Arizona CPAs
Arizona Society of CPAs
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Top 10 Arizona CPAs Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Arizona CPAs episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Arizona CPAs for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Arizona CPAs episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
The Power of Authentic Communication
Arizona CPAs
05/13/24 • 33 min
06/26/24 • 9 min
07/06/20 • 12 min
The Leadership & Growth Alliance is a growing community of Arizona professionals, within the first 10 years of their CPA careers, who are looking to develop leadership skills and get involved in the profession and the local community. Learn more and register at www.ascpa.com/alliance.
By participating in this program, attendees will:
- Learn from successful CPAs and local business leaders at exclusive events
- Develop leadership skills and knowledge in areas such as communication, self-awareness, professional development and wellness strategies
- Develop networking skills and build valuable relationships
- Earn up to 10 hours of CPE (based on individual attendance)
The program kicks off August 18 with Matt Altman, co-founder of local business Sportiqe Apparel Co. This session focuses on being the CEO of your own life and learning to balance your professional and personal life in a meaningful way.
Future topics will include developing your professional image and values, finding and maintaining mentors, assessing personalities, values and emotional intelligence, vulnerability and communication, and developing multigenerational working environments. Attendees will walk away with resources, tools and action plans for personal and professional development.
Cost for the series is $295, which is an excellent investment for 10 hours of CPE, and space is limited. Most of the sessions will be virtual events hosted via Zoom, making them an easy fit for any schedule. Identify your emerging leaders and encourage their participation in the 2020-21 Leadership & Growth Alliance Series.
More details on the program are available at www.ascpa.com/alliance or call us at (602) 252-4144.
Event Details: Session | Date | Location | Time | CPE | Agenda
- Zoom Kick-Off| 8/11/2020 | Zoom | 5 - 6 p.m. | Happy Hour and Virtual Games *Not Required
- Session 1 | 8/18/2020 | Zoom | 8 - 10 a.m. | 2hrs CPE | Work/Life Balance
- Zoom Networking 1 | 10/1/2020 | Zoom | 12 - 1 p.m. | Networking (Non-CPE Event) *Not Required
- Session 2 | 10/27/2020 | Zoom | 8 - 10 a.m. | 2hrs CPE | Vulnerability and Communication
- Session 3 | 12/8/2020 | Off-site | 3:30 - 6:30 p.m. | 2hrs CPE | Generations in the Workforce
- Session 4 | 1/7/2021 | Zoom | 8 - 9 a.m. | 1hr CPE | Professional Image & Values Development
- Session 5 | 2/9/2021 | Zoom | 8 - 9 a.m. | 1hr CPE | Finding and Maintaining Mentorship
- Zoom Networking 2 | 3/18/2021 | Zoom | 12 - 1 p.m. | Networking (Non-CPE Event) *Not Required
- Session 6 | 4/29/2021 | Off-site | 3:30 - 6:30 p.m. | 2hrs CPE | Personalities, Values and EI
Guest Bio:
Jessica Iennarella is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Fraud Examiner and is Certified in Financial Forensics. She began her career in forensic accounting in May 2012, calculating economic damages pertaining to both insurance claims and litigation. In December 2019, she left forensic accounting to serve as the controller for the State Bar of Arizona. This new role allows her to combine her financial analysis skills with her accounting background, while serving a professional association.
As a graduate of the AICPA’s 2016 Leadership Academy, she is passionate about giving back to the profession. She is a member of the ASCPA’s Board of Directors, a Member At-Large of the AICPA’s Council, as well as a member of multiple conference planning and young member leadership committees at the state and national level. She has also been a panelist and instructor for the ASCPA and the AICPA.
Outside of the profession, Jessica is passionate about animal welfare and participates in the event planning committee for the Arizona Humane Society’s Compassion with Fashion event.
06/17/19 • 9 min
You can also see more details, including a table with tax brackets and deductions at www.ascpa.com/conformity.
On the morning of May 31, 2019, Governor Doug Ducey signed Arizona's 2020 state budget into law. The state's budget is crafted every session and is comprised of a package of roughly nine or ten bills. This year's budget package included the highly anticipated income tax conformity legislation, HB 2757 (tax provisions; omnibus).
As Society members are well aware, Arizona requires taxpayers to use their Federally Adjusted Gross Income as the starting point for state income tax assessment. The state has conformed to the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) each year since 1978 to include federal provisions that became effective in the previous year.
But the political challenges associated with conforming to the changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 stalled legislative efforts to address conformity in a timely manner, leaving taxpayers and tax practitioners with more questions than answers as tax returns are prepared.
