June - July BUZZ 2019

THE BUZZ

MESSAGE FROM OUR MANAGING PARTNER

Team, As we are past the half-way point in 2019, I’d like to pause and acknowledge all that we have accomplished so far this year.

Sax was named a “Regional Leader” by Accounting Today and ranked #101 on their list of the top firms across the country. Sax Wealth Advisors was recently ranked #32

by Accounting Today on their list of the Top 150 CPA Firms by Assets Under Management and named to the Top 300 Registered Investment Advisors list by the Financial Times. These are national achievements alongside many of our prominent peers, and something we should be truly excited about.

This recent tax season also brought about a number of unique challenges for us and all other accounting firms. This adversity was a true test of character, strengths and weaknesses and we unquestionably rose to the occasion. I attribute this to the team we have in place and our commitment to exceeding our clients’ expectations. I believe this is what sets us apart from many other firms.

In addition to these noteworthy accomplishments, we have completed a successful 2019 performance management process which illuminated the hard work and growth of our team members.

On behalf of all Sax partners, I want to once again congratulate the following 20 team members who received internal promotions effective July 1, 2019. These rising leaders in our firm embody our core values – Respect, Integrity, Commitment and Excellence. They have also excelled at aligning their work ethic and service with the firm’s high standards.

Please join me in congratulating our fellow team members:

1.

Alex Addessi to A&A Senior Associate

2.

Melissa J. Bollinger to A&A Senior Associate

3.

Matthew Goldstein to A&A Senior Associate

4.

John King to A&A Senior Associate

5.

Rukiatu F. Lawal to A&A Senior Associate

6.

Matthew R. Mareiniss to A&A Senior Associate

7.

Robert Syme to A&A Senior Associate

8.

Jessica Vidal to A&A Senior Associate

9.

Nimra U. Ahmed to A&A Manager

10. James Clark to A&A Manager 11. Igor Petrovic to A&A Manager 12. Adam Holzberg to A&A Senior Manager 13. Margaret Henn to Senior Marketing Manager 14. Michael Cornell to Tax Senior Associate 15. Matthew Gardella to Tax Senior Associate 16. Breana Maher to Tax Senior Associate 17. Victoria Hochman to Tax Manager 18. Mayank Shah to Tax Manager 19. Anthony Joseph to Tax Manager 20. Warren Wu to Senior Tax Manager We wish them continued success in their new roles and in the advancement of their careers here at Sax. Again, we thank each and every one of you for your efforts and dedication to the firm and those we serve.

Enjoy your summer!

Joseph A. Damiano

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT RECENT WINS

TOTAL WINS YTD

TOTAL RECURRING WINS YTD

$2,824,775

$2,078,475

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.

Debi Casillo

Matt Bernocchi

Frank Amelio

Talent Acquisition Specialist | Clifton Effective 6.3.19

Associate Wealth Advisor | Clifton Effective 7.01.19

Assistant Controller | Clifton Effective 7.10.19

8th An nu al Sax has facilitated our annual 4 MILER at Garret Mountain event for the past eight years to support St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Paterson, NJ and their Child Life Department.

The Child Life Department offers high-impact holistic therapies to their pediatric patients, including art therapy, horticultural therapy and animalassisted therapy. These therapies are shown to be highly beneficial in mitigating the negative effects of hospitalization, particularly for patients with chronic, life-threatening or terminal illness.

LEARN MORE: saxllp.com/SAX4MILER

Click here for the 4 MILER sponsorship form and give thought to clients, friends and family who may consider supporting the event.

Our goal is to raise $75,000 and make it our best year yet. Click here to donate. Sax matches all employee donations!

Register here for the 4 mile run, or scenic 1.5 mile trail walk.

There are also kids' dashes and activities for a family-fun event!

Grab 3 or more team members to create a Corporate Team to run or walk together to support the pediatric patients of St. Joseph's.

Help us raise awareness for the 4 MILER by clicking on each icon and following, liking and sharing our 4 Miler accounts!

