East Bay Chapter
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Archive for the ‘President’s Message’ Category
February 3rd, 2012
By AJ Major
There is something powerful, impressive and inspiring when you walk the halls of the state Capitol building. As cynical as I am about politics these days, I was again magically transformed into an optimist for CPA Day at the Capitol Jan. 18.
It was an impressive turnout of more than 200 individuals, including approximately 15 students, from across the state. The morning began with a live feed of the governor’s state of the state address, which really helped get the juices flowing. Whether you agree or disagree with his statements and proposals, Gov. Brown does know how to write a speech that gets his point across in a relatively short amount of time.
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September 22nd, 2011
By AJ Major
Many of us have been involved with CalCPA’s grassroots program and know of its importance to our government relations efforts, but from time to time it’s a good idea to refresh ourselves on its basic components. For those new to CalCPA or the grassroots program, it can be beneficial to understand what government relations encompasses. Simply, it is the process of becoming acquainted with government officials to assist them as they formulate and execute public policy objectives. The process essentially follows four basic steps: identify, inform, advocate and assist.
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August 30th, 2011
By AJ Major
Government is often perceived as a confusing, frustrating and complex mess that can easily be glazed over. Nevertheless, the decisions of our government and the public policies it implements have a great impact on our professional and personal lives. This year alone California lawmakers introduced 2,323 bills, not counting the hundreds of regulations proposed by various state agencies. Furthermore, lawmakers are looking for every loose penny to fill a $10 billion structural deficit.
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July 27th, 2011
By AJ Major
As your chapter president, I am writing to you today to ask for your help. As you know, every year we face an increasing number of proposed laws and regulations that can make it more challenging and complex for the profession. Each time one of these restrictive and costly proposals surface, the importance of our participation in the political process becomes more evident.
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June 24th, 2011
By AJ Major
Recently passed reapportionment and open-primary reforms have the potential to drastically change California’s political landscape in 2012. Reapportionment by the independent, bipartisan Citizens Redistricting Commission will redraw district boundaries for senate, assembly, Board of Equalization and congressional seats. The commission, established under voter approved Prop. 11 of 2008, will likely create much more competitive districts than the current gerrymandered districts established by the Legislature.
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June 1st, 2011
By AJ Major
Do you have a “second life”? Can CPAs learn with avatars? Is gaming the future of education?
In performing some unrelated research on the internet, I stumbled upon a significant amount of information regarding CPAs in the virtual world. There are a few different platforms, but the one I ended up spending time on was CPA Island/Second Life, as I noticed it was featured at a recent AICPA tech conference. The idea is to create an environment where you simulate reality whereby you can educate, solve problems, etc. What is most intriguing to me is the connection between gaming technology and education. The world has changed, but why not higher education?
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May 2nd, 2011
By AJ Major
As I begin my term as your chapter president, I find myself reminiscing about the truly impressive individuals who have preceded me, many of whom I consider mentors and friends. My CalCPA membership started many years ago with a nudge from Chuck Gielow, an individual whom long-time members of the chapter will remember. What a blessing to start my career under the tutelage of a past CalCPA president.
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March 24th, 2011
By Scott Haislet
So the IRS hit us with a $64 fee, plus additional registration requirements, as a “tax preparer.” That’s on top of our California Board of Accountancy license fee. The IRS had wanted to mandate registration and education for nonlicensee clerical tax prep helpers (under a CPA’s supervision) in the revised PTIN—preparer tax identification number—program. But sufficient howling from the field encouraged the IRS to drop that.
The IRS created PTIN some years back so that tax preparers could identify themselves as paid preparers without disclosing the preparer’s Social Security number.
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January 31st, 2011
By Scott Haislet
Give Congress enough incentive and it will do something. I’m speaking of the tax law adopted Dec. 17, 2010. That law, among other things, gives a two-year estate and gift tax planning stability, with a $5 million lifetime exemption amount, and includes re-unifying the estate and gift taxes. Now, many individuals and married couples doing estate planning can focus on non-tax considerations (e.g., who will get the heirloom silver and the antique picture of Uncle Charlie).
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January 4th, 2011
By Scott Haislet
Whew, where did 2010 go? Don’t we ask that of every year that goes by? At this writing (early December) we still don’t have a tax bill from Congress and presumably many of the Bush-era tax rules will have expired by 1/1/11—which has a nice, if passing, ring to it.
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