ascpa emagazine august 2014

ALABAMA CPA MAGAZINE AUGUST 2014

2 THE ALABAMA CPA MAGAZINE

THE ALABAMA CPAMAGAZINE

Alabama Society of

Certified Public Accountants

P.O. Box 242987

Montgomery, Alabama 36124-2987

1-800-227-1711

334-834-7650

www.ascpa.org

OFFICERS

Don McCleod, Chair

Dr. Lowell Broom, Chair-Elect

Renee Hubbard, Past Chair

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

James R. L. Carroll

Caitlin F. Glass

Kate J. Ham

Paul Marcus Hamilton

M. Buddy Johnsey

Jason L. Miller

Michael C. Reibling

Gregory E. Sellers

Dennis E. Sherrin

Rachel M. Taylor

AICPA COUNCIL MEMBERS

William H. Carr

Don McCleod

E. Lamar Reeves

Jimmy L. Williamson,

Past Chair, AICPA

The Alabama CPA Magazine is published by

Alabama Society of Certified Public Accountants

as a membership service to Society members.

Views and opinions appearing in this publication

are not necessarily endorsed by the ASCPA. The

deadline for submitting materials for publication is

the first of the month preceding issue date.

Jeannine P. Birmingham, CPA, CAE, CGMA

President and CEO

Diane L. Christy, Editor

Photos from the Sandestin CPE Conference

Message from the Chair...Successful strategic planning for the Alabama Society of CPAs is never

about any type of generic limitations presented to us by external forces. But instead, it is about our unique ability to rise above circumstances to capitalize on the many unforeseen opportunities that exist. This is why I am very excited about this year’s distinguished group of ASCPA Board Members who convened with me on July 9th at the Wynlakes Country Club in Montgomery to discuss the best way forward for our great organization. I am also very excited that what stood out during our discussions was that we must be determined in having the kind of success that moves our mission forward and that even as we seek out those unforeseen opportunities, our mission to promote the professional interests of Alabama Certified Public Accountants should always be steadfast and clear.

Our strategic planning session was very productive and extremely informative, beginning with Jeannine and her staff giving the Board of Directors an update on several important operational initiatives which included the AP Pilot training program that was running concurrently with the Board Retreat and was being held at the ASCPA headquarters. More so, our overall session was facilitated for the third year in a row by Gary Bollinger. Gary is a masterful facilitator and non-stop visionary who made even the most seasoned among us stop to think about the big picture of what was really happening within our profession. We were truly blessed to have his insight and expertise. He is indeed a positive change agent for our profession. We were also blessed to have one of the major contributors of the AP Pilot training program, Dr. Dan Deines, who gave us an overview of the accounting advanced placement efforts he and others are leading, and he shared with us his passion for why now is the most ideal time to introduce an AP accounting program in every major high school in Alabama.

I want to take this time to personally thank my fellow board members: Dr. Lowell Broom, chair-elect, Jamey Carroll, Buddy Johnsey, Dennis Sherrin, Caitlin Glass, Jason Miller, Rachel Taylor, Kate Ham, Michael Reibling, Marc Hamilton, Greg Sellers, and Renee Hubbard, immediate past chair. Our AICPA Council Member, Lamar Reeves, was also in attendance at this year’s Board Retreat and Strategic Planning meeting. I also want to thank Jeannine and her staff for the amazing job they did of juggling both the Board Retreat and the AP Accounting Pilot and Bridge Project training program simultaneously, and with such great success. Thank you all for your commitment and dedication to lead in a time when our profession is as fluid as ever with change; we are all better because of your service to our profession and to the great organization we all call home.

Don

BOARD RESOLUTIONBE IT RESOLVED, That the AICPA Board of Directors wishes to express its appreciation for the many contributions to the accounting profession that were made by the late Dr. Thomas A. Ratcliffe, Ph.D., CPA, CGMA, for his integral role in the creation and implementation of AICPA’s Center for Plain English Accounting, which achieved a longstanding AICPA member service objective to provide a national resource to CPA firms seeking high level technical guidance.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Board of Directors acknowledges his service over the years as an AICPA member, including as chairman of the Accounting and Review Services Committee, member of the Auditing Standards Board, member of the Audit Issues Task Force, member of AICPA Council, and as a key contributor to the Financial Reporting Framework for Small and Medium Sized Entities (FRF-SME). The Board also wishes to express its sincere condolences to Tom’s wife, Carol.

Thomas Ratcliffe

THE ALABAMA CPA MAGAZINE 3


DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Montgomery Business Journal, Summer 2014 – Fred Keeton is vice president of finance, external affairs and chief diversity officer for Caesars Entertainment Corp. He was recently interviewed by the Montgomery Business Journal’s David Zaslawsky.

Montgomery Business Journal: What does diversity mean to you?

Keeton: Diversity simply means difference across any set of circumstances. I think people sort of pigeonhole the word very often and make it something that it isn’t, but diversity is in and of itself about difference.

MBJ: Why do people make it into what it’s not?

Keeton: I think very often people make into this one-dimensional thing. While it is a noun and while in our traditional approach to thinking about it, we attach it only to protected classes. We attach it to only race, gender, sexual orientation, disability and those kinds of things and that’s very, very inappropriate and a shortcoming in terms of how we think about the word. Diversity is really similarities and differences and the tensions that relate to those.

