Podcasts about public accountants

Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.   Justin and his guest, Jennifer Pack, RIMS 2025 Risk Manager of the Year, discuss her career and achievements, including Hyatt's VP of Risk Management. Jennifer describes how her membership in the RIMS Chicago Chapter and service on the Board impacted her career.   Jennifer helped align Hyatt's risk strategies with its evolving business model to ensure resilience in today's complex environment. Leading nearly 40 professionals, Jennifer's leadership and innovative risk solutions have helped strengthen Hyatt's risk management framework, to proactively identify risks and develop strategies to address them. Jennifer successfully redesigned and centralized Hyatt's Short-Term, Long-Term Disability, and Workers' Compensation programs, reducing manual processing by up to 80,000 hours, improving compliance, and reducing legal exposure. It is linked to millions of dollars in savings. Under her leadership, Hyatt's risk management team is overhauling Hyatt Hotels' fire safety with the first-of-its-kind Fire Life Safety Compliance and Governance Program, setting a standard for the organization and industry. The initiative includes the implementation of new technology, as well as auditing the 1,450 Hyatt hotels in 79 countries. Jennifer is a beloved mentor who has had an impact on many careers. She continues to demonstrate her commitment to advancing the risk management profession as an active member of the RIMS Chicago Chapter.   Jennifer's innovations may inspire your work for your organization's ERM program. Key Takeaways: [:01] About RIMS and RIMScast. [:16] About this episode of RIMScast. It is one of my favorite episodes to produce, with the Risk Manager of the Year. This year's honoree is Jennifer Pack, Hyatt's Vice President of Risk Management. We will talk about her success in ERM, captives, and more. [:48] RIMS-CRMP Workshops! RIMS is co-hosting an intensive four-day program which is your gateway to achieving two prestigious certifications, the DRI Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP) and the RIMS Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP). [1:08] This workshop will be held from May 19th through the 22nd in collaboration with DRI International. Links to these courses can be found through the Certification page of RIMS.org and this episode's show notes. [1:23] Virtual Workshops! On June 12th, Pat Saporito will host “Managing Data for ERM” and she will return on June 26th to present the very popular new course, “Generative AI for Risk Management”. [1:40] A link to the full schedule of virtual workshops can be found on the RIMS.org/education and RIMS.org/education/online-learning pages. A link is also in this episode's show notes. [1:51] We're at RISKWORLD this week but preparations are already underway for the RIMS ERM Conference 2025 on November 17th and 18th in Seattle, Washington. RIMS is accepting educational session submissions through May 20th. [2:08] The best submissions will address current and future challenges facing ERM practitioners as well as provide leading practices and concrete takeaways for a diverse audience of risk professionals from industries or organizations of varied sizes, disciplines, functions, and roles. [2:26] These include officers, leaders, managers, and students. The link to the submission form is in this episode's show notes. [2:35] While you are at RISKWORLD, be sure to take away some inspirado and channel it into an educational session submission for the RIMS ERM Conference 2025. Of course, mark your calendars for November 17th and 18th and I'll be sure to alert you when registration opens. [2:55] The RIMS Risk Manager of the Year Program aims to raise the profile of the risk profession and the outstanding programs the honorees have implemented within their organizations. [3:04] The award was created in 1977 and the Risk Management Honor Roll was added in 1981. The 2025 RIMS Risk Manager of the Year is Jennifer Pack of Hyatt. [3:16] As VP of Risk Management, Jennifer has transformed risk management at Hyatt, embedding a culture that has provided a launchpad for organizational success. Her innovations in captive management also earned her this award. [3:28] Jennifer is a long-standing member of the RIMS Chicago Chapter and an all-around fantastic professional. Her profile will soon appear in the Awards Edition of RIMS Risk Management magazine. [3:40] Jennifer will receive the award on May 5th at 4:00 p.m., on the main stage at RISKWORLD. We're going to get to know her a little bit now. We'll talk ERM, captives, Chicago RIMS, hotel and hospitality, and more. [3:57] Interview! RIMS 2025 Risk Manager of the Year, Jennifer Pack, welcome to RIMScast!  [4:34] Jennifer has been at Hyatt, for going on 18 years. She can stay at any hotel she would like! [5:03] Some people like to leave their jobs every few years for a new company and skills. Jennifer's career at Hyatt has been an adventure! She hasn't been doing the same thing for 18 years. Every couple of years, she gets new roles and responsibilities. She's constantly learning. [5:24] She has a foundation of knowing whom to go to, what the systems are, and how to get things done. There's a base familiarity but with some excitement and learning opportunities. [5:36] If the feeling of being able to learn and grow ever stops, Jennifer will think about leaving. She's enjoying her time. It seems like she's working or a new company all the time. They're transforming. They're changing. The risk landscape is changing. There's never a dull moment. [5:56] Justin feels the same way about working at RIMS! He started as a writer but then got these responsibilities and they took on sort of a life of their own and attracted more of an audience. It's more work, but it's more fun and rewarding. [6:25] Jennifer joined Hyatt in a group called Compliance and Controls. She was hired to set up their Sarbanes-Oxley department. In reaction to the financial crisis after the downfall of Arthur Andersen and Enron, Sarbanes-Oxley was born and Jennifer became an expert on it. [6:58] Jennifer launched that group and then it was moved into Internal Audit where they were exposed to a lot more people and systems. Jennifer had the opportunity to backfill someone in the Risk Management department and never left. She's been in the risk function for 15 years. [7:30] When Jennifer joined the risk group it had seven risk practitioners in the corporate office. There were five or six Occupational Health Managers in the field, helping with Workers' Compensation and occupational safety. There are over 35 full-time members now. [8:09] They've taken on new roles in the 15 years: physical security, business resilience, fire life safety compliance, and other health and safety functions in the company. They could probably use a few more people but they're doing well. [8:38] The risk profile of the company has changed. The geopolitical risk profile of the world has changed. Hyatt's offerings have changed. They used to be mostly business, group, and convention, and now they lean into leisure, travel, and all-inclusive, which have different risks. [9:16] Hyatt has tripled its resort rooms and quintupled its lifestyle rooms since 2017. A lifestyle room is about meeting clientele where they are. Millennials want to travel the world and experience the environment, such as an attached nightclub in Miami or New York. [9:55] They're unconventional hotels with the framework of a well-known brand, where guests have comfort, safety, security, cybersecurity, and loyalty points while feeling like they're in a niche hotel with great and different experiences. It feels like a boutique, attached to the brand. [11:06] Social inflation is a risk. Liability insurance has gone up because claim payouts have gone up tremendously. Claim attorneys are targeting hospitality. [12:12] Hyatt is thinking globally about health, safety, and security, making sure policies are locked down, training is locked down, and people know how to report an incident, and when to report it. How do you de-escalate an incident to win the guest back? [12:36] Saying, “I'm sorry that happened to you. Here are some points. We care about you,” reinforcing that, versus saying, “Let my insurance company deal with it.” That's the last thing we want. If our guests had a bad incident, they had a bad experience. [12:51] Especially if you're traveling on leisure with your family, you want to know that you'll be taken care of. There's an expectation that you're going to be safe and secure. Hyatt wants to make sure to bring the level of care to them that they deserve. [13:07] Hyatt is working on the front end to retrain employees on ramping up safety and security measures and knowing how to respond when an incident happens. [13:18] Then, if it gets into the claims section, the claims management team has new robust processes to manage claims to drive down exposure. On the insurance procurement side, Hyatt is leaning into its captive to take on much higher retention in-house. [14:09] Hyatt is asking leadership in the field to bring education and awareness to the importance of risk management, what's at risk, and what the current legal environment is, and overlay that with wanting to care for people. Hyatt cares about the guest experience. [14:43] This is a macro-level environment. If you have litigation system abuse across the country, what are insurers doing about it? What are brokers doing about it? What are corporations doing about it? [14:56] Jennifer gets with her peers in the hospitality industry, working in their respective associations, to address these issues at the state and federal levels, change laws, and push for tort reform and disclosures of litigation funding. [15:28] Hyatt has partnered with the American Lodging and Hospitality Association and is considering partnering with insurance companies. You can't just hope someone else will take care of the problem. It's a much bigger problem that we all need to address. [16:06] Justin points out that third-party litigation funding is one of the top initiatives and campaigns for RIMS this year. RIMS recently had the Legislative Summit in Washington, D.C., where third-party litigation funding was a top priority. It was a top RIMS talking point on the Hill. [16:38] Jennifer says Hyatt and the hospitality industry are in with RIMS on the issue of third-party litigation funding. If it continues, guests are going to have to pay more for a stay and for the experiences they want to have as rising risk costs are passed to the consumers. [17:04] Plug Time! RIMS Webinars! We are back on May 22nd, with GRC, a TÜV SÜD Company, and their newest session, “Asset Valuations in 2025: Managing Tariffs, Inflation, and Rising Insurance Scrutiny”. [17:22] On May 29th, Origami Risk returns to present “Strategic Risk Financing in an Unstable Economy: Leveraging Technology for Efficiency and Cost Reduction”. On June 5th, Zywave joins us to discuss “Today's Escalating Risk Trajectory: What's the Cause and What's the Solution?” [17:44] More webinars will be announced soon and added to the RIMS.org/Webinars page. Go there to register. Registration is complimentary for RIMS members. [17:55] Spencer's goal to help build a talent pipeline of risk management and insurance professionals is achieved, in part, by its collaboration with risk management and insurance educators across the U.S. and Canada. [18:16] Since 2010, Spencer has awarded over $3.3 million in General Grants to support over 130 student-centered experiential learning initiatives at universities and RMI non-profits. Spencer's 2026 application process is now open through July 30th, 2025. [18:36] General Grant awardees are typically notified at the end of October. Learn more about Spencer's General Grants through the Programs tab of SpencerEd.org. [18:46] On the 7th of October, the New Jersey RIMS Chapter will return to the beautiful Fiddler's Elbow Country Club in Bedminster, New Jersey for their Annual Charity Golf/Pickleball Event. [18:59] Registration is open and the event proceeds are used to fund the chapter's Spencer and Kids' Chance Scholarships. It was the filming location for the upcoming movie sequel Happy Gilmore 2. For more information, and to register, please NewJersey.RIMS.org. [19:21] Let's Return to My Interview with RIMS 2025 Risk Manager of the Year, Jennifer Pack! [19:47] Hyatt put a captive in place in 2013. Back then, Hyatt had huge insurance cost swings year-on-year that they couldn't forecast. It created a lot of “noise” on the balance sheet. They originally put the captive in place to take away that noise and remove wild cost volatility. [20:38] Over time, Hyatt started to see success and build up a surplus they saw the value of a captive, especially as market conditions changed. They brought in additional forms of insurance coverage with traditional deductible buy-downs with workers' compensation and GL. [21:04] They started to see the surplus build up and they were able to give some of the surplus back to the participants and drive down their premium cost. [21:14] In the pandemic, the hospitality business came to a halt. Before the pandemic, Hyatt's average occupancy around the world was over 75%. In April 2020, it dropped to 6%. The owners of Hyatt were under extreme pressure. [21:43] Jennifer had an extra surplus in the captive and was able to give relief to the owners and to the company in that year and the next couple of years. Claim volume went down due to lower occupancy. Hyatt used some of that cash to fund large acquisitions. [22:19] That's when Hyatt saw social inflation in gaps in coverage. There was no coverage for a pandemic. Through the captive, Jennifer was able to offer that coverage to the owners. She offered wages and hours insurance to the owners. [22:48] Coming out of COVID-19, with the impact of social inflation, the captive took on larger line sizes and larger layers in its umbrella tower. They had some acquisitions in cyber. They bought the Apple Leisure Group. [23:36] In a lot of those services, Hyatt isn't providing the service but is almost like a travel agent, connecting you to the hotel, airline, or excursion. If there is an incident, the third party has the coverage. Hyatt has exposure for connecting you to the service. [24:01] Hyatt had to get creative with coverage for these new exposures, working with broker partners to fill those gaps. They did it largely with the captive, buying time until they could get a traditional product in place. [24:17] With the captive, Hyatt filled gaps, helped grow the business, and used it as a business enabler, providing cash, relief to owners, and coverage that may not have been commercially available, either to buy time or permanently fill a gap. It's been fun! [24:53] Jennifer regularly changes which hat she wears. As the captive President, she has to look at what Hyatt is doing to protect the captive and make sure it's adequately funded and complies with regulations. From a governance perspective, is Hyatt doing the right things? [25:21] Jennifer regularly brings in third-party experts to check the captive. Jennifer's decisions as President of the captive are through the lens of the captive and as the owner of this business, what they are doing to grow revenues, manage expenses, and keep an adequate surplus. [25:44] The captive doesn't run razor-thin. To have a forward-looking approach, it needs to have an adequate surplus, reserves, and cash in the captive. They're very conservative in protecting it. [26:06] From a corporate risk management perspective, when Hyatt needs to buy insurance, Jennifer asks, can we buy it from the captive? She sometimes has tough conversations with Hyatt about borrowing versus driving up investment income to protect everyone's interests. [26:37] Jennifer has to keep top-of-mind, which lens she's looking through, whether President of the Captive or Hyatt Vice President of Risk Management. She wears two hats, managing all the key stakeholders' needs and wants. [27:17] Some of the stakeholders are Hyatt, third-party owners, the corporation itself, and guests and colleagues with short-term and long-term disability and medical, adding value for the benefits team so they don't have to go to third parties for that insurance. [28:27] As the Captive President, Jennifer is looking at loss and expense ratios, reserve to operating ratios, surplus to premiums, and surplus to reserves, making sure that they're within the set ratios. They shoot for three to one. Anything above that number can go to participants. [29:09] They won't go below three to one so they are capitalized for future unexpected losses or to back up future business growth. Jennifer believes Hyatt is unique in having those ratios and guards in place. Jennifer is looking forward to future needs. [30:15] The captive evaluates from time to time whether to change the ratios to five to one or four to one. In the liability space, claims are growing. Some of the demands are wild and the settlements reached or not reached are eye-opening! [30:46] Jennifer explains the global risk management claims software that is now also used for incident reporting to the risk department. They look at data from all incidents and are seeing a trend and looking to what could come down the pike and new coverages they may need to offer. [31:44] The technology is supporting the department and overall risk management strategy. The captive is benefiting through better data on what's happening out there so they won't get blindsided by unusual trends that aren't yet seen in the claims. [32:19] Technology helps the captive to build out platforms to manage compliance, safety, and security in the environment. [32:28] The more data insights and comfort Jennifer has over the Health, Safety, and Security diagnostic at each property, region, and the globe, and overlays those with risk assessments Hyatt does, the more comfort she can get to take on more risks knowledgeably in the captive. [33:15] RIMS Plug! The first of hopefully many RIMS Texas Regional Conferences will be held in San Antonio from August 4th through the 6th, 2025. This groundbreaking event is set to unite the Texas RIMS Chapters and welcome risk management professionals from around the world. [33:34] Guess what, folks! Registration is now open! The advance rate is available through May 16th. A link is in this episode's show notes. You can also visit the Events page of RIMS.org to register. We look forward to seeing you in Texas! [33:50] Let's Conclude Our Interview with RIMS 2025 Risk Manager of the Year, Jennifer Pack! [34:04] Jennifer Pack is the RIMS Risk Manager of the Year 2025 and she has been such a wonderful guest. This episode is coming out the morning of the awards. We will see her onstage, for anyone who has the privilege of being there. [34:19] Jennifer is honored, excited, and a little nervous to be onstage at RISKWORLD for the award. A lot of the RIMS Chicago members will be there. Jennifer has a wonderful Chicago-based team that will be there. Jennifer's parents and her husband are coming. [36:26] Jennifer says moving up the ranks at Hyatt and RIMS Chicago has been a fun and wild ride! The growth in her career, switching from being a Public Accountant to Auditor to Risk Manager has been fun with a lot of learning. [36:54] Jennifer tries to lead and grow with optimism, fun, and humor. She's been able to grow and develop a team under her. It's been a really interesting 18-year adventure. [37:11] Once Jennifer was exposed to RIMS, it opened her eyes to the wealth of resources, friendship, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing. It's been such an excellent experience for her. She couldn't be prouder of the Chicago Chapter and the great things they do to develop talent.  [37:43] Jennifer says since COVID-19, it's been wonderful to see the number of people who attend the outings and forums. It's great to have such a great community and seeing them regularly is impactful. [38:06] Jennifer is Risk Manager of the Year. The Rising Star is Megan Smalter, who has had a wonderful time with the Chicago Chapter before moving to New York. In her role on the RIMS Chicago Chapter Board, and when she ran the Golf Outing, Jennifer has worked with Megan. [38:45] Julie Bean won the Heart of RIMS Award recently. Jennifer says it's great to have the bench of expertise of long-standing members in the Chicago Chapter. Jennifer learned from them personally and in professional settings. They're great for sharing ideas and working with. [39:36] Jennifer also mentioned Theresa Severson who was RIMS 2023 Risk Manager of the Year, with Kite Realty. There's a lot of talent and deep risk knowledge in the RIMS Chicago Chapter. There's a genuine camaraderie.  [40:30] Jennifer looks ahead to see companies leaning into the concept of full risk management philosophy. Risk management is so much more than just the insurance buyers. [40:45] Risk management is “How can we bring a risk management mindset to our enterprises? How can we be business enablers? How can we leverage the wealth of data and information that comes through our department to enable mindful growth in the business?” [41:05] It's “How can we help with ESG efforts, especially with the reporting? How can we mitigate risks to the company and not just to our financial tools of insurance? What can we do in loss prevention or mitigation?” [41:26] “What can we do in claims management with more expertise, as things heat up on the litigation side with social inflation and nuclear claims?” Jennifer sees Hyatt and other companies taking more risks in the captive's or balance sheet to offset what's happening.” [42:10] Risk managers are going to have to articulate that and bring solutions to the forefront of their companies. Jennifer is excited about the future. She's looking forward to launching and rolling out more technology solutions as Hyatt leverages all its data. [42:57] Jennifer knows her team can have a lot of positive impact on the organization and she's excited about it. [43:08] Special thanks and congratulations again to Jennifer Pack, the RIMS 2025 Risk Manager of the Year. A link to RISKWORLD coverage is in this episode's show notes via the Show Daily. [43:20] That will update this episode's show notes with a link to the RIMS Risk Management Magazine coverage in our special Awards Edition. More honorees from RISKWORLD will join us here on RIMScast soon. [43:35] Plug Time! You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. Links to sponsored episodes are in the show notes. [44:03] RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them! Contact pd@rims.org for more information. [44:21] Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information. [44:38] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more. [44:55] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management. [45:09] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. You can email Justin at Content@RIMS.org. [45:17] Thank you all for your continued support and engagement on social media channels! We appreciate all your kind words. Listen every week! Stay safe!   Links: RIMS Texas Regional 2025 — August 3‒5 | Advance registration rates now open. ERM Conference 2025 — Call for Submissions (Through May 20) RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy RIMS Risk Management magazine RIMS Now The Strategic and Enterprise Risk Center Spencer Educational Foundation — General Grants 2026 — Application Dates Press Release: “RIMS Risk Manager of the Year Goes to Hyatt's Jennifer Pack” RIMS Webinars: RIMS.org/Webinars “Asset Valuations in 2025: Managing Tariffs, Inflation, and Rising Insurance Scrutiny” | Sponsored by GRC, a TÜV SÜD Company | May 22, 2025 “Strategic Risk Financing in an Unstable Economy: Leveraging Technology for Efficiency and Cost Reduction” | Sponsored by Origami Risk | May 29, 2025 “Today's Escalating Risk Trajectory: What's the Cause & What's the Solution?” | Sponsored by Zywave | June 5, 2025   Upcoming RIMS-CRMP Prep Virtual Workshops: CBCP & RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep Virtual Bootcamp: “Mastering Business Continuity & Risk Management” | May 19‒22, 2025 | In Collaboration with DRI International Full RIMS-CRMP Prep Course Schedule “Managing Data for ERM” | June 12 | Instructor: Pat Saporito  “Generative AI for Risk Management” | June 26 | Instructor: Pat Saporito See the full calendar of RIMS Virtual Workshops RIMS-CRMP Prep Workshops   Related RIMScast Episodes: “Risk and Leadership Patterns with Super Bowl Champion Ryan Harris” (RISKWORLD 2025 Keynote) “(Re)Humanizing Leadership in Risk Management with Holly Ransom” “Risk and Relatability with Rachel DeAlto” “RIMS Risk Manager of the Year, Steve Robles, Los Angeles County” (2024)   Sponsored RIMScast Episodes: “The New Reality of Risk Engineering: From Code Compliance to Resilience” | Sponsored by AXA XL (New!) “Change Management: AI's Role in Loss Control and Property Insurance” | Sponsored by Global Risk Consultants, a TÜV SÜD Company “Demystifying Multinational Fronting Insurance Programs” | Sponsored by Zurich “Understanding Third-Party Litigation Funding” | Sponsored by Zurich “What Risk Managers Can Learn From School Shootings” | Sponsored by Merrill Herzog “Simplifying the Challenges of OSHA Recordkeeping” | Sponsored by Medcor “Risk Management in a Changing World: A Deep Dive into AXA's 2024 Future Risks Report” | Sponsored by AXA XL “How Insurance Builds Resilience Against An Active Assailant Attack” | Sponsored by Merrill Herzog “Third-Party and Cyber Risk Management Tips” | Sponsored by Alliant “RIMS Innovation with Archer” | Sponsored by Archer “Navigating Commercial Property Risks with Captives” | Sponsored by Zurich “Breaking Down Silos: AXA XL's New Approach to Casualty Insurance” | Sponsored by AXA XL “Weathering Today's Property Claims Management Challenges” | Sponsored by AXA XL “Storm Prep 2024: The Growing Impact of Convective Storms and Hail” | Sponsored by Global Risk Consultants, a TÜV SÜD Company “Partnering Against Cyberrisk” | Sponsored by AXA XL “Harnessing the Power of Data and Analytics for Effective Risk Management” | Sponsored by Marsh “Accident Prevention — The Winning Formula For Construction and Insurance” | Sponsored by Otoos “Platinum Protection: Underwriting and Risk Engineering's Role in Protecting Commercial Properties” | Sponsored by AXA XL “Elevating RMIS — The Archer Way” | Sponsored by Archer   RIMS Publications, Content, and Links: RIMS Membership — Whether you are a new member or need to transition, be a part of the global risk management community! RIMS Virtual Workshops On-Demand Webinars RIMS-Certified Risk Management Professional (RIMS-CRMP) RISK PAC | RIMS Advocacy RIMS Strategic & Enterprise Risk Center RIMS-CRMP Stories — Featuring RIMS President Kristen Peed!   RIMS Events, Education, and Services: RIMS Risk Maturity Model®   Sponsor RIMScast: Contact sales@rims.org or pd@rims.org for more information.   Want to Learn More? Keep up with the podcast on RIMS.org, and listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.   Have a question or suggestion? Email: Content@rims.org.   Join the Conversation! Follow @RIMSorg on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.   About our guest: Jennifer Pack, VP of Global Risk Management, Hyatt Corporation   Production and engineering provided by Podfly.  

