Events on the Horizon

By Denise M. Patterson, CPA

Well, the summer is nearly complete and soon another academic year will begin. If you have family and friends returning to school this fall, I wish them all the best for a year filled with wonderful experiences!

With the advent of a new academic year, the chapter’s activities also begin to boom. We have a number of events coming up during the fall months. First, our annual CPAs Care—United Way Day of Caring takes place Saturday, Sept. 13. The day will begin with a kick-off celebration and pancake breakfast from 7:30–9 a.m. at Arte Americas in downtown Fresno. From there, we will travel to our service location.

In the past, chapter members have painted and landscaped facilities for various nonprofits and sorted food for the food bank. Be sure to sign up your firm, family and friends to participate in this wonderful event. T-shirts will be provided for those who take part in the event. Additionally, a pizza party will be awarded to the firm, business or group that has the most participants.

To register, contact Kay Coffin by Monday, Sept. 1. It is always heartwarming to see how much can be accomplished within the community during the Day of Caring.

Also in September will be our Annual Student Night. This event provides an opportunity for local college students to meet area professionals and learn more about career opportunities. We also recognize our scholarship recipients from the community colleges, California State University, Fresno, and Fresno Pacific University. Student Night 2008 will take place Tuesday, Sept. 16 at Tornino’s. The social hour begins at 5:30 p.m. and dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. The cost is $25 per person. Professionals can also sponsor a table for $200 or individual students at $25 per student.

To register, contact Kay Coffin. Reservations must be made and paid for by Sept. 10.

The Annual Golf Tournament will take place Monday, Oct. 27. The Tournament Committee is working hard to put on another wonderful event. More information will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.

This year we are recognizing our Young & Emerging Professionals, 40-year members, new members and past presidents at our first Members Night Wednesday, Nov. 19 at Tornino’s.

During the event, we will announce the Young and Emerging Professional Awards for Excellence, which recognize our young and emerging professionals who have significantly impacted the profession or their community. Awards will be granted to individuals in five categories. Award applications are now being accepted and can be obtained from Kay Coffin or myself. Please consider the members of your firm for these awards!

Ladies, be sure to mark your calendar for Wednesday, Dec. 3 for the Celebrating Women CPAs conference in Los Angeles. This year, we are working to put together a group of professionals from the Central Valley to attend this event. It is a wonderful event and one I hope you will plan to attend.

Plus, a lunchtime celebration will feature winners of CalCPA’s first Women to Watch Awards presented in cooperation with the AICPA.

Learn more or nominate your favorite woman CPA leader online.

Did you know that during the 2007–08 fiscal year, the chapter awarded more than $39,000 in scholarships? This is the third largest amount among CalCPA’s 14 chapters! Only the Los Angeles ($65,000) and Silicon Valley San Jose ($42,000) chapters surpassed us. What an outstanding accomplishment for our chapter.

You may be asking how these funds are generated. Each year, in additional to individual members’ contributions to scholarships, the net proceeds of our chapter events and meetings are accumulated in the Chapter’s Scholarship Fund. Funds are then awarded to the chapter’s endowed scholarships at California State University, Fresno and Fresno Pacific University. Each institution then awards scholarships to their accounting students.

Additionally, the chapter has two scholarship programs for students attending area community colleges, as well as those transferring from a community college to a four-year institution. With the support of the chapter’s members, our ability to assist students in their academic careers has been increasing. I want to thank all the chapter members for their individual contributions and for attending events during the year that make our scholarship efforts possible.

Over the past month, chapter members have appeared on KSEE 24’s program, Central Valley Today. Tracey Scharmann presented information on how your credit score may be costing you money. Gary Istanboulian discussed what people need to know about their spouse’s finances, as well as interview arrangements for getting a raise. Thank you Tracey and Gary for representing CalCPA and the Fresno Chapter!

—Denise M. Patterson, CPA

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 9:47 am and is filed under President's Message. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.