Montana Society of CPAs

We’ve made it easier for you

Montana Society of CPAs Membership Value, Professional Development Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

by Jean Rieden, Professional Development & Membership Director

We offer a lot of classes each year. And you can find them all on our website. But how do you find a specific class topic you are looking for or maybe an instructor? We’ve made it easier for you!

We’ve added filters to our Professional Development page on the website, so instead of scrolling through 50+ live classes  and literally thousands of webcasts, you can do a search by live or online classes, keyword, field of interest, city where the class will be held, credits, course level and month.

Say for example you love Pat Garverick’s classes and you want to know what we’ve hired him to teach in 2017. Simply type Garverick in the Keyword box and click search. Voila! You can see three classes that Pat is scheduled to teach in Montana.

Garverick 2

Or perhaps you are looking for advanced level taxation classes, either live or online, you’ll click both the live and online course boxes, add Taxation to the Field of Interest box, scroll to Advanced under the course level box and then search. You’ll discover you have a LOT of options!

Taxation-Advanced 2

And remember, if you log in before you look for classes your registation will be pre-populated for you AND you can easily register others from your office.

I’m always available to answer your questions if you need any help.

P.S. Be sure to buy your FLEX Credits by June 30th. It will save you money on live classes.

 

This is important, trust me.

Montana Society of CPAs MontanaConnection Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

Hi Everyone

I know our members in tax season are thinking “reading a blog from Margaret is the LAST THING I WANT TO BE DOING RIGHT NOW!” But trust me, this is important. It’s about how to find your next hire.

We are going to start a big social media campaign for Montana accounting jobs starting on May 1st.  We know you need to hire and that will be a big focus for us in 2017 with this campaign in the spring and another in late summer.

Herriges Margaret 2014

Margaret Herriges, MSCPA Communications Director

Last fall we did a MontanaConnection social media campaign for the first time and had great exposure for Montana accounting jobs. But just like any promotional campaign, success won’t happen overnight. We need to build our brand and name recognition and establish ourselves as a legitimate job site for accountants and CPAs looking for a new job. We need to sell not only the job itself but our lifestyles, our opportunities, our cities . . . we need to showcase why a job in Montana is worthy of a big move.

So I’m interrupting everyone’s busy schedule now to urge you to get those job openings posted before May 1st! Any job posted between April 17th and April 30th won’t be charged until May 1st, giving you an extra couple of weeks’ exposure at no extra cost. The more jobs we show on MontanaConnection, the more viable career opportunity our out-of-state target market will see it as.

You can find more information about MontanaConnection and post your job online at https://www.mscpa.org/careers.

Thanks for taking time to think about this.  If you have questions about our upcoming campaign call me, email me . . . I am here to answer your questions. Your input is invaluable.

Best,

Margaret Herriges, CAE, IOM
Communications Director
406.442.7301

Presidentially Speaking

Montana Society of CPAs Advocacy, dues, Industry & Financial Professionals, Just for Fun, Leadership, Legislative, Membership Value, Networking, Presidentially Speaking, Professional Development, Tax Season Tags: , , Leave a comment

By Annette Hill, MSCPA President 2016-2017

hill-annette-2016Hello fellow CPAs!  Happy Valentine’s Day!  I’m trusting you’ll take some time today to spend with your loved ones, especially your valentine!  Consider taking a breath to reflect on other areas in your life that cause you to feel grateful; home, health and relationships.

Many of you have asked us how it’s going with the search for a new executive director.  I’m happy to report that we are on schedule with the timeline set by our Strike Force leader, Brenda Byrnes. We are in the interview stage, having received numerous applications from qualified candidates and are on track to introduce you to a new executive director by our Annual Conference in June.

What about Jane?  Even more of you have inquired about Jane’s retirement and we assure you that you will have opportunities to celebrate with Jane, to congratulate and thank her for her many years of service to the Society.  Watch for details!

It is opportunity season for those of us in public accounting and no doubt many in industry, nonprofit, government and education are feeling the opportunity as well, wrapping up calendar year end activities and initiating 2017.  Our staff at the Society office have been closing the January 31, 2017 fiscal year and commencing the next one with issuance of dues statements.  Your statement hit your physical or virtual mail box on February 1st.

As you review the notice, you’ll see that our Society staff has done an outstanding job of detailing the five strategic pillars and the benefits your dues provide our members.