MBJ: How important is it to have a diverse work force?

Keeton: I think it’s hugely important to have a diverse work force. Let’s go back for a second though and really get how we ought to think about the dimensions of diversity.

MBJ: What are those dimensions?

Keeton: We need to think about those dimensions of diversity from the standpoint of cognitive diversity – differences in how we think. We need to think about them from the standpoint of cultural diversity – differences in culture and approaches. We should think about it in the way of market diversity – what are the different markets and who are they made up of and how do we engage those. We should think about it internally from the standpoint of structural diversity – what does our organization look like in terms of the way it’s structured; all the different pieces. Again, you hear that word “different.” And then we should think about it from the standpoint of product diversity – what are those products, goods and services that would be most meaningful to our particular customer base. How can we create a compelling value proposition for those customers based on diversifying our products in a way that would be most meaningful to them as customers of ours from a service perspective? When you’re thinking about diversity and you think about it in that way, now you have all of these pieces and all of those categories that I just mentioned to you, including the protected-class issues. All of those go together to help us to when we mix them and manage them appropriately to think about the business in markedly different ways and to become much more intelligent about how we do what we do as we drive outcomes in the business. I wanted to make sure that I made this point to you because this is a huge point and very often we miss it.

MBJ: From what you are saying, diversity had a limited connotation in the past, but you are expanding it to the point where it includes everything about what a business is.

Keeton: Yes. So when you think about that and you think about what is necessary … if you think about complexity theory and – forgive me for going here, but I really want to share this with you – when we think about complexity theory and we think about complex systems, what we know is that a city is a complex system; that a company is a complex system, especially the larger that they get with the more moving pieces and the different functional areas and the like. Of course, the environment is a complex system. What we want to do is create the capacity for that system to remain not simply a complex system, but a complex adaptive system.

MBJ: What do you mean by a complex adaptive system?

Keeton: What that means is that system creates a degree of intelligence within itself so that it pre-emptively makes adjustments to the environment so that the environment doesn’t always force the

Dimensions of Diversity Q & A WITH FRED KEETON


Continued on page 15

change. If you deal in complexity science, it’s called emergence – the ability for that system to emerge with all these different pieces making decisions that really move that organization or that system forward, sometimes not even realizing that a particular decision that was made in one place has such a big impact in another. It does it as a matter of course and what that means is, it plays on its diversity. As you think about diversity, we’ve talked about it here, but we haven’t talked about inclusion.

MBJ: Why is inclusion so closely linked to diversity?

Keeton: Diversity is a noun; inclusion is a verb. Diversity simply means, as I said earlier, difference. It’s all of these differences that we manage. Inclusion is the management of those in a way that helps you to drive your way toward organizational objectives based on outcomes. It’s very, very important to understand that that mix is key. This is a both approach rather than an either-or approach. It requires great leadership so that relevant dimensions of diversity are never left out dependent upon the area or the situation or the circumstance that you’re working around.

MBJ: You’re saying you can’t have one without the other.

Keeton: Yes. For an example, every dimension of diversity is important, but every dimension of diversity may not be relevant in every set of circumstances. I may have a situation where I don’t have … just if we were to think about the traditional way of thinking about diversity – I may be in a business situation where I don’t have a protected-class issue that I’m managing from an inclusion perspective. I have a functional diversity issue, where I have some cross-functionality that needs to take place appropriately and it’s not taking place. I have different functions in the organization that aren’t working together like they ought to in order to drive the very best outcome. As you’re thinking about it, you are now able to say in this particular instance I don’t have a traditional protected-class diversity issue. I have an issue of cross-functionality. It’s not working. These folks aren’t engaging each other. If we go back and think about the very basics of diversity and the reason why we would do it, our chairman Gary Loveman says that ‘the collective IQ of the organization ought to increase with every new hire.’

MBJ: What’s the implication of that?

Keeton: Does that simply mean we need to hire smart people? I would offer to you that if we simply hire smart people we wouldn’t get to that collective IQ increasing. If we’re hiring smart people, now we have to create the capacity to engage those folks in a way that they are included in making the organization smarter. I can have 10 MBAs on my team in a room and if we were to give each cognitive tools and if I was to lop their heads off, which is a pretty grisly thing, and put tool boxes in the place of their head – each one of those 10 folks would have a set of tools in those boxes dependent upon their background; and how they have been trained educationally, etc. If all of those folks are really, really similar it’s very likely they’re going to have a very similar set of tools. If I can bring in another three folks and with those 10 MBAs and each one of them had 10 tools – I have 100 tools to work from, but many of them are the same.

If I bring in another three folks and make a team of 13 folks, but these folks are not MBAs from the fancy schools. These folks are really, really smart businesspeople, who had a number of experiences across a number of different functions and industries. They only have eight tools apiece, but four of the eight tools they have are different than any of the tools that the other 10 MBAs have. If those folks can be heard, then the team will get smarter. If their tools are relevant and they can be heard, the team will get smarter. You have to think about how you’re engaging in that way.

