THE BUZZ
MESSAGE FROM OUR MANAGING PARTNER
Team – Another tax season is in the books! We can undoubtedly look back on Busy Season 2019 with satisfaction and pride for all our efforts in exceeding our clients’ expectations. With every tax season comes its own unique set of challenges, and this year was no exception. However, having the right team in place during these obstacles made all the difference, and you – our team – are the main component to our success. Whether this was your first tax season with us or your twentieth, we are truly grateful for your hard work and dedication. Many hours and efforts were spent going over and above the standard call of duty, which meant less time and energy for our families and friends. On behalf of all Sax Partners, I wish to extend our gratitude for our support systems and their sacrifices this busy season, as we focused on serving our clients to the best of our abilities. As our clients' #1 advisor, we are aware that planning and business advice are continuous processes that occur before, during and after the busy season. It is important that we keep engaging our clients with meetings and discussions throughout the year, so we are on top of their needs and they understand that they are top of mind. Also – please do not forget our Aspirational Statement, as this is something we should be living out every day whether we are extremely busy or managing our normal workload. The growth and sustainability of our firm is in our hands and should be an on-going commitment for every member of our team. Your hard work and allegiance to Sax and the standards we uphold never goes unnoticed and we thank you again for your unwavering support.
Joseph A. Damiano
LEADERSHIP ASPIRATIONAL STATEMENT
We will cultivate a collaborative culture by fostering knowledge transfer, defining roles and building a skillset to drive client engagement, enhance the client experience and become our clients' #1 advisor.
JASON BOROFSKY, CPA, MBA
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT RECENT WINS
TOTAL WINS YTD
TOTAL RECURRING WINS YTD
$1,664,175
$1,250,475
NEW CLIENT WINS
ENGAGEMENT TEAM
Pro Safety Services
Chemisys Laboratories
Ermal Luzaj
Debbie Nappi & Megan Sartor
Alana Nicole LLC
Chris Gaffney
Adaptovate
Chris Gaffney
Cobble Court Condo
Jeff Roude
Reminder! Staff members from Associate to Director level receive 10% of collected billings for two years on any new client engagement brought in.
HUMAN RESOURCES
Please join us in giving a warm welcome to the newest members of our Sax family.
Darrell Barredo
Admin Intern | NYC | Effective 4.26.19
Joshua Darsan
IT Intern | Clifton | Effective 5.01.19
Trent Murphy Lisa Meyer
Admin Intern | NYC | Effective 5.13.19 Administrative Assistant | Clifton | Effective 5.20.19
The following employees are no longer with the firm. We wish them the best in their future endeavors. Jillian Heston Alexa Martinez
Senior Associate Account Service Associate
Great Cards John Beckerle worked tirelessly this busy season. One example of many is his work on the Riskin Family investments and tax returns. He met with the client early in the tax season and put together a summary of family investments so the children could get an understanding of their mother’s estate. He then helped coordinate the gathering of information for the 2018 tax filings with the outside advisors and completed several partnerships and trusts for the family. He did a great job documenting the 2018 transfers and activity among the many entities, to ensure they were correct. There were several transfers that were incorrect and John helped to identify them and provided the information to get the transfers corrected in 2019. Without his diligence in tracing the many transactions, the incorrect transfers made by other advisors may have gone uncovered. Thank you John for all your hard work and diligence.
RACHELLE BROWN
Rachelle Brown deserves a Great Card! It was a challenging year for scheduling with work coming in late due to clients not being ready, late staff requests and the volume of standalone returns. Rachelle did a great job managing the team members and rebalancing their workloads. She put in extra time working late nights from home to keep the work moving.
Great Cards Jack Tawil volunteered to prepare tax returns when we were extremely backed up with the stand alone 1040’s and did not have enough resources to assign some of the moderate and complex work. He put in the additional time and effort which helped us to get caught up with the backlog. Thank you Jack!
AWAITING PHOTO
Schoenstani Gil and Nicole Gravier deserve Great Cards! April is one of the biggest billing months and it can be very overwhelming trying to get all the billing finalized in a timely manner. Their assistance with billing helped out so others could take care of matters that needed attention in the midst of all the craziness.
HAVE YOU SEEN OUR MANUFACTURING & DISTRIBUTION BILLBOARDS?
WHERE DOES IT BELONG?
HAVE YOU SEEN OUR MANUFACTURING & DISTRIBUTION BILLBOARDS?
WHERE DOES IT BELONG?
HAVE YOU SEEN OUR MANUFACTURING & DISTRIBUTION POSTERS?
WHERE DOES IT BELONG?
ANNOUNCEMENTS | REMINDERS
Elena Klarberg and Megan Sartor had the honor of speaking at NJCPA’s Scholarship Award Ceremony as past scholarship recipients and because of their active participation in the NJCPA Scholarship Program. Elena and Megan shared with this year’s scholarship recipients their own career paths, why they chose accounting and how receiving the scholarship impacted them.
Sax’s Not-for-Profit Practice held their annual NYC Fist to Five event and discussed “A New Effectiveness Movement on Obtaining and Responding to Beneficiary Feedback” to improve nonprofit service delivery and program reporting.