MEMBERSHIP tools and services, volunteer and leadership opportunities

SUSTAINABILITY and focus on being the most valuable resource for members

CONNECTION through Find-A-CPA, MontanaConnection.org, MSCPA.org, local and rural chapters, e-publications, social media and this blog

PROFESSIONAL EXCELLENCE with 52 live CPE courses, 4 conferences and thousands of webcasts

ADVOCACY with representation at the state Legislature, Department of Revenue, State Board of Accountants, IRS and AICPA.

What an inspiring and fitting list for our pillars! They guide our board of directors, staff, committees, task forces and all of our volunteers, charting the course for our mission.  That’s important and we need to keep it in front of us.  However, as you consider paying your dues this year, you might be asking yourself, “What’s really in it for me?”  I’ve spent a few moments considering the value my membership brings me.

In 20 years as a member, I’ve enjoyed benefits in all of the pillars and for that I’m grateful and have no doubt I have received much more than the cost of my membership dues.  One of my favorite benefits though, is really one captured in the MEMBERSHIP pillar.  “Tools and services” include our Society office and staff.  This is the benefit working for us every day that we may not even know is happening. Our Society office and staff are our best return on investment.

Have you called the Society office and been greeted with Heidi’s cheery and welcoming voice?  Have you experienced an issue with CPE and had Jean fix it for you?  Have you had Carol hold your hand as you worked through the paperwork to get your first peer review completed? Have you paused to giggle a little when you read the latest recipe for tax season mixology drinks on Facebook or learned what music Reidun cranks when she needs some inspiration? Attended a fun-filled, professional MSCPA conference? Reconnected with a CPA that left the state? (Thanks Margaret!) Finally, do you know the influence and the respect our illustrious executive director commands with our state legislators? Have you changed your job and in the stress of changing co-workers, locations and career goals, have you found some comfort in the familiarity of your MSCPA staff and office?  Have you remembered that these same people probably call you by name, recognize your spouse, know where you work and understand your passion for the accounting profession?

THIS is the value of membership.  I encourage you to renew (join if you are not currently a member) pay your dues and enjoy the benefits our greatest resource can bring you.  See you in Billings at the 104th Annual Conference!

 

 

It’s a win/win for you AND your clients!

Montana Society of CPAs Industry & Financial Professionals, Membership Value, Networking, Professional Development Tags: , , , Leave a comment

by Jean Rieden, MSCPA Professional Development & Membership Director

ATTENTION BING MEMBERS:industryconf2017
Why YOU Should Attend the Industry Conference

We hear it all the time. Montana CFOs frequently have to do it all: AR, AP, finance, inventory, payroll, HR, grant compliance, contracts and more! The Industry Conference provides the information you need to know to be an effective finance professional. Whether you are the CFO, the CEO or the staff accountant, you will benefit from the engaging presentations on relevant and timely topics. The education and networking opportunities you will access are invaluable to your role in your organization.

ATTENTION PUBLIC PRACTICE MEMBERS:
Why YOUR Business Clients Should Know About the Industry Conference

Education and networking can reduce the risk of errors and cut down on fraud. The Industry Conference provides the education and networking opportunities that will help your clients make better decisions in their work, improve their accounting and financial processes and help them provide better information to management which makes them a stronger member of the accounting team. It’s a win/win for you AND your client!

Click here to register and find more information or feel free to contact me, jean@mscpa.org, 800.272.0307.

I hope I see you, or your clients, in Helena March 22 & 23!

Sing Along! It’s Harvest Time!

Montana Society of CPAs Just for Fun, Membership Value, Tax Season Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Margaret Herriges, MSCPA Communications Director

By Margaret Herriges, CAE, IOM |  Communications Director

I’m a farmer’s daughter and since I started working for MSCPA nearly 17 years ago, I’ve equated tax season with harvest: there’s a lot of work to be done and you only have so much time to do it.

Growing up, we’d take my dad a treat around 4:00 pm; something to sustain him and motivate him to keep working. It was that “pause that refreshes”. Similarly, each tax season we try to do something a little offbeat and fun for our members. It’s our way of supporting you and motivating you through this busy season. In the past we’ve done Tax Season Mixology and last year we found some pretty outrageous tax season memes. This year we’re going to help you burn that midnight oil with some groovy tunes. Welcome to our Tax Season Playlist!

We recruited MSCPA Board members to help us with this and each day at 4:00 we’ll be sharing a song, complete with the YouTube link, on our Facebook page.  We’d love to hear from you! Be sure to comment if you like the song, and tell us your favorites and we’ll add those to our play list, too. Occasionally there may even be a dedication from the MSCPA staff to our hard-working members!

You don’t have to be a CPA in tax to enjoy this. We dedicate these sound bytes to ALL our members!