**For the subtitled video, please visit our YouTube channel:(25) Episode 31 (100th Episode overall in Spanish): Carmen Gladys Cauchi Andrade - YouTube In this special 100th episode, Carmen Gladys Cauchi Andrade, mother of Jaime Cruz, joins the show to share her inspiring life story. Born and raised in Peru, Carmen's journey began in the Peruvian Mountains, where her grandparents embarked on an incredible trek to Lima, the capital city. With determination and hard work, Carmen's father built a home and a garden in Rimac, where Carmen grew up.Driven by her passion for numbers, Carmen pursued an accounting certificate and later earned a Public Accountant degree, opening doors to exciting opportunities. Herimpressive career took her from the Ministry of Agriculture to Dasatour SA, atourism agency, where she combined her love of numbers with her desire totravel.Carmen's journey continued when she immigrated to the United States. While learning English, she lovingly cared for children. Her career path led her to Harrah's, where shebegan as a housekeeper and later transitioned to a seamstress. She left Harrah's and started a new career working for the Clark County School District, where she eventually retired.In her retirement, Carmen remains actively engaged in the Las Vegas community, volunteering with the local police departments, assisting with elections,and nurturing her passion for gardening alongside her husband, Roy.Carmen's message to anyone embarking on a migratory journey is resilience and perseverance. She encourages individuals never to give up and to embrace the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Carmen's inspiring storyserves as a testament to the strength and determination of the human spirit.

Upon graduating from Utah State University in 2001, I spent four years with PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP, where I provided tax preparation and consulting services to privately held companies and their owners. Many of these companies were real estate developers and investors. This led to a position in private industry as the Tax Director of a large real estate company with more than $2 billion in assets. While there I was involved in residential and commercial rental property, real estate development, hospitality businesses (hotels and restaurants) as well as venture companies in various industries. This experience sparked an entrepreneurial spirit within me, and I continue to be involved in real estate investing to this day. I joined the Morrison, Clark & Company management team in 2017 and have used my extensive, direct experience serving the construction and real estate industries by heading up the Cost Segregation, Research & Development Credits, Opportunity Zone and 1031 Exchange specialties of the firm. In 2019, I was excited to join the MCC Partner group as a Tax Partner where I have the privilege of leading an outstanding group of professionals providing personalized services to our clients. Originally from Idaho, I stay actively involved in the community by serving on volunteer non-profit boards and participating in church leadership. I cherish spending time with my family, and I enjoy cooking outdoors for family, friends and neighbors. As a family we are highly involved in music, and our home is often filled with the sounds of cello, drums, piano and guitar. Certifications: Member of the American Institute of Public Accountants, Arizona Society of Public Accounts, and the Washington Society of Public Accountants. Previously served on the board of the Bridgerland Community Ice Arena, Inc., and the Kitsap County Community Development Corporation. I am currently licensed in in Arizona and Washington. Education: Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from Utah State University. HIGHLIGHTS IN THE SHOW: 00:00 - Intro 01:34 - Justin's Background 06:40 - Left Field Investors 07:45 - Depreciation and Cost Segregation 10:07 - Real Estate Professional  14:32 - Limited Partner Tax Benefits 21:42 - Depreciation Recapture 24:29 - Cashing Out Your 401k To Invest 31:23 - Educational Resources 32:38 - Connect With Justin 33:50 - Bucket List Items CONNECT WITH OUR GUEST: linkedin.com/in/justinsjensen morrisonclarkcompany.com/real-estate/  CONNECT WITH OUR HOST: Connect with our host, Randy Smith, for more educational content or to discuss investment opportunities in the real estate syndication space at www.impactequity.net, https://www.linkedin.com/in/randallsmith or on Instagram at @randysmithinvestor ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow us on social media @the.gentle.art.of.crushing.it Listen, like, subscribe, comment: http://thegentleartofcrushingit.com/

On the 230th episode of You Know I'm Right, Nick Durst and Joe Calabrese are joined by chef Michele Di Pietro for an exclusive interview to discuss: - When did she learn to cook? Experiences growing up in an Italian family? - Earning her B.S. in Business Administration from Georgetown University, working as Public Accountant at a top New York City firm (Ernst & Young, 1 of the "Big 4") - What was the moment she decided to leave her profession to pursue culinary arts? - What was it like working in various management roles for Whole Foods Market and developing “It's All About The Food” - Advice for people who want to pursue cooking as a career? - During the pandemic she decided to write a cookbook, SOUPified. Where did the idea come from to turn traditional dishes into soups? What was the process like writing a book? Did she think the idea was unique enough to sell? - What is the process like balancing using social media to promote/tease her work and does certain content work better than others? - What are her personal favorite dishes to cook? - Favorite and least favorite holidays to cook for? - What celebrities would she like to cook for? - When creating a new dish, what is the trial-and-error process like? When experimenting, whose taste buds does she trust the most: family or friends? - “You Know I'm Right” moment

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Queensland's tax code is changing, and investors with properties in the state might be in for a surprise. In this episode of The Smart Property Investment Show, host Phil Tarrant sits down with Tony Greco, general manager of technical policy at the Institute of Public Accountants, to parse out everything Queensland investors should know about the forthcoming changes. Tony explains how an investor's entire portfolio, including properties in other states, will now be taken into account when determining an investor's annual land tax. The duo discuss some of the potential repercussions of this change, including deterring landlords from participating in the Sunshine State's property market, and how reporting is likely to work when the changes roll out next year. Tony also walks listeners through some examples of how an investor's tax bill might change once the amalgamation rule comes into effect. If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts and by following Smart Property Investment on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. If you would like to get in touch with our team, email editor@smartpropertyinvestment.com.au for more insights, or hear your voice on the show by recording a question below.

Timothy shares his inspirational life story and how he shifted his career as a certified Public Accountant to an Ordained Minister to a Master of Multiple Ancient Arts & Sacred Sciences (Meditation, Reiki, T'ai Chi, Yoga & Qigong) and finally finding his true purpose of authoring children's books. His inspirational, whimsical and loving spirit shines through as he speaks about the books and the meaning behind them which have touched parents and children's lives for many years. Website: www.timothystuetz.com/freebies === Guest Bio === I've now been blessed to write more children stories than anyone alive! 86 to date, with many more coming. All my entertaining and educational family stories and courses are created with God's Grace, my wisdom, creativity, radiant love and knowledge of ancient arts and sacred sciences. These stories and courses switch on the love, bliss and brilliance genes in all generations. Over the past 40 years I've helped tens of thousands leap over some of life's most difficult challenges with grace and ease to experience the wonders of vital health; the freedom of financial wealth; the bliss of a quiet, focused mind; the joys of loving relationships; the infinite powers of their soul; and seeing their dreams come true. ============== Subscribe to the RealLaurenLive YouTube channel for Spirituality | Health | Lifestyle videos! Visit the @RealLaurenLive on Instagram and check out https://Lauren.live for more info. You can also find weekly FULL episodes of the Lauren.live podcast every Friday on your favorite platforms including Apple, YouTube, Spotify, Google, TuneIn, IHeartRadio, and Amazon Music. ============== #RealLaurenLive #TimothyStuetz #FairyTalesOfTheHeart #ChildrensBook #ChildrensBooks #Whimsical #Imagination #SpiritualPodcast #SpiritualGrowth #SpiritualJourney #Spiritual #Awareness #Consciousness #Conscious #ChildrensStories #ConsciousParent #ConsciousParenting #ConsciousLiving #ConsciousChildren #IndigoChildren #SpiritualChildren #Awake #GoodEnergy #SpreadingLove #LovingMessage #WhiteLight #LightWorker #LightWorkers #EnergyWork #Spirituality #Love

Tomar acción acerca de poner en práctica la inclusión, la diversidad y la equidad son aspectos de gran valor añadido para el desempeño de las instituciones privadas y públicas. Carmen Enid Vélez Tirado nos comparte cómo ha logrado interceptar la visión dentro su práctica profesional como líder. Desde la vicepresidencia del Comité de Diversidad e Inclusión en el Colegio de Contadores Públicos de PR ejerce voluntariamente la encomienda. Conecta con ella a través de https://pr.linkedin.com/in/carmen-véleztirado, también conectando con www.colegiocpa.com.   - - -  Inclusive and Diverse Institutions To take action based in the best practices used for inclusion, diversity and equity, is a great value aspect for the performance of any public and private institution. Carmen Enid Vélez Tirado share with us how she has managed to introduce the vision in her professional practice as a leader and also as a vice-president of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee at the School of Public Accountants of PR, where she works as a volunteer. Connect with her via https://pr.linkedin.com/in/carmen-véleztirado and www.colegiocpa.com.

