vscpa news
The LEAD Round, cont’d to our clients. With this demand comes great responsibility: to our clients, to our staff and to our families. The ability to have “off” days is just not provided. It sounds tough, but with a simple approach to each day, the right attitude and common-sense communications, being “on” is easily achieved. When I say a simple approach to each day, what I mean is not coming in to work and having a “list” of items to cross off. We all know that when we make that list, more times than not, we do not achieve all items, so we come down on ourselves. As a leader, our main job should be to assist others in crossing items off their list. We all know that the email, phone call or demand for staff assistance arises out of nowhere, so we need to be prepared to tackle. It is this simple approach that proves successful at the end of the day. The right attitude sounds clichéd, but it is, and will always be, the key ingredient of a great leader. The culture of an organization is most certainly formed from the attitude of those at the top. Positive direction and positive reinforcement will most certainly show your clients and staff that you care and are willing to be by their side as they move along the path. Common-sense communications should come naturally. A great leader should make sure they are responsive to their clients and can explain things to them in a manner that they understand. A great leader should always be available to their staff and working with them to teach, guide and mentor them through the maze of being a public accountant. The common sense part of communication is the ability to listen, absorb the issue at hand and respond in a manner that is appropriate and fair to all concerned. n
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Walker wins Arthur J. Dixon Award from AICPA
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he Tax Division of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) honored VSCPA member Deborah Walker, CPA, with the Arthur J. Dixon Memorial Award, the highest honor the accounting profession bestows in the area of taxation.
Walker, the national director of compensation and benefits at Cherry Bekaert in Vienna, received the award Nov. 8 at the AICPA’s Fall Tax Division meeting in Washington. She has 35 years of experience in a broad range of employment-related issues, including executive compensation, qualified retirement plans, employment taxes and domestic and international compensation agreements. In addition to her work at Cherry Bekaert, she edits for Bloomberg BNA as part of its Tax and Accounting Center and is the former editor-in-chief of the Journal of Taxation of Employee Benefits. She previously served as Deputy to the Benefits Tax Counsel in the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy. She has volunteered for the AICPA for 30 years, including a stint as chair of the association’s Tax Executive Committee. She currently serves on the planning committee for the AICPA’s annual Employee Benefit Plan Conference, where she previously served as chair and co-chair. The AICPA established the award in 1981 to honor the late Arthur Dixon, former chair of its Tax Executive Committee, to honor outstanding CPAs in the field of taxation. Walker is the second VSCPA member to win the award in recent years, joining former VSCPA Board of Directors chair Lisa Germano, CPA, who was honored in 2015.
THE VSCPA MOURNS THE LOSS OF... Patricia Leviege of Bristow. Chuck Tingler, CPA, a VSCPA Life member from Louisa. A graduate of the University of Richmond, he served in the Virginia Army National Guard and was active with the William A. Cooke Foundation, where he served as chairman of the board, and County Line Baptist Church. He served on the VSCPA’s International, Professional Ethics and CPE Steering committees.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2018
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