So work hard and may your harvest be plentiful! We’ll be here for you to help in any way we can. And if you find yourself with one of our Tax Season Playlist songs stuck in your head . . . you are welcome!

In honor of the first day of tax season 2017, January 23rd, Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing by Stevie Wonder, dedicated by President-Elect Josh Herbold.

A note from Sara

Montana Society of CPAs Industry & Financial Professionals, Membership Value, Networking, Professional Development, Raising the Bar Tags: , , , , 2 Comments

By Sara Smith, ALPS Corporation, Missoula, MSCPA Industry Conference Task Force Leader

Smith Sara 2017.jpgBeing a glutton for punishment, I signed up for the Butte 50, a mountain bike race along the Continental Divide trail. If you have done it or know someone that has, you know that this race can only be described as a “suffer fest.” About 45 miles into the race, there is one last final grind to the top. Imagine my surprise when I encountered Tyler Hamilton, our 2017 Industry Conference Keynote Speaker, right before the end of the climb passing out Coca-Cola. He was like a beacon of light in the depths of the pain cave. He gave me the sweet syrupy liquid to drink, a slight push, and told me I was almost there. I can’t even explain what a boost that was to my deflated and exhausted spirit.

Those of you that don’t know who Tyler is, the short version is that he raced along Lance Armstrong with the US Postal Service team during the Tour de France. Now, I think we all know what hhamiltontyler150appened to Lance, but not everyone is familiar with Tyler’s contribution to the story. In Tyler’s book “The Secret Race”, the full story provides some context that describes the pressure of being an elite athlete. The toll that lying takes on your family. The way relationships and friendships break down when you are not being fully honest with yourself. In many ways, it mirrors some of the same themes Andrew Fastow, the former CFO of Enron, spoke about at the 2016 Industry Conference.

If you didn’t get to hear Mr. Fastow speak, you missed what I can only describe as a controversial presentation, the kind that sticks with you. To literally silence a whole room of CPAs takes a powerful story, one that touches the foundations of each of us. Having heard Tyler speak before, I promise you that this presentation will cause at the very minimum reflection of your path, the choices you make under pressure, and how living a transparent life can be transformative. His approach is novel as well, with ample time to ask him literally anything you want to know about Tyler Perhaps you want to know what it is like to win an Olympic medal or what it feels like to have that same medal stripped from you…Tyler can answer that question for you.

industryconf2017We have great speakers lined up for this event. We read every evaluation form and take all of the input to try to produce the best possible conference for our industry leaders. Our goal is to make sure you take something away that you can use personally and/or professionally. I think the 2017 Industry Conference is going to be one that you don’t soon forget so I encourage you to register.

Are you ready to make an impact?

Montana Society of CPAs Advocacy, Legislative, Membership Value Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

by Jane Egan

Egan Jane color

Jane Egan MSCPA Executive Director

The 2017 Legislative Session begins January 2nd and promises to be just as busy and exciting as past ones.

Our current Governor, Steve Bullock (Democrat), was re-elected and Republicans hold a majority in the Senate and House.

The Governor has released his budget proposal which includes (among many other things):

  • a new tax bracket of 7.9 for people who make over $500,000 a year
  • increase in tax credits for new and expanding businesses
  • 6% tax on medical marijuana
  • Elimination of state capital gains credit for gains topping one million annually
  • A state earned-income tax credit for the working poor

Two of our committees—Legislation & Governmental Affairs and State Taxation—have been working on our legislative agenda for a number of months and are close to finalizing the details. We do know we will be initiating legislation to:

  • establish a corresponding deduction/subtraction on the Montana return for a credit on the Federal return that has an add back to income and
  • allow for CPA firm mobility

We have a Board-approved Legislative Policy and we are delighted to have Helena attorney, Holly Franz, on board as our lobbyist again this session.

Your MSCPA committees and staff work the legislative session for you—we want and need your participation and input. Contact me (800.272.0307) with your ideas and watch for notices by email and in eConnect on the many ways you can make sure the CPA voice is heard in this session.

My Experience at the AICPA Leadership Academy

Montana Society of CPAs Leadership, Professional Development, Volunteers, Young Professionals Tags: , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

schuerg-austin-2015by Austin Schuerg

In October I had the honor of representing Montana at the AICPA’s Leadership Academy (LA), thanks to the MSCPA Legacy Foundation.  This four-day intensive program was designed to engage young professionals in a self-examination of leadership, what that means and how that impacts their personal life and career path.  The facilitators of this Academy, Tom Hood (CEO of the Maryland Association of CPAs) and Gretchen Pisano (CEO of p.Link Coaching Center) were truly amazing.  If you’ve ever met Tom or Gretchen, you know they are both passionate and energizing people, key to a successful program.