On this episode, Ami Kassar interviews Russell Hunter, owner and CEO of Colorado Mountain School, an entrepreneur who bought a business during the pandemic - we'll discover what he's learned and how it's going. After graduating with an accounting degree, Russell spent a very short nine months working as a Public Accountant. He chose to step off the tracks and become an outdoor educator and mountain guide. After two decades of leading others in the mountains, Russell saw an opportunity to become an owner of a mountain guide service and an avalanche education school. As an owner/CEO, Russell brings together all of his experiences as an accountant, leader, adventure seeker, and risk manager to lead his two companies. Russell strives to advance a growing industry into a more professional industry that provides opportunities for guides and instructors to make a real livelihood doing what they love to do, teaching others to play in the mountains, and igniting passionate living! Recorded 06/03/2022.

In this special episode of the One Voice podcast, editor Philip King speaks to panel members for this week's International Council for Small Business conference, “Why do we measure economic success by unicorns?” The three guests are emeritus professor Dr Roy Green, who is special innovation adviser at the University of Technology, Sydney; Nick Kamper, chief executive of Purpose Bureau, Australia largest ESG information specialist; and Vicki Stylianou, who is group executive, advocacy and policy at the Institute of Public Accountants and joint chair of the conference. They discuss the legitimacy crisis in the global economy, how to better manage natural resources and how to factor environmental, social and governance issues to the measurement of human progress.

Sam is the owner of Tall Books, an Australian -based bookkeeping business. He is passionate about small business and the role he plays in assisting business owners to succeed. Sam is a member of the Institute of Certified Bookkeepers & the Institute of Public Accountants. When he's not working Sam enjoys playing the piano, gaming, and learning new languages.In this interview, Sam shares insights on challenges and opportunities of responsible data use for small businesses owners.

NJCPA member Joe Tarasco, CPA, is back to share his insights on several key trends expected to impact CPA firms in the rest of 2022 and beyond. He weighs in on the Great Resignation, flexible work arrangements, employee skill development, succession planning, technology adoption, advisory services and more.  Resources:Learn more about Joe and Accountants Advisory Group Attend Joe's session, “Trends in Public Accountant and Future Predictions,” at the NJCPA Convention & Expo, June 14-17 in Atlantic CityWatch our previous episode with Joe, “The Surging CPA Firm M&A Market”

At this month's CoCanberra / NENA Canberra Regional Hub we welcomed Sam Byrne, secretary of the Co-op Federation, and Richard O'Leary, Chair of the Co-op Federation. The Co-op Federation is a peak body co-operative representing and servicing co-operative enterprise in Australia. They do a great job of providing on the ground, practical support for their members, including extensive training for board members. Find out more about co-op federation at https://fed.coop/ Sam has been an active member and director in the co-operative sector for more than 25 years. He became a director of the Federation in 2013 and secretary in 2016. He is also a former Mayor, and a director of Local Government Super. Sam holds a Masters of Management from the University of Technology, Sydney and is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is passionate about the co-operative enterprise model that delivers benefits to members and their communities rather than simply profit to often distant shareholders. Richard has more than 50 years of experience in all forms of co-operative enterprise and apart from Chairing the Co-operative Federation, he is Deputy Chair of Regional Development Mid North Coast, a member of the Executive Council of NSW Farmers, and a Fellow of both the Institute of Public Accountants and the National Tax Agent's Association. He has had extensive involvement in local community organisations, where he has a commitment to provide an independent voice and good governance.

Health is wealth but we have to understand that wealth is pivotal to health as well.Today we have Certified  Public Accountant,  Reberca David of R. David & Associates join us as we break down the simplicity and importance of Financial Freedom and Tax Preparation.If you like what you hear or need a bit more of an explanation on a topic we covered or even didn't cover you could reach out to Reberca @Rdavidassociates on IG & FBTopics, ideas or general questions you want to be answered or covered by Big E & Jean can be forwarded to @Fotwpodcast on IG

Episode #22 π's Logic Accounting Brain (feat. Guy Pearson, CEO) recorded 8/2/2021 Guy Pearson, CEO | Chief Ignitioneer | Head Janitor Practice Ignition | Sydney, Australia 2 Trading Places and the Crescendo of Agricultural Economics 3 Being older than your father ever was 6 Aussie Rules IPA, Institute of Public Accountants 8 Do you want $20 in the bank or $20,000 at the end of the year? ***shout out to Xero, Skype, Google Suite, Dropbox*** ***shout out to Receipt Bank, Fathom, and Spotlight*** 11 An online ledger with an API, Bank Feeds, Single Ledger… god bless Xero 13 If you've traveled around the world, you probably bumped into an Australian 18 THE BIRTH OF… Interactive Accounting P/L 21 THE BIRTH OF… My Financial Solutions 22 THE BIRTH OF… My PIR (Property Investment Report) 26 Not doing any day-to-day work in your firm after 3 years! ***shout out to Josh Lance*** 28 Firm Ignition, Group Ignition, and Practice Ignition 30 THE BIRTH OF… Practice Ignition ***shout out to Stuart McLeod*** ***shout out to Matt Allen*** 35 When will everyone see the logic of running monthly retainers? ***shout out to Steph Hinds, Head Ninja @ Growthwize*** ***shout out to Rod Drury*** 37 The 3 F's 39 A Global Mindset from Day One ***shout out to Brendan Allen*** ***shout out to Tom Maxwell*** ***shout out to Don Miller*** ***shout out to Tiger Global*** ***shout out to Relay, Xero, Dext, Hubdoc, QuickBooks*** ***shout out to Karbon*** ***SPECIAL shout out to the Practice Ignition Team*** 49 Smarter Together, Better Together 50 It's the End of the Beginning… --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/sonsofcpas/message

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg this week announced a reduction in ASIC levies for financial advisers, taking fees back to 2018-19 levels. But how did we get to this stage where levies have been constantly rising year-on-year? In this episode of Accountants Daily Insider, the Institute of Public Accountants group executive of advocacy and policy, Vicki Stylianou, joins host Jotham Lian to provide context around ASIC's industry funding model and what it was meant to achieve. Vicki explores how fees have risen dramatically over the years for financial advisers, registered liquidators, and auditors, and delivers a compelling argument on why the government should initiate a blanket freeze for all practitioners. She also discusses the upcoming review of ASIC's industry funding model and what she hopes will come from it.

In this special edition of the OneVoice podcast, editor Maja Garaca Djurdjevic speaks to Vicki Stylianou and Matthew Cavicchia about a very timely topic – sustainability. Coinciding with the release the August/September edition of the Public Accountant journal – our sustainability special – Maja sits down with Vicki Stylianou, the IPA's group executive of advocacy and policy, and IPA analyst Matthew Cavicchia to explore the role accountants and businesses play in creating a greener world. From the IPA's own sustainability process to IFAC's guidance, the trio explore the concept of sustainability, integrated reporting, as well as the challenges and opportunities the new sustainability push presents. Vicki also unveils the IPA's future plans, which include the creation of micro credentials courses for members. This podcast was recorded from the comfort of our homes as we continue to respect social distancing measures. As always, we invite you to write to us with your suggestions and questions at onevoice@theipagroup.org.

T L Bushey is Chief Financial Officer at Gemini Group, responsible for managing the financial risks of the corporation, financial planning, and record-keeping, as well as financial reporting to the CEO and board of directors. He has over 33 years of financial experience and has been with Gemini since 2006. A member of the American Institute of Public Accountants and Michigan Association of Public Accountants, T L holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Central Michigan University. » Visit MBN website: www.michiganbusinessnetwork.com/ » Subscribe to MBN's YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCqNX… » Like MBN: www.facebook.com/mibiznetwork » Follow MBN: twitter.com/MIBizNetwork/ » MBN Instagram: www.instagram.com/mibiznetwork/

It’s a big spending budget with an even bigger net debt approaching $1 trillion. But what does it all mean for the profession, and how will it impact your clients? The Institute of Public Accountants’ general manager of technical policy, Tony Greco, joins host Jotham Lian in this week’s episode of Accountants Daily Insider to unpack all the big-ticket measures from this year’s budget that will have an impact on practitioners and their clients. Tony shares his initial reaction to the budget, tackling everything from tax cuts to superannuation, while taking a closer look at some glaring omissions that continue to haunt the profession.

Charlie Price, CPA (@chuckswilde) shares his career journey as well as how he was able to build a following and a 2,000+ FaceBook group (Marketing Success for Accountants and Bookkeepers).

In this special budget coverage episode of the One Voice podcast, editor Maja Garaca Djurdjevic speaks to IPA leadership to unpack one of the most important budgets in Australia’s history. Maja is joined by Andrew Conway, the CEO of the Institute of Public Accountants; Vicki Stylianou, executive general manager, advocacy and technical at the IPA; and the body’s general manager of technical policy Tony Greco. The IPA dissect the budget and reveal their thoughts on the government’s plans to boost jobs and inflate the economy. If you have any questions for anyone on our team, please get in touch with us at onevoice@theipagroup.org.

Managing a Global firm that is currently active in 5 countries with over 650 clients and growing, Nick reveals the secrets on how to provide an effective leadership while still working closely with your peers and his insights on the reality of the outsourcing industry. We catch up with Nick Sinclair, Founder and CEO of TOA Global as he shares: How to build and maintain culture across borders as an International company and how to inspire and care genuinely for your people Adapting to the different cultures as an international company, building connections and what it takes to attract exceptional employees His experience and process in offshoring and outsourcing globally His route and approach to outsourcing effectively What he would have done differently in his career and business Slow growth vs. Fast growth What his downtime looks like How Covid affected his business and his team from the most affected countries His love for snowboarding and the people he'd love to have a drink with. I often look back and go, "If I did things differently I wouldn't have gotten the result I got. and I wouldn't get the results I'm doing now by doing things differently" Profile Nick Sinclair is an experienced professional advisor, speaker and a leader when it comes to revolutionising the outsourcing industry for accountants. He is a passionate pathfinder who likes making an impact on the people he works with and currently leads about 1800 offshore team members providing services for their clients globally. His goal - to help Accounting firms make a difference! Nick has been nominated for numerous industry and leadership awards throughout the years and has been one of the leading speakers when it comes to accounting outsourcing. He has spoken to thousands of accountants from around the world and aims to do more to help them be better in serving their clients and avoid pitfalls. Some quick facts: Has been featured in Accountants Daily, SmartPayroll, Public Accountant: The Official Journal of The Institute of Public Accountants, IntuitQuickbooks, The Financial Observer and many other digital media outlets. Popular public speaker at the Accounting Business Expo, Xerocon, Accountants Technology Showcase and NAB Breakfast. A member of the Entrepreneurs Organisation Show Notes Richard Branson Jeff Bezos Andrew Van De Beek Contact Info You can find out more about Nick Sinclair and his firm TOA Global from their website: https://theoutsourcedaccountant.com/

From realizing his desire to be an advisor at an early age to successfully running his own accounting and financial planning firm and then working enormous hours to create the sensational growth of TOA Global - a business that emerged from a service he needed himself and scaled it globally to nearly 2000 staff. We catch up with Nick Sinclair, Founder of TOA Global as he shares: His journey with his first Financial Planning and Accounting firm 'Wealthfarm' from Zero to one of the largest planning businesses in Qld at the age of 20. His struggles using an outsourced provider and how he started a business from his own need Realizing need to delegate in order to scale vs control Self Awareness, knowing your limits, having the right people on the bus and being organised with your time. Work/life balance with 2 growing businesses, taking care of his family and the need to take a break from work. Importance of learning from others - reading, coaching and mentoring Inspiring and caring for your people and how he attracts exceptional employees Profile Nick Sinclair is an experienced professional advisor, speaker and a leader when it comes to revolutionising the outsourcing industry for accountants. He is a passionate pathfinder who likes making an impact on the people he works with and currently leads about 1800 offshore team members providing services for their clients globally. His goal - to help Accounting firms make a difference! Nick has been nominated for numerous industry and leadership awards throughout the years and has been one of the leading speakers when it comes to accounting outsourcing. He has spoken to thousands of accountants from around the world and aims to do more to help them be better in serving their clients and avoid pitfalls. Some quick facts: Has been featured in Accountants Daily, SmartPayroll, Public Accountant: The Official Journal of The Institute of Public Accountants, IntuitQuickbooks, The Financial Observer and many other digital media outlets. Popular public speaker at the Accounting Business Expo, Xerocon, Accountants Technology Showcase and NAB Breakfast. A member of the Entrepreneurs Organisation You can find out more about Nick Sinclair and his firm TOA Global from their website: https://theoutsourcedaccountant.com/ To find out more about RecruitmentExpert please go to www.recruitmentexpert.com.au or email Michael Edelstein: michael@recruitmentexpert.com.au

Kesulitan dan tantangan adalah sesuatu yang pasti dialami setiap dari kita. Dari sekolah, kuliah sampai bekerja. Setiap fase kehidupan memiliki tantangan yang berbeda. Dan tidak sedikit kesulitan dan tantangan membuat stress. Memiliki pengetahuan dan skill untuk bisa menghadapi stress adalah sesuatu yang penting. Ternyata, untuk bisa deal dengan stres dibutuhkan trik khusus supaya kita tidak kewalahan menghadapinya. Sharing 23 menit ini akan membahas tentang tips dan trik menghadapi stress dengan cara TRAP. Apa itu TRAP? Yuk kita dengarkan :) Jessica Arsianti merupakan seorang Public Accountant di Indonesia. Sempat vakum karena menjadi stay-at-home mom saat anaknya lahir, kesukaannya akan angka membawanya kembali ke dunia konsultan, hingga memulai JA Consulting, sebuah accounting consultant yang berfokus di segmen UMKM (small medium entities). Masa SMA dan kuliahnya dihabiskan dengan aktif di berbagai organisasi. Menjadi wakil ketua OSIS saat SMA sampai bergabung di angkatan pertama Buddhist Reborn. Beliau juga menyenangi anak-anak dan memiliki ketertarikan untuk terus berkarya dalam organisasi sosial membawanya menjadi guru Sunday School sejak tahun 2009 hingga sekarang. Saat ini, Jessica aktif sebagai ketua Buddhist Reborn Kids dan menjadi pengurus pusat Wanita Theravada Indonesia (WANDANI).

On this week's episode of Accountants Daily Insider, we take a closer look at the Institute of Public Accountants and the Association of Accounting Technicians and their plans for members this year. Host Maja Garaca Djurdjevic is joined by IPA chief executive Andrew Conway and All That Counts founder and director Lielette Calleja, who has recently joined the AAT as its chief accounting technician. Andrew and Lielette talk about the packed agenda that both the IPA and AAT have ahead for their members this year. They also discuss their thoughts on the variety of lockdown approaches by the state and territory governments through the COVID-19 pandemic, what might be on the cards for the 2021-22 federal budget, as well as when the IPA will resume running in-person events.

After weathering the storm that was all of last year, the Institute of Public Accountants has plenty on the agenda for its members in 2021. On this episode of The IPA Podcast, host Maja Garaca Djurdjevic is joined by IPA chief executive Andrew Conway and All That Counts founder and director Lielette Calleja, who has recently joined the Association of Accounting Technicians as its chief accounting technician. Both Andrew and Lielette talk about the packed agenda that both the IPA and AAT have ahead for its members this year. They also discuss their thoughts on the variety of lockdown approaches by the state and territory governments through the COVID-19 pandemic, what might be on the cards for the 2021/22 federal budget as well as when the IPA will resume running in-person events.

