April 21, 2011 meeting minutes were reviewed. No further corrections noted, approved as distributed via by President and Chair Durkin.

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "April 21, 2011 meeting minutes were reviewed. No further corrections noted, approved as distributed via by President and Chair Durkin."

Leonard Doyle
5 years ago
Views:

1 Board Members: Present: Charles A. Belanger, Kay L. Cassidy, Theresa Durkin, Janet L. Foote, Randy F. Hull, Jr., Stephen B. Jordan, Dale Lewis, Joyce Ann Mohr, Shantilal T. Patel, Leonard D. Rea and Catherine G. White. Absent: None Guest(s): Sarkis Babikian, Alphonso Esposito, Jr, Judy Kellogg (proposed director), Harold Strong (proposed director), Phil Wachsler Quorum present? Yes Proceedings: Meeting called to order on Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 3:34 pm by President and Chair, Terry Durkin. President Durkin s remarks: President Durkin bid the board farewell on her departure as President and thanked them for their service this year. Nominations for NAEA awards are due 06/10/2011. Please consider our MaSEA colleagues for one of these awards. Nancy Goedecke, EA and Lorry Sorgman, EA each won the mentor award in the past two years. Sherrill Trovato, EA will represent NAEA at the MaSEA Annual Conference. Trovato will be at the meeting all day and install officers. April 21, 2011 meeting minutes were reviewed. No further corrections noted, approved as distributed via by President and Chair Durkin. Treasurer s Report provided by Treasurer Janet Foote: Foote reported the Financial Statements for the ten-month fiscal period ending April 30, Overall, Foote noted, the Society s Fiscal YTD total gross income was $89,325 an unfavorable variance to budget of $(8,865) or 91.0% of budget and a favorable variance to the preceding year of $1,573 or 1.8%. Foote noted the Society s Fiscal YTD net income/(loss) was $12,232. This represented a favorable variance to budget of $-0- or 100.0% of budget and a favorable variance to the preceding year of $2,489 or 25.6%. Foote reported that the Society s cash and cash equivalents balance as of April 30, 2011 is $32,840. This is up from the preceding year by 17.2%, or $4,824. Foote reported 1% more income than last year for the Annual Conference and up to now expenses are less on the conference. As outgoing Treasurer, Foote offered to assist the new Treasurer in transition to get up to speed. Net income this year is up about $2,000 through this date. Thanks to Durkin, Foote, Hull and Cassidy as outgoing officers. Appreciation was shown for their hard work and contributions to MaSEA. Durkin will continue to serve the board as Immediate past president. MOTION by Mohr to accept April 2011 fiscal YTD Financial statements, Seconded by Belanger; accepted

2 Budget Committee Report provided by President Durkin: President Durkin stated the Finance Committee focused on funding the strategic objectives that were identified last year. Foote stated the Annual Meeting will be in June per the By-Laws. In 2008, Meeting Expenses were Administrative Expenses per By-Laws. In December 2008, under By- Laws a member expressed interest in adding six to eight hours CPE to the Annual Meeting. It was requested that this be instituted for June In the past, Annual Meeting cost was $800 to $1,000. At some point this cost was converted to a Program Expense instead of Administrative Expense. This Program is still an Annual Meeting with CPE attached. MOTION by Foote to move Annual Meeting Expense be put back into Administrative Expense and Conference Expense be accounted for as a separate Program, Seconded by Belanger; approved. Leadership Conference is scheduled for July 2011 and an amount is allocated. If additional funds are needed, Lewis expressed concern that additional lead time is needed in future years. An additional $1,000 can and will be allocated to this venture. MOTION by Patel to accept MaSEA Budget as submitted with modifications, o Increase Membership Committee Expense from $650 to $1,000 or $350, o Increase Leadership Program Expense from $3,500 to $4,500 or $1,000. Seconded by Cassidy; approved, to be reviewed and final approved at Annual Meeting. Strategic Planning Focus Areas provided by Terry Durkin: Durkin lead a discussion of three focus areas (top 3 objectives). Lenny Rea (MaSEA website): o Mohr will ask TWG to insert a link to the MaSEA website from the Constant Contact meeting registration page. o Rea will select a template suitable for our website redesign no later than our September 2011 goal. Charles Belanger (Membership drive): o Ordered necessary MaSEA 20-Year pins, (eligibility list obtained from NAEA website). o Met with Alice McElhinney to review Membership committee procedures. o Once things are in order, next year s plans include Member-get-a-Member campaign. o Foote mentioned one benefit of being a MaSEA member is enjoying a discount on seminar fees. Mohr added members feel good because they know they are saving money on events as a member. Dale Lewis (Leadership program): o Lewis stated a full day workshop on leadership training is scheduled for July 19 th, 2011 at the Newton Marriott

