Donna's Diary

Another Tax Season in the History Books

And what a tax season it was! It seemed like we were keeping up really well considering all the travel we did in January and February. But somewhere along the way, it seems things got a little crazy. As usual, though, we managed to deliver the returns we had promised out and extend the rest of them. Every year about April 1, I start thinking about what a crazy business model this is. I like to study businesses and how they operate, and many of our clients are entrepreneurs and small businesses. If you are a public accounting firm and primarily do tax, you end up touching almost 100 percent of your clients in about a two to two and a half month time frame. We actually prepared and delivered about 65 percent of the returns we will do this year by April 15. Now we have six months to prepare the other 35 percent. It’s called work compression and it’s real.

Steve and I closed the office on April 18 and went to Fredericksburg for the day. Imagine my surprise when I ran into Bob Warren, CPA, from the Dallas area taking an after tax season break with his wife. It’s a small world.

Last week, I made my final chapter visit as TSCPA chairman. I went out to the South Plains Chapter for a luncheon meeting. I gave a quick update on TSCPA and since it was a joint meeting with local bankers, I focused on private company reporting standards. After I spoke, Kent Hance, Chancellor of the Texas Tech University System spoke – he was quite entertaining and informative. Since my flight did not leave until around 6 p.m., Jimmie Mason, TSCPA president 1984-1985, was kind enough to give me a tour of Lubbock, including his former firm, the Tech campus, a body shop where his 1967 Austin Healy is being restored and the local ice cream place. It was fun to catch up with Jimmie as I was president of the Austin CPA Chapter the same year he was TSCPA president.

We are off to Boston for my final Executive Board meeting this week. We will be having a joint meeting with the incoming Board, and Rich Caturano, who is vice-chair of AICPA, will be spending some time with our group and speaking to us. It’s a great opportunity to introduce our leadership to the leadership of AICPA, and we are pleased it worked out.

May will be very busy. Even though I’m almost a lame duck, there are plenty of things to do this month with regard to TSCPA and then there are those pesky Texas franchise tax returns! June is beginning to look very inviting.

Life is Also a Juggling Act

My last blog post was titled “Life is a Balancing Act.” Right now, it’s more of a juggling act! Tax season is in full swing and the press is on. Every year about this time, I start thinking about what a strange business model we tax CPAs operate under. About 50 percent of the returns we prepare in a year have been completed and the other 50 percent are either in some state of preparation, waiting to be worked on or need to be extended. Work compression issues are real. But somehow it all gets done every year and we move on.

The Tuesday after we got back from our ski trip that I posted about last time, we headed up to Waco so I could speak to the Beta Alpha Psi Chapter at Baylor. The meeting was well attended by both students and CPA chapter members. Their faculty sponsor is our own member and Today’s CPA technical editor and column editor for accounting and auditing issues, Dr. Bill Thomas. Bill and I served on committees together many years ago and it was fun to reconnect with him. The students were an impressive group of up and coming CPAs, and it was great to have a chance to speak to them about our profession, as well as our organization. We got there early enough to spend a little time wandering around the lovely campus and even went to visit the Bear statue.

The following week, we headed to El Paso. Our good friend and former TSCPA Chair, Kym Anderson, picked us up at the airport, and we enjoyed visiting with her and her wonderful husband Wynn at their home. We got to meet all four, yes four, of their weenie dogs too. That was followed by dinner with them and about eight or 10 other El Paso chapter folks. The next morning, their President-elect, Tony Benitez, picked us up from our hotel and, as is the chapter’s tradition, took me to the Lucchese outlet to get a pair of boots. I was stoked about that and had been looking forward to it since I found out I would be the chairman this year. Steve was glad I finally got them so he could quit having to listen to me talk about it!

After that, it was time to get down to business, so we headed to the luncheon where I was scheduled to present a 50-minute Professional Issues Update. When it was time to introduce me, they held up a poster with the Texas A&M logo and “Howdy” on it and had the crowd greet me accordingly. Now that’s hospitality!! The lunch was excellent and as usual at these events, I connected with some old friends and met some new ones. And hopefully gave them all some good information on what’s happening in the world of CPAs.

After returning home and surviving the March 15 deadline, we took a short break and headed to Atlanta for the AICPA Spring Regional Council meeting. We spent a good part of the day talking about the strategic plan for AICPA and discussing planning issues in small groups at our tables.

