2020 - 1 JAN BUZZ

THE BUZZ

MESSAGE FROM OUR MANAGING PARTNER

Team We've officially kicked off Sax's 64th busy season, and the partners and I wish to thank you in advance for all your hard work, time and sacrifices that will go into making this another successful year for our clients and our firm. We know each busy season brings its own unique set of challenges, but we also know that this is the time when our people shine the brightest.

2019 was a banner year. We had our highest growth year in our firm's history which speaks volumes to our client service, philosophies, and the dedication of you - our talented advisors. We must be sure to continue to demonstrate why we are a leader in our field through expertise, proactive guidance, and our ability to effectively deliver for our clients.

Again, I thank you all for your commitment to our firm and core values, and I am looking forward to new opportunities in 2020, and our bright future ahead.

Joseph A. Damiano

Joseph Damiano

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR NEW PARTNERS

Adam Feldman, CPA Construction, M&D, Financial Services and Employee Benefit Plan Audits

Candy Gordon-Geanoules, CPA Real Estate

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR RISING LEADERSHIP

Michael Rolls Chief Operations Officer from Chief Financial Officer

John Murphy Chief Marketing Officer from Director of Business Development

Jeremy Rhen, CFP® Wealth Advisor from Associate Wealth Advisor

Frederick Delacruz Senior IT Manager from IT Manager

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT RECENT WINS - Jan. 1-31, 2020

TOTAL WINS YTD

TOTAL RECURRING WINS YTD

$641,000

$514,500

NEW CLIENT WINS 1. County Concrete Corp

ENGAGEMENT TEAM Michael Curry

2. Vision Real Estate Partners

Ermal Luzaj & Joseph Damiano

3. Goretti Nobre

Ermal Luzaj & Joseph Damiano

4. Freedom Electric & Data Inc.

Joseph Damiano & Ermal Luzaj

5. Madison Logic 6. Guardian Services

Chris Gaffney John Murphy & Joshua Chananie

7. Forest Hill Field Club

Joseph Damiano & Ermal Luzaj

8. NP Investments, LLC

Joseph Shannon & Megan Sartor

9. NB Owners Corp

Jeffrey Roude

10. J & K Ingredients

Kathleen Alexander & George Livanos

11. Armstrong Roofing Corp.

12. Michele Simon Psychotherapy 13. Kinly Inc 14. CH Services 15. LPZ Management 16. Epsilon Enterprises Realty LLC 17. Pace Glass Inc.

Ermal Luzaj & Joseph Damiano Candy Gordon-Geanoules William Happe & Joshua Chananie Kathleen Alexander & Melissa Setzer Stuart Berger Michael Benguigui & Larry Gradzki George Livanos & Al Traverso

HUMAN RESOURCES

Please join us in giving a warm welcome to the newest members of our Sax family.

Cassie Causey Mohammad Khaled

Admin Intern | NYC | 1.2.2020 Tax Associate | Clifton | 1.6.2020

Gabriella Triveno

Tax Intern | Clifton | 1.7.20

Nick Nuziale

Tax Intern | Clifton | 1.7..20

Hance Cruz

Tax Intern | NYC | 1.7.20

Stanley Jeanty

Tax Intern | NYC | 1.7.20

Kevin Sohr Tais Figueiredo Joshua Karasik-Tiewski Loretta Przybylski Eric Seidman Alexandra Celentano

SALT Specialist | Clifton | 1.13.20 Entry Level A&A Associate | Clifton | 1.13.20 Tax Intern | Pennington | 1.13.20 SaxWA CSA Temp | Clifton | 1.20.20 Retirement Plan Director - SaxWA | Clifton | 1.20.20 Marketing Intern | Clifton | 1.23.20

The following employees are no longer with the firm. We wish them the best in their future endeavors.

Bianka Cruz

Senior Tax Associate | Clifton | 1.2.20

Michelle Mathesis

SaxWA CSA Temp | Clifton | 1.13.20

Peggy Tilles

Senior Tax Manager | Clifton | 1.15.20

Carol Gourley

Senior Tax Manager | Clifton | 1.16.20

Shmuel Kalfa

Tax Manager | Clifton | 1.29.20

Meet The New Class ALAN GRAJEDA

MICHAEL DEBENEDETTO

A&A Associate

A&A Associate

ANDREW BLAHUT

PAIGE ZAWISLAK

A&A Associate

A&A Associate

DANIEL LUBAT

RUSSELL PEACHMAN

A&A Associate

A&A Associate

EDWARD GONZALEZ

RAUL GUTIERREZ

A&A Associate

A&A Associate

ETHAN GRUBMAN

ROUBA RACHED

A&A Associate

A&A Associate

Click here to get to know our new class better.

Great Cards Ryan Alexander deserves a Great Card for going above and beyond. The Pennington office had computer issues and Ryan went out of his way to make the trip to the office to ensure a new machine was set up properly so work could commence as quick as possible.

Julia Goldshlag and Matt Goldstein worked the weekend for a new client in order to meet a deadline. Julia worked all day Saturday and Matt worked both Saturday and Sunday. They both deserve great cards!

Thank you to our 2019 Innovation Committee members for their work implementing new ideas to improve efficiencies of the firm:

Adam S. Feldman Anthony Joseph Candy Gordon-Geanoules Christopher O'Keefe Debbie Nappi Freddy Delacruz Harper Garrett

Lisa DiNozzi Matthew Goldstein Mayank Shah Michael Rolls Victoria Hochman Virginia Dennerlein

2020 BUSY SEASON

Busy Season work schedule for all A&A team members commenced on January 13th and for all Tax team members on January 27th.

All full-time Accounting and Tax team members are expected to work a minimum of fifty-three (53) hours per week.

