong); Kimela Seay (Brennan Millan & Co.); Stephanie Peters (CBIZ); and Tom Bracken (Sunridge Nursery).
If any members are interested in participating in a weekly tax discussion group during busy season, please contact Oscar Axume.
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January 12th, 2010
By Joel Bock, CPA
Happy New Year and welcome to 2010! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. I’m sure many of you are taking advantage of the few remaining weeks leading up to busy season to get organized and prepare. Although there are no chapter activities from February through April, you will be receiving an e-mail in the upcoming months regarding the chapter officers and board members for the 2010-11 year. Please take time to cast your vote.
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December 9th, 2009
By Joel Bock, CPA
As we enter the holiday season and near the end of 2009, I’d like to wish you happy holidays! With 2010 just around the corner and busy season soon thereafter, I hope you will be able to spend some quality time with loved ones in the upcoming weeks.
Recently, the chapter hosted a social event at the Doubletree Hotel that drew approximately 50 local CPAs to network, share ideas—and eat. Additionally, attendees were asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding potential future local CalCPA activities. If you have any ideas for future local CalCPA activities, please e-mail Kay Coffin.
Within the next month, the Nominations Committee will be compiling a slate of officers and directors for the chapter’s 2010-11 fiscal year. If this is something that may be of interest to you, please contact Kay Coffin for details.
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November 12th, 2009
By Joel Bock, CPA
Most of you have heard about the recent signing of SB 819 by Gov. Schwarzenegger, which will make California CPAs substantially equivalent and better positioned to provide services to their clients outside of California.
After Pathway 1 (bachelor’s degree with 24 semester units in accounting and 24 semester units in business) sunsets Jan. 1, 2014, all California CPA candidates will be required to meet certain additional ethics and education requirements as part of the total 150-hour requirement. All CPA’s licensed in California prior to Jan. 1, 2014, will be grandfathered in as substantially equivalent.
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October 8th, 2009
By Joel Bock, CPA
September was filled with a variety of events that allowed our chapter to give back to the community in which we live.
Local CalCPA members participated in the United Way of Kern County’s Day of Caring 2009 Sept. 12. The event unites hundreds of volunteers from various organizations to assist nonprofit agencies with tasks too large or time consuming for them to accomplish on their own. Our group was assigned to assist Project Linus as volunteer “blanketeers” and helped make blankets and afghans.
Project Linus provides love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets and afghans. The firm with the most participants in the Day of Caring—Daniells Phillips Vaughan & Bock—will enjoy a pizza party courtesy of CalCPA. Many thanks to all those who participated!
Many local accounting professionals, college professors and college students participated in our annual Student Night Sept. 30. This year’s event was a big success with the largest student attendance in recent years. The festivities for the evening included the chapter’s scholarship award presentations. Congratulations to Les Watts Memorial Scholarship recipients Joel Sandoval, Grecia Barrera and Toyosi Obafemi!
A first for this year’s Student Night was the presentation of the YEP of the Year Award, which went to Anastasia Antonova of CBIZ/Mayer Hoffman McCann!
I’d like to thank the following firms for sponsoring Student Night: Brown Armstrong, Barbich Hooper King Dill Hoffman, CBIZ/Mayer Hoffman McCann, Fisher Keathley & Ross, and Daniells Phillips Vaughan & Bock. Also, special thanks to the evening’s speaker, CalCPA Chair Andrea Cope, and to our program associate Julie Jameson and program director Gary Hammond for helping facilitate the event.
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September 11th, 2009
By Joel Bock, CPA
The Second Annual CalCPA Bakersfield Chapter Golf Tournament took place Aug. 31 at Stockdale Country Club. The day proved to be a great opportunity for CPAs to enjoy a fun afternoon of golf and network with other business professionals, while raising money for our chapter’s scholarship fund. I’d like to thank all the sponsors and participants, as well as those involved in planning the event for making it a success.
Be sure to mark your calendar for Wednesday, Sept. 30, for our Student Night. Board members will soon be visiting local college classrooms to encourage accounting students to sign up for this special event. If you know any local college students who are either accounting majors or possibly undecided about a potential major, please encourage them to sign up for the event. The goal of the event is to give the college students some additional knowledge and perspective of the accounting profession, as well as to introduce them to potential future employers.
The event starts at 3 p.m. for the students, as they will be taking tours of local CPA offices. If you or your firm would like to host students at your office for this event, please contact Julie Jameson. The evening portion of the event will feature CalCPA Chair Andrea Cope, as well as the presentations of the Les Watts Memorial Scholarship and the YEP of the Year award. In addition, this event will serve as the chapter’s celebration of CalCPA’s 100th anniversary. A registration form is available online.
As previously mentioned, the YEP of the Year award presentation will occur at Student Night. The YEP (Young and Emerging Professionals) Committee has been working diligently to establish this award to recognize the contributions and accomplishments of the YEP accounting professionals in chapter. More details and a nomination form are available online.