And now it really is crunch time. I’ve rarely worked on Sundays during tax season – everyone needs a break. But this year, with all this time out of the office for TSCPA, I have had to work every day I’m home. It’s a once in a lifetime ride, though, one that has been filled with great experiences, and I am honored to have been given the chance to serve. So, back to work I go!

Here are a couple of pictures from my travels...

Life is a Balancing Act

Believe it or not, I spent last week in Telluride, CO snow skiing. I say believe it or not since I’m in public accounting. I skied about six days total in my youth and then never skied again until I was 40 because of the demands of tax season. The last year I was in Houston, I went skiing over Thanksgiving. A couple of years later when I moved back to Austin, I decided tax season or not, I was going skiing. So since 1994, I have not missed a year. We used to go at spring break when our kids were in school, but no one goes skiing at spring break unless they have to or because they love crowds! Lately, we’ve gone in January most years and usually for two weeks. This year, due to all the travel with TSCPA, we decided we’d better only go for a week. 

It was a glorious week – four days of powder skiing and two days of cruising. The only injury I sustained was knocking the $%&*#% out of one of my toes on a table while I was sitting on a couch. So apparently, I can ski eight black runs in a row with no problem, but sitting on the couch is dangerous. Oh well, a little ice and some tape and it was good to go. Black and blue, but good to go.

We all work hard, whether we’re in public accounting or industry, government, education, etc. CPAs tend to be dedicated, hard working folks. But we all need a break and one of my favorite ones is snow skiing. So, I make it happen. Now of course, I’m working double time to make up for it, but it’s worth it to me. I encourage you all, even when you’re busy, to find some time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

OK there were no trains, but I’ve been back on the road and you’ll see later why I picked this title. On January 31, I flew to Dallas to attend the Dallas CPA Society’s annual member meeting. It was really fun to look around the room and realize that I knew about half of the people there, even though I’ve never been a member of the Dallas Society. (I am a charter member of their dance team, but that’s another story that I won’t tell here.) John Sharbaugh and I caught up with Jim Smith who represented TSCPA at the FAF roundtable on Private Company Financial Reporting standards earlier in the month. The long and short of Jim’s recap was that the conversation was not about whether there would be an independent board, as it seems that decision has been made. So the conversations revolved mostly around the new council that FAF has proposed – its structure, how many people would serve on it, whether FASB could just vote yes or no on their proposals or have the authority to make changes to them.

At the meeting, the Dallas Society also did awards presentations. The highlight of this for me was the presentation of the CPA of the Year award to Richard Bowen. Bowen was presented the award for his courage in calling attention to problems with mortgage backed securities being issued by his employer (a large bank). He subsequently lost his job over this and was interviewed on 60 Minutes about the entire experience after the market meltdown.

Now for the Planes, Trains & Automobiles reference. Last year when Jeff Gregg, immediate past chair, went to Corpus Christi to speak at their annual tax conference, his flight was cancelled due to ice. Now it’s not that easy to get from Corpus Christi to Seymour where Jeff lives in any event. But throw in an ice storm, and it turned into a one-week adventure. Well, mine wasn’t a week long, and it wasn’t ice, but I think next year’s chairman, Fred Timmons, should go ahead and book a few extra days in Corpus as I see a pattern emerging. Steve and I got to Corpus Christi on Thursday night and attended the tax conference all day, including me doing the Professional Issues Update at lunch. It was a crowd of about 150 folks and fun for me to be presenting back in my home town. My mom lives in Corpus Christi, so we had planned to stay over one more night to see her and head home on Saturday. Unfortunately, my mom was not feeling well, and I decided I should stay and take care of some things for her. So Steve left on Saturday; I stayed until Tuesday when poor Steve came back to retrieve me. (The one-way airfare would have been over $200 and take almost twice as long as the drive round trip.) Anyway, I did what I needed to do, with help from my husband as usual, and hopefully mom is on her way to feeling like herself again, playing dominoes and keeping everyone at her apartment complex and church in line! She’s pretty amazing for an 88-year old, as many of you know from meeting her at the annual meeting last year.

I have a couple more chapter visits in February, then two more in April. Just enjoying the experience…

I Fell Off the Blog Wagon...

I have not posted anything since November! Wow, where has the time gone? I will try to stay up to date better for the rest of my term. I did pretty good for the first 5 months and then things got to going a pretty fast pace and I just dropped the ball.