Want to Win a Free PTO Day? First Place:

FULL PTO Day

Sign up for our new Sax competition and earn points by supporting our 4 MILER in different ways.

Second Place:

HALF PTO Day

Third Place:

Lunch on Sax

Email Jessica Peralta at jperalta@saxllp.com before August 1 if you are interested in participating.

More details will be provided.

Great Cards Adam Nelson deserves a Great Card!

We ran into processing/e-filing issues with a large client’s return. Adam worked with Axcess and Sax IT to get the e-filing issues resolved, all the while managing jury duty responsibility. Additionally, the client delivered the PBC return information near the deadline, but Adam was able to navigate through these difficulties to produce a quality product.

Debbie Diamond was not scheduled on a client, but due to unforeseen circumstances she was needed to help out at the last minute (the morning of, as the client was on the way here). She did a great job stepping up and getting a feel for what the client needed in the short amount of time she had to prepare, and put aside her own work to help the client for almost the entire day. The client was very pleased with her help and left completely satisfied.

Submission Window Now Open for the 2019 Founder's Award Stability, strength, and continued growth and success have been the pillars of Sax LLP’s standard of client service since 1956. Sax Founders – Sander Sax, Morris Macy, and Egon Fromm – inspired the vision of advancing clients forward by advising them in the key areas critical to their success.

This is in Sax’s DNA, and the cornerstone of how Sax does business today.

Our Not-for-Profit Focus Sax is a champion of not-for-profits and The Founder’s Award is a vehicle in which we can honor the values of our Founders by empowering and supporting those organizations in ways that ensure their continued existence and positive impact on our world.

We are thrilled to offer our local not-for-profits the opportunity to apply for this year's Founder's Award for their chance to receive a $15,000 unrestricted gift to support their organization's mission.

This year's theme: What's Your Impact?: Through the Words of a Beneficiary

Not-for-Profits understand how important it is to receive beneficiary feedback on services and programs to get a full, 360degree view of their impact.

We welcome our local not-for-profits to submit a non-professional video of a beneficiary responding to specific questions within Sax's application package to qualify for a $15,000 unrestricted gift, or volunteer hours to support their mission (runners-up).

2017 Founder's Award Winner: Imagine - A Center for Coping with Loss Theme: Sustainability

The deadline to submit an application for consideration is Friday, September 20.

For more information on the Founder's Award or to download the application package, please click

HERE

2018 Founder's Award Winner: Oasis - A Haven for Women & Children Theme: Inspiration

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. We believe strongly that we can make a positive change in our world as individuals, and by standing together as one company.

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.

Our New Initiative

Limit our use of plastic water bottles Water bottles harm our environment, our health and our pockets.

Did you know?: Bottling water releases 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually and takes 17 million barrels of oil to produce a year’s supply. That’s enough to fuel 1.3 million cars for a year or power 190,000 homes!

38 billion water bottles end up in U.S. landfills and contributes to the plastic waste that washes into the ocean and kills 1.1 million marine creatures annually.

Americans purchase about 50 billion water bottles per year, averaging about 13 bottles per month for every person in the U.S. That means by using a reusable water bottle, you could save an average of 156 plastic bottles annually, not to mention dollars in your pocket.

Water bottles contain chemicals like BPA and antimony that cause reproductive issues, breast cancer, asthma and dizziness.

www.earthday.org/2018/03/29/fact-sheet-single-use-plastics/ https://greenerideal.com/infographics/the-environmental-impact-of-plastic-water-bottles/

To kickstart this initiative, in the next few weeks, Sax will provide all employees with a reusable, insulated water bottle complete with lid and metal straw. These beautifully branded cups can be refilled throughout the day at the water coolers in the 2nd and 3rd floor kitchens. The firm will be replacing the full-size Dasani water bottles with small ones to be used by clients and guests only. We hope this makes staying hydrated even easier while decreasing our use of plastic.