A part of my toolbox comes from the fact that I am a 57-year-old African-American male from Morton, Mississippi, about 36 miles east of Jackson. The fact that I’ve been with this company 30 years on the 23rd of July; the fact that I’ve been in risk management; that I’ve been in development; that I’ve been in government affairs; that I’ve been in finance – all of that has contributed to this diverse cognitive toolbox that I have. The way I view the world; the way I engage the world – the foundation for that goes back to Morton, Mississippi. And everything builds upon that, so both how I think, which is a DNA-driven thing; and the cultural side of things I come from, and I just don’t mean protected-class issues. I mean the Southern culture. I mean the small-town culture. I mean all of those different things go into this toolbox that I have.


Do clients ever tell you they’ve priced-shopped your services? Do they ever

leave with no explanation, maybe because they were focused exclusively on price? Or are you worried you’ll have to lower your prices, or continue to forego increases, in order to retain good customers?

An effective way to insulate your accounting practice from pricing pressures is to develop deeper relationships with your clients. Clients want to do business with trustworthy, trans-parent accountants whom they like and who genuinely understand them. If nothing sets the relationship apart, clients will often opt for the lowest price—an issue that may contribute to the commoditization of certain services offered by accounting firms.

Tommy Spaulding, a New York Times best-selling author, executive coach and leadership consultant, recently said during a webinar hosted by Sageworks that to build lifelong, loyal customers, accountants must go beyond mere niceties and forge personal and professional relationships that invest unselfishly in others. Spaulding, who is also president of Spaulding Companies Corporation, shared that accountants can not only transform their cli-ent relationships but also transform their entire practices by incorporating simple actions that

display a desire to help people and to under-stand their needs.

“In your business ... in the old days, you just had a bunch of accountants who did all of the work in their cubes and their offices, and they never really interacted with their clients,” he said. “They just did the work and submitted the work to the clients, and you had probably business development people or senior partners that were very connected in the community and that would bring in business.”

“There’s not [an accounting] firm in the world that operates that way now,” he added. “Now every CPA, every accountant, every per-son in the office is in the community, serving on boards, networking, building relationships with your clients and customers, interacting with them, being out of the office and bringing in business.”

CPAs must understand the “power of ser-vant relationships and the power of building relationships that are deeper than just net-working,” Spaulding said. These relationships should be based on reliability, credibility and a selfless orientation. One example of doing this provided a powerful anecdote during Spauld-ing’s webinar. He recalled a contact at a large accounting firm who learned during a business dinner about Spaulding’s young son’s love of

hockey. On the son’s birthday, the boy received a package containing a thoughtful note from the contact, along with the gift of a cherished hockey puck signed by Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Orr.

The contact, Spaulding said, “found a way to connect with me on an emotional level” via his son’s love of hockey, and because of that, Spaulding will always consider that relationship to be special.

To start this transformation, accountants should look for ways to talk with clients about the things that matter most to them.

“Next time you’re taking a client to lunch or meeting at the office, tell them, ‘We’ve been working together for a while; tell me more about you,’” he said.

Asking where someone went to school, for example, where they go on vacation or what they like to do for hobbies is a way to begin a more meaningful conversation and to open a door to sharing a little more about yourself so that the relationship is deeper, Spaulding said.

“Focusing more on the quality vs. the quantity of relationships is where you will see your business grow, and you will be a lot happier,” he said. He recommends that CPAs work toward developing five to 10 relationships in which they know the person so well that they

DOING IT BETTER

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP

Mary Ellen Biery, Sageworks

Aldridge, Borden & Company, P.C. recently hosted a diverse group of bankers, government workers, and small business owners from Haiti. They were visiting the United States to learn how to stimulate and support entrepreneurship and small business development, including observing best practices in capital acquisition, marketing, strategy and leadership. Billy Cox, Jeremy Moreland, and Michael Shaw discussed with them common issues faced by small businesses.


can share not only emotions and feelings, but also values and a high degree of openness.

“It’s the little things that we do,” he said. “Really listen to people and how you can serve them. Move away from the traditional birthday or holiday cards. Everybody does that. How can you do special things like this guy did for me?”

CPAs don’t have to be extroverts to put this guidance into practice either, Spaulding said. “These types of relationships can be built by anybody,” he said. It simply takes a willingness to look for opportunities to take relationships that are now “transactional” in nature to a dif-ferent level.”

And it shouldn’t just be partners working on this. Each person needs to find a way to invest himself or herself in the community and to work toward building deep, meaningful relationships with a small group of people, Spaulding recom-mended.

“Every single person in the firm needs to be an ambassador of building authentic relationships,” he said. “Having just a few people [who are doing it] doesn’t build a great culture.”_____Mary Ellen Biery is a research specialist for Sageworks, a financial information compa-ny that provides financial analysis and industry benchmarking solutions to accounting firms.


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STUDENT SUCCESS

C H A N G E I S I N E V I T A B L E . D I R E C T I O N I S I N T E N T I O N A L .

While the yellowhammer is the Alabama state bird, the bulldog should be the

ASCPA’s mascot. Why? Because once there is a project proposed, the jaws lock on and will not let go! Planning began in the spring and received the endorsement of the Alabama State Department of Education’s Career Technology and Workforce Development. The cooperation of the ALSDE was critical in inviting a limited number of Alabama’s 800 accounting teachers. On July 8-10, 35 high school accounting teachers from every corner of the state, and from schools large and small, met at the ASCPA office for intense training.