Right after the last post, I had the pleasure of speaking to the students at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls. I love these student events – it’s fun to meet the upcoming leaders in our profession and to encourage them continue on to become CPAs. Jeff Gregg, of course, took us to a great barbeque joint in Wichita Falls before the meeting. You can always count on Jeff to know where the good food is!

We drove back to Dallas that night and spent the night, then flew out the next morning to San Francisco for Executive Board meetings. We had a full business agenda, including bringing the rest of the EB up to date on AICPA Council. Did you know you can get an e-mail address now through AICPA that ends in CPA.com? That’s pretty cool. And of course we discussed the new Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation that will launch on January 31. And no executive board meeting is complete without a discussion of private company financial reporting. We updated everyone on the Rising Stars Program – we had over 70 folks nominated and over 60 of them submitted the paperwork to be considered. The top 12 winners – this year’s Rising Stars will be announced shortly. I say the top 12 winners because, believe me, they were all winners and it was a difficult decision for the task force that made the selections. We reviewed the membership survey and the financials and voted to recommend to the Board of Directors a $25 dues increase (the first one in eight years).

We were only home a few days and then headed south to the Rio Grande Valley. I was the luncheon speaker at their annual meeting of members and their big CPE day event. It’s a great event with good CPE and great participation. And a trip to the beach is always a good thing for an old Corpus Christi person like me.

At the end of November I flew out to Texarkana to present a Professional Issues Update at their chapter meeting. I had the chance to catch up with some old friends there and meet some new people. It was a lunch event and well attended. These chapter visits are one of my favorite things – the chapters are our life blood and it’s great to see them in action.

On December 3, I spoke at the Swearing In Ceremony for new CPAs. I love this event too – almost all of the new CPAs have family and friends there to cheer them on and they are all so proud and excited –as they should be. I had the opportunity to shake each of their hands as they came off the stage, hand them a packet offering them a one year free membership and the chance to speak to the crowd and tell them why I believe they should join us at TSCPA. That’s an easy speech!

I dashed down to Houston a few days later for their open house at their new location. It’s a wonderful facility and they had great attendance at the event. I really liked that they recognized new members and also had tables set up around the room for their committees where people could find out what the committee did and volunteer on the spot to get involved. What a great idea and they got a good response.

I missed Fred Timmons’ executive board orientation in December as my daughter, Kirsten, flew in from Portland, OR the night before. I would have liked to be there to support Fred, but I am pretty oriented to the executive board by now (this being the 7^th one I’ve served on over a span of about 25 years).

Things were quiet on the TSCPA front for the next few weeks so I was able to do year- end tax planning with my clients, have my mom up for 9 days (from Corpus Christi) and spend time with Kirsten as she came and went. Steve & I managed to make it to Dallas to see Lake Travis High School win its fifth straight state championship in football and I had 4 generations of my family, including both of my daughters, home for our annual cookie baking day. The holidays were good.

I kicked off January by speaking, along with our Executive Director John Sharbaugh, at the Austin Chapter Leadership Academy on January 13. This was their final classroom event and they’ve certainly got some good people on the leadership track. Austin CPA Chapter partnered with Leadership Austin and the program appears to have been a big success. I left that meeting and dropped by a meeting of our Accountants Confidential Assistance Network (ACAN). This is a very special group of dedicated volunteers who work in conjunction with the State Board to assist CPAs with drug and alcohol problems. I was so taken by their commitment to this program and I applaud the work that they do.

We were in College Station (whoop!) for Executive Board and Mid- Year Board of Directors meetings in mid-January. Between the two meetings, I had the chance to speak to over 200 accounting majors at TAMU about the future of the profession and their job opportunities. I also managed to put in a few plugs for student membership in TSCPA. At the Board of Directors meeting, we had updates from the State Board by Dr. James Flagg from Texas A&M University, from FAF by Mack Lawhon and on the economy by Dr. Barton Smith. We of course had the vote on the dues increase and I’m pleased that it passed. No one likes having to ask for a dues increase, but after 8 years, the time had come. Things got lively when we discussed an idea to consider a policy going forward of increasing dues in small increments annually, subject to the approval of the Board of Directors, as is required by the by-laws. This one got tabled by a narrow vote and we moved on to other topics. The Brazos Valley Chapter arranged for the Aggie Wranglers to perform for us on Friday night and what a performance it was! They are a western dance group, but there was a lot of gymnastics going on with it. Even the t-sips thought they were good!

