2016 industry conference emagazine by Montana Society of CPAs

March 23 & 24, 2016 Best Western Great Northern Hotel, Helena

The CPAs working in the industry, government and not-for-profit arena told us, â&#x20AC;&#x153;We want CPE designed to meet OUR needs.â&#x20AC;? You spoke. We listened. This two-day conference will be filled with a variety of two-hour classes that focus on topics the MSCPA Industry Group hand-picked. We encourage you to share this information with anyone you feel might benefit from this conference.

Worth up to 16 hours of CPE. (2 Ethics) Register online at www.mscpa.org or call 406-442-7301.

1534 Ninth Ave Helena MT 59601 406-442-7301 jean@mscpa.org

For hotel reservations please contact the Great Northern Hotel at 406-457-5500, let them know you are attending the MSCPA Industry Conference. A room block has been set aside for attendees. This block will expire on February 29.

March 23 - Wednesday

Day 1

M S C PA I n d u s t r y C o n f e r e n c e

7:00 - 8:00

Registration/Breakfast

8:00 – 9:40

Keynote Address: Fraud – Andrew Fastow The Enron scandal in 2001 led to the bankruptcy of the company and the dissolution of Arthur Anderson, one of the largest audit and accounting firms in the world. The Chief Financial Officer Andrew Fastow and other executives mislead Enron’s board of directors and audit committee on high risk accounting practices. He will discuss those accounting practices..

9:40 – 10:10

Break - Exhibitor Visits

10:10 – 11:50

Concurrent Sessions: Session 1: – Beyond Traditional Budgeting: Use Performance Metrics to Improve Financial Planning & Control – John Daly, Executive Education Many financial managers wage a constant struggle to keep their projections current and keep their operating managers engaged and focused on their budgets. This session will show you how to use performance metrics to reduce forecasting work and improve financial control and manager engagement in your department’s numbers. Session 2 – A New Day, A New Technology Way – Tommy Stephens, K2 Enterprises As technology continues to evolve, so too must our business practices. Failing to capitalize on new ways and techniques for completing tasks mean that we may be leaving tremendous amounts of productivity on the table. Further, not matching our business processes to today’s technologies can jeopardize the security of sensitive information. In both of these cases, the end result is that our organizations are not as competitive as they can and should be. Don’t get left behind! Join us for this session to examine how you can take full advantage of today’s technologies to advance your business practices, processes and workflows so that you and your team are working at peak efficiency.

11:50– 1:00

Lunch - Vendor Presentations

1:00 – 2:40

Concurrent Sessions: Session 1: – Communicating Financial Information to Non-Accountants – John Daly, Executive Education Do you ever get blank looks when you present your company’s financial statements? Does your board nod knowingly after your presentation, but never

M S C PA I n d u s t r y C o n f e r e n c e

March 23 - Wednesday

seems to have any meaningful questions? It could be that they have no idea what you are talking about and are just pretending to understand! Learn how to connect with your CEO, board, fellow managers and team members so they understand your message. Learn to motivate them to action. Come hear a veteran CFO tell you how.

Session 2 – Cyber Security – Tommy Stephens, K2 Enterprises With so many data breaches and targeted attacks, you should be concerned about the security of your data and the rapidly-growing volume of data you store likely only increases your concerns. In this session, you will learn about some of the recent high profile attacks and how these crimes occurred. More importantly, you will learn about critical security concepts and techniques that will help you minimize the risks of similar attacks affecting you and your organization. In addition, you will learn about the relative strengths and weaknesses of data security in the Cloud, compared to on-premise solutions and storage. If you are concerned about data security – and who isn’t – the information you will learn in this session will help you to address your data security concerns.