Leading them in this “cram course” was Dr. Dan Deines of Kansas State University, plus Glenda Eichman and Janie Patterson, high school accounting teachers. The fact that they were here at all can be laid at the feet of Ms. Eichman. As Dan Deines explained at the beginning of the program, it was Glenda who challenged him to create the curriculum and begin spreading it outside Kansas.

“I had been a voice in the wilderness trying to get the College Board to accept accounting as an AP course, to no avail. I’d also attempted to institute dual enrollment between colleges and high school accounting programs, with inconsistent results. Finally, Glenda asked me why we couldn’t go ahead on our own and train teachers in a college-level accounting course to move the needle that way. During the past six years we’ve trained almost 900 of those teachers. The AICPA, through the Pathways Commission, has now ramped up efforts to get AP accounting approval and it’s looking more promising than ever,” said Deines

The Society’s Educational Foundation provided necessary support to bring in Deines

Summer School is a Hit for Alabama Accounting Teachers

and his team and to house and feed the teachers. ALSDE staff and the state’s college accounting faculty were invited, and about 15 attended some portion of the program. At the end of the first day, members of the Alabama Society’s Board of Directors, in town for their annual leadership retreat, joined the teachers and college educators at a reception at the ASCPA office. The conversation was lively and

feedback plentiful as all stakeholders explored ways in which they can support each other.

AICPA past chair Bill Ezzell, current chair of the Pathways Commission, stated that the road to AP accounting approval by the College Board is not a smooth one. He felt that the training sponsored by the ASCPA will prepare teachers for future AP approval while raising the level of the curriculum already in place.


Zoebelein on Tax

ONE STEP FORWARD WITH NO

An Independent Tax Tribunal Comes to Alabamathe Department of Revenue Legal Division and the ASCPA State Tax Committee, for help in re-viewing the proposed regulations. The ASCPA Tax Committee discussed with Judge Thomp-son their concern that if the tribunal rules were not written with non-attorney taxpayers and their representatives in mind, their lack of knowledge about civil court procedures would limit their access to the tribunal, or at the very least put them at a distinct disadvantage to the legal training of the Department’s attorneys. The ASCPA Tax Committee felt non-attorneys were especially vulnerable because of their lack of knowledge of the rules of evidence in civil court proceedings. The ASCPA Tax Com-mittee consequently asked Judge Thompson to consider leveling the playing field for small business and individual taxpayers appealing to the tribunal.

Judge Thompson took to heart the ASCPA State Tax Committee’s concerns in the recently completed proposed regulations. This is clearly evident in proposed regulation 5, which begins “the tax tribunal is not bound by the rules of evidence applicable in civil cases in circuit court. The tax tribunal may, at the discretion of the tax tribunal judge, admit evidence, including hearsay, that is probative and relevant to a material fact at issue.” This language, in this author’s opinion, neutralizes what could have been a powerful weapon in the hands of the Department’s attorneys to exclude evidence supporting the taxpayer’s case on technical procedural issues instead of considering the probative weight of the evidence being excluded.

The appeals process begins by filing a notice of appeal to the tax tribunal with-in 30 days from the date of the following actions of the Department:

1. Mailing or hand delivery of an assessment

2. Issuance of notice of proposed action or refusal to act

3. Adjustment to a taxpayers’ NOLcarryover

4. Denial of a refund claim

5. 5 years have elapsed from the date a preliminary assessment was entered but never finalized or withdrawn.

March 11, 2014 -

Governor Robert Bentley signed into law HB105 creating the Alabama Tax

Tribunal, making Alabama the thirty-third state (including the District of Columbia) to have a forum for taxpayers to appeal state and certain local tax assessment and other tax matters. Alabama’s move to an independent tax tribunal reduced the number

of states without an independent tax tribunal to only sixteen and several of those states are making similar efforts. This bill leapfrogged Alabama over

a number of other states to an elite group of five states that grant full rights to CPAs to represent their clients before the tax tribunal. We thank our friends and bill co-authors Bruce Ely and Jimmy Long for their assistance in preserving that right through many iterations of the bill.

Establishing an independent tax tribunal in Alabama has long been the dream of many business and professional groups and it took a lot of hard work by a coalition of those groups to finally get this legislation passed. You may be thinking “the present system was working fine; why fix what isn’t broken?” Alabama’s move to an independent tax tribunal was, in my opinion, purely an economic move to keep Alabama competitive in attracting new business to our state. Like it or not, there is a perception that the taxpayer will never get a fair hearing when the hearings officer is an employee of the taxing authority, as has been the case in Alabama. Section One of Alabama Act 2014-146 reiterates this theme by stating its purpose “to increase public confidence in the fairness of the state tax system, the state shall provide an independent agency to be known as the Alabama Tax Tribunal to hear appeals of tax and other matters administrated by the Department of Revenue.”