With the Accountants Daily 30 Under 30 Awards being delivered as a live broadcast on Thursday, 3 December at 7:30pm AEDT, we are bringing you a series of podcasts showcasing the finalists across a multitude of categories. In this episode, Accountants Daily editor Jotham Lian is joined by Ingrid Cronin-Knight, head of accountant management and acquisition at MYOB, principal partner of the awards, and two finalists who share how they are feeling about having gained recognition as part of the upcoming awards.

Around 5,000 accountants are set to benefit from mental health first aid training following an investment of $2.24 million from the government. The Institute of Public Accountants chief executive Andrew Conway joins host Jotham Lian to unpack what the project will look like over the next two years, what accountants can expect from the training, and why such training is so important for practitioners on the frontline. Andrew also reflects on the year that has passed, shares how proud he is of the profession, and offers some predictions for the year ahead.

IPA Group CEO Andrew Conway is back in the studio with the editor of the Public Accountant to discuss events in 2020 that have left a lasting impact on the accounting profession.  Mr Conway and host Maja Garaca Djurdjevic unpack the turbulent and unexpected events that have transpired and provide an outlook for the year ahead.     They discuss the hardships encountered by small business and their accountants, the government’s response to the COVID crisis and the economic worry.    Being Melbourne-based, Mr Conway talks about his personal experiences with the COVID shutdown and reveals how the IPA Group has dealt with the challenges.    And don’t forget to write to us with your suggestions and questions at onevoice@theipagroup.org.  

  In this special budget coverage episode of the One Voice podcast, editor Maja Garaca Djurdjevic speaks to IPA leadership to unpack the most anticipated budget in history. Maja is joined by Andrew Conway, the CEO of the Institute of Public Accountants; Vicki Stylianou, executive general manager, advocacy and technical at the IPA; and the body’s general manager of technical policy Tony Greco. The IPA trio talk about some of the most important measures announced on Tuesday evening and reveal their thoughts on the government’s plans to rebuild the economy post the coronavirus crisis. If you have any questions for anyone on our team, please get in touch with us at onevoice@theipagroup.org.  

In this special budget coverage episode of the MyBusiness Podcast, host Maja Garaca Djurdjevic is joined by a number of prominent figures in the small business space to unpack the most anticipated budget in history. From loss carry-back for businesses and temporary full expensing which builds on the expanded instant asset write-off, to tax incentives and the JobMaker hiring credit, our host and guests discuss budget 2020 and what it means for business. Maja is joined by Kate Carnell, the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman; Andrew Conway, the CEO of the Institute of Public Accountants; Vicki Stylianou, executive general manager, advocacy and technical at the IPA; and the body's general manager of technical policy Tony Greco. Hear their thoughts on budget 2020 and gain more insight into some of the measures that could help your COVID recovery.

The JobKeeper program switches over on 28 September and with it a number of high-level changes that practitioners and their clients will have to wrap their heads around. On this episode of Accountants Daily Insider, the Institute of Public Accountants general manager of technical policy Tony Greco joins host Jotham Lian to discuss the new decline in actual GST turnover test, the two-tiered payment rate, and other key details. Tony also runs through some crucial action points for practitioners to work through with their clients over the coming days and weeks.

Episode 53 brings you the story of Echo Huang, a Certified Financial Planner, Public Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst who is the founder and president of her company Echo Wealth Management. Echo was born and raised in China and thanks to Hong Kong TV, she became a dreamer. So at the age of 20, she left China for opportunity in the US with nothing but $800 to her name. Many years later, she has climbed her own ladder to become her own boss proving and wrote her first book, Own Your Future: One Woman's Story of Immigration and Financial Freedom, released earlier this year. She joined me to share some money tips for recession time and her amazing story which proves with courage, anyone can overcome adversity. You can find Echo @echohuangCFP or at www.echohuang.com and her services at https://www.echowealthmanagement.com/echo-huang Link to her new book Own Your Future: www.ownyourfuture.guru This podcast is for anyone who wants to use their time, money and energy more productively. My mission is to grow the culture of mindful, financially literate individuals who choose happiness over profits. I believe when you are truly happy, doing what you love and provide real value, people will notice and the money will come regardless. Imagine how great the world could be if everyone invested in themselves a bit more instead of wasting resources to impress people they don't even like? Be the change you want to see. Please Subscribe, leave a review, leave a rating and share with anyone who may get some value out of it :) Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Breaker, RadioPublic, and Google Podcasts or anchor.fm/highleyinvested @makemorecapital / @highleyinvested / www.makemorecapital.com Free Budget Tool: bit.ly/budgetbae Free PDF Create Your Own Passive Income Machine: bit.ly/pimachine Let's work together to make you a reliable passive investor! bit.ly/mmccoach Email or DM for Inquiries makemorecapital@gmail.com /highleyinvested@gmail.com Deuces, Jordan

On the fourth installment of our Fed Talks miniseries edition: Beers with Brent, we discuss Independent Public Accountants (IPAs) with Baker Tilly partner Brent Calhoon and special guest Nicole Owren-Wiest, a partner at Crowell & Moring LLP. Questions addressed include: What are IPAs and how are they utilized in the government contractor space? How have government contractors reacted to the use of IPAs? How do we expect IPAs to be utilized more going forward?

The coronavirus crisis has stacked burden after burden on already exhausted business owners, but now they're faced with more uncertainty in the shape of tax time 2020 and the ATO's presumably firm compliance approach. In this episode of the MyBusiness Podcast, the Institute of Public Accountants' general manager of technical policy, Tony Greco, joins host Maja Garaca Djurdjevic to discuss a broad range of issues weighing heavily on the minds of small and medium-business owners. From tax time 2020 and the considerations for recipients of stimulus measures to the ATO's compliance approach and the possible JobKeeper extension, tune in for an expert's view on these key issues and more.

With the first-ever Accountants Daily Australian Accounting live broadcast Awards 2020, hosted by Vince Sorrenti on Friday June 19 7pm AEST, we are bringing you a series of podcasts showcasing the finalists across a multitude of categories. In this episode Accountants Daily editor Jotham Lian is joined by Andrew Conway, CEO of the Institute of Public Accountants, Gold Partner of the awards, and two finalists who share how they are feeling having gained recognition as part of the upcoming awards.

Mitch welcomes Kerrin Simmonds in today's episode. Kerrin has been General Manager of the Institute of Public Accountants for the last 6 years. Prior to the GM position, she worked as Membership Development and Growth Executive for 12 months. Kerrin has a wide variety of experience in the financial industry, starting as a Junior Teller at Bank West at the age of 18 through to being a PA and event planner in various accounting and law-based organizations. Kerrin joins Mitch to discuss her career path and what she has learned from each position. She also discusses how she fits being a mother into her busy work life. Stay tuned to hear about: Kerrin's experience working at Bank West Moving to the IT department and what that involves at a bank The requirements for being a financial advisor in the past vs. now The impact the change on requirements has had on people that have been in business for years Fostering an experience with clients over selling a product for the sake of it How the IPA strives to foster community over being just an organization The partnership between the IPA and the IFX and its benefits for members The importance of prior accounts knowledge before opening a business Mum guilt and how it has affected her How the collapse of the mining boom affected the IPA operations Accepting short term pain for long term gain What Kerrin learned from setting up international events Mitch finishes the podcast by asking Kerrin a quick 5 questions: What are the most important qualities in business? What superpower would you have? What advice would you give your younger self? Who's your favourite footie team? What is your favourite book? The Institute of Public Accountants Kerrin Simmonds LinkedIn

Mitch welcomes Kerrin Simmonds in today's episode. Kerrin has been General Manager of the Institute of Public Accountants for the last 6 years. Prior to the GM position, she worked as Membership Development and Growth Executive for 12 months. Kerrin has a wide variety of experience in the financial industry, starting as a Junior Teller at Bank West at the age of 18 through to being a PA and event planner in various accounting and law-based organizations. Kerrin joins Mitch to discuss her career path and what she has learned from each position. She also discusses how she fits being a mother into her busy work life. Stay tuned to hear about: Kerrin's experience working at Bank West Moving to the IT department and what that involves at a bank The requirements for being a financial advisor in the past vs. now The impact the change on requirements has had on people that have been in business for years Fostering an experience with clients over selling a product for the sake of it How the IPA strives to foster community over being just an organization The partnership between the IPA and the IFX and its benefits for members The importance of prior accounts knowledge before opening a business Mum guilt and how it has affected her How the collapse of the mining boom affected the IPA operations Accepting short term pain for long term gain What Kerrin learned from setting up international events Mitch finishes the podcast by asking Kerrin a quick 5 questions: What are the most important qualities in business? What superpower would you have? What advice would you give your younger self? Who's your favourite footie team? What is your favourite book? The Institute of Public Accountants Kerrin Simmonds LinkedIn

Mitch welcomes Kerrin Simmonds in today's episode. Kerrin has been General Manager of the Institute of Public Accountants for the last 6 years. Prior to the GM position, she worked as Membership Development and Growth Executive for 12 months. Kerrin has a wide variety of experience in the financial industry, starting as a Junior Teller at Bank West at the age of 18 through to being a PA and event planner in various accounting and law-based organizations. Kerrin joins Mitch to discuss her career path and what she has learned from each position. She also discusses how she fits being a mother into her busy work life. Stay tuned to hear about: Kerrin's experience working at Bank West Moving to the IT department and what that involves at a bank The requirements for being a financial advisor in the past vs. now The impact the change on requirements has had on people that have been in business for years Fostering an experience with clients over selling a product for the sake of it How the IPA strives to foster community over being just an organization The partnership between the IPA and the IFX and its benefits for members The importance of prior accounts knowledge before opening a business Mum guilt and how it has affected her How the collapse of the mining boom affected the IPA operations Accepting short term pain for long term gain What Kerrin learned from setting up international events Mitch finishes the podcast by asking Kerrin a quick 5 questions: What are the most important qualities in business? What superpower would you have? What advice would you give your younger self? Who's your favourite footie team? What is your favourite book? The Institute of Public Accountants Kerrin Simmonds LinkedIn

Mitch welcomes Kerrin Simmonds in today's episode. Kerrin has been General Manager of the Institute of Public Accountants for the last 6 years. Prior to the GM position, she worked as Membership Development and Growth Executive for 12 months. Kerrin has a wide variety of experience in the financial industry, starting as a Junior Teller at Bank West at the age of 18 through to being a PA and event planner in various accounting and law-based organizations. Kerrin joins Mitch to discuss her career path and what she has learned from each position. She also discusses how she fits being a mother into her busy work life. Stay tuned to hear about: Kerrin's experience working at Bank West Moving to the IT department and what that involves at a bank The requirements for being a financial advisor in the past vs. now The impact the change on requirements has had on people that have been in business for years Fostering an experience with clients over selling a product for the sake of it How the IPA strives to foster community over being just an organization The partnership between the IPA and the IFX and its benefits for members The importance of prior accounts knowledge before opening a business Mum guilt and how it has affected her How the collapse of the mining boom affected the IPA operations Accepting short term pain for long term gain What Kerrin learned from setting up international events Mitch finishes the podcast by asking Kerrin a quick 5 questions: What are the most important qualities in business? What superpower would you have? What advice would you give your younger self? Who's your favourite footie team? What is your favourite book? The Institute of Public Accountants Kerrin Simmonds LinkedIn

On this episode of Thee CrazyFaceUno Podcast we welcome Nick Gloumakoff. Nick grew up in Long Island, NY and transplanted to the South Florida area several years ago. Nick and I met through a beach volleyball group here is South Florida and became fast friends. Nick's life has had its bumps along the way; however his ability to stay in the present, along with his desire to live the life he wants to live, has given way to the man he is today.  Listen in as Nick and I talk through the ups and downs of life, growing up, and who he is today. ENJOY!

Manuj Aggarwal and John North talk about the entrepreneurial journey and how to succeed in a dynamic environment.  What are you waiting for? Tune in now!In this episode, we will learn about:Making the most of every situation and being resilientKnowing when to give upOwn your brand and your processHow to get your marketing message clear and understandableThe 5 Stages of a BusinessBootstrapping vs. Raising fundsAbout John NorthJohn North is a five-time #1 International Best-Selling Author, a versatile and experienced entrepreneur with a solid background in Accounting, Banking, Finance, Personal Development IT, Marketing and Business Management. John currently holds a number of titles, including CEO of Evolve Systems Group, Associate Diploma in Business (Accounting) and Fellow of the Institute of Public Accountants. John's passion is to help business owners become more strategic and smarter about their marketing efforts. He constantly pushes the envelope of what's possible in this modern era and is widely regarded among his peers as very innovative and highly creative in his approach. He is also Founder and CEO of Evolvepreneur.club an online learning platform designed to empower entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants, authors, and podcasters to be massively successful online.Social Media Handles:Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnnorth1085/Website: https://johnnorth.com.au/indexWebsite: https://evolveglobalpublishing.com/indexThank you for tuning in!Thanks so much for being with us.Have some feedback you'd like to share? Please leave a note in the comments section!Hope you enjoyed the episode.Kindly share it with your friends. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.Support the show (https://tetranoodle.com)

GUEST BIO Darin Batchelder is the President and founder of TZK Capital - a driven company that focuses on the efficient brokering of financial institution loan portfolios. He has immeasurable experience in developing and managing complicated sales transactions and establishing long term relationships is his priority. Before TZK Capital, Batchelder was responsible for the sale of residential and multifamily whole loan pools for ABN AMRO Mortgage Capital Markets Group and was involved in over $4 billion in loan portfolio transactions. As a certified Public Accountant, he began his career with Price Waterhouse and PepsiCo where he was in charge of providing senior executives with business improvement recommendations. He then moved into the sales field working for Computer Associates and eCredit.com, providing finance executives with financial credit underwriting software solutions and helping customers in increasing their sales and improving their processes. Today Darin joins us as a multifamily syndicator having worn multiple hats: from passive investor (limited partner), to key principle, to minority gp, to an asset manager to lead sponsor. Join us in the lab for a deep dive on the lessons from each phase while still being an active business owner to this day. THE REAL ESTATE FOUNDATION 01:48 Guest Background - Who is Darin Batchelder? 04:15 Reason for turning into Real Estate 10:05 Hardest part of starting your own company 12:44 The process of trading loans between two banks 17:28 Transitioning into Real Estate 21:24 Value of being an Active Investor 26:38 How does a Structured Deal look like? KEEPING IT REAL 34:53 Best way to learn and partner with people 44:18 Best learning experience 49:00 Best Advice - “I wish I had done it 20 years ago” ANSWERS TO THE RAPID FIRE QUESTIONS IN THE SHOW: 54:24 Favorite book - Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss 56:27 Best Habit - Reading the Bible 56:55 Best tool - having the mindset of getting successful 58:32 One 300 hundred unit vs three 100 units - three 100 units 59:59 Cash flow or Equity - Cash Flow 1:01:01 Self Managed or Outsource - Outsource 1:10:12 Importance of Social Media BOOKS MENTIONED IN THIS SHOW Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss NOTABLE QUOTES (KEY LESSONS): When I talk to young people that are looking to get into large multifamily space, I say to them ‘I wish I had done it 20 years ago, I wish I had done it when I was younger'.. “It is much harder to do business when you have no capital, and no reputation and no experience, it's like you're raising capital millions of dollars.” CONNECTING WITH THE GUEST Instagram | Facebook | LinkedIn @batchelderdarin www.tzkcapital.com #ExperimentWholeLoanSales #ExperimentSyndicator #Syndicator #WholeLoanSales