This year the Society worked tirelessly to educate legislators, many of whom were newly elected, of the importance of full conformity. Legislative budget analysts produced highly speculative estimates ranging from $50 million to $250 million, and the issue quickly became highly politicized.
Some Republican legislators viewed conforming to the IRC as a tax increase, and an unintended consequence of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was intended to put money back into the pockets of taxpayers, not state government. Meanwhile most Democrats, and a fair number of Republicans, wanted to use the potential revenue from full conformity as a way to fund budget priorities.
Early in the session Sen. J.D. Mesnard (R – Chandler) introduced SB 1143 (conformity; internal revenue code; rates), which conformed to the IRC as of January 1, 2018, and reduced the state income tax rates by 0.11%, which would have applied retroactively to tax years beginning with 2018. The legislation passed the Senate and House along a party-line vote. Governor Ducey, however, vetoed the measure on February 1, 2019. In his veto message the Governor stated that he vetoed SB 1143 because it was "the wrong policy, and any bill with a fiscal impact should be considered as part of budget discussions agreed to by the Legislature and Executive, just as every budget bill is considered, every session."
The fiscal impact associated with conformity, coupled with the governor's veto message, meant that the conformity negotiations were effectively tied to the state budget negotiations from that point forward. After months of discussions, Governor Ducey and legislative leadership reached a tentative budget deal over the weekend of May 18.
The House began debating the budget package in earnest on Thursday, May 23. After a marathon session of debating, amending, and voting on the proposal, the House adjourned at roughly 4:30 AM on Friday, May 24. The Senate, however, didn't' have the votes necessary to pass the deal, as a handful of Senators were refusing to vote on the budget until their individual priorities were addressed.
The Senate met on Friday and Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, a move that was highly unusual as the legislative workweek is typically Monday through Thursday. Senate President Fann, however, was firm in her resolve to negotiate a budget deal that her members could support and send to the governor.
President Fann was eventually successful in negotiating a budget that her caucus could support, but Sen. Mesnard remained opposed to the conformity-related provisions, and voted against a majority of the budget bills.
HB 2757 (tax provisions; omnibus) ultimately passed the House by a party-line vote of 31-29 and the Senate by a vote of 16-13, with Sen. Mesnard joining the Democrats in opposition.
Governor Ducey signed the legislation on May 31, 2019.
05/09/23 • 29 min
Dr. Robert Minniti Discusses Identity Theft
Arizona CPAs
05/16/19 • 10 min
Hear the latest trends on identity theft and what you can do to protect yourself and your company from Dr. Robert Minniti. Dr. Minniti will be teaching Identity Theft: Preventing, Detecting and Investigating on June 3 at the ASCPA Learning Center and via webcast. Learn more at www.ascpa.com/jun3.
1:12 - Identity theft statistics and trends
2:19 - How CPAs can assist their clients or companies with identity theft issues
3:25 - Discussion about the CCH malware attack
4:25 - Types of identity theft that people may not have heard about
5:35 - Top 3 tips for preventing identity theft
8:30 - What you can learn in Dr. Minniti’s upcoming course on June 3
Dr. Minniti will also be teaching Forensic Investigations: Key Tools to Success on June 4 both in Phoenix and via webcast. Learn more at www.ascpa.com/jun4
Dr. Minniti is the President and Owner of Minniti CPA, LLC. Dr. Minniti is a Certified Public Accountant, Certified Forensic Accountant, Certified Fraud Examiner, Certified Valuation Analyst, Certified in Financial Forensics, Master Analyst in Financial Forensics, Chartered Global Management Accountant, and is a licensed private investigator in the state of Arizona. Dr. Minniti received his doctoral degree in business administration from Walden University, received his MBA degree and Graduate Certificate in Accounting from DeVry University’s Keller Graduate School of Management, and received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from the University of Phoenix. Dr. Minniti teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in forensic accounting at Northwestern University, and the University of Phoenix. He designed graduate and undergraduate courses for Grand Canyon University, Northwestern University, and Anthem College. He is a writer and public speaker. He has experience in forensic accounting, fraud examinations, financial audits, internal audits, compliance audits, real estate valuations, business valuations, internal control development, business continuation planning, risk management, financial forecasting, and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance work. Dr. Minniti is an instructor teaching continuing professional education classes for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Compliance Online, CPE Link/CCH . AccountingEd, Global Compliance Panel, Clear Law Institute, CPE Solutions, Canopy CPE, The Institute of Management Accountants, the National Association of Valuators and Analysts, and various state CPA Societies.