The tax tribunal will have an expanded scope as it can entertain taxpayer appeals of both Department of Revenue cases as well as county and municipal sales, use, rental, and lodging tax cases. The local taxing authorities can opt-out of the tribunal’s jurisdiction, however. Presently, a majority

of local taxing authorities have expressed their desire to come under the Tribunal’s jurisdiction, including the local jurisdictions that are administrated by Revenue Discovery Systems, “RDS” or “AlaTax.” The new tax tribunal will consider taxpayer appeals of any retroactive revocation of a revenue ruling, challenges to the Department’s adjustments to a taxpayer’s NOLs, and finally, any preliminary assessment entered by the Department or a local jurisdiction that is not made final or withdrawn in five years from the date of entry. The tax tribunal will not consider appeals of property tax assessments (except utilities), appeals involving local jurisdictions after their opt-out date, Department personnel actions, or tax cases pending in other courts (federal or state).

The new tribunal will begin hearing cases October 1, 2014, and all cases pend-ing before the Administrative Law Division will be transferred to and handled by the tribunal. Additional tribunal judges will be appointed by the Governor after meeting strict requirements and vetted by a nominating committee. Gov-ernor Bentley appointed Chief Administrative Law Judge Bill Thompson to be the first Chief Judge of the Alabama Tax Tribunal. This as-sured a smooth transition from the administra-tive law division.

The new tax tribunal is a blending of both the former Administrative Law Division and the Alabama circuit courts but is an independent agency under the executive branch and cannot declare a taxing statute unconstitutional on its face. The new tribunal has been granted judicial powers similar to civil cases in circuit court, while preserving the broad access to the tribunal by non-attorney representatives (tax practitioners, taxpayers, and other authorized representatives), which was the keystone of the former administrative law division.

The Alabama Tax Tribunal, being a new quasi-court, required the issuance of regula-tions to provide the rules and procedures for appeals to the tribunal. The daunting task of writing the tribunal regulations fell to Chief Judge Bill Thompson. Judge Thompson approached interested parties, including Ala-bama State Bar representatives,


STEPS BACK –

The appeal must identify the matter being appealed, the position of the taxpayer, the relief sought, and finally, the legal position in support of the taxpayer’s appeal. Though not required, the taxpayer may file his or her appeal using the below forms:

denied refunds, adjustments to NOLs, and preliminary assessment never finalized or removed.

jurisdictions

motor vehicles license, registration, title disputes as well as any proposed act or refusal to act by the Department. Timely appeals to the tax tribunal will be sent to the Department’s legal division for a response within 45 days, but subject to an extension of time to respond, up to 45 additional days, upon a written request for additional time. A notice to the legal division is deemed received 3 business days after the copy of the appeal was mailed by the tribunal to the division. Local jurisdiction will have similar rules, except that the copy of the appeal will be sent to the local jurisdiction by certified- mail, receipt requested.

Failure to respond to the tax tribunal under these guidelines will usually cause a finding in favor of the taxpayer. After the Department or a local jurisdiction responds, the tax tribunal judge can do any of the following:

1. Issue a preliminary or other order directing action by one or more parties to take action deemed appropriate by the tax tribunal judge, including referring the case to taxpayer advocate.

2. Set a trial date and provide the taxpayer a copy of the Department’s response.

A. Taxpayer may respond to the Department’s answer within 30 days.

A. Can subpoena both witness to testify and evidence produced.

4. Joinder of persons needed for just adjudication powers granted to the tax tribunal judge under Rule 16

A. Judge can on his or her motion or a request of a party to the action join other parties to the appeal if

i. Their absence will prevent equitable relief.

ii. They have an interest in the subject of the appeal and if not joined impedes the protection of the other parties interest or cause a substantial risk of incurring double or multiple or afford and inconsistent obligation by reason of his interest as claimed.

5. Regulation 17 allow for submission of an amicus briefs

October 1, 2014 we take one major step forward for our state as we begin a new era for resolving Alabama taxpayers’ disputes, be it with the Department or a local jurisdiction. We now have an independent tribunal not limited to only attorneys, but open to all taxpayers and their representatives. We have expanded a more important role for the Office of Taxpayer Advocate, who will assist the tribunal in resolving tax disputes. To those local jurisdictions coming within the jurisdiction of the tax tribunal, gone will be the days of their winning by default. We have a lot to be thankful for in this new regime as well as the many people who worked behind the scenes over the years to make this dream a reality. To Bruce Ely and all of you whose dedication and hard work made this dream a reality, I say thank you from the bottom of my heart. To Judge Thompson, how can I say thank you enough for your years of dedication to the taxpayers of Alabama by insuring the fair application of the tax code of Alabama? On a more personal note, I would like to thank Judge Thompson for listening to the concerns of the tax committee (and its chairman) in your writing of the proposed regulations. ______Tom Zoebelein, CPA, Tax Manager with Pearce, Bevill, Leesburg, Moore P.C. – July 21, 2014

Pearce, Bevill, Leesburg, Moore, P.C, 110 Office Park Drive, Suite 100, Birmingham, AL 35223, 205-323-5440 | www.pearcebevill.com

3. The tax tribunal judge may dismiss any appeal if they fail to comply with the regulations governing appeals before the tribunal.

4. The tax tribunal judge may decide the case without a hearing based on the evidence presented.

The tax tribunal judge may allow new evidence at the hearing involving an issue not addressed or raised in the original appeal that shows the taxpayer is entitled to and will be allowed additional relief.

