TXCPA Dallas
May 2020 Newsletter
In This Issue…
- Chairman's Message
- CPE
- Convergence
- A Word from Our Sponsors
- Membership
- Classifieds
- TXCPA
Chairman’s Message
By Bill Sims, CPA
So how was that for making lemons into lemonade? Even a viral pandemic can’t stop TXCPA Dallas from providing excellent CPE, and the proof is in Monday’s Convergence 2020 Webcast Event. Despite a few hiccups in the beginning, we’ve heard nothing but glowing comments about the online version of our annual super-conference, Convergence 2020, re-structured in response to the COVID crisis currently sweeping our city, state and nation. More than 700 accounting and financial services professionals logged on for this event that awarded 8.5 hours of quality education in 5 sessions covering accounting, tax, auditing and professional development topics. A big thank you to Tim Pike, the Convergence Committee Vice-Chair, who played a significant role in the conversion of the conference. We also want to thank the outstanding TXCPA staff for their assistance in the creation of this event. And while we are certainly proud of this year’s production, we are already looking ahead to Convergence 2021, bigger, better and – most of all – BACK!
If you’re looking for more CPE this month, we have a couple of great options for you. On May 13th, Taylor Franta and Tim Pike of Howard LLP will present Employee Benefit Plan Audits, a course that will focus on the knowledge, tests and considerations specific to these audits. Save the date for May 28th, when you can learn about trending Human Resources topics from Heather Guarnera of HumCap and Marcus Fettinger of Gray Reed. We also have some excellent two-hour courses coming up in June. On June 3, Doug Manhart from BKD will talk about Topics & Trends in Forensic Data Analytics, and on June 17, Steve Austin of Swenson Advisors and Ane Ohm of LeaseCrunch will discuss The New Lease Accounting Standards…Topic 842. You can read more about all of these CPE opportunities elsewhere in the newsletter.
Speaking of human resources, we’re happy to announce the opening of the TXCPA Dallas Career Center. Through this page, you can find assistance in either locating or advertising employment opportunities for accountants and financial services practitioners in the Dallas area. We’re very excited about this launch and hope you will be too. Check it out here.
This is my last Chairman’s message to you as my term comes to an end on May 31, 2020. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with many wonderful people this year, and I owe a particular debt of gratitude to several of them. I’d like to specifically recognize the talents and commitment of our Executive Director Meg Campbell and the excellent staff she leads for their part in making this a productive year for me and the Chapter as a whole. To TXCPA Dallas Board of Directors, my heartfelt thanks for your dedicated support, your thoughtful input and your expertise as we have stewarded this organization together for the past 12 months. I also would like to express my appreciation to you, the members, for all your support and the privilege of serving your association this last year. We have one of the strongest and most enthusiastic member bases in the state, and it has been a true pleasure to work with you. Even in these times of hardship and uncertainty, we are still blessed beyond what we deserve. We need to remember this even after things get back to normal. I leave you all in the capable hands of Jason Freeman, your incoming Chairman. Jason is well known as a very capable leader, and I am confident that we can all expect another productive year under his guidance.
Thank you again, stay safe and healthy, and all the best to each of you.
Bill Sims, CPA
Chairman, 2019-20
CPE
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Convergence 2021
Thank You to Our Sponsors
TXCPA Dallas welcomes these great organizations that have already committed their sponsorship support for Convergence 2021.
A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS
Sage
Sage is offering important coronavirus information updates. Click here.
Click here to view a talk between Ed Kless and Garrett Wagner about the impacts of COVID-19 on themselves and their clients, new skills that are needed for professionals, and the innovation mindset.
Click here for a video of the Shaynaco LLC founder Shayna Chapman talking about adapting and the importance of healing leadership during these difficult times.
Sage provides more information in these blogposts:
MEMBERSHIP
Welcome, New Members!
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TXCPA Dallas
Scholarship Winner Spotlight
Each month, we will spotlight one of this year’s TXCPA Dallas Scholarship winners. Join us this month in getting to know University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) graduate accounting student David Volosen and welcoming him to TXCPA Dallas.
If it hadn’t been for a conversation with a friend’s mother, David Volosen may have ended up a Mad Man. For the year leading up to this conversation, he had dreaded the thought of even considering a college major. When he was asked by his academic advisor in his senior year what field he wanted to major in, he panicked and said Marketing, largely based on the couple of episodes he had watched of the television series Mad Men. He eventually realized he probably was not cut out to be the next Don Draper, and it was about this time that a chat with the mother of a friend, herself a tax accountant, took place. She told David about all the career benefits of being an accountant, how she enjoyed the opportunity to help companies succeed in an ever-changing world, and how she was always learning, even though she had graduated from college a decade earlier. All of these elements convinced David to abandon his hasty choice of a Marketing major and embrace the pursuit of a career in Accounting.
David was born in Romania, one of 13 children, and immigrated with his family to the U.S. in 2000. As one might expect, one of the challenges involved in having such a large family is the need for financial resourcefulness. In response, he has paid the balance, after scholarships, of his undergraduate education on his own, working 70+ hours a week in the summers between school years.
David received the Comet Transfer and Phi Theta Kappa scholarships. He was a member of UTD’s prestigious Professional Program in Accounting and participated in the group’s 2018 Case Competition. He has also held membership in UTD’s chapter of Beta Alpha Psi and the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. He received his Bachelors degree in Accounting in May of last year and will graduate with an M.S. in Accounting this month.
David served as an audit intern at Crowe LLP and will join the firm as a full-time auditor in October of 2020.
TXCPA Dallas welcomes and congratulates David Volosen.
TXCPA Dallas Scholarship
Honoring Philip Vogel
It’s that time again! Time to award TXCPA Dallas Scholarships to worthy North Texas college seniors and graduate students. If you are, or know of, a senior or graduate accounting student from Southern Methodist University, Texas A&M-Commerce, the University of North Texas or the University of Texas at Dallas who deserves to be recognized as a TXCPA Dallas Scholar, contact Melanie Birkett at mbirkett@cpadallas.org, or click here for an application. Entry forms must be received by 4:00 p.m. on June 5, 2020.
CLASSIFIEDS
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TXCPA
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