On the eighth installment of our See It to Be It series, our amazing host Amy C. Waninger sits down to chat with Uso Sayers, CISA, an IT Audit Professional with over 14 years of public accounting experience who currently works as a managing director at Johnson Lambert LLP. Uso graciously shares a bit about how she got involved in public accounting and what about it appealed to her, and she names a couple organizations that help people of color feel supported and connected within the public accounting and IT audit field. She also discusses what surprised her about this work that she didn't expect going in, and she and Amy emphasize the importance of finding the place where you're different and going to listen.Connect with Uso on LinkedIn.Learn more about the National Association of Black Accountants.TRANSCRIPTAde: What's up, y'all? This is Ade. Before we get into Amy's episode, I wanted to share some advice on working remotely. For those of us who are impacted by COVID-19, more commonly known as coronavirus--or if you're not at all impacted by COVID-19 but you are working and transitioning into a more remote lifestyle--I just wanted to share six quick tips that you want to try out to work for you. I do want to say that I don't necessarily abide by all of these rules. I simply know that they are good things to follow based off of me implementing them at some point or another or folks who are better, smarter than me offering these things up as advice. So first and foremost, I would set up a strict calendar. By that I mean I would accept every invite for every meeting. I would have any break times that I wanted to schedule. If there's a point when you're working remotely where you have a cleaner or a plumber or you have a doctor's appointment, keep an updated calendar and make sure that you are updating your team, because it helps you work asynchronously across your team. If folks know that you're not gonna be available between the hours of 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. Eastern time because you're asleep, or some psychos are in the gym, it gives them an opportunity to not pester you while you're away but also think through some questions of how they may better utilize your time when you do get back online. My second tip would be to use check-ins with your co-workers. By that, I mean use your daily stand-ups [?]. Use your Slack team channels if that's a thing. Use those things to keep in contact with your teams, because it's very easy to lose perspective in a sense and lose empathy for your friends or for your coworkers if they're not constantly top of mind. So in that sense, I would remember, you know, team birthdays. Maybe establishing a Slack reminder that it's someone's birthday [and] you all should go drop a Happy Birthday gift in their messages. All of that to say [laughs] that if you can remember to treat your teammates as teammates, as people, not just, you know, an avatar on the other side of the conversation you're having about poorly deployed code, it makes for a better work environment, as distributed as it may be. Thirdly--and these also sort of go hand-in-hand, but I would say that you should over-communicate. This also kind of ties into your strict calendar. Over-communicate. Ensure that any time away from your desk, any planned work that you're gonna be working on, any roadblocks that you're having, you say those things before they become problems, because it's so much easier to kind of get ahead of the horse before it gets out of the table. I don't know if that's an idiom that people actually use anymore, [laughs] but I do think that it's important to ensure that folks aren't caught blindsided, that if you've been working on something and you're stuck on it, give people an opportunity to help you out, and give others the grace to see you where you are so that you don't foster resentment. It's much easier to get something done if you speak up about it sooner rather than later, and it's difficult. I know, for one, it's something that I've had my issues with, especially in situations where you are, you know, bound to your home. Reduce your stress levels and just ask for help. Actually there was one thing that I didn't mention at the top when I said "Set up a strict calendar." On your calendars, I also recommend that you put your self-cues. If you're someone like me who--I drink a lot of caffeine over the course of the day, and I recently spoke to a nutritionist who kind of reminded me that when you work asynchronously and when you consume a lot of caffeine, caffeine suppresses your appetite, and it causes you to fall into really unhealthy eating patterns. More often than not, when you find yourself at home throughout the day you get really comfortable--too comfortable sometimes--so I kind of encourage that you set up your calendar so that you have a routine, so that you're not just, you know, at home and not separating what is home from what is official work time. So when you're working from home, set up your calendar so that you have a routine. Have, you know, time for a shower, time for breakfast, time for the gym if that's something you do in the morning, so that you have a much more regimented schedule. And on your calendar as well, put in your hunger cues. If you're gonna eat at, I don't know, 7:00 a.m., if you're gonna eat breakfast or drink a smoothie at 7:00 a.m., it stands to reason that by maybe 11:00 you might need a small snack, so put a snack cue in your calendar. Maybe at 12:30 you're going to need your larger lunch. Put your lunch on your calendar. These things are important to help you establish a routine around your new lifestyle. Okay, we skipped back up to one, so I'm just gonna finish up with five and six. #5 is to protect your space. Whether it's that you need a physical demarcation of where work happens versus where life happens or if you're the sort of person who is able to, you know, keep up with the simultaneous demands of your work life and your home life, then it doesn't really matter where you work as long as work gets done. Just make sure you're protecting your space. Make sure that, if your close of business is 5:00 p.m., you're not allowing the fact that you work from home to have you check, you know, e-mails at 11:30 p.m. when you're supposed to be asleep. Ensure that you're protecting your space and establishing boundaries in that way, and help others understand and protect those things by communicating what your boundaries are. Just because we're working from home and we're mandated to work from home doesn't mean that my time after, you know, 5:30 p.m. is available to you, and if you see me online, mind your business. As far as you are concerned I am off work, unless it is a dire emergency. And then the sixth thing is don't forget to move. It's very easy, I know. I fell into the trap of eating inconsistently, over-indulging, under-indulging, such that after I had worked remotely for a while I realized that it was getting harder for me to, like, move physically, and it's easier to get ahead of that by simply incorporating movement into your day so that you don't develop back problems or spine problems or anything like that as far as your abilities may allow, but I also think that it's a good way to get out of the monotony and to inject some freshness and a fresh perspective into your day. If you just incorporate a quick 10-minute walk or maybe do some squats or, you know, whatever it may be that you can incorporate into your life to make your life easier, that is helpful and beneficial to you and obviously doesn't take away from you enjoying your day, I would say you should incorporate those things. I've been blathering on for a while. I hope these tips helped you out. Please let us know if there are any tips that work for you when you work remotely or asynchronously with your teams. That's it for now from me. Thank you so much for listening in. Next up you have Amy.Amy: Hi, Uso. Thank you for joining me.Uso: Hello, Amy. Good evening. It's my pleasure.Amy: Thank you. So I was wondering if you can tell me a little bit about your job as a tech auditor and how you got into that work.Uso: Okay, sure. So being in public accounting, I guess you could say I happened upon it. So I had an undergrad in accounting, and I was in grad school studying finance. Given that I had accounting background I figured, "Hey, finance will be a good thing that can, you know, supplement and complement my accounting degree." So I started doing that and I realized I really didn't like finance, so I added information systems as a second major. But doing that opened up--because this was back in 2002 to 2004 when Enron was happening, [?] was going down, so SOX became a big thing. I graduated in '04, and SOX--you know, filers had to be compliant with SOX in 2004, and--Amy: And SOX is the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation that sought to put some protections in place for consumers because companies were behaving very badly.Uso: Exactly. [laughs] I could not have said that better. And so most companies, especially large companies, were required to have IT audits performed. They had controls that they had implemented, and these controls needed to be validated. So that's kind of how I got into the [?] realm. Now, fast-forward 15 years, I'm still doing it because I absolutely love it. I love learning about companies and understanding their control structure so I, you know, can figure out how we can help them, how we can give them recommendations that they can implement.Amy: And when you talk about control structures, you mean things like separation of duties or checks on security so that the people who are accessing the system only have certain rights, the minimum rights that they need to do what they need to do and not extra stuff, right?Uso: Yes, exactly. So, you know, most of the company's financials come from one of the systems, and what was happening back in the day, one person can take a transaction through the system without anyone else touching that transaction. So I can create a vendor, I can pay that vendor. I can then determine where that check goes where that vendor, which leads to fraud or could lead to fraud--errors too, but fraud is one of the bigger reasons, because one [?] could pretend to be a vendor and the company never get any products or services, but I'm also the receiving clerk, so I can check off that this item that we've ordered has been received, and then I send the payment. Or I can even do it for myself, you know? Create some type of a dummy company with my address and then pay myself that way, and a number of companies actually lost money that way. But then there are also other ways outside of just fraud. You can have errors. You can also just have things that are--when you are developing code, and I know we're kind of getting into the technical realm, but when you're--and that's where a lot of errors could potentially happen, but when you're developing code you have the ability to determine how things are being calculated. So you can determine that 1 times 1 is equal to 100 versus 1, and if there aren't checks and balances in place to validate that 1 times 1 is 1, then, you know, the company could be losing money and not realize it. I always remember when I was in college, one of the things they always talked about was the [Lloyd fraudware?]. I think the guy changed one of the configurations by, like, a penny, and he was siphoning that to his own account, and I think he ended up getting millions of dollars.Amy: Oh, my gosh.Uso: You know, so now having--ensuring that the same person who is creating and developing the configuration is not the person who is making that configuration the final configuration in the system, or at least having somebody inserted to check it and make sure it's doing what the company thinks it's doing, you know? That's kind of what we call the control structure.Amy: Got you. Uso: Now, with cybersecurity, the security piece is getting focus. I think with SOX, this change management piece was the big deal then. Security was important, but now with cybersecurity and personal information and protecting that personal information, security is being put on the map so to speak.Amy: Mm-hmm, very good. So I know you got into this kind of a little by accident, because you were down the accounting path and then you just got interested in the IT side of things, but what surprised you about this work that you didn't expect before you got into it?Uso: It is interesting. You know, when you--at least I when I thought of accounting, I thought "boring." And, you know, finance to some extent, but then even though IT audit is not truly core IT, you have the ability to learn a lot about the technical side of what companies do, because before you can offer a company recommendation you have to understand what they have configured and what they have in place, what systems they have, what infrastructure those systems sit on, and then how they're securing their environment, how they're ensuring that, you know, they're protecting--another big area in the IT control realm is that [?] recovery. If we remember 9/11, a number of companies went under because all of their operations were in that building. You know, Tower 1 or Tower 2. They did not have any of that information backed up to a different location. Now we all have phones, and you'd be surprised to know how many people do not back up their pictures and their contact information outside of their phones. So the phone falls in some water, and that's all of their information. And so, you know, that's also one of the areas that we look at, because in 2018, 2019, there's still companies that do not back up data or do not back up frequently, which may sound surprising. [laughs] But it is true. And helping them understand why it's important, or understand why it's important to back it up to something other than the machine where you have the information or outside of the building where you have your information so that you can access it if something happened. You know, you might have people say, "Well, we're not in a [?] plane." Okay, but a pipe could burst. You know? So [laughs] the risks are still there, and, you know, we help companies understand what their risks are so that they can design controls, they can help them make [?] those risks.Amy: That's terrific. So a lot of computing is moving to the cloud, and how are you managing those same risks when the companies don't own the servers and the computers that the work is really being done on?Uso: So two things. The company now has to hold their service provider, that cloud provider, accountable, and they also are still accountable, because at the end of the day it's their data. It's their information. As a client of theirs, I gave them my information. I did not give the cloud my information. So when something happens, I go to the company that I gave my information to. So what companies are doing, there's something called a SOC report, Service Organization Controls report. So the cloud service providers have auditors come in and review their controls, and one of the reasons why the cloud service providers are so successful [is] because they're doing such a large-scale operation. They can afford to have, you know, the best auditors come in, validate their controls, and they can afford to put robust controls in place. So a lot of these companies--the larger cloud providers I guess I should say, because some of the smaller ones are not as sophisticated, but the larger ones, they have very robust controls in place, and they love to have auditors come in and look at it and try to tear it apart so that they can demonstrate that their controls are robust. And even those large companies have incidents happen, you know? That's why the Amazons of the world, they have data centers on both coasts and different places, because things happen, and for companies that do not have the infrastructure in place to support that in house, putting it on the cloud is probably the next best thing because it's going into a secure infrastructure. Now, where some companies think, "Oh, I just put it in the cloud. It's okay." You have to ensure--the cloud companies, in those SOC reports there's something called complementary user entity controls, and what that says is I have this gate, but you design the lock, and you design who has access to that lock. And companies don't realize that, so they think "Oh, it's in the cloud. It's okay," but no, there are those complementary user controls. If you are not doing those things, then the cloud service provider can say, "Well, we did what we're supposed to do, but they came in through the gate. We put up the fence of the infrastructure, but the people came through the gate because they didn't put a lock on the gate like they were supposed to." They will tell you what are the things--you know, they may say, you know, "You must authorize all users that are granted access," or for firewalls, the firewall is kind of the router, I guess, so to speak. I'm trying to find a good way to explain it, but the firewalls protect the network. So, you know, if you have internet traffic, it has to flow through the firewall. The firewall validates that this traffic is coming from a computer that's authorized before it can view your information. But you have to set up the firewall to do that. The cloud service provider is not configuring your firewall to tell which of your people can come in and view your information, and sometimes companies don't realize that. So it's easier, but you have to take the steps to also ensure that you're doing those things that you need to do.Amy: Thank you for that. So, you know, I think it's fascinating the way this role is changing in terms of IT and just all of the technology that's available and the way our platforms are changing. I grew up in IT back in the day, and it seems like this is a place that is ripe with opportunity for people just coming out of college or maybe even looking for a career change. What would you say to someone who's interested in learning more about whether or not they might be a fit for this industry? What kinds of resources are available to them to learn more?Uso: And this is tricky, 'cause I wish schools--and I think some schools are getting there, 'cause ideally the colleges will be providing guidance in this area because there's so many career opportunities in the IT field, even in public accounting. So even the traditional--you know, even the traditional accountant or auditor is different now. For the financial audit teams, they're adding data scientists and they're adding data analysts, so those are fields that maybe five to ten years ago, it wasn't a thing, and people may not know that. Even four years ago, some people entered school and that was not a career path, and now in your graduating years it's an opportunity. Project manager, you know? You know, if you're on the company side, project managers are in great demand. Certified information systems security professionals, you know? They're in great demand. It can be intimidating, but Google's probably the best place to start because that usually has the most updated information. I can tell you a number of universities, and, you know, when you look up careers in auditing or careers in IT auditing, you'll see that it's no longer traditional just control management. There are risk management roles, security roles, the data roles like I said, and the data roles are becoming more and more important because of big data. You know, companies have all this data. Somebody has to analyze that data and assess it and determine, you know, how can we use it. Even for auditors, you're getting information from a company, you want to know if there's all of the information that I need. So let's say you're auditing an insurance company [and] you get a list of claims. You have to performance procedures to ensure that that list of claims has all of the claims that you wanted to see for the period of time that you wanted to see it. So you may see "I need to see all claims for 2018 over a million dollars." Well, how do you know that this report that they gave you has all this information on it? You have to do some type of validation procedures to get comfortable that the information on the report is complete and then do your auditing procedures to, you know, understand and test the accuracy of it. A lot of times also the bigger firms--so in public accounting the big four firms and some of the larger public accounting firms, they also have a lot of info on their website that can potentially help. But again, that may be skewed to their company. So I would say start with just, you know, a broad search on Google depending on what aspect of IT you're interested in and then kind of use--you know, I always go for a known site. So, like, if I'm Googling something and I see Harvard is in the top six, I probably will click on the Harvard Business Review's point of view and read there first before going to the next thing, 'cause there's some things that make you go like, "Hm, I don't know." [both laugh]Amy: So what about for people of color in this industry? I would imagine that there's a predominance, especially in management ranks and probably in some of the bigger companies--I know a lot of the bigger companies are really committed to diversity initiatives, but I would imagine that it's common for a person of color who goes into this work to be the only on their team or the only in their department. What resources or organizations are available in this industry so that people can feel supported, feel like they have a community in this space?Uso: Right, yeah. And it's interesting. So public accounting generally, yes, is still pretty traditional, all white male, but I noticed the IT audit side is very diverse. It's very interesting, because I think it's one of those areas where your skill--yes, politics play a part, but your skill set is needed and your skill set is valued and respected. And there are an number of resources. Most of the bigger firms have affinity groups that, you know, they're either women's groups, groups that are by race, and then even for sexual and gender-type diversity, there are groups for that. And then outside of the firms there are also various groups. You know, there's Women in Technology. There's the National Association of Black Accountants. There's the National Society of Black Engineers. There are a number of affinity groups that are out there that focus on helping minorities 1. connect with each other and 2. be exposed to the resources and development that they need in order to progress in their organizations, and it's one of those things where I personally feel like it's--when I started in public accounting, I was a member of the National Association of Black Accountants, and I felt like that really helped me to 1. understand what it takes to be a professional. It helped me to expand my network, because I got to meet not only people in my firm, but also people in other firms. I got to meet professionals at my level, professionals that were higher than me, professionals that were my gender, my race also outside of that, and that really helped me to have a wider view, a wider