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August 7th, 2009
By Joel Bock, CPA
As we wind our way through the summer months, our chapter’s Golf Committee (chaired by Martin Goni) and other board members have been busy planning our upcoming golf tournament. The event will be a great opportunity for CPAs to network with each other, as well as with attorneys, bankers and various other business owners, while raising money for the chapter’s scholarship fund.
The tournament will be Aug. 31 at Stockdale Country Club. I’d encourage you to consider being a tournament sponsor and/or playing in the tournament. Also, if you know of any businesses that could potentially benefit from exposure to CPAs, attorneys, bankers, etc., please inform them of the golf tournament sponsorship opportunities.
Be sure to sign up by Aug. 17 to take advantage of the early-bird pricing. Additional information regarding the golf tournament can be found online.
The YEP Committee has once again been busy planning the YEP of the Year award, and recently held a YEP Networking Event with the Young Attorney Group.
A few upcoming events that I’d like to mention are the United Way Day of Caring Sept. 12 and CalCPA Student Night Sept. 30.
The Day of Caring is a time when CalCPA joins with United Way to benefit various nonprofit organizations in the Bakersfield area. It is a time for the local CPA profession to go into the community and make a difference. CalCPA provides a pizza party to the firm with the most participants.
CalCPA Student Night is an opportunity for CPAs to share their experiences and perspective with students who are considering entering the profession. Immediately preceding the evening festivities, the students will tour the offices of local CPAs. We are looking for CPAs from all backgrounds to host students on the office tours. Additionally, we will present the Les Watts Memorial Scholarship during Student Night.
For more information on Day of Caring and Student Night, contact Julie Jameson.
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July 6th, 2009
By Joel Bock, CPA
As the warm Bakersfield sun starts to warm up these summer months, I hope you are able to find time to vacation in a cooler climate.
I recently attended the CalCPA Annual Members’ Business and Council meetings in San Francisco. In addition to voting on various motions and positions before the Council, California Assembly members Fiona Ma and Mary Hayashi provided a legislative update and AICPA President Barry Melancon presented an accounting industry update. The culminating event of the meetings was a gala celebrating CalCPA’s 100th anniversary.
Some of the pending legislation discussed in the legislative update included:
SB 691: Requires that all candidates entering the profession after Jan. 1, 2014, meet the 150-hour education requirement for licensure. Only two states—California and Colorado—have yet to adopt this requirement. This bill passed a Senate floor vote 35-0 June 3 and was scheduled to go before the Assembly Business and Professions Committee this month.
AB 117: Requires CPAs using the CPA designation to disclose if their license is inactive. This bill passed the Senate Appropriations Committee June 29 and awaits Senate floor vote.
AB 129: Re-enacts the taxpayer privilege to conform to the federal taxpayer bill of rights. This bill passed the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee June 29 and was re-referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
AB 138: Requires mandatory peer review for California CPA firms that provide audit, review or compilation services.
You can find more information on these bills online.
The Young and Emerging Professionals Committee has been quite active recently. Along with planning well-attended social events, committee members are planning a YEP of the Year award. Details will follow in the upcoming months. If you are a YEP and have not yet attended a monthly social event, I suggest you attend the next event. An e-mail notification will be sent with time, date and location. Special thanks to co-chairs Lindsay Golliher and Salvador Saavedra for planning these events!
A reminder: Be sure to circle Monday, Aug. 31, on your calendar for our Annual Golf Tournament at Stockdale Country Club. It will it be a fun day on the golf course—and a great networking opportunity! Also, net proceeds benefit the Bakersfield Chapter Scholarship Fund. Download a registration flier today.
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May 6th, 2009
By Martin Goni, CPA
Another busy season is over! Hopefully yours was a success and you can now enjoy some much needed rest and relaxation. With the end of busy season and the advent of summer comes the end of my term as chapter president. I would like to thank all of you for giving me the opportunity to serve as your chapter president this past year. I look back at our many events (Day of Caring, Student Night, CPA Day at the Capitol, and our first Golf Tournament, among others) and am very proud of the things we accomplished as a chapter over the past year.
I am also glad that I had the opportunity to meet many of you, as well as many of our fellow colleagues from around the state. I would like to thank all those who helped our chapter reach its goals in some fashion this past year. We could not have done it without your support. I look forward to our next year under the leadership of Joel Bock. It promises to be another great one for the Bakersfield Chapter and I look forward to seeing your continued involvement and support.
As always, if you have any questions regarding our chapter, do not hesitate to contact myself, our board of directors or Kay Coffin. Thanks again!
— Martin Goni, CPA
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April 8th, 2009
By Martin Goni, CPA
I’m sure that you can understand the brevity of my message this month since, as I am writing this, there are only 10 more days left to the 2009 busy season. However, when you get around to reading this Bulletin I’m sure that the busy season will be over. I sincerely hope that your busy season was a success and you can now enjoy some much needed rest and relaxation! I will be back next month to wrap up our exciting year.
As always, if you have any questions concerning our chapter, please do not hesitate to contact me, Kay Coffin, our program associate, or any chapter board member.
— Martin Goni, CPA
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