3 o Prior to July 19 th, Lewis stated a one hour meeting will be held in Burlington at Durkin s office on Monday June 27 th around 10ish. This will be an open-ended discussion to groom ourselves for the July 19 th meeting. o Judy Kellogg mentioned Marlborough as an alternate meeting location and Foote noted Marlborough is geographically dead-center to our membership zip codes. o Lewis mentioned there are plans for two Focus Group meetings this year possibly coordinated by Tess George of Speak-Well Training. Focus Group(s) will be composed of 1) Board members, 2) Past Presidents and 3) new members. The Warren Group Task Force Report provided by Joyce Mohr: Publication of June BriefCase is a work in progress. Sponsors for June conference include a commitment from Aspen Cross Financial and an undecided by Staples Corp. Webster Bank and Peoples United both passed on our invitation. Mohr will be scheduling a time to have an initial conversation with Vince (TWG) about a proposal for next year including a discussion of what worked well and where things could be changed. There will then be follow up with TWG task force (MaSEA) to refine next year's proposal. Bentley LITC Partnership Report provided by Joyce Mohr: There was LITC training at Bentley on May 17, Four new people from MaSEA attended. According to Mohr, next BLITC training session will be late August/early September. Dale Lewis contributed and said BLITC has a huge backlog, not all the legwork is done yet and MaSEA volunteers picked up five new cases. June Conference Committee provided by Shantilal Patel: Forty-one registrants to date, including 36 members and 5 non-members. Patel emphasized it is members duty and responsibility to support the organization. Patel thanked Rea, Mohr and Committee members for their efforts in coordinating the June Convention. Annual Meeting will be called to order at 12:10pm during lunch. APEX Meeting Update provided by Joyce Mohr and Shantilal Patel: Patel s report (para-phrased) on Fly-in day: o NAEA s 3 rd Annual Fly-in day on April 27, 2011 in Washington, DC Five Massachusetts members participated in the NAEA Fly-in on April 27, They were Walter Drenen, Caroline Wu, Terry Durkin, Joyce Mohr and Shanti Patel, a significant increase in the attendance from prior years. The agendas for the meeting were to educate the law makers about enrolled agents as competent professional tax representatives. Advocate for tax code stability as many tax provisions are not permanent. Taxpayers (our clients and their constituents), both businesses and individuals, cannot plan effectively and Discuss return preparer oversight. For full details contact Shantilal Patel

4 Mohr s report (para-phrased) on APRIL 2011 AFFILIATE PRESIDENTS EXCHANGE MEETING (APEX:) o Joyce Mohr, President Terry Durkin and Vice President Shanti Patel attended the affiliate presidents exchange meeting (APEX) hosted by NAEA on April 28 & 29; NAEA board meeting on April 30 and the NAEA Fly-In day on April 27, 2011 in Washington, DC. o On Thursday morning there was an optional Exchange Extra session on Parliamentary Procedure, Mock Board Meeting led by Loren Kropat, the Practical Parliamentarian. o Affiliate Exchange Welcome and Public Awareness session The 1 st official Apex session, on Thursday April 28, was began with Sam Matlick, CAE Deputy Director of NAEA giving introductions and overview information and leading participants in a small group exercise. o Presentation by Gigi (NAEA Staff) on Public Relations and member resources o Presentation by Peter Bullock of Gleim Publications o Friday April 29, 2011 NAEA Program updates Presentation by Todd Kuehn, Total Administrative Services Corporation (TASC) Affiliate marketing Workshop with Sheri Jacobs, CAE, Avenue M Presentation by Shari Lawson Phelps, Thomson Reuters, PASS online / Checkpoint Learning Wrap-up presentation by NAEA staff Installation Dinner (Friday night) o For full details contact Joyce Ann Mohr. Unfinished Business Review of Income generators/fund raising for MaSEA o Lewis suggested Public Speaking/Presentation Skills seminars charging admission. o Durkin suggested a Shredding Party aka Shred fest. E.g. Staples Corp could donate a parking lot for a day, while a Shredder company donates their shredder and we charge EA s and their friends and clients admission. o Mohr suggested silent auctions. o Hull suggested profit sharing with and on-line seminar company giving EA s access to the CPE library at a discount with the discount going back to MaSEA via the seminar company. o Durkin requested members think about their topics over the summer and get going in September with more formal plans and a potentially separate committee. MaSEA logo discussion on colors o Durkin noted that there have been many variations of the MaSEA logo floating around and we should be consistent in our presentation of our MaSEA logo and image. o Durkin presented several possible alternatives to our logo design and colors. MOTION by Jordan to adopt MaSEA logo to be: o Red US background, outlined in black, o EA in black lettering, outlined in black, - 4 -

5 o White Massachusetts outlined in black, and o If the logo is in black and white, red becomes black. o This is traditionally consistent with the MaSEA logo traditionally used in past. o Further, to adopt said logo as MaSEA service mark. Seconded by Patel; approved. There being no further business, the Thursday, May 19, 2011 Directors meeting was officially adjourned by President Durkin at 5:30pm. Respectfully submitted by Secretary, Stephen B. Jordan - 5 -

MaSEA Massachusetts Society of Enrolled Agents. Powering America s Tax Experts

MaSEA Massachusetts Society of Enrolled Agents Powering America s Tax Experts Annual Report 2012/2013 1 CALL TO THE ANNUAL MEETING April 24, 2013 In accordance with the Bylaws of the Massachusetts Society