The tax tribunal has additional powers that the Administration Law Division did not possess. They are important to know when forming your case before the tribunal, and can be a double edged sword, so be attentive to that fact. These new powers of the tribunal are similar to a circuit court, and read as follows:

1. Discovery powers to obtain non-privileged information deemed relevant to the appeal are found in Regulation 14.

A. Voluntary informal exchange preferred, including the submission of written question.

i. Opposing parties are requested to respond to all questions that are relevant to the case.

B. Tribunal petitioned and tax tribunal judge approved interrogatories after non voluntary actions fail.

i. Parties have to identify information requested and why it could not be obtained voluntarily.

objection.

ii. Special procedures for discovery dealing with the taxpayer and/or his authorized

to practice law in this state.

for responding, the form and the requirement that it is signed under penalty of perjury.

2. Both parties are required to stipulate all relevant and non-privileged facts of the appeals case.

3. Subpoena Powers of the tax tribunal judge under Regulation 15


STUDENT SUCCESS

SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS TOTAL $80,500 FOR 2014/15Jacob Abernathy University of South Alabama

Ellen Barker, Chairman’s Award Troy University

Brooke Beasley Alabama State University

Marissa Bell, Chairman’s Award Tuskegee University

Bingjiao Chen, Chairman’s AwardUniversity of Alabama in Huntsville

Evan Cox, Kassouf Scholarship Auburn University

Renata DeOliveira Pearce Bevill Minority Scholarship, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Crimson Dooley Jacksonville State University

Rebecca English Troy University - Dothan

Kristin Francisco Samford University

Brandon Hayman, Chairman’s AwardSamford University

Stephanie Howe University of Montevallo

Catherine Humphrey, Kassouf ScholarshipUniversity of Alabama

Alexis Johnson University of Alabama at Birmingham

Melinda Kilgore University of Alabama in Huntsville

Monterrius Lowe, Chairman’s AwardUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham

Meagan McDonaldAuburn Montgomery

Huey Miller IIISpring Hill College

Mitchell Mims, Chairman’s AwardTroy University

Abigail Missildine Auburn University

Bryant Northington University of Alabama

Angelina Offei-Dua, Chairman’s AwardAthens State University

John Posey University of North Alabama

Cody Scott, Chairman’s Award University of Mobile

Lynn Smith University of West Alabama

Ernest Stevens Tuskegee University

Jeffrey Temple Troy University – Phenix city

Chrystal Todd Troy University – Montgomery

Shirin Torebinajad Huntingdon College

Emily Vickrey University of Mobile

Iryna White Athens State University

Melissa Williams Troy University

TAKE OFF THE TRAINING WHEELS!Alabama Society of CPAs’

6th Annual Educator Conference

Update on AP Accounting and other timely issues. For two-year and four-year accounting faculty.


While the ASCPA has had a ro-bust intern program since 2004,

Rebecca Vosghanian is the first intern ever hired. Her timing was right, her credentials impeccable, and there was no honeymoon needed, since she’d already spent three months getting to know the office culture.

Rebecca came to the ASCPA as an intern by an indirect path. She’s a gradu-ate of the University of Alabama and worked for a corporate credit union in Birmingham for two years. She returned to school in 2012 to complete the cours-es needed to sit for the CPA exam.

“I’d been working in accounting and now knew it was a career that fit me and one that I could stick with. Becom-ing a CPA was the only way to go.”

Studying for the exam was challeng-ing and she took time off to concentrate solely on the exam. As she approached the last section, Rebecca decided to get the remaining work experience needed to receive her certificate.

“I worked with Keary Foster at his firm, Wealth Management Partners, in downtown Montgomery. Keary was wonderful and gave me exposure to a wide range of services the firm pro-vides. My most valuable experience was working on audits firsthand.”

Rebecca’s dad is a surgeon and was finishing up a special masters program at Auburn while she interned at the ASCPA.

“His certification program was ex-pressly designed for physicians in prac-tice. Just because you are a very ca-pable professional does not mean you can be successful in business! I had been doing some work for him so got a glimpse of what accounting in health-care looks like. I was able to give him some pointers about studying for his accounting courses. It was fun going to his graduation, not too long after he went to mine.”

Being an intern at the ASCPA gave Rebecca an even wider perspective on the profession. When she learned that Financial Manager Holly Lord would be

REBECCA VOSGHANIAN, CPAJoins the Society Staff

CPA APPRECIATION DAY AUBURN FOOTBALL HOMECOMING

Experience a football Saturday on the plains this fall! Bring your group!

(Office colleagues, ASCPA Chapter members, family and friends)

GROUPS OF 15+ RECEIVE BENEFITS INCLUDING: - Group reserved seating

- Prizes via business card drop - Scoreboard Recognition (Groups of 50+)

- Free reserved tailgate spots (Groups of 20+) - Locker room tour (Friday 4-6pm)

Ask about any additional information on Full/Partial Season Tickets as well!!

For tickets please call or email Travis Holtkamp at 334-844-8662 – [email protected]

Auburn vs. Louisiana Tech September 27, 2014

Time: TBD Jordan Hare Stadium Cost - $30 per ticket

*Exclusive Discount for ASCPA Members*

leaving in August, her interest in work-ing at the Society was piqued.

“I wanted to stay in Montgomery and was looking at local public accounting firms. But this is an amazing chance to enter the profession in a unique way!”

