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Stosch to retire from Senate

The Virginia General Assembly must brace itself to lose its only CPA.

Sen. Walter A. Stosch, CPA, a VSCPA life member and current president pro tempore of the Virginia Senate, announced in January that he will retire from the Senate at the end of his current term.

Stosch, 78, served in the Virginia General Assembly for 32 years, the last 23 in the Senate. A Republican from Henrico, he was managing partner at Stosch, Dacey & George in Glen Allen before stepping back in 1983 to focus on his work in the House of Delegates.

He was elected to the Senate from the 12th District in 1991 and served as Senate Majority Leader from 1998–2008. He has been chair or cochair of the Senate Finance Committee since 2012.

Stosch received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Richmond and served in the U.S. Army from 1953–1956. He earned Legislator of the Year honors from the Virginia Chamber of Commerce in 2012 and the Virginia State Police in 2013.

“As expressed in Ecclesiastes, there is a season and a time for everything and I have decided it is time for me to dust off a ‘to do’ list I put aside 32 years ago,” Stosch said in his announcement. “…I know it is now my time to exit. I am able to pick the time to leave and go out on top, a crowning and personally satisfying close to my official role in the Senate. I look forward to time for personal enjoyment and new opportunities for community service in the future.”

Look for a Disclosures feature on Stosch in an upcoming issue. n

RENEW TODAY

Thank you for being a VSCPA member! Renewal is now available. 2015 brings new member programs, enhanced and diverse CPE opportunities and much more. Renew today at www.vscpa.com/Renew. n

>> EXCELLENT EXCEL: COMPARE IN EXCEL

Has your client ever provided you with a new version of an Excel workbook that you just spent hours testing? While they may have told you they only changed three cells in the monster workbook, your professional skepticism will not let you drop the new file into your work papers and move on to your next engagement. If only Excel had a Compare function like Word has under the Review tab in its menu ribbon on top. Excel 2013 does! However, you will have to go looking for it and add it as a new tab ribbon to your version of Excel. The Compare function is only available in Excel 2013 Office Professional Plus and Office 365 Professional Plus editions as part of the Inquire add-in, which can be added by:

1. Clicking File > Options > Add-Ins. 2. Selecting COM Add-ins in the Manage box, and clicking Go.

3. Making sure the COM Add-Ins dialog box, the box next to Inquire Add-in, is selected.

Now with the Compare function under your Inquire tab in your Excel’s ribbon on top you will be able to quickly verify that nothing else changed in the new workbook from the client and still be able to move on to your next engagement. n

GEORGE D. STRUDGEON, CPA, CGFM, is an audit director at the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts in Richmond. He is a member of the Disclosures Editorial Task Force. Email him if you have Excel topics you want him to cover. george.strudgeon@gmail.com connect.vscpa.com/GeorgeStrudgeon

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TAXPAYER ADVOCATE REPORT >>

Terrible service on the horizon?

Uh-oh. It doesn’t look good for taxpayers who are hoping to receive better service from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) this year. The National Taxpayer Advocate 2014 Annual Report to Congress, released in January from Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson, projects taxpayers will receive the worst levels of service from the IRS since 2001 (see “Data Draft” on page 8 for numbers on IRS service).

There are several reasons for the IRS’s suite of problems, Olson writes. The budget environment over the last five years has “brought about a devastating erosion of taxpayer service, harming taxpayers individually and collectively.” A lack of effective administration and congressional oversight (plus a failure to pass taxpayer rights legislation, which Olson has repeatedly championed since 2007) also contribute to the harm. Olson fears these issues are “not positive for future tax compliance” and will further erode the public’s trust in the tax system.

Sounds dire. But it doesn’t have to be a downward spiral. If Congress steps up and takes several actions, public trust may be restored. Congress must make “an investment in the IRS” and “hold it accountable for how it applies that investment.” Here are a few ways it can do that:

>> Finally enact a Taxpayer Bill of Rights, a list of 10 rights modeled on the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights (of which a

Right to Quality Service is one). The House passed legislation to implement the Bill of Rights in 2013, but it stalled in the

Senate. Last year, the IRS made an administrative move to adopt the Bill of Rights, which Olsen praised, but she still pushes Congress to make the move to ensure taxpayers’ rights become a “permanent part of our tax system.” >> Increase funding and oversight, which are critical to actually honoring the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. The IRS cannot commit to quality service without enough resources. Olson also recommends reviving joint Congressional hearings to review the IRS’s progress in meeting its objectives and identify problem areas.

>> Enact comprehensive tax reform to simplify the system and ease burdens on both taxpayers and the IRS.

The IRS’s image has an uphill battle, Olson writes, because of a “perfect storm” created by increasing workload, the erosion of public trust because of the use of “tea party” and other terms when screening applicants and reductions in funding.

But Olson has a deep respect for the IRS and its role in society, stating “We need to recognize that the IRS and its employees play a vital role in the economic welfare of this country. And we need to find a way to support the agency even as we hold it accountable for what is often a thankless task.”

If this piques your interest and you’d like to read the full 2014 Annual Report and its 23 identified problems, dozens of recommendations for administrative change, 19 recommendations for legislative change and analysis of the 10 tax issues most frequently litigated in the federal courts, visit http://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/ 2014-Annual-Report/. n

>> EXAM’S ON!

If you’re interested in obtaining the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation, it’s time to hit the books. Beginning Jan. 1 of this year, all candidates are now required to pass a strategic case study exam in management accounting in order to obtain the designation. The exam consists of comprehensive case study in which test takers apply their knowledge to realworld scenarios. Check out a two-minute video about the exam at http://tinyurl.com/otdzckz or scan the QR code with your smartphone. n