point of view and different points of view, as I progressed through my career. Some people feel as though these groups sometimes hinder your career, and I say it only does that if you're not being smart about how you're using your time. Because sometimes I think people only use this opportunity for social networking. They don't use it for any technical development. They don't use it to help auditors--like, one of the errors I have focused on as I was coming up in my career was the development of [?] students. So things that I learned, I would go back and present on campus or, you know, in that I was director of student [?] services, so, you know, help them build some of the governance documents, and even talk to some of the professors about some of the things that I'm seeing and things that they should be implementing and instilling in their students. So I'm a firm believer in it. Now, I can tell you that my white counterparts will always be like, "Well, why do we need a group for black people? What would happen if we had a group for white people?" It's like, "Kind of technically we do." [laughs]Amy: [laughs] Kind of all the groups are for white people unless they're saying specifically that they're not.Uso: Yeah, 'cause I think sometimes you get discriminated against. You know, people don't want to do it because they don't want to say that "I'm in this group," that, you know--and the group may be, you know, black or Latino or whatever in the name. There's alpha. There's also the [?] for the Asians, but even though the groups have that in their name, we welcome everyone, because we realize that we need that perspective from, you know, the white male manager, the white female manager, because they're the ones that can help us understand what their points of view are, and then we can also help them, because sometimes they realize, "Oh, wait. My view might be skewed," or "I was never exposed to anyone outside of my town, my city, my race," you know? So usually it's a two-way learning experience.Amy: So I want to put a really fine point on that, because I always tell people, "Go to the conference that's not for you. Show up at the meeting that's not for you. If you're at a conference, go to the breakout where you're not on the menu." Right? Like, find the place where you're different and go listen, because I think it's important for people--you know, the same person who says, "Why do we need an association of black accountants?" That's the person that needs to go to the meeting to listen, to learn why they need associations of black accountants, right? They have no ideas what kinds of barriers are in place for people who don't look like them, and so, you know, I always challenge people and they say, "Well, yeah, but, you know, how do I even learn about this?" Go sit down in the back of the room, don't raise your hand, take notes, pay attention, and--"What if someone asks me what I'm doing there?" And I say, "Tell them you're there to learn, and then zip it." [Uso laughs] Like, nobody's going to ever get mad at you because you want to learn more about their experience, right? So thank you for being on that train with me.Uso: And I've had people who have said being in that room where they were the only really opened their eyes, because they're sitting there and they're like, "Oh, my goodness. I'm so uncomfortable." And then they start realizing, like, "This is so-and-so from my group who is the only. This is probably how they feel." And I think sometimes that's such good advice to give, because going out there and experiencing, there's nothing that compares to that. Hearing second-hand about it, I don't think you could fully appreciate it. I also liken it to parenthood, you know? Before you have a child, you have all of these things that you know exactly how to raise a child, how a child should behave, everything, and then you have yours and you're like, "Oh, my goodness. This is not anything like I thought it would be. I can't control my child. My child runs wherever." You know, you can't keep up, and you start to appreciate parents more because you realize how difficult it is to be a parent. So sometimes you do have to sit in that person's shoes so you can understand what they experienced.Amy: Yeah, absolutely. And it's so funny because I--yeah, I think my kids--on that point, I think each one of my kids exists for the sole purpose of proving me wrong on something I said before I had children. [both laugh] I don't want to get off-topic, but yes, you are right about that. It is so much easier to be a good parent before you have kids. But I think for a lot of people, you know, that self-awareness and that self-consciousness that they feel for the first time, you know, people can go a long way through their lives with never having that kind of moment where they have to be self-aware and they feel very self-conscious, and when they realize in that moment that other people have felt that way for, you know, 25, 30, 45, 50 years, right, in their careers, and, you know, I think there's just an amazing amount of empathy that can happen in those epiphanies. So I'm so glad to hear someone else say, "Come to the meeting."Uso: Yes, it's so important. And you can never, never not benefit from being there. It will be uncomfortable. I cannot promise you that it won't be uncomfortable, because people will probably look at you like, "Hm. Is she [?]?" "Do I have to be careful what I say?" Because sometimes, you know, people do--in some of these meetings, people do get a level of comfort where they share openly, and sometimes when there's somebody in the group that's of that group that they're talking about they may not share as comfortably, but you need to be there. You need to understand some other things that people see. And I always, even to my colleagues and black friends, I'm like, "You have to also look on the other side." So some of them, you know, yes, at work we're usually only, but sometimes going to some of these other conferences and understanding the expectations can help us also. So I have always tried to go to my NABA conference, but I also go to my ISACA conference, which is, you know, the Information Systems Audit and Control Association, which governs the work I do, and now that I'm in the insurance industry I go to the, you know, insurance accounting and systems association conference because I want to develop the technical knowledge and the technical skills so that I can have those conversations and be comfortable. I mean, you start to realize there are some people who are just idiots and that's just who they are, but more and more when you go out and meet other people, you realize that getting people and having them learn a little about you and you learn about them breaks down some of those barriers, because a lot of things are just perception. They're not reality. They don't really just hate you because you're a black woman, you know? Sometimes they just--they don't know what to say to you, and for me it's a little harder because am I a black woman, I'm a black woman from a different country. [laughs] So some of the things that are culturally acceptable and expected, I don't always know about it, and my friends always--you know, they gave me the whole "Bless your heart" kind of thing [laughs]. There's some things that I just don't know, but I am not afraid to learn. I am not afraid to learn, and I'm always going out there so that I can learn and develop and become a better person.Amy: I think that's fantastic. So you and I had talked before about--I'm gonna switch gears a little bit on you, but you and I had talked before about how each of us, you know, people in general, we kind of contribute to the de facto segregation and the narrowing of our own professional networks and our own communities and, you know, only hanging out with people who are just like us until we had that moment when we realized, "Oh, my gosh. I've done this to myself and I didn't even realize it," and I was wondering if you could share a little bit about your experience with that.Uso: Sure. So when I moved to the U.S. and I started my public accounting career I was in New York, and I remember my first time going to training. It was, let's say, 2,000 professionals, and the black professionals were a very small group there. We were there for two weeks. The first few days, I would always go find my friends and, you know, go sit at that table, and I don't remember if somebody said something to me, I don't remember what it was, but one day I decided, "You know what? Let me just go sit at one of these tables," and I can tell you, I mean, of those 2,000 people, if we had 100 people who were not white, that probably was a large amount. So, you know, I'll go a little bit off-topic for a second. I always hear people say, you know, "Oh, is that so-and-so?" And they may take you for somebody else, and then black folks will be like, "Why do they think we all look alike?" Being in that room, like, there were, like, so many guys that, to me, I couldn't tell who was Joe from Jim from Bob. [That] made me, like, really understand how it is that we can all look alike, but side-note. But being in there and looking around and seeing all of these different people, you know, I thought "Let me go sit from people who are not from New York, who are not black, who I've never met before." So I started, for lunch and dinner breaks, just going to sit at random tables with people that I had not met before. You know, I developed relationships. I met people who I was so similar to that, you know, it was very interesting. And after that, even at work, you know, I started having conversations, and I remember I was on a team once, and then--you know, I always said that if you heard the conversations and the things we talked about as a team or the shows that we watch, the music we listen to, and people just told you the thing and you had to map it to the person, you would get it wrong, because the person who could quote the movie Friday was not the black girl on the team, and the person whose favorite movie was Pretty Woman was not the white girl on the team, you know? And that's when I started realizing that we have a lot more similarities than differences, and the only way I got to know that was to step out of my comfort zone and go meet people that I had not met before and be uncomfortable. And it wasn't even--I mean, yes, at first, you know, it takes a little [?], but once you sit there, people are pretty friendly. There are some who are not as friendly, but for the most part people were friendly and willing to, you know, open up.Amy: Thank you for sharing that. You know, I think if we all start with just being a little uncomfortable at first, and then what used to be a little uncomfortable becomes comfortable, and then we start to be a little uncomfortable again, and pretty soon you build that muscle memory to where it's not all that uncomfortable anymore.Uso: Yep. And I'll share another story. I have two kids. I have an almost 9-year-old and a 6-year-old, and I remember when my son, who's the older one, was in preschool and we had to look for an elementary school, we looked at a number of schools. Private schools, public schools, charter schools, and one of the things that--I think he was in pre-K, and he was telling us about a friend in his class and something that he said, but he wanted to--so he told us the boy's name, but we didn't know--we didn't recognize the name, so we were like, "Oh, which one is this?" And he's like, "Well, the one that looks like people on TV," and we realized he didn't have, you know--'cause he had just started his new preschool, but before that, all of the years that he was in preschool, it was a predominantly black preschool. So he didn't have any white boys in his school, and then we started looking around and realizing that that was our network. So we made a concerted effort that wherever he goes to real school is going to be a diverse place, because he really shouldn't have to describe somebody based on what they look like on TV. He should know them, be able to relate to them, and have relationships with them, and it's so great now to see that he has such a diverse network and that I feel like I can't wait to see kind of what their future looks like, 'cause I think they will have a different perspective on diversity than we do, 'cause to them it's like, "That's just my friend." "That's not my white friend, that's not my black friend. That's my friend." Amy: Oh, I sure hope so. And I think there's another angle to that too, which is that it's sad that the representation that he sees on TV is so predominantly white.Uso: Different story, but yes. [both laugh]Amy: I didn't want to let that moment pass. I think that there's another lesson in there about media and representation and those sorts of things, but, you know, I'm grateful. I'm grateful for other parents out there who can, you know, self-reflect on the kinds of experiences and exposure that their kids are getting and say, "Oh, we need to be intentional about this. We need to be intentional about bringing more diversity and exposing our children to different types of people." I was wondering. I know that you have experience as a volunteer leader within some of the companies that you've worked in around bringing together diverse employees and their allies, and I was wondering if you could share a little bit about what drove you, what motivated you to do that work--which can be exhausting and thankless and on your own time and in addition to your day job--and also just a little bit about what you got out of that experience?Uso: Yep, sure. I think I've always had a servant/leader-type mentality, because growing up my dad always, for birthdays and holidays, took us to places where we could volunteer to help others. He was a baker, so we would bake, and then we would serve--you know, he'd take us to different homes. One was a children's home for children who had polio and then one was an old people's home. When I moved to the U.S., I first started volunteering at the library for people who couldn't read, and I realized--the thing that attracted me was this flier that said, "If you can read this you can help, because there are people who can't read this." And I was like, "Really?" And I met people who were over 21, all the way up to, like, 60, who couldn't read, and I'm talking about don't know that t-o-i-l-e-t is toilet. They just use the picture of the door to know that that's where they go to use the bathroom. In school I volunteered. [?] I used to help kids with homework, but once I got into the profession and I realized that there are opportunities 1. to network with others like myself, but also to help others in the firms, I loved it. I jumped at that opportunity. So I moved from New York to Indiana in my second year as a professional, and being in Indiana, I did not have a lot of others that looked like me in the firm. We didn't have enough to have, like, a black employees network, so we ended up in a multi-cultural circle, which was great because we had people from different parts of the world, different genders, different thought processes, and because we didn't have, like, black partners or Indian partners, our leaders were the white partners. So that really helped us 1. we got the support we needed, but 2. we were able to have conversations and understand what it took to grow in the firm. One of the things that I did was to organize these many--what did we call them? It was, like, Breakfast with a Leader. So each partner would meet with three to four professionals from the group for either lunch or breakfast and just get to know each other. That was so powerful, and I still have relationships with some of those people today even though I'm no longer with that firm. And, you know, one of my partners was always telling me about this client contact that he wanted me to meet, and, you know, people always tell you they want you to meet people, but when I finally met the person he wanted me to meet, the first thing the person said to me is "This guy really respects you. He has been telling me about you for the past year." And that--sometimes you don't realize that. You don't have that. You don't get that. You know, people will say whatever, but they don't follow up with their actions and match it, and so I think that whole experience, I still say that I think 1. if I stayed in Indiana I probably would still be with that firm, but that just really helped me to grow as a person, helped me understand my weaknesses, things I need to develop, helped me educate others on us as a group and help them see, you know, us as we are high-performing professionals just like everybody else. We just have differences, but those differences are not hindrances. So, you know, educating them and then educating ourselves. It was just a really powerful experience.Amy: That's breaking down the walls between you, right? And I think so many times people look--when they look mentor, they look for people who are just like them because that's what's the most comfortable. Not because there's any animosity, right, between them and another group or not because they harbor any ill will, just because they don't want to be uncomfortable with that first minute either, and so what you really did was you took away that discomfort and opened up--you know, opened up the channel for people to be mentored and, you know, for executives to find mentors that didn't look just like them, and that's powerful.Uso: Yep, it was very powerful, and it's really helpful because a lot of times you really do try to go to people who look like you, and one of the things that I've learned is you need people as mentors who have had similar experiences to you, but it doesn't matter what they look like. If you are a high-performing individual who is on the fast track in your company, it is very helpful for you to have a high-performing mentor, because having a mentor that may take, you know, three or five years less than you would take to get to a level, they may not understand what you need to do to get there because they didn't do that, but having a white mentor versus a black mentor probably won't make a difference to you, because what you need more is someone who has the technical capabilities and the connections to get you where you need to go, and I think people undervalue the need to have advocates, 'cause the advocates are the people who have the power to connect you and also sell you and get you to where you aspire to go. Having a mentor is great, but if your mentor does not advocate for you, you know, then you may not be getting the best out of that relationship, and I think sometimes why people try to build the relationship, the mentor-type relationship, with people who look like them is because they may have tried to develop a trusting relationship with someone who broke that trust, and then they associated that, breaking that relationship, with the person's race. No, that person is probably a person who would have broken somebody's trust regardless of who it is that they're mentoring. And yes, I do, you know, accept that there are people who haven't [?] somebody different. They may have acted differently, but I'm learning now that it's a smaller group of people. It's not as large a group of people as we think, and sometimes we generalize that one-off experience and kind of take the brush and paint the whole wall with it to say, you know, "All white men, you can't trust them because this is what happened to me," but you'll learn that sometimes you can trust people more than you think and a lot of the people who have helped me in my career have not looked like me. A lot of them were not my same gender, and, you know, they were very honest with me, and I think what was helpful was for me to be open-minded and receive information, 'cause what I've learned is sometimes we're not receptive to constructive feedback, and because of that we are not given the truth, so we don't really know the reason why we didn't make it to the next level. And a lot of times it's not just because of what we look like, but it's because of what our work output looks like. Which, you know, as we all know, there is no color there, you know? But if you don't know if your work is not of the quality that is, you know, expected of you, you may not know that you need to improve your work quality.Amy: That is true, and a lot of times we have to have trusting relationships to get good feedback. You have to build that relationship first so that people know that they can trust you with their feedback. How you receive feedback is so important as to whether you will get it a second time, and I tell people, don't punish the people who praise you, because if somebody's giving you a compliment, if somebody's telling you you did a good job and you belittle that praise, they're not gonna tell you next time, and you're not gonna know when you're on the right track, and you may hear something constructive that you don't want to hear, but if you can say, "Thank you for making me better. I'd like to think about that," even if you do nothing with it--if all you say is, "Thank you. I'd like to think about that," that goes so far in building a relationship with someone. And then if you do actually think about it and come back to them with questions later, even better, right? Because they know that you really have a desire to improve. So spot on. Oh, I love talking to you. [both laugh]Uso: And it is hard, 'cause you do not want to hear that you suck. [both laugh] You know? You don't, and I can tell you that I have received feedback that hurt me to my core, and I'm sure my facial expression and my reaction was not the most receptive, but I went away and realized, "Oh, my goodness. This is true," and one of the things that I had to realize--there is this one person who I had one shot to work with her, and I had come to her with a lot of praise and, you know, all of this stuff surrounding me, and I screwed up, and, you know, she had a lot of influence in what happened to my career that year, and I was mad, but then, you know--it took a while, but then I realized she only had one shot at me, and I screwed that shot up, you know? She didn't find all of the errors in my work. I put the errors there. I missed the stuff. But at the time it was happening it was not easy for me to realize that, you know? You have to really sometimes, like you said, just say, "Thank you for making me better," and go away and think about it and not just be like, "What? When? Where? How? What? I didn't--" You know? "Thank you for making me better." I like that. I think I'm gonna use that. [both laugh]Amy: So in the time that we have left, I'd love for you to answer--like, finish two of my sentences. The first one is, "I feel included when _______."Uso: I feel included when my opinions are asked and respected.Amy: And the second sentence is, "When I feel included, I ________."Uso: When I feel included, I am happy, and I'm usually looking for ways to help include others. Amy: Thank you so much, Uso.Uso: My pleasure. Thank you for the opportunity.Amy: This was so much fun, and I hope we get to talk again soon.Uso: I'm sure we will.Amy: All right.Uso: All right, take care.