2:40 – 2:50

Break

2:50 – 4:30

Concurrent Sessions Session 1: – Leaders Eat Last – John Daly, Executive Education Trust is essential, because without trust, there can be no teamwork. Trust is like oxygen, when it is gone - we suffocate. This session provides a 15-step action plan to gain commitment from your team members, build trust, hold each person accountable and create results for your organization. Session 2: Be Proactive, Not Reactive: Internal Controls – Jan Schweitzer, Anderson ZurMuehlen & Co PC Maintaining an environment of effective internal controls can be challenging, especially when resources are limited. This session will cover several key controls that can be implemented to help reduce the risk of fraud or error, regardless of your company’s size.

4:30 - 7:00

CPA Lounge - please join us for hosted drinks and snacks as well as valuable networking opportunities.

M S C PA I n d u s t r y C o n f e r e n c e

March 23 - Thursday

Day 2

7:00 - 8:00

Registration/Breakfast

8:00 – 9:40

General Session: Looking Under the Hood on Economic Growth – Pat Barkey, University of Montana Are times good for the economy? That’s the proverbial half-full glass. The labor market is great, housing construction is finally hitting its stride. And consumers are spending money. But if you look under the hood you will see that the slowbut-steady growth that has produced these nice outcomes might be challenged to continue in the year ahead. What propelled growth in the past – business spending and the commodity boom – is largely a spent force today, so what will keep growth going in the future? This session will address the changes in the global and national economic environment and describe the challenges and opportunities for the Montana economy.

9:40 – 9:50

Break

9:50 – 11:30

Concurrent Sessions Session 1: The Art & Science of Compensation System Design Deborah S. Marchall, Wipfli LLP Compensation has always been a hot topic. With increasingly competitive pressures on businesses to find and retain talented employees, you need a plan to help guide your organization through this complex and emotional issue. A well-designed plan will help you maintain control over this typically large cost and respond appropriately to changes in the labor marketplace. Good design and a thoughtful compensation philosophy are important, but communication is critical. In our experience with assisting clients in designing compensation programs, we have found that many executives, most managers and nearly all employees have limited understanding about how a well-designed base compensation system works. Even more problematic is that many managers do not know how to effectively communicate about pay to skeptical employees which makes an already challenging situation worse, which often negatively impacts employee morale. In this session we will review the foundational steps on how to ‘do’ comp well and provide some helpful concepts and scripts on addressing some of the more common questions, misunderstandings and objections your employees may have.

March 24 - Thursday

M S C PA I n d u s t r y C o n f e r e n c e Session 2: GASB & FASB Update - Jim Woy, Anderson ZurMuehlen & Co PC Start your 2016 year off with a practical update on recently issued and soon-tobe effective accounting standards impacting governments as well as for profit and nonprofit entities. This update, will spotlight GASB Statement No. 72 on fair value measurements and its application. Be one of the first practitioners to gain an understanding of the new revenue recognition accounting standard and the new lease accounting standard that now have established effective dates for implementation. The goal of this session will be to provide the participant with Jim’s 2016 “Need to Knows” to help you with your 2016 financial accounting and reporting.

11:30 – 12:30

Lunch/AICPA/CIMA Joint Venture - Jane Egan, MSCPA The American Institute of CPAs is proposing to join forces with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) to create a new accounting association while contiuing to operate the membership bodies our communities have long trusted. Together the AICPA and CIMA would significantly enhance advocacy, member employability and our abilities to advance the accounting profession around the world.

12:30 - 2:10

Concurrent Sessions Session 1: Using Financials to Evaluate Business Performance – Brandon Orr, Small Business Development Center, Helena College University of Montana Using the Balance Sheet and Income Statement to evaluate financial performance of the business, identifying strengths and weaknesses and creating a plan to improve cash flow, margins and profits.