For Additional Information
LinkedIn Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/robertminniti
Company Website: www.minniticpallc.com
12/08/20 • 23 min
Every year the Arizona State Senate and House of Representatives must consider whether or not and how to conform to the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) for the tax year that just ended. To Arizona taxpayers this is vitally important since they must use federal adjusted gross income to determine the starting point for filing state tax returns. With the legislative session convening in January and tax returns due April 15, the pressure is on to pass the conforming legislation early. Without early passage, taxpayers and tax preparers are left making assumptions and often file for extensions or have to amend returns. When conformity occurs late in the session it means higher costs to the taxpayer and more complexity and time spent on state income taxes.
So why does the Arizona Legislature have to consider this bill each year? Rather than create a separate tax code with separate definitions, Arizona uses the IRC as the base for the state, making taxes less complicated for taxpayers. Since state returns use the federal definitions as the starting point, any changes at the federal level mean Arizona needs to update, or taxpayers face increased complexity and higher likelihood of amended returns or errors.
It turns out the Arizona Constitution prohibits the delegation of legislative authority, meaning state legislators can’t designate the IRC as the definition for Arizona taxes on a rolling basis, automatically adopting any changes made at the federal level. Instead, the state uses fixed date conformity, which aligns Arizona taxes to the IRC as of a specific date in time and allows lawmakers the ability to assess federal changes each year.
That hasn’t always been the case. Prior to 1980 Arizona did not conform to the IRC at all, and instead made its own definitions of what was taxable at the state level. That meant individuals and businesses had to keep federal and state definitions in mind when filing both returns, making the filing process a laborious one. To simplify the process and ease the burden on taxpayers, Arizona began conforming on a fixed date basis to the IRC.
In most years income tax conformity is noncontroversial and viewed as a technical exercise, updating the date in Arizona Revised Statute that refers to the IRC. When Congress enacts major changes or overhauls, like with the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, there are potential revenue impacts in Arizona. In those instances, the process of conforming can become more complex and delve more into policy considerations, often delaying legislative resolution and thereby causing uncertainty for Arizona taxpayers.
ASCPA members and tax experts David Walser, Anne Cornelius, Ed Zollars and Jared Van Arsdale provide insights on income tax conformity and why it matters to Arizonans. Longtime ASCPA lobbyist Kevin DeMenna shares historical context and the politics behind this annual exercise. Arizona Department of Revenue Deputy Director Dr. Grant Nülle gives an overview of the process from the department’s perspective.
12/07/20 • 12 min
Emotional Intelligence With Brittney Williams
Arizona CPAs
12/31/19 • 19 min
Brittney Williams, CPA, CGFM is a partner for the public accounting firm Heinfeld, Meech & Co. She currently manages audit services for municipalities, school districts, transportation authorities and nonprofits out of their Phoenix office. Brittney is currently serving on the AICPA Government Audit Quality Center Executive Committee and the AGA Financial Management Standards Board. Brittney has always had an interest in management and leadership and has been presenting on Emotional Intelligence and leadership skills for several years on a regional and national scale, including the National AICPA Edge Conference for young professionals. Brittney will be also be presenting this topic at the upcoming ASCPA Governmental Accounting Conference on Feb. 5. You can learn more about the conference at www.ascpa.com/gac20.
1:28 What is Emotional Intelligence (EI)?
3:04 How EI Affects You Outside of Work
4:32 Why EI is Especially Important in the Accounting Profession
6:56 Elements of EI
11:12 Assessing Your EI
13:19 EI in Action
15:17 How You Can Take Small Steps to Improve EI
17:21 Resources to Learn More
Harvard Business Review’s 10 Must Reads on Emotional Intelligence
ASCPA Legislative Agenda 1-9-19
Arizona CPAs
01/10/19 • 17 min
Hear the latest on conformity and other legislative items from ASCPA lobbyist Ryan DeMenna of DeMenna Public Affairs.
DeMenna discusses what will be new at the legislature this year, ASCPA legislative items of interest including conformity and audit firm rotation, ASCPA outreach to legislators and the Department of Revenue, and the national trends around licensing of professions.
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FAQ
How many episodes does Arizona CPAs have?
Arizona CPAs currently has 20 episodes available.
What topics does Arizona CPAs cover?
The podcast is about Podcasts, Cpa and Business.
What is the most popular episode on Arizona CPAs?
The episode title 'Income Tax Conformity – The History, The Process & Why It All Matters' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Arizona CPAs?
The average episode length on Arizona CPAs is 20 minutes.
How often are episodes of Arizona CPAs released?
Episodes of Arizona CPAs are typically released every 63 days, 8 hours.
When was the first episode of Arizona CPAs?
The first episode of Arizona CPAs was released on Jan 10, 2019.
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