It was an honor having Mark Toussaint, Public Accountant, join us for the podcast this week. Mark owns and operates TASC Public Accounting and CFO Services with offices in Boulder and Longmont, Colorado. Mark is also on the faculty teaching accounting at Metro State University in Denver and occasionally dabbles in Dashing for Doordash. He has his Masters in Tax Law from Denver University, so he understands taxes but also understands how it is in the Gig Economy. Mark helps us understand what those pesky 1099's are that we have been receiving and walks through how we report income, some of the expenses that can reduce our taxable income, and how to find help when needed getting your taxes done.Mark is available to help drivers with their taxes. He can meet couriers locally in his office or do remote sessions. If you would like some guidance with your taxes from someone who understands how it is on our side, you can contact him:On the web at Tax and Accounting Services Co.By phone at 303-731-3822Here's a couple of links relevant to Mark's discussions.IRS 1099 formIRS Schedule CSpecial IRS Website for Gig EconomyIRS Volunteer Income Tax AssistanceFor the associated web page and transcript, go here.More about the EntreCourierYou can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.comOur Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.comSign up for our weekly Courier Nation Motivation emailGet in touch with usFollow us on FacebookFolow us on TwitterConnect with us on LinkedinFollow us on Instagram

Tanita Brinkley is a Public Accountant and a Partner of Brinkley Financial LLC, an award winning accounting company founded by she and her business partner in 2008. They have two office locations (one in downtown Norfolk VA and the other in NYC). Their clientele spreads over various industry sectors throughout the US. Tanita is also the sole owner of Tanita Brinkley Enterprises, which is an education based business that caters to the modern day entrepreneur through business coaching, online courses and informational blogs to keep you up to date and always in the “know”. Tanita has a passion to help business owners succeed in achieving their goals and pursuing their passion. She and her partner have helped hundreds of businesses and self employed individuals with taxes, bookkeeping, payroll, budgeting and business formation. With over 14 years of accounting and auditing experience, she plays an intricate part in building small business accounting systems. Her success stories include many IRS debt reductions, fixing bookkeeping nightmares, payroll cleanup, filing years of back taxes, and entity changes for tax benefits.Connect with Tanitahttps://brinkleyfinancialllc.comFacebook : Tanita Brinkley Enterprises LLCBrinkley Financial LLCInstagram: @tanitabrinkleyentreprises@Brinkleyfinancial*****************************If you are in Dekalb County, Atlanta GA check out Maurice Raeford, running for Community District 10*******************************Loving the podcast? Leave a rate and review!

Sue Matthews, along with her sister Andrea Cohane, is the author of Paint Your Hair Blue: A Celebration of Life with Hope for Tomorrow in the Face of Pediatric Cancer which is a heartwarming story of heroic courage and unbridled love that will inspire and empower you, no matter what your circumstance, to embrace and take control of your life. Paint Your Hair Blue chronicles the journey of Taylor Matthews, a courageous young woman who fought pediatric cancer and shows readers the triumphs and heartaches of her journey.  It is an inspiring story of the power of love and determination, as well as a cautionary tale that provides support and specific advice for other parents confronting cancer and for anyone going through a cancer diagnosis, or caring for someone who is. Sue Matthews is President of the Taylor Matthews Foundation, a tay-bandz organization, which is a 501 C-3, founded by her daughter Taylor, who passed from pediatric cancer at age 16. As a nationally recognized advocate for pediatric cancer awareness Sue actively lobbies on Capital Hill for additional pediatric cancer research funding. TMF is at the forefront of new initiatives in awareness and continues to fund significant medical research at leading medical centers. TMF has funded innovative and cutting edge research at Memorial Sloan Kettering, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Columbia University Medical Center and The National Institute of Health. Sue is board member of the Children's Council at Columbia Medical University, the National Association of Professional Women, the National Organization of Italian American Women, the NYS Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Public Accountants. She holds a B.A. in Accounting from Franklin and Marshall College and is a CPA and former Senior Manager at Deloitte.      

We bring you the next instalment of our coverage of the IPA Deakin Small Business: Big Vision event, marking the last podcast for this year. The team at Public Accountant welcomed former small business minister Bruce Billson and Professor Charles Matthews from the University of Cincinnati. Mr Billson speaks about the US experience, the small business environment here at home, and the role of the ombudsman Kate Carnell, while Dr Matthews underlines the importance of innovation and how AI is changing the nature of work. Don't forget to write to us with your suggestions and questions at onevoice@theipagroup.org.

In early September, the Institute of Public Accountants and Deakin University held an international conference focusing on Australia's flagging productivity. IPA Group CEO Andrew Conway and SME commentator Phillip Tarrant were on the ground at Deakin Downtown in Melbourne along with some senior small business dignitaries who came together to effect change in the small business community. Keynote speakers included Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar, the ASBFEO Kate Carnell, senior adviser to the Office of International Trade with the US Small Business Administration Eugene Cornelius jnr, and Obama's chief counsel for advocacy Dr Winslow Sargeant. In this episode of the One Voice podcast, Andrew and Phil explore some of the key topics addressed during the two-day conference. They also give you a glimpse of what you can expect to hear on the One Voice podcast over the next couple of months. And don't forget to write to us with your suggestions and questions at onevoice@theipagroup.org

John North is a 5 Time International Best Selling Author and a versatile and experienced entrepreneur with a solid background in Accounting, Banking, Finance, Personal Development IT, Marketing and Business Management.John currently holds a number of titles, including CEO of Evolve Systems Group, Associate Diploma in Business (Accounting) and Fellow of the Institute of Public Accountants.John's passion is to help business owners become more strategic and smarter about their marketing efforts. He constantly pushes the envelope of what's possible in this modern era and is widely regarded among his peers as very innovative and highly creative in his approach.You can connect with John on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnnorth1085/Find out more about Evolve Systems Group here: https://evolvesystemsgroup.com.au/indexAnd Check out the Evolvepreneur app here: https://evolvepreneur.app/index

Date:                              June 1, 2019??         Attendee and Guest:   Kelly Coughlin, CEO, EveryDay CPA – William McConnaughy - PART 1 Good morning, this is Kelly Coughlin, CEO of Bank Bosun, hope everybody is doing well.  You know, dealing with the IRS for a business or a personal tax resolution can be a challenging endeavor.  Today we are going to talk about Business Tax Resolution.  As we head into the end of the year I thought it would be helpful for community and regional bankers to hear from an expert in dealing with the IRS and various state taxing authorities.  We are not going to focus on tax planning, rather, we are going to focus on tax liability resolution.  That is, resolution of a business tax liability, that’s today’s topic, after the IRS has notified you of an amount due.  With that, I have on the line, I hope, William D. McConnaughy, a CPA, he has got 28 years of professional tax experience and he is the twin brother of Matthew McConaughey. No, that’s not true, that’s a big lie. William:               That’s not true.                                                        That is not true, but it sounds better.  He is successfully, that is Bill McConnaughy, successfully resolved over 4,000 cases.  He is a former IRS Revenue agent, beware, and has a Masters in taxation and is a CPA.  He has got two children.  His son is in the air force, bravo for that, and his daughter works in the cinema industry.  So, he has got insider knowledge about how the IRS personnel think, or don’t think, what pressures they are under and how to work with them successfully.  Bill enjoys automotive racing and collecting, we’ll find out what he likes to collect – money I suppose - mixed martial arts and college football.  So, I think, Bill, you are on the line. William:               Hi Kelly, good morning. Kelly:                    How are you doing? William:               Good, how are you? Kelly:                    Great, thank you for joining us on It’s Saturday Morning.  Bill, you are out in   Sacramento, I believe, correct? William:               Correct, yes, Sacramento, California.  Kelly:                    Great.  Well, other than the fact that you are not related to Matthew McConaughey, did I get everything else right? William:               Everything else is correct.  Kelly:                    Great.  Anything else you want to add about your personal situation there so the audience gets a better feel for that? William:               Oh no, the personal bio is pretty good, right on. Kelly:                    Okay, great.  Well, let’s dig right into it then.  I am going to start with a question here that, it might be fairly obvious to you, but is it fair to say, we are talking about business tax situations here, is it fair to say that a routine business audit is normally the event that would trigger an unplanned business tax liability? William:               No, I wouldn’t say that that is usually the reason why there is an unplanned business tax liability. It can be, I mean, it certainly can be but usually, based on my experience, when there is an unplanned business tax liability it’s usually a result of unforeseeable, either business problems that come up with running the business, managing the business, or it could be where there is an unplanned or unexpected personal financial bad worth…the owner of the business needs money to take care of personal matters.  And in both cases, what happens is that the business or the business owner will take money that should be set aside for the IRS and use it for other purposes.  That’s usually why people come up short or businesses come up short, owing the IRS money.  It’s because things come up that nobody can foresee and they take Uncle Sam’s money and put it to other purposes.  But yes, an audit can certainly cause an unplanned tax liability.  But based on my experience it’s usually the other things that come up that nobody can see and they take Uncle Sam’s money, like I said, and put it to other purposes.  Kelly:                    Oh, so it isn’t the IRS kind of initiating the finding, it’s a tax liability creating event that creates a tax liability and then they have to resolve it.  And this is before the IRS is even involved, I suppose? William:               Yeah, that can happen, and like I said, things just come up or people take Uncle Sam’s money and apply it to other purposes that need to be taken care of to either stay in business or to keep personal matters in hand.  So, based on my experience that’s what I have seen. Kelly:                    Okay.   So, you are in the business of helping businesses, and I know you do with individuals too but today we are going to talk about businesses.  You help businesses resolve their tax liability, correct? William:               Correct. Kelly:                    Okay, now, what do you call that space, is it accounting, what space is that in? William:               The catch phrases are Tax Relief Services, Tax Resolution Services, Back Tax Help, there’s a number of different tags that people put on the industry. Kelly:                    Okay.  Now, let’s talk about the industry then, there are ads and promotions constantly on TV, radio, print media, talking about how to get your tax burden, tax debt, reduced, and this is the space you are in.   Now, I known that you have got an excellent reputation of doing good things for your individual business clients. I know that separately from those and from what you say, but not all your, say, competitors have such illustrious reputation.  Now, why is that, is it fair to say that your industry is kind of fraught with overpromising, under-delivery or in some case, kind of, incompetence or is it mainly, tax payers are unhappy with the outcomes that they get, you know, say challenging set of facts and circumstances and they end up blaming the tax resolution professional or is it a combination of those things?  William:               It’s a combination of both but I would say it is a problem with the providers themselves.   This industry is full of practitioners that really have no business being in the industry.  There is a lot of hot air, you know, sales puffery, I think you call it, where they do overpromise and under-deliver, and that is a fact. And the reason why that that happens is that the IRS does not adequately regulate the industry. Kelly:                    Do you think they should?  Should the IRS get more involved in regulating the industry? William:               Absolutely!  Yeah, they are actually required to by law but like a lot of other things with the federal government, what they are supposed to do and what they really do are two different things.  They are required by law to regulate people that engage in this practice, but in reality, there is very light regulation.   There have been high profile cases of very incompetent and dishonest companies that have been shut down but it has always been state attorney generals that have done it.  I can name a couple of real high profile cases.  Tax Masters, which was running TV ads all the time out of Texas, they were shut down by the state attorney general.  JK Harris out of South Carolina was shut down by the state attorney general.  Roni Deutch in California, Sacramento actually, right up the street from my office, shut down by the state of California Attorney General’s office. So, it is the result of a lot of fraud, overpromising, sales puffery, hot air, that’s what I call it, hot air.  Kelly:                    Yeah.  How do you distinguish or separate yourself from that?  I mean, I know the industry kind of probably gets tainted and that brings the industry down somewhat but, you know, that can be true with financial services, any industry I suppose, but how do you combat that? William:               Oh, the way I try to combat it is by having on my website a list of everything that provide credible proof that I am not like these other companies that have been engaging in overpromising or outright fraud. I have on my website proven actual case closure letters from the IRS that shows in black and white, on IRS letterhead, exactly what I did for people. So, there is no possibility of flipping about because it’s right there in black and white - Here’s the letter from the IRS that shows what I did for somebody.  I post those for the most positive proof anybody could see that I do what I say I can do for people.  And then I also have my license up there and you can see that I am a licensed tax practitioner by the State of California and the Board of Accountancy, Certified Public Accountant, and I am held to some high standard of practice and ethical behavior as well.  You can also look to how long somebody has been in business. That’s a pretty good indication of how successful they are going to be working for you.  If they have been around forever that’s probably a pretty good sign that they’ll continue to be there for you as well. And then you can look at a person’s complaint record whether or not there is a long history of complaints, they are either none or very few.  And then you can also look at the fees that the most outrageous companies, the most fraudulent companies, they also typically charge outrageous fees.  It’s a pretty good indication from what they are charging that these people are trying to gouge the public as much as possible and give as little as possible in turn for it.  Kelly:                   Great.  So, you went through a litany of things here and you kind of jumped the gun on me but I want to be clear and specific, I like lists of things.  I am a CPA, we like things simple and itemized.  So, what are the top five things a tax payer should look for when selecting an advisor? Now, this podcast isn’t intended to be an infomercial for you but we can stipulate that listeners should contact your office.  You can give that contact information here or later on in the podcast and I’ll allow you to make a plug for you and your team.  So, if we stipulated that and someone doesn’t decide to work with you, what are the five things that they should look for? A list of that for us. William:               Yes, that comes up once in a while where people that are around in the area will ask me, what kind of recommendations I would make if they were going to try to get somebody local.  And the very first thing I would tell them is look for a proven track record. I mean, make the practitioner prove to you that they are able to do what they say they can do.  Get the case closure letters, make them prove that they have accomplished the work that you want them to accomplish for you. And then also look to their licensing.  I mean, the licensing requires either (a) they have got be an attorney or (b) a Certified Public Accountant or an enrolled agent. Those are the three professional licenses that are qualified to represent people before the IRS - an attorney, a certified Public Accountant or CPA or an enrolled agent which is called an EA.  The person should be professionally licensed.  And then the third thing I would say, once again, is how long have they been in business.  If the person you are trying to have represent you have only been professionally licensed for, a year of two,  I would say even five years or less, that’s not long enough, you don’t have a long experience record to really be   adequately qualified to represent people in these matters. They should have at least five years and up experience, at least five years minimum.  And then once again, as I mentioned, check the background, the reputation, do they have a litany of complaints? If they do that’s a pretty good warning sign.  Check the fee schedule.  I mean, if they are going to charge an arm and a leg that’s another warning sign as well, they are charging too much. Kelly:                    Right, on the complaints and reviews of every provider in just about any industry has negative reviews, and I suspect that in your profession you are always going to get, even if you are a top quality provider, the nature of the business is such that a tax payer that is unhappy with the outcome and with bad facts and circumstances that just weren’t going to produce a good outcome are going to blame the provider even if they had given them a reasonable assessment of the likelihood of success.  So, you are always going to sustain potentially some negative views of people that are going to blame the provider.  Is that an accurate statement you think? William:               That’s somewhat an accurate statement, I would say.  Yeah, that’s human nature but the way I avoid that is when we have cases  where the client is not really happy about it I explain to him in detail why it is what it is, you know, this is the law, these are the facts and you are just stuck with it, you know.  That is the situation, this is how much money you have to pay the IRS and also they have to be paid ahead of other creditors. And when you explain it to people, even the ones that are very unhappy about it, my experience, once again, they come to grips with it and say, okay, well the guy did the best he could do and it’s just a situation where, yeah, I am going to have to pay this. I’m not happy about it but I can’t blame him for it, it is what it is.  The law says this and the fact says that and this is what I have got to do.    Kelly:                    Yeah, in your own practice do you have a pretty high success rate in reductions?  I guess that’s the outcome, right, that you are looking for they could reduce it. William:               Yeah, that’s always the goal, the goal is always to see if I can get my clients off with paying as little as possible and reduction is always the number one goal. It doesn’t always turn out that way sometimes because the facts, circumstances and the law.  They are going to have to pay what they have to pay, but I would say, most of the time, a high percentage most of the time, two thirds, three quarters of the time my clients end up getting a reduction where they don’t have to pay the whole thing. Kelly:                    Yeah, well I will say your credentials, you have got experience with the IRS and you are a CPA and a Masters in tax at Golden State, that’s a pretty good tax program I knew a couple people that went through that program.  That’s a good tax program, isn’t it? William:               Oh, it’s one of the top in the country. Yeah, it is well recommended. Kelly:                    Yeah, I am curious, did you start your career with the IRS and then get into tax or what was the chronology here? William:               I started my profession fresh out of college with the IRS.  This was during the early 1980s and the country was just coming out of recession and the IRS was the only job I could find.  I had actually wanted to go into financial auditing with a large CPA firm but those jobs were hard to find so I got on with the IRS and the rest is history.   Actually, it turned out I had a knock for it so I stuck with it. Kelly:                    Yeah, where did you go to undergraduate school, and did you studied accounting there? William:               Yeah, I graduated from Francisco State University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting. Kelly:                    Alright, that’s quite a good accounting program. William:               Yeah, that’s actually a good business school as well.   Kelly:                    Yeah.  Okay, so then you spent some time with the IRS as a revenue agent and, where would they start you there normally?  They would start you in a kind of individual tax side and then you keep moving up until you are on the small business, medium business and then big corporate stop and then international or…is that kind of the progression? William:               That is, yeah, they start you out with small individual cases and then work you up to larger more complex individuals and then move you over to corporations and partnerships. Kelly:                    Okay, and how far did you get into that hierarchy or progression? From there you went out on your own, set up your own practice? William:               Yes, I stuck with the IRS for four years and I move my way all the way up until the large public companies.  I never worked on those, but everything below that.  If I had stayed with the IRS I could have moved into the large public companies but I wanted to go out on my own.  I didn’t really care for the, how should I say it, way things were being run at the IRS at that time. I would rather be on my own and do work the way I see that I would like to do it.  Kelly:                    Yeah.  Let’s talk briefly about your thoughts on what’s going on in the IRS today and let’s say the last three or four years. They have been some pretty interesting scandals that have come out and if you don’t want to talk about this that’s fine because I know they are not a client of yours but they are certainly one you don’t want to be crashing, I would imagine, but if you are comfortable, well, I am curious about what your thoughts are about what’s going on with them.  I will say,  as kind of an outsider, seeing that the IRS has been kind of called on the carpet on things, destroying documents and not able to locate emails, it’s been kind of a thrill seeing these guys get a taste of their own medicine a bit. William:               That’s always been an ongoing problem at the IRS, actually.  When I first got there one of my senior agents there told me that working in this organization it’s so political and there is always something going on where people are always trying to cover up things, and that’s one of the reasons why I couldn’t stay there.  I just didn’t care for the way it was been run, the management, what you call the culture there.  So, that’s one of the reasons why I left. It was too political and it has always had a long history of mismanagement.  I don’t know if you can remember this but back not so long ago there was the so called Barrack hearings in congress where for almost a year they hammered the IRS on the way they did collections, and totally wrote a whole bunch of new laws because the collections were out of hand, so, this is a long running story with the IRS. Kelly:                    Do you think that it’s really a valid statement that they target certain types of tax exempt organizations because of their contrary political perspectives, I mean, I Just can’t believe that that would happen.  William:               They took The Fifth Amendment honor so I guess it must have happened.  Yeah, yeah, that can happen, that’s what I was saying about the political aspect of the people there and the culture, political.  It’s something that shouldn’t be, but it is, and they got exposed last year. What was her name?  That Louise Warner woman. Kelly:                    Yeah, shocking.  Do you think that comes from the top?  I mean, we don’t have to go too political on this  but do you think it comes down from, you know, the head guy, you know, Obama saying, you know what, I don’t like this type of group  let’s go after them? Think it goes to that level?  Is it that pervasive? William:              We are speculating but in my personal opinion, yeah, I think it actually came straight down from the White House, but that’s one man’s opinion. Kelly:                    Yeah, interesting.  Well, that’s surprising.

