Advocacy

No special session

Contrary to previous reporting, it now appears that there will be no special Virginia General Assembly session this fall related to tax reform, for several reasons.

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has not yet released all its guidance on federal tax reform, which means Virginia would be reading from incomplete sheet music in trying to complete its own reform. We simply don’t have all the information we need yet.

In discussions with the VSCPA, Gov. Ralph Northam and Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne, CPA, emphasized the need to differentiate between tax conformity and tax reform. (This was an issue familiar to the VSCPA after its educational efforts with the large crop of freshman legislators during the 2018 session.) The administration believes — and the VSCPA agrees — that it doesn’t make sense to tackle state tax reform before conforming to the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (IRC), and as such, current plans are to tackle federal reform with a traditional conformity bill in the 2019 session.

The Northam administration has a commitment to addressing conformity in that traditional fashion — emergency legislation introduced at the start of the session. We hope there will be information available well before that session on what to expect.

The VSCPA and the administration are in agreement on attempting to achieve as much conformity as possible. We are committed to trying to address equity issues created by the differences between the Virginia tax code and the IRC. We will pass along further information as we have it.

VOTERVOICE: CONNECTING MEMBERS WITH ADVOCACY

As you can see on page 16 of this issue, we’re launching our new website to help us better serve our members’ needs. Advocacy, as one of the four core strategies identified in our VSCPA2025 strategic framework, is getting an upgrade along with the rest of our programs in the form of the VoterVoice system.

VoterVoice is a grassroots advocacy system integrated into the new site that will allow the VSCPA to engage and communicate with members in a more direct, regular way. That means communications and opportunities on advocacy campaigns, issues and calls to action.

We’ll use VoterVoice to engage with you on opportunities like contacting your legislators or sharing thoughts and opinions on issues that affect the CPA profession. You’ll use it as a simple way to engage with our advocacy efforts and reach out to elected officials. We’ll have messaging ready for you that you can customize, but you don’t have to. If you want, you can just sign in, click and send. It’s that easy.

VoterVoice is an easy way for you to take action on legislative and regulatory issues and an easy way for us to know what you’re doing to help our efforts. Keep an eye out for further communications on how you can use VoterVoice to get involved!

VBOA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR JEWELL DEPARTS FOR NASBA

August marked the end of an era at the Virginia Board of Accountancy (VBOA), which must now replace Executive Director Wade Jewell.

Jewell left the agency effective Aug. 1 to join the executive team at the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as president of Aqueo International and director of NASBA international evaluation services. He had spent 30 years as a state employee in finance and operational management, the previous nine of which came as the head of the VBOA.

The VBOA now begins the search for Jewell’s replacement. Director of Operations Mary Charity is running the organization in the interim.

CAMICO – Sponsored Provider of VSCPA

“CAMICO’s expertise, stability, and commitment to CPAs provide strong reasons for the VSCPA to choose CAMICO as its sponsorship program, year after year. The company assists policyholders with a wide variety of practice and risk management issues specific to CPAs, and the society’s partnership with CAMICO supports our efforts to provide strong benefits to our members.”

Stephanie Peters, CAE VSCPA, President & CEO

Why CAMICO?

• For more than 31 years, CAMICO has been protecting

CPAs with insurance solutions tailored to the professional services and concerns faced by CPA firms every day.

• CAMICO’s depth of services for CPA firms is unmatched by other insurance programs. • CAMICO policyholders have unlimited access to proactive loss prevention and claims handling.

• Policyholders can call CAMICO as often as needed – free of charge – and consult with in-house experts on loss prevention, tax, and accounting and auditing issues.

These are just some of the reasons why VSCPA selected CAMICO as the Society’s sponsored provider of Professional Liability Insurance.

Rachel Painter, AINS Senior Account Executive T: 800.652.1772 ext. 6773 E: rpainter@camico.com W: www.camico.com