Starting the week of February 17th, the Tax team will work a minimum of fifty-six (56) hours a week.

The core hours of the office are from 8:30am to 5:30pm, Monday-Friday.

All team members will continue to take a 1-hour lunch break during the busy season.

Saturdays: All Accounting and Tax team members are not required to be in the office on Saturdays or Sundays. If a meeting is scheduled on a Saturday, you are required to attend the meeting.

All individuals are responsible for completing all their work, meeting their deadlines, fulfilling their 53/56 hour weekly requirement and must have an open line of communication with their manager and team members.

Please be advised the firm may require you to come in on a Saturday during busy season due to deadline requirements.

Breakfast and lunch will be provided on Saturdays.

2020 BUSY SEASON

Paid Time Off: Paid Time Off cannot be scheduled: For the A&A team from January 13th to April 15th For the Tax team from February 10th to April 15th New York City: During Busy Season, if you are in the office working after 9:30pm, taking a taxi or Uber home or to the nearest public transportation facility is reimbursable to you.

If you have any questions, please see the Human Resources Department.

ANNOUNCEMENTS | REMINDERS

Sax members Sophia Thomas, Rachelle Brown, Deloris Maple, Vincent Gaspari, Debbie Nappi and Ethan Grubman used their Volunteer Day to visit Oasis - a Haven for Women and Children to serve a meal to those less fortunate in our local community.

Sax once again participated in Bergen Volunteer Center’s “All Wrapped Up” holiday giving program and sponsored children in need by sending them gifts from their “wish list” to ensure they had a great holiday season.

ANNOUNCEMENTS | REMINDERS

Congratulations to Natalie Alvarez on her new baby girl!

Savannah was born on Sunday, February 2nd at 8:17 pm weighing 5lbs 15 oz.

Candy Gordon-Geanoules serves on the board of the Builders Association of Northern NJ and was recently named the recipient of their 2019 Rising Star Award!

ANNOUNCEMENTS | REMINDERS

Sax once again collected holiday donations for the NJCDC and the Arc of Essex County. These gifts went to low income families in Paterson and tweens and teens with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities.

Stephen Ehrenberg, Thomas Kopnicky and Yan Yu stopped by Laderach, our new client in the city, for a site visit where they received a store tour and some amazing chocolate!

ANNOUNCEMENTS | REMINDERS

Members of our VFL team represented Sax at the 2020 NJ State Bar Family Law Symposium where all matrimonial attorneys from the state spent a day training and networking.

Candy Gordon-Geanoules is on the NJCPA Scholarship Committee and recently spent the day interviewing High School Seniors for NJCPA Scholarships.

Innovation Awards

Thank you to the following originators of the innovation projects that were implemented in 2019: Mayank Shah Standalone Tax Pool

Victoria Hochman Training Library

The Innovation Committee would love to hear from you. To submit an idea, download and complete The Innovation Submission Form and email it to innovation@saxllp.com. Remember, no idea is a bad idea!

K: DRIVE & PROPERLY STORING DOCUMENTS

As we complete our work during this busy season, please be diligent in storing electronic documents in their correct location, whether GFR or Caseware.

The K: drive location is only intended as a temporary file storage location.

Over the years, the K: drive has become a long term storage location and we never revisit many of the files to remove them.

This busy season, let’s get the current year documents into the applications they belong - GFR or Caseware.

We are proud to announce the winner of Sax's 3rd Annual Founders' Award, and our gift of $15,000: 2nd place and the winner of 40 volunteer hours donated by Sax:

3rd place and the winner of 25 volunteer hours donated by Sax: Our Founders' Award is quickly becoming a beloved event in the not-for-profit community, and we look forward to celebrating the work of our local not-forprofits again next year with the them of imagination!

CALL FOR COMMITTEE MEMBERS!

With our new office move happening in 2020, now is our chance to start fresh with efficiencies and protocols that benefit our company and decrease our firm's carbon footprint.

Do you have an interest in conceptualizing and implementing new ideas and strategies that can help make a positive change at Sax and our environment?

Email the Green Committee at gogreen@saxllp.com to join the intiative!

Our Mission To educate and support our employees and our community in acting in an environmentally responsible manner by promoting waste reduction, recycling, and purchasing sustainable products in the workplace. Our aim is to develop goals, policies and practices to improve the well-being of our environment, and to be the bridge between new ideas that benefit our environment and their practical implementation.

Our Vision To create an inherent mindset within our firm to act in a more environmentally responsible manner by creating sustainable habits that conserve natural resources and reduce our carbon footprint.

PRESS ROOM

Sax's expanding leadership team was featured in NJBIZ with our announcement of two new partners and two c-suite executives.

Read all about it here.

Michael Benguigui was a featured in NJBIZ in an article focused on the many provisions in the IRS regulations governing opportunity zones.

Read all about it here.

Sax was a featured in CIANJ’s 2020 Business Forecast with our growth predictions for 2020.

Read all about it here.

Sax's 4 Miler was featured in Accounting Today & CIANJ, announcing our $106,000 raised for St. Joseph's Children's Hospital.

Read Accounting Today

Read CIANJ

UPCOMING EVENTS

CFO Focus - Managing Foreign Currency Transactions Wednesday, Feb. 19 | 8:00-11:00 am | Sax Clifton Boardroom Presenter: Michael Lucente

Lunch & Learn - Financial Planning Process Wednesday, Feb. 26 | 12:00-2:00 pm | Sax Clifton Boardroom Presenter: Guy McPhail

St. Patrick's Day Happy Hour Thursday, Mar. 19 | 4:30-6:00 pm | Sax Boardrooms

ANYTHING TO ADD? Email marketing@saxllp.com