I managed to spend one night at home before heading off to speak to the San Antonio Chapter. I got to visit with my nephew Sean Tullos (who is a candidate member) and his family, as well as see a lot of old friends. I presented a Professional Issues Update to a sell- out crowd that included a lot of familiar faces.

I drove back to Austin after the luncheon and flew to Dallas so John Sharbaugh, Bill Schneider and I could do the Professional Issues Webcast the next day. Bill is a former president of the Georgia Society of CPAs and we are lucky to have him involved in TSCPA now. The next day I spoke to the Fort Worth Chapter (another Professional Issues Update) and was especially glad that my old buddy from my CPE Council days, Mike Griffin, made it to the meeting so we could catch up a little. I think I could almost do the Professional Issues update in my sleep at this point. Hopefully, I don’t put the rest of you to sleep when I’m presenting it.

Whew! Now you know why I have not been blogging. All I can say is I’m having a great time and I’m even more convinced of the value we bring to our members by providing them with the tools they need to succeed in their business lives and by advocating on their behalf in so many different arenas. I’ve got a few more chapter events coming up, but before you know it I’ll be a lame duck.

Things Have Been a Little Crazy

Well, things have been a little crazy since the last time I posted anything.

I mentioned the interview with Terri Polley of FAF in my last post, and I told the Abilene Chapter that if I was a betting woman, I’d guess they are not going to propose a separate board for private company reporting standards. Well, guess what, I was sure right about that one. If you listened to her interview, I’m pretty sure you picked up on all the hints she was giving. At this point, FAF has proposed a Private Company Reporting Council, which will be subject to FASB review and veto. So, once again, if this is a topic you have an interest in, please let FAF know your thoughts.

After the Abilene visit, we were focused on October 15 deadlines. I don’t know about the rest of you in public accounting, but our deadline was VERY busy. But we sent the last client out the door on Friday afternoon, got the e-file authorization that night and were finished. We had Saturday to catch our breath before leaving for AICPA Council on Sunday. Yes, AICPA actually scheduled a Council meeting that started on Monday, October 17 and even had leadership training for the incoming state chairs that started on the 15^th. Hopefully, that won’t happen again! 

AICPA Council was full of interesting information, including a report and some brainstorming on Horizons 2025, a report on private company reporting (see above), the launch of the international CPA exam, AICPA’s new partnership with CIMA and the CGMA certification, a report from NASBA, information on COSO’s Internal Control  Framework, an economic update (that was uplifting…) and much more. Steve and I managed to squeeze in a couple of rounds of golf, but in a bit of irony, it was 100 degrees in Phoenix – just when it got cool in Texas, we left!

Last week, I enjoyed speaking to the students in Victoria about why they should be CPAs and why they should join TSCPA. That was an easy talk! When I got the meeting notice, it had information on the professor/CPA who had arranged this for the Victoria Chapter, Mark Henry. I kept thinking that I recognized that name from somewhere… Turns out, we worked together in the credit department at the Sears store in Corpus Christi during college. It really is a small world. I was amazed to find that hotel rooms in Victoria are few and far between these days. Between the Caterpillar plant being built there and a boom in the oil business due to frack drilling, that place is hopping! After the chapter meeting, we took a slight detour and went to Corpus Christi to visit my mom before returning home to Lakeway.

This week, we’re home all week, just taking care of business. I hope you all have business to take care of and that this fall weather has lifted your spirits (unlike the Rangers, who crushed ours in the end). But, hey, making it to the World Series two years in a row counts for something!

Fall is in the Air (Well, We Can Hope)

We finally got a break in the 100 degree heat – now it’s only in the 90s, but at least that’s something! Fall is also time for many chapter visits. Last Wednesday, I visited the Abilene Chapter and presented a Professional Issues Update.  This is an interesting time in our profession as we work towards separate standards for private company reporting, monitor the progress of the decision on IFRS (convergence, endorsement, condorsement) and try to keep up with the myriad of other pronouncements that come at us every day. And then there are the tax issues. Keeping up with all of this is a daily challenge, and I don’t think I could do it without the help of TSCPA.

My husband, Steve, who works with me, often travels to the chapters with me. Last week, we took Jeff Gregg’s suggestion and ate at the Perini Ranch Steakhouse in Buffalo Gap (or as I’ve heard other CPAs call it Buffalo GAAP – thanks Tracy). Now my husband is a steak and potatoes kind of guy, and I love a good steak myself. We have eaten a lot of steaks around the country, but we both believe this may have been the best steak we’ve ever had. The steakhouse is in a converted barn on property the Perini family owns, and the atmosphere is wonderful. 