Session 2: Affordable Care Act Compliance – Pamela R. Branshaw, CPA, CEBS, Wipfli LLP Attend this session to gain an understanding of one of the biggest issues for employers in today’s business climate. Are you meeting your compliance obligations for your company’s health insurance? A fall 2015 survey of employers with fewer than 1,000 employees revealed that 60 percent had not committed to a solution for meeting their Form 1095-C reporting obligation of employerprovided health insurance offers and coverage to their employees. The varied reporting obligations for employer health insurance and the complicated coverage requirements for Applicable Large Employers can make the job of manag-

M S C PA I n d u s t r y C o n f e r e n c e

March 24 - Thursday

ing your organization’s health benefits very challenging. To complicate things more, IRS Notice 2016-4 issued in January 2016 grants an automatic extension of the due dates for the 2015 filing of 1094 and 1095 forms. The session will cover the ACA requirements for employer health plans, including the following: • What are the filing requirements for my health plan? • What are the new automatic extension deadlines and their impact? • What forms and notices need to be provided to employees? • Is my company an Applicable Large Employer? • Have I met the 2015 Form 1095-C filing obligations? Will I trigger any penalties under the Employer Shared Responsibility rules? • How can I better plan to meet the health plan coverage requirements?

2:10 - 2:20

Break

2:20 - 4:00

Session 1: The Powerful Mind: Syncronizing Thoughts, Focus & Attention – Wendy Samson, FutureSync This presentation will lead you through the following Mental Management concepts and strategies: shaping Your daily habits through neural linguistic programming; decoding your task complexities; vetting daily activities through Mosaic’s focus filter; taming the “allure of distraction”; balancing “Life’s 12 Glass Balls”; acquiring “attention training” skills; engineering productive patterns of thought; understanding the belief to behavior pathway; deploying decision elegance and planning through reverse time analysis tactics. Session 2: Cash Flow Forecasting – Brandon Orr, Small Business Development Center, Helena College University of Montana Cash is King! Ever wonder why you end the year with a profit but don’t have any money in the bank? Or why your sales are growing but your cash is dwindling? Or, would you like to learn how to plan for cash shortages and determine how much you will need to get through the “dry spell?” This workshop focuses on cash and its flow through a business. After this workshop you’ll understand why profits don’t always equal cash, how to plan for seasonal fluctuations and how to use cash budgeting as a management tool.

Bio’s

M S C PA I n d u s t r y C o n f e r e n c e Pat Barkey, University of Montana, has served as Director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research since 2008. He has been involved with economic forecasting and policy research for more than 30 years, in both the private and public sectors. His recent research has been on the economic impact of energy development, the property tax treatment of the telecommunications industry and the economic impact of trade with Canada. He holds a B.A. and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan.

Pamela R. Branshaw, CPA, CEBS, Wipfli LLP, is the leader of Wipfli’s Employee Services practice. In this role, she is responsible for the development and operations of Wipfli’s Employee Benefits group and coordinates with Wipfli’s Payroll and HR Consulting groups in serving our clients’ needs around the employment relationship. Leveraging her 25+ years of specialized experience in employee benefits, Pam provides consulting, record keeping and compliance services to clients in the areas of retirement plans, cafeteria plans, health care reform and non-qualified plans.

John Daly MBA, CPA, CMA, CPIM, Executive Education, is a Chelsea, Michigan-based management consultant specializing in costing, pricing strategy and pricing model development. He has taught continuing professional education courses since 1995 and began doing ethics seminars two weeks before the Enron scandal. John has been CFO for a Tier 1 automotive parts supplier and a large restaurant chain and COO for a window treatments manufacturer and retailer. He authored the well-received book, “Pricing for Profitability”. Jane Egan, Executive Director, MSCPA, after 26 years with the Montana Society of CPAs, Jane Egan has become an expert on legislation affecting Montana CPAs and their businesses. Jane’s historical background helps her identify legislative trends and makes her a valuable voice at the Capitol for CPAs across the state.