Karen is a tax accountant with more than 18 years experience, Fellow of the Institute of Financial Accountants, Fellow of the Institute of Public Accountants and a Member of the Association of Taxation Technicians. Karen is also a qualified public speaker having been awarded Competent Communicator by Toastmasters International and has written technical articles, been published widely and have taken part in International and Regional Speaking Competitions.

Five-Time #1 International Best Selling Author, John North is a versatile and experienced entrepreneur with a solid background in Accounting, Banking, Finance, Personal Development IT, Marketing and Business Management. John currently holds a number of titles, including CEO of Evolve Systems Group, Associate Diploma in Business (Accounting) and Fellow of the Institute of Public Accountants. John’s passion is to help business owners become more strategic and smarter about their marketing efforts. He constantly pushes the envelope of what’s possible in this modern era and is widely regarded among his peers as very innovative and highly creative in his approach.

In this special episode of the Smart Property Investment Show recorded live on site at the Institute of Public Accountants, host Phil Tarrant is joined by the IPA's Tony Greco, general manager of technical policy, to discuss the "what if's" of the upcoming election and aftermath of the royal commission. Tony discusses the potential shift away from negative gearing, changes to capital gains tax, and how investors can be best prepared for any changes which should arise. He reveals how the budget will be influenced by the upcoming federal election, how changes to the "rent-a-room" industry may alter your tax obligations, and what the ramifications could be of trying to avoid your obligations. If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on iTunes (The Smart Property Investment Show) and by following Smart Property Investment on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend your voice to the show, email editor@smartpropertyinvestment.com.au for more insights!

With the Institute of Public Accountants calling on the government to target its reforms to boosting productivity in the workforce, director of hammerjack, Nick Hastings joins host Katarina Taurian in this episode of Accountants Daily Insider to explore what productivity pain points accountants talk to him about, and how service providers are responding. Nick and Katarina will chat through the experiences of firms who choose to take on an outsourcing partner, including how unknowingly subscribing to cultural stereotypes has been a barrier to firms looking for scale.

Do something do it well. Work hard. Listen and understand what it means to represent others with respect., honesty and integrity. I sincerely hope that I can win a seat in Hobart City Council and ask for your number 1 vote for both Deputy Mayor and Alderman. Louise Bloomfield has worked in and around small to medium sized businesses since she was 17. Whilst obtaining her degree she worked up to 4 jobs at a time learning about the small business mechanism and what makes things tick. Now holding a Bachelor of Commerce, Fellowships in both the IPA (Institute of Public Accountants) and NTAA (National Tax Agents Assocation) as well as being a registered Tax Agent she has both the resources and experiences in business to know how to take a struggling business and make it thrive. Bloomfield & Associates is the latest stage in Louise's Public Practice - a change made to properly recognise her practice with the level and types of services now available.

Reckon and the Institute of Public Accountants recently announced a partnership to produce IPA Books + In this episode of Accountants Daily Insider, chief executive of IPA Andrew Conway and chief executive of Reckon Sam Allert join host Katarina Taurian to discuss this partnership and the drivers behind it. They will unpack what will be available to IPA members as a result of this deal, how regular feedback will shape the future of the platform going forward and Andrew will share why the association chose this path for its member base. They will also share plans regarding the future of the partnership, development plans and how training and support to IPA members will be provided to help them best utilise the platform.

In this episode, Matt Wheeler and Michael Bryant describe their journeys to becoming public accountants in Silicon Valley. Whether you’re a soon-to-be, novice, or seasoned accountant, you’ll find value in this episode as Matt and Michael share what they wish they had known at the beginning of their careers. They also share advice for getting on the partner track, finding a role model at your firm, and showing accountability if you make a mistake on a client file. Tune into this lively conversation and learn more about life as a public accountant.

John North is a versatile and experienced entrepreneur with a solid background in Accounting, Banking, Finance, Personal Development IT, Marketing and Business Management. John currently holds a number of titles, including CEO of Evolve Systems Group, Associate Diploma in Business (Accounting) and Fellow of the Institute of Public Accountants. John’s passion is to help business owners become more strategic and smarter about their marketing efforts. He constantly pushes the envelope of what’s possible in this modern era and is widely regarded among his peers as very innovative and highly creative in his approach. John’s services include Evolve Instant Author to help new authors and business owners write their own books and Evolve Global Publishing for completed books.

Joshua Kreitzman was born in Brooklyn and raised in Hauppauge. Joshua attended Hauppauge High School, and then spent four years at SUNY- College at New Paltz where he performed in many main stage productions as well as student-directed and written pieces. Joshua graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre with a concentration in performance. For the next five years Joshua performed in touring companies, children's theatre and improvisation in New York City and nationally. In June 2005, Joshua sought a second career in accounting when he joined the family accounting firm of Kreitzman & Kreitzman, CPAs. He earned his CPA designation in 2009, after passing all four parts of the CPA Exam in six months. Joshua is a member of the American Institute of Certified of Public Accountants, New York State Society and the National Conference of CPA Practitioners. Joshua married Philis Rubenstein in 2001, after spending the previous three years together in college. They live in Deer Park, NY, and have two children, Stella Marley and Lucy Mckenna. Website: https://www.brutallyhonestpodcast.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brutallyhonestpodcast/?hl=en Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Brutallyhonestpodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Harrison_Baron Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/brutallyhonestpodcast

  Forensic Accounting is primarily just delving into the details, going to sources of the transactions, and making sure those are what has been recorded and/or used in business transactions or in a divorce arena, that those particular assets are existing or are there other assets. So we do a lot of tracing of transactions to hopefully get all the transactions put together in a format or a summary that makes sense for whatever the project covers. In one case, it’s really interesting and certainly eye-opening, as I went through it and, many times, led me in some directions that were uncomfortable, dealing with personalities, but this was an employee benefit client that had a significant investments. Digging into this estate issue? A situation where two beneficiaries, equal beneficiaries of an estate, and parents passed. The one child of the parents was a trustee, and so this trustee made numerous withdrawals to her benefit. It was a woman in this case. To her benefit and to the detriment of her sibling. So we had to go back and figure out where the money came into the trust, where the money came out of the trust, and then subsequently into the estate. An initial client interview easily would take us an hour or hour-and-a-half and be just kind of a fact-finding mission on our part, to really delve into what they’re after and what the issue is. It is an agreed-upon procedures type of engagement, where we outline what we would do, why we do it, and what the results would be and how we would summarize and provide that information to the client. Three broad categories: estate beneficiary, the business owner, divorce arena. Contractor case study: Two contractors and one contractor felt there could be job costs on that particular joint venture, coming from the other contractor, that were not on their joint job. What are the one or two things that they should have uppermost in their mind about engaging forensic services? What are the things they need to be aware of and think about? Independence of that forensic person. They really want somebody that’s got experience because, obviously, experience can mean you can do it effectively and timely, so that you’re not spinning your wheels. Misconceptions  about the forensic accounting? They don’t realize the nature of a lot of the transactions that they’ve looked at or been involved in. I think it’s just probably incumbent on them to, again, engage someone that has experience and exposure. Listen to the podcast: Bill Sanden, CEO FM Consulting, Forensic Accounting, 3 key areas We’re lucky to have Bill Sanden (https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-sanden-8b887911/) . He’s the former President of SSA and currently CEO of FM Consulting. Bill has extensive experience and specializes in audit and insurance, employee benefit plans, forensic accounting, and consulting. FM Consulting serves the needs of the business owner, beneficiaries of estates in the divorce arena. Bill is a certified Public Accountant in both Colorado and Utah. He’s a member of numerous professional and local associations and has served in many positions in the Colorado Society of CPAs and the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce. He currently serves as Bank Director and Board Member of the Colorado Educational and Cultural Facilities Authority. Bill, thanks for taking the time. Bill, tell us a little bit about yourself. I’ve been primarily an audit partner for many years and throughout that experience, I’ve got a lot of fun experiences and some not so fun but at this point, I wanted to change my career a little bit and simplify my life. I’ve gotten into looking at doing consulting in the forensic accounting arena and I’ve done some of that. It certainly is part of my role at SAA, but now I want to pursue that specific area going forward. I’m thinking of forensics and I’m thinking of the TV shows, which...

Joshua Kreitzman was born in Brooklyn and raised in Hauppauge. Joshua attended Hauppauge High School, and then spent four years at SUNY- College at New Paltz where he performed in many main stage productions as well as student-directed and written pieces. Joshua graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre with a concentration in performance. For the next five years Joshua performed in touring companies, children's theatre and improvisation in New York City and nationally. In June 2005, Joshua sought a second career in accounting when he joined the family accounting firm of Kreitzman & Kreitzman, CPAs. He earned his CPA designation in 2009, after passing all four parts of the CPA Exam in six months. Joshua is a member of the American Institute of Certified of Public Accountants, New York State Society and the National Conference of CPA Practitioners. Joshua married Philis Rubenstein in 2001, after spending the previous three years together in college. They live in Deer Park, NY, and have two children, Stella Marley and Lucy Mckenna.

Joshua Kreitzman was born in Brooklyn and raised in Hauppauge. Joshua attended Hauppauge High School, and then spent four years at SUNY- College at New Paltz where he performed in many main stage productions as well as student-directed and written pieces. Joshua graduated in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre with a concentration in performance. For the next five years Joshua performed in touring companies, children's theatre and improvisation in New York City and nationally. In June 2005, Joshua sought a second career in accounting when he joined the family accounting firm of Kreitzman & Kreitzman, CPAs. He earned his CPA designation in 2009, after passing all four parts of the CPA Exam in six months. Joshua is a member of the American Institute of Certified of Public Accountants, New York State Society and the National Conference of CPA Practitioners. Joshua married Philis Rubenstein in 2001, after spending the previous three years together in college. They live in Deer Park, NY, and have two children, Stella Marley and Lucy Mckenna.

Michael Levine of Levine Insurance Advisors is a former Public Accountant with many years of experience. For the past 25 years Michael has specialized in succession, continuation and exit strategy planning for closely held businesses and professional service firms, with the integration of the necessary and/or required Life Insurance, Disability and Long Term Care Insurances.