In addition to her financial duties, Rebecca will be a liaison to the Young CPAs and work with the ASCPA’s stu-dent outreach programs. Please make a point of meeting her when you are in the ASCPA office.


is a member of the audit team. Hope’s experi-ence includes audits and reviews for clients in the areas of multistate construction contractors, re-tail, wholesale supply companies and employee benefit plans. In addition, she prepares multi-state corporate, partnership, and individual tax returns and provides QuickBooks and Point of Sale con-sulting and support for clients across a variety of industries.

Lott Brigham, Colleen Macon and Alex Martin were promoted to senior accountant. Brigham joined CSB in 2012 and is a member of the tax team. He special-izes in income tax plan-ning and tax return prepa-ration as well as business and estate valuation. Ma-con joined CSB in June 2012 and is a member of the audit team. She has two years of experience in industry preceding her public accounting career. She has experience in corporate tax preparation and financial statement preparation for construction contractors, manufacturers, and employee benefit plans. Martin joined CSB full-time in January 2012. He is a member of the au-dit team. His experience is in financial statement pre-paration and related tax engagements for manufacturers, construction contractors, multi-state distributors and em-ployee benefit plans.

Beason & Nalley announced that Jason Brett Holt, CVA, has been promoted to owner. Holt specializes in attestation, financial advisory and valu-ation work for small to large companies throughout many industries including govern-ment contractors, manufac-turers, local governments, not-for-profit organizations and employee benefit plans. He earned both undergraduate degrees in accounting and fi-nance and his master of accountancy degree from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He is a member of the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts.

University. He is a past president of the Lake Martin Area United Way and as treasurer of the Alexander City Rotary Club for many years. He is past-president of the Alexander City Board of Education and was recently re-appointed to serve a second term as a member of the board.

Kim Tarnakow was pro-moted to senior manager at Barfield Murphy Shank & Smith. She joined the firm in 2005 and works in all areas of taxation; specializing in mergers and acquisitions, research and development tax credits, state and local taxes. Promoted to supervi-sor were Kate Fluker and John Schenk. Kate Fluker began at BMSS as an intern in 2009 and provides tax compliance, planning and advisory services along with business consulting and ac-counting services. She is ac-tively involved in employee recruitment and training new employees on tax practices, standards and software. John Schenk joined BMSS in 2012 and specializes in providing accounting and auditing solutions to credit unions and financial institu-tions. He currently serves as the secretary for the Bir-mingham Young CPAs.

Crow Shields Bailey PC has promoted several em-ployees. Tim Adams and Ryan Damrich were pro-moted to manager. Adams joined CSB in 2006 and is a member of the audit team. He has experience with ac-counting, auditing and tax engagements for construc-tion contractors, manufac-turers, professional service firms, not-for-profit entities and employee benefit plans. Damrich joined CSB in October of 2012 and is a mem-ber of the tax team. He has experience in international, multi-state corporate, part-nership and individual taxa-tion.

Hope Hickman, CGMA was promoted to supervisor. She joined CSB in 2008 and

MEMBERS IN MOTIONNew Positions and PromotionsMachen, McChesney & Chastain announced the promotion of William B. Hughes and Allison Moore to manager; Laura Taber to senior accountant. Hughes has been with the firm since 2009. He received his MBA from Troy University and his BSBA – Accountan-cy from Auburn University. His areas of specialization include audits of for-profit entities, non-profit orga-nizations, employee benefit plans and corporate and individual income tax. Moore has been with MM&C since 2004. She received her BS in accounting from Auburn University. Her ar-eas of specialization include governmental, nonprofit audit and accounting and business taxes. Tabor is a two year veteran of the firm. She received her masters of accountancy from Auburn University. Her areas of specialization include business taxes, accounting and auditing.

Russell Thompson Butler & Houston, LLC announced the promotions of Amy deGruy to manager and Wallace McKinney to senior ac-countant. DeGruy is a 2006 graduate of the University of Alabama with a masters of accountancy. Her practice areas primarily include taxa-tion for both individuals and businesses, with a focus in the construction/contrac-tor industry. McKinney is a 2009 graduate of Auburn University with a degree in finance. His practice areas primarily include corporate, partnership, indi-vidual, and trust and estate taxation.

David B. Sturdivant is the new chief operating officer at Russell Lands and previously served as CFO Sturdivant has also had direct opera-tional responsibility for the company’s hardware and building materials business, Russell Do-it Centers. In his new role as COO, his position will be expanded to include more operational re-sponsibility with the company’s other business units. Mr. Sturdivant, 48, joined Russell Lands in 1993 as comptroller. He is a graduate of Auburn

Allison Moore

William Hughes

Alex Martin

John Schenk

Wallace McKinney

Kate Fluker

Amy deGruy

Kim Tarnakow

Tim Adams

Colleen MaconLaura Taber

Ryan Damrich

Lott Brigham

Hope Hickman

Brett Holt


Dimensions of Diversity Continued from page 6

MBJ: I would expect a number of your co-workers to be from the West Coast.