Thank you for helping us start our Green initiative!

FIRM NEWS

The Sax team welcomed Shahil Patel in October of 2018. Before joining Sax, Shahil received his Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and Finance from Rutgers University. His strong work ethic and positive attitude towards his responsibilities make him a great addition to the Sax team.

Larry Gradzki is a Partner in the firm’s Tax Department and Partner-in-Charge of our Estate and Trust Practice. Larry has spent his entire career as a dedicated member of the Sax team and has made tremendous achievements in both his academic and professional career.

Read more about Shahil and Larry in our Q&As

FIRM NEWS

Breana Maher graduated from Montclair State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and joined the Sax team in August of 2018. Since becoming a part of the firm, Breana has demonstrated a strong work ethic and is open to gaining knowledge and furthering her expertise in Tax.

Frank Pawlowski started his career at The Hunter Group, which merged with Sax in November 2017. Frank has had many accomplishments throughout his life, and has become a reliable and trustworthy advisor for his clients. He hopes to pass down his knowledge to the younger generation so they can do the same.

Read more about Breana and Frank in our Q&As

Giving Back In an effort to drive our culture of giving, Sax offers team members a paidtime-off day to use for volunteering for charity.

Sax's Volunteer PTO Code: 9812-Community Service

CURRENT VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES NAIOP: Community Action Day at the Food Bank Hillside, NJ | July 26 | 9:30 AM-12:30 PM Volunteers are needed for NAIOP NJ’s Community Action Day. The day will consist of sorting incoming donations and repacking food/household items that will be distributed to those in need across NJ communities.

Please let Jessica Peralta know if you are interested ASAP.

St. Joseph's Children's Hospital: Child Life Department Visit Paterson, NJ | August 1 | 10:00 AM-12:00 PM The half volunteer day would include a visit to the Child Life Playroom to make a craft with and for the pediatric patients, followed by a tour of the Children’s Hospital.

Please let Jessica Peralta know if you are interested ASAP.

ANNOUNCEMENTS | REMINDERS

THE FOCUS

The newest issue of The Sax FOCUS Newsletter has been released! Hear from our inhouse advisors on meaningful topics to the industries we serve.

READ IT HERE

Congratulations to Joseph Saverino on passing his CPA exam!

ANNOUNCEMENTS | REMINDERS

On January 1, 2020, we will adopt an automatic email retention policy of 36 months. At that time, emails older than January 1, 2017 will automatically be deleted and each day, emails older than 24 months will be deleted.

Emails providing support to an engagement are to be stored in either Caseware (business) or GFR (individuals, trusts and estates).

Conference Room Scheduling

Any meeting requiring a conference room should be reserved in Outlook. Client/external meetings have priority for the Passaic, Bergen and Board Room. Internal meetings should be primarily held in the Library, Essex, or Somerset rooms. The Morris Room is primarily reserved for tax audits but if available can be used for an internal meeting.

Please respect scheduled meeting times and be aware the space may be reserved immediately following your meeting.

ANNOUNCEMENTS | REMINDERS

Congratulations to George Charne on becoming both the new Bergen Chapter President of the NJCPA and the new Secretary-Treasurer of the Bergen County Workforce Development Board & Partners.

CALLING FOR INNOVATIVE IDEAS

The Innovation Committee would like to remind all employees that we are eager to hear your ideas on how Sax can change for the better. The innovation submission form is available for download on the main page of the Sax Portal. In order to submit your ideas, please complete the form and email it to innovation@saxllp.com.

We look forward to hearing from you!

ANNOUNCEMENTS | REMINDERS

Congratulations to Ermal Luzaj and his wife on their new baby boy! Ryan Luzaj was born on June 21st, weighing 7 lbs 13 oz and 20 inches long.

Congratulations to Megan Sartor and her husband on their new baby boy! Nicholas Alexander was born on June 12th weighing 8 lbs 5 oz and 20 inches long.