ANNOUNCEMENTS | REMINDERS
Elena Klarberg and Jack Tawil represented Sax at the New Jersey State Bar Association Annual Meeting and Conference.
Congratulations to Schoenstani Gil on her graduation from William Paterson University on May 15! Schoe graduated with Magna Cum Laude Honors and two majors: Accounting and Financial Planning. Schoe has officially been hired as Tax Associate for Sax starting June 3. She has been with the firm as an intern, and we are very lucky to have her now as a full-time employee!
ANNOUNCEMENTS | REMINDERS
Members of Sax's Construction Practice participated in a Charity Cornhole event sponsored by our client, Hollister Construction.
Debbie Nappi was asked to present at Rutgers Medical School within the series "The Business of Medicine Part 11".
ANNOUNCEMENTS | REMINDERS
Read an article recently released by Sax Technology Advisors on Security Awareness Training to learn how we can help other businesses strengthen their first line of defense - their employees. Read it here.
REMINDER
Please be sure to view procedures on SharePoint >> Business Services Site >> Business Services Memo Library for relevant information.
ANNOUNCEMENTS | REMINDERS
SUMMER FRIDAYS Beginning Friday, May 24 (Memorial Day Weekend) to Friday, August 30 (Labor Day Weekend), team members are able to participate in a 1:00 p.m. dismissal. All work must be completed and hours must be made up Monday-Thursday. Staff is still required to complete a minimum 37.5 hours a week to be eligible.
Sax’s New CRM System is now live. It can be accessed through SharePoint and used to input leads, client wins and losses moving forward. For any questions, issues or suggested improvements, please contact John Murphy at jmurphy@saxllp.com.
DIRECT LINK TO CRM PIPELINE:
intranet.saxllp.com/sax-pipeline/
FIRM NEWS
Stuart Berger has been with the firm for nearly 40 years. Some of his career milestones include becoming a Partner at the firm, founding the firm’s Real Estate Practice, and being named Managing Partner from 2008-2011. Stuart has prided himself on being his clients’ most trusted advisor and continues to instill the same values in the generations that follow him.
STUART BERGER Omar Nasif joined the team at Sax in October of 2018. His biggest achievement has been graduating college with both a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree. Since starting his career as an Accountant, Omar has developed a passion for the field and is creating a Tax Newsletter blog for people to utilize for a clearer understanding of the industry and its policies. Be on the look-out for Omar’s blog, coming soon!
OMAR NASIF
Read on to learn more about Stu and Omar in our Q&As
Thank you to everyone who participated in our Bring Your Child to Work Day on April 25. Here are a few snaps from the day!
$3,390 Click Here to Donate! $200 restaurant gift card to the individual who raises the most! Make sure donors write your name in the contact box.
Click here to meet Sandra, Carlos and Sophia and hear first hand how Habitat for Humanity changes lives.
YOU CAN STILL SIGN UP!
PRESS ROOM
Sax Wealth Advisors was featured in CIANJ's Member News and Accounting Today for the addition of Stuart B. Herrmann CFP, CPA to their expanding team of Wealth Advisors. Read CIANJ here.
Read Accounting Today here.
Stu Berger was featured in Mid-Atlantic Real Estate Journal with his article on 2019 Projections & Trends for the Real Estate Market. Read more here.
Sax Technology Advisors received an Honorable Mention from Accounting Today in their rankings of "Best Technology Firms of 2018". Read more here.
Todd Polyniak and Stephen Ehrenberg were featured on CrainsNY in a content hub that provided readers information specific to the Private Equity market, including Challenges and Opportunities Facing a New CFO and The Impact of Tax Reform on PE Deals. Read more here. Jason Borofsky was highlighted in New Jersey Business Magazine’s article, “Agonizing Over Strategic Expansion? Call a CPA”. Read more here.
UPCOMING EVENTS
CLIENT EVENT THURS. JUNE 6 | LUNELLO | 6:00 - 9:00 PM Stuart Herrmann Client Appreciation Happy Hour
P.O.W.E.R. EVENT THURS. JUNE 13 | CLIFTON BOARDROOM | 5:00 - 8:00 PM Women's Self-Defense Class with Matt Hahn Join the P.O.W.E.R. Group for appetizers, drinks and some techniques taught by Matt to teach the women at the firm the basics of defending yourself.
FIRM EVENT WED. JUNE 19 | CLIFTON BOARDROOM | 8:00 - 10:30 AM CFO Focus: Understanding the Impact of the New Lease Accounting Standards Jason Borofsky and Adam Holzberg will give an in-depth presentation on the impact of the New Lease Accounting Standards
FIRM EVENT THURS. JUNE 27 | LIBERTY HOUSE | 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM Sax's Summer Kick-Off Picnic Join us for a family-fun picnic including food, drinks and a kick-ball tournament to celebrate kicking off the summer.
FIRM EVENT THURS. JULY 18 | CLIFTON BOARDROOM | 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM CFO Focus: Why You Need a Retirement Plan
Anything to add? Email marketing@saxllp.com