The program itself consisted of 38 young CPAs from around the country with very diverse backgrounds.  An application process was required that consisted of two short essays documenting the applicant’s thoughts on what the future holds for a leader in the accounting function, whether private or public, as well as how each applicant feels they would benefit from such a program. Outside of the program itself, a key component of LA was the networking and socializing with the other CPAs.  This has already been super valuable in that we have formed a private Facebook group and have bounced questions and ideas around numerous times already.

Prior to the academy, the first step was identifying each of our own leadership strengths.  LA utilized the book Strengths Based Leadership by Tom Rath which was accompanied by a Clifton’s Stengthsfinder assessment.  I had always had an idea of where my leadership strengths lie, but this assessment really cemented that for me and pushed me to begin identifying how to leverage those in my daily professional and personal life.  After I returned from LA, I sat down with the leaders in my current company and walked through my strengths.  We have since redesigned my career path to one that will most benefit my strengths as well as the company.  Actual action, I love that.

During LA, the facilitators walked us through an intensive study of the i2a facilitation process.  The generalized concept here is to create buy in from team members to really help drive projects forward.  As a team, you attempt to really break down an issue to its most basic form and then create a plan to overcome this.  I plan to implement this process over q4 in my current role to identify ways to overcome some obstacles we are facing related to our interdepartmental relationships.  If you are unaware of the i2a facilitation process, feel free to reach out to me and I will gladly provide a run down.

schuerg-leadership-graduation-2016

Barry Melancon | Austin Schuerg | Tim Christen

One of the highlights for me from the week was interacting with Barry Melancon, President of the AICPA, and Tim Christen, Board Member of the AICPA and Chair of Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP.  During one of our “networking” nights, we had North Carolina barbecue and a bags (corn hole) tournament in which my team got knocked out in the semi-finals.  The last evening of LA, we had the opportunity to have a two-hour Q&A session with Barry Melancon in which we learned about his career path as well as where he sees the profession headed.  He is truly an inspiring leader and the insights he provided were amazing.

Overall, the three key takeaways for me from this program are self-awareness of my own strengths, awareness of what drives other’s motivation, and that leadership is facilitation.

Donna Salter and Erin Carson from the AICPA did a superb job in organizing this academy and I would highly recommend it to any young professional in the accounting industry who is looking to either take, or position themselves to take, that next step in their career.  A special thank you to the Legacy Foundation and the MSCPA for their support in my attendance to the LA.  I truly feel it was game-changer for me and I hope to assist and give back to the profession here in the state as much as I can.

Schuerg Leadership Graduation 2016 a.jpg

2016 AICPA Leadership Academy Graduates

Austin Schuerg is only the second Montanan to have the honor of attending the AICPA’s prestigious Leadership Academy, thanks to the support of the MSCPA Legacy Foundation. The first Montana attendee was Jeremiah Rouane (First Interstate Bank) back in 2010, so you can see that Austin’s attendance is landmark for Montana CPAs.

Austin works as a senior accountant with Simms Fishing Products in Bozeman. He serves as the Young Professional member on the MSCPA Board of Directors and is very active in all MSCPA initiatives to promote the success and involvement of our YPs.  

 

Profiles: Jim Woy

Montana Society of CPAs Advocacy, Networking, Peer Review, Volunteers Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

Profiles is MSCPA’s blog series highlighting the impact Montana CPAs are having on the national level.

woy-jim-2016

Jim Woy, Shareholder, Anderson ZurMuehlen, Butte

I have served on the Education and Communications Task Force (ECTF) of the AICPA Peer Review Committee since 2013. The Committee is comprised of members from around the country who are peer reviewers, technical reviewers, Report Acceptance Bodies (RAB) and administrators of state peer review committees.  The task force  provides input to the AICPA Peer Review Committee and AICPA peer review staff. The task force has been instrumental in addressing and providing input regarding many of the recent changes in the AICPA peer review program. The task force also sets forth the agenda for the annual national peer review conference.

Volunteering as a task force or committee member on the national level allows me to meet and discuss some of top issues of the day with individuals who are in the moment,  on new and soon to effective standards. These individuals become friends you can call upon when questions occur and the breadth of knowledge shared in committee meetings is excellent. It helps me understand the “what’s behind” many of the changes occurring in our great profession.

I really enjoy the opportunity to provide feedback on issues impacting the peer review process. The AICPA Peer Review Committee and AICPA peer review staff do listen to our feedback and welcomes it, and in many instances,  changes get made due to this feedback. It is very rewarding.