ANNOUNCEMENTS | REMINDERS

Kathleen Alexander and Stephen Ehrenberg were honored to participate in the CIANJ and NJCU's Explore NJ event's panel discussion on "Understanding How to Start a Business in NJ"

Stu Berger and Elena Klarberg represented Sax at the Cure Breast Cancer Foundation’s 12th annual Breast Cancer Golf Classic. They played alongside our clients Jack Linefsky and Renee Kinel of Value Companies.

ANNOUNCEMENTS | REMINDERS

Gina Perrone, Warren Wu, Ivonne Rayo and John Beckerle conducted a Construction Industry Training on June 17.

Paul Cheransky and Stu Herrmann visited Career Day at Memorial High School. Stu spoke to the kids about the Accounting profession and the CPA designation while Paul spoke about the CFO designation and the education path to work in the wealth management industry.

ANNOUNCEMENTS | REMINDERS

Sax's Real Estate team members Elena Klarberg, Stuart Berger and Jason Borofsky represented Sax at the New Jersey Apartment Association's Annual Conference & Expo in Atlantic City.

Sax Wealth Advisors has been named to Accounting Today's 2019 "Wealth Magnet" Rankings of the Top 150 CPA Firms by AUM. Read the full press release here.

Sax Wealth Advisors has been included on the 2019 Financial Times' 300 Top Registered Investment Advisers List.

Read the full press release here.

To Phish or Not to Phish: It's Not a Question Over the past 2 years, Sax has made tremendous progress in implementing better technology, but what counts is whether our end users have been trained on how to “behave� when presented with a potential email scam like Phishing.

The term "phishing" is a spin on the word fishing, because criminals are dangling a fake "lure" (an email that looks legitimate) hoping users will "bite" and provide the information the criminals have requested – such as credit card numbers, account numbers, passwords, usernames, and more.

Can You Catch the Phish? Try here.

Thank you to everyone who attended our Firm Family Picnic!

Here are a few snaps from the day!

PRESS ROOM

Stephen Ehrenberg and Todd Polyniak were featured in ROI-NJ's article, "Tax Factor: Reform effect has some businesses looking at M&A in new light".

Read more here.

Todd Polyniak contributed to NJCPA Magazine’s article “The Changing World of Trusted Advisors” which addressed the need for a CPA to be less of a traditional accountant and more of a trusted advisor to keep up with the changing needs of the profession.

Read more here.

Sax's Real Estate Practice contributed a Thought Leadership piece in Real Estate NJ on “The Deadline to Defer 2018 Gains in Opportunity Zone Investments” which was widely read by their audience.

Read more here.

Todd Polyniak has started a podcast geared towards young entrepreneurs who want to make the world a better place. Season 2 is in production!

Give it a listen here.

UPCOMING EVENTS

TEAM-BUILDING EVENT NJCPA Emerging Leaders Kickball Tournament WED. JULY 17 | Randolph, NJ | 1:00 - 6:00 PM

FIRM EVENT CFO Focus: Why You Need a Retirement Plan THURS. JULY 18 | CLIFTON BOARDROOM | 8:00 - 10:30 AM Kyle Stawicki and Jeremy Rhen with Sax Wealth Advisors will give an overview on the new mandatory employer retirement requirements in New Jersey to ensure companies are ready.

FIRM EVENT Presentations by St. Joseph's Children's Hospital TUES. JULY 23 | CLIFTON BOARDROOM | 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM & THURS. JULY 25 | CLIFTON BOARDROOM | 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Members from St. Joseph's Children's Hospital will speak to us about how their Child Life Department helps their pediatric patients dealing with illness, treatment and hospitalization. Sax's 4 MILER event is the Department's largest financial contributor, and we will take a first-hand look at how our efforts greatly benefit the children of St. Joseph's by alleviating their stress and anxiety.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY NAIOP: Community Action Day at the Food Bank FRI. JULY 26 | HILLSIDE, NJ | 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM

ANYTHING TO ADD? Email marketing@saxllp.com