Download the flier.

Download your copy today and keep it nearby as you go through this busy season.

Review the qualifications and download nomination forms online. The nomination deadline for all awards is March 30.

Keep an eye on the chapter’s website for program details.

Date: Saturday, May 19

• Carr, McClellan, Ingersoll, Thompson & Horn, Professional Law Corporation
• Borel Private Bank & Trust Co.
• Bridge Bank
• Burr Pilger Mayer Inc.
• Frank, Rimerman + Co. LLP
• KK Wealth Advisors, LLC
• Nightingale Financial Advisory
• Opes Advisors
• Seiler LLP
• Young Craig + Co. LLP, CPAs

I recently spoke with two groups of pre-school students about being a CPA. Yes, you read correctly, pre-school—ages 2.5 to 6 years. When I volunteered to do this, the first thing I did was contact Jane Dunbar, our chapter’s program administrator, for suggestions from CalCPA. She, along with Melissa Thornton, CalCPA’s community outreach coordinator, came back with excellent examples of how to engage the kids through a Q&A.

On the day of the talk, I made sure I wore a suit, carried a briefcase and took an iPad. Most of the students were so interested and alert. They began the Q&A by asking what is a CPA, whether I work with people or things and if my work is fun. We were off to an amazing start! I had a long list of “things and activities” to share, but there was little need to access prepared information planned. The entire talk was lead by them. They asked questions about my briefcase, my suit and the iPad.

Along the way, I shared one technical piece of information, which did help: I mentioned it is the work of a CPA to make sure the school has enough money saved to pay for toys, books, play structures, materials, building and the teachers, so the school can stay open for them. They were impressed with that! And many of them said they have savings in a piggy bank. One student said that she goes to the bank with her mom every month to make a deposit into her savings account. Another student said he has a bucket for donations where he gives money to the church every Sunday.

It was so empowering and amazing to hear the children’s early ideas about saving, spending and donating! The whole talk was 15 minutes, and it was one of the most rewarding talks I have given. Moreover, the school must have thought it successful because the administrators and teachers asked me to return next year!

We have begun a fresh new year, full of hope and challenge. Our younger generation of CPAs is in the works. They will surely strive to be as great as those who have come before them. With that, I would like to extend sincere thanks to our past chapter presidents who work hard on behalf of CPAs and our profession through CalCPA: Jerry Nightingale (1999–01), Dennis A. Young (2001–02), Mitra M. Ehsanipour (2002–03), Andrew N. Newman (2003–04), Roger E. Stroud (2004–05) and Laarni C. von Ruden (2005–06). With your leadership, we continue to strive forward.

Please write your thoughts below or contact me.

One more year, one more chapter fulfilled in our lives, as we welcome 2012. How amazing to think of each year, each month and each day as a new beginning, where opportunities are constantly occurring.  And it remains with us, the responsibility, to seize the moments, so:

Imagine there is a bank account that credits your account each morning with $86,400. It carries over no balance from day to day.
Every evening the bank deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every cent, of course?
Each of us has such a bank. Its name is time.
Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.
Every night it writes off as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose.
It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day.
If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no drawing against “tomorrow.”
You must live in the present on today’s deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness and success!
The clock is running!! Make the most of today. Time waits for no man. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why it is called the present.

— Alice Morse Earle, American historian and author

Wishing you and yours a very happy new year.

More information and applications are available online.

If state-level leadership isn’t your calling right now, there are plenty of opportunities at the chapter level—from board member to committee chair—to step up and showcase your skills. Find more information online.

Date:  Thursday, Dec.1

Register online.