Keeton: Some of my colleagues are here from out west. They went to UCLA, and as you might imagine, as we think about things very often, we think about them markedly differently and it’s our ability to mix and mesh those to recombine those tools in ways to help us look at the very same thing, but to see it differently that makes us smarter in the organization and smarter about how we do what we do as a business. The people who fit in roles like mine and who call themselves chief diversity officers – we are very often our own worst enemies when we’re talking about this very critical, critical role that we have in organizations; that we have in business overall; and that’s key to every economic system that exists: How do the elements of that system combine and recombine and react to the environment – and quite frankly, pre-emptively push the environment from time to time to drive the very best outcomes for us in a way that is sustainable; and in a way that really sets the stage for us. We talk about diversity and inclusion and we do a number of things when we talk about it.

MBJ: What are some of those things?

Keeton: We talk about not suspending business logic in order to engage in diversity and inclusion and we don’t believe that you have to. We also believe that the suspension of business logic is a double-edged sword. If you are ignoring diversity and inclusion then that’s the suspension of business logic as well. I can go about my ways and do this in the wrong way and it’s not going to drive the outcomes that I need to drive. Or I could not do it at all and it’s certainly not going to drive the outcomes that I need to drive. It’s incumbent upon business leaders to really step back and understand what we need to do in order to be as smart as we can be in an organization and in order to really drive the outcomes that we need to drive in a way that we question – we create the capacity within our organization to question orthodoxy.

MBJ: Talk about questioning orthodoxy.

Keeton: To really understand how do we maintain the requisite reliability in our systems, but how do we at the same time validate new ways of thinking about the business and driving outcomes. Diversity becomes super-additive when you put it in those kinds of circumstances. I want you to understand that the foundation has to be – how do we drive the very best outcomes? What is it that we want to do in order to be as smart as we can as a business and how do we want to make sure that we are in a position globally to address the issues we need to address? If I were to think about Montgomery and the region, I would think about Montgomery in the same way. What are those elements? I already know that Montgomery is a node. If you think about a node, that’s where an attachment point comes to from a number of different places. Within that node itself there is diversity, but there are attachment points that come from other places away from Montgomery that attach to the military presence there; that attach to the automobile presence there; that attach to a number of different industries that are already there. How do I play on that diversity, because that is a complex system and you want it to become a complex adaptive system?

You want the whole Montgomery area to say, “What we want to do is, we want to create an increase in the interdependent value of our

node, so that people think they have got to attach to us because there’s this thing that we bring that is super-additive to their existence in another place.” When you think about it that way, that’s what inclusion is all about. You have to be very intentionally inclusive and if you’re not intentionally inclusive, you will be unintentionally exclusive and with really terrible consequences that come from that. Because you don’t position yourself appropriately for the new ideas that are coming and the new opportunities that are going to come.

MBJ: Are businesses beginning to realize what diversity and inclusion mean for their customers and offering different services and products to the various segments they deal with?

Keeton: Beginning to understand it. One of the really critical things that you have to think about is why companies engage in diversity and inclusion. Very often when you talk about diversity and inclusion and markets, you simply think about it in the construct of multi-cultural markets. They talk about Asians helping to market to Asians; they talk about African-Americans to African-Americans; they talk about Latino to Latino, etc. When you’re doing diversity and inclusion in the right way – if you are really managing it at a high level – then it makes you better at multi-markets. Multi-markets means that you can look at markets that you’ve been working with forever and you can see something different because you’re mixing and remixing the eyes that are looking at it. If you want to think differently about a market, you have to put some people on with relevance who will question how you’ve been approaching that market or who have a capacity to see a market difference in a way you might consider approaching that market. When you’re thinking about how can I look at this business differently, the further away that you get from an issue with relevance, the more likely you are to get a breakthrough.

MBJ: You seem very passionate about diversity and inclusion.

Keeton: I get very excited about it. We are losing such a great opportunity because we get stuck on what diversity and inclusion ought to be about. Some people say you should do away with it. Are you going to do away with leadership? How are you going to lead different people unless you understand how to motivate them? You motivate them in ways that are within the construct of an overall structure and plan.

AICPA Launches New Diversity and Inclusion E-Newsletter

Workplace demographics are changing, with more than one-third of the U.S. population belonging to a minority group. However, only 10% of accounting professionals identify as minorities. Inclusion Solutions, a new, free AICPA e-newsletter, explores diversity and inclusion initiatives and best practices. Type in Inclusion Solutions in the search bar of the AICPA site to read current issues and subscribe.


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September 10 1411 Planning

September 17 469 Grouping Rules

September 24Defending Valuation Disputes with the IRS

Visit www.ascpa.org to register and see more details.

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PAIDPermit No. 131Montgomery, AL

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1041 Longfield CourtP.O. Box 242987

Montgomery, AL 36124

AUGUST 2014

C L A S S I F I E D

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IN MEMORIAMRALPH CASH

Birmingham, AlabamaJanuary 26, 1943 - June 23, 2014

Certificate #804

Join in celebrating American working men and women.The Alabama Society of CPAs will be closed on Monday, September 1

Contribute to the ASCPA archive as we celebrate 100 years. Send photos, early CPA certificates and other memorabilia.

Contact Jeannine Birmingham, [email protected]

ascpa emagazine august 2014

Documents

alabama society of cpas

aicpathe alabama cpa

society members

ap accounting program

fellow board members

ap pilot training program

board retreat

chairelectrenee hubbard