Bio’s

M S C PA I n d u s t r y C o n f e r e n c e Andrew S. Fastow was the Chief Financial Officer of Enron Corp. from 1998 - 2001. In 2004, he pled guilty to two counts of securities fraud and was sentenced to six years in federal prison. He completed his sentence in 2011 and now lives with his family in Houston, Texas. Mr. Fastow currently provides litigation support at a law firm and he consults with directors and management of public companies on how best to identify potentially critical finance, accounting, compensation and cultural issues.

Deborah S. Marshall, Wipfli LLP, is a Senior Manager in Wipfli LLP’s Human Resources Consulting practice. With 25+ years of HR management experience in both industry and consulting roles, she assists a wide variety of clients and industries with their ever-changing “people” concerns. She has a very practical approach to addressing HR issues and has problem-solved extensively with clients.

Brandon Orr, Regional Director, Small Business Development Center, Helena College University of Montana, is an entrepreneur at heart and has worked in small businesses in many capacities including bookkeeper, sales manager and managing director. He is a certified Profit Mastery Facilitator as well as the state’s SBDC Export and Trade Counselor and is currently working on an MBA through The University of Montana. Brandon’s areas of expertise are in financial analysis, business planning and strategy, marketing strategy,and loan packaging. Wendy Samson is the President of FutureSYNC International, a forwardthinking employer resource and leadership consortia. She is the author of Heart Strings for Business and The Mosaic Manager Development. During her tenure as the President of FutureSYNC International, she has designed and developed leadership effectiveness programs, healthcare service systems/measurements and employee engagement programs for a wide variety of multisite organizations throughout the country. Wendy has been privileged to work with people committed to excellence in small and large progressive organizations. From “Lean

Bio’s Thinking,” “Accountability Cultures” to “Organizational Customer Focus,” FutureSYNC International is on the cutting-edge. Wendy’s tools and case study testimonies are the product of innovative practices and her “outcome-based” approach to organizational diagnosis, solution implementation and facilitation. Wendy is highly recognized as an inspiring, national speaker who delivers a lasting message packed with content. Jan Schweitzer, CPA, Shareholder, Anderson ZurMuehlen & Co PC, her practice emphasizes accounting, financial reporting and consulting services, focusing on fraud and internal controls. Her experience in both public and private accounting helps Jan implement effective, efficient solutions to her clients’ greatest challenges. Jan is a CPA and a Certified Fraud Examiner and has presented in several local and statewide conferences on the subjects of internal controls, fraud prevention and QuickBooks.

M S C PA I n d u s t r y C o n f e r e n c e Tommy G. Stephens, Jr, CPA, CITP, K2 Enterprises received a B.S. in Business Administration (Major in Accounting) from Auburn University and received his Masters of Science from the George State University. He has 24 years of public practice experience, five years of corporate internal auditing experience and four years corporate and cost accounting experience. Tommy has 18 years of experience as a continuing professional education discussion leader and has presented over 1,500 sessions to more than 45,000 participants. He is a member of the AICPA and Georgia Society of CPAs.

Jim Woy, CPA, Anderson ZurMuehlen & Co PC, is a Partner in the Butte office of Anderson ZurMuehlen & Co., P.C. (AZ) with 33 years of public accounting experience. He served as President of the Montana Society of CPAs in 2003-2004. Jim performs peer reviews throughout the country and is an author and instructor for the AICPA peer review program. Jim also serves as an adjunct instructor of Auditing at Montana Tech of the University of Montana and at the University of Montana – Missoula in their Masters of Business Program. In 2013 he was named Outstanding Discussion Leader by the AICPA and selected for honorary membership in Sigma Beta Delta by Montana Tech.

M S C PA I n d u s t r y C o n f e r e n c e

Co nfe re nc e P ri cing: MSCPA Members $320 Non-Members

$420

Not a member? MSCPA has a deal for you -- sign up for this conference at member pricing and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll give you one full year of membership for free. Take advantage of this offer by contacting Jean at 406-442-7301 or jean@mscpa.org.

Montana Society of CPAs 1534 Ninth Ave Helena, MT 59624 406.442.7301 800.272.0307

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