The morning before I spoke at lunch, an interview with Terri Polley, CEO of FAF, came out. She is discussing private company accounting standards, IFRS, and changes at FASB and GASB with Accounting Today. You might be interested in what she had to say, watch the video here.

 

Made Up and Ready to Go

I participated in my first Professional Issues webcast as a presenter yesterday. The studio where this is produced is a very professional and interesting place in Dallas. Before the webcast, they even took me in to do makeup. I thought I already had makeup on, but apparently it wasn’t nearly enough, because the young woman spent about 20 minutes making me presentable! Anyway, it was a great experience and if you watched it, I hope you learned a few things and found it to be interesting. I was joined on the webcast by our CEO, John Sharbaugh, as well as fellow TSCPA member, Kathy Kapka, who is a senior lecturer in accounting at the University of Texas at Tyler.

We covered a variety of topics in the area of tax and accounting & auditing, as well as ethics. If you missed this free webcast, TSCPA members can still view it and get two hours of CPE by registering to watch it when it’s replayed next Monday, September 26 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Click here to register. You can watch it on your computer at your desk while you have a Coke and some popcorn, and all the presenters will be available via e-mail to answer any questions that arise. This is a great member benefit, and I am proud to be a part of it.

Next week, I’m off to Abilene to speak to their chapter on the 28^th. As Willie Nelson says, “On the Road Again.”

Texas is on Fire

Hopefully, this finds all of you and your property safe. It has certainly been a scary few weeks here, and our hearts go out to all the people affected by the recent fires. We are aware that some of our members live in the areas affected by fire, and I know that the Austin CPA Chapter has been in contact with the ones we could identify.

If you, or someone you know, live in Bastrop County you may be eligible for federal aid or tax extensions. Here is the link to the IRS news release on this: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=245558,00.html.

Here are a few other links that might be useful.

To register your cellular phone for reverse 911 calls:

http://wireless.capcog.org/ENS/HowItWorks.aspx

And information on protecting your property:

http://www.fema.gov/hazard/wildfire/wf_prepare.shtm#3

Hopefully, we will see some relief from the heat and the drought soon. In the meantime, stay safe and cool.

Do You Know Who C.A. Freeze Was?

Well, I have to admit I did not. Turns out, he was a pioneer in the accounting profession here in Texas and most of his career was spent in San Angelo. After his death, in recognition of Mr. Freeze’s many contributions to the profession and the community, the San Angelo Chapter began presenting the C.A. Freeze Award to deserving chapter members. This award is the chapter’s highest honor and had only been given seven times before today, when it was awarded to Mason Backus. Mason was president of TSCPA in 1992-93, and I had the honor of serving as chairman of what was then called the CPE Council during his term as president. I was so glad that Tuesday was the day I was scheduled to make my visit to San Angelo as TSCPA chair so that I could be in attendance when Mason received this award. Jeff Gregg, immediate past chair, and John Sharbaugh, our CEO, were both present at the meeting in honor of Mason’s many contributions to TSCPA. The award had been kept a secret from Mason, so when he saw Jeff and John he inquired what brought them to San Angelo. The only excuse they could come up with was that I needed all the help I could get! (I was the speaker at the meeting today.) Anyway, congratulations to Mason – he certainly deserves this award.

When my husband, Steve, and I left to drive to San Angelo on Monday, we had to go about 45 minutes out of the way as Highway 71 west was closed due to the Spicewood/Pedernales fire. Tuesday on the way home, the road was open and we witnessed some of the devastation. This fire is mostly contained at this point, unlike the huge fire in Bastrop which has destroyed over 500 homes and 35,000 acres of land. As you may know, there have been many fires in the Austin area this last weekend. It’s almost incomprehensible the amount of damage that has been done and the number of people who have lost their homes, and some their lives. Let’s hope that we all get some rain soon, that the extreme heat has finally broken and that the winds that fueled so much of these fires stay calm. I am so thankful for all the firemen and other people who put their lives on the line to try to keep us safe.

Wednesday evening, I got to meet the members who will be participating in the Austin CPA Chapter’s Leadership Academy this year. They are an enthusiastic and interesting group of people who work in many different areas of the profession. We even have one international affiliate member who is a chartered accountant from Australia, living in Austin. I look forward to speaking to this group in January and getting their feedback on the process, and see how they have grown professionally.