• If your username is your email address, it remains the same.
• If your username is your CalCPA member ID, it will change to your primary email address.
• Your password will not change, BUT you will be forced to change it at first log in. Your default password, if you did not previously change it, is your last name with a capitalized first letter.

A young accountant dies. He immediately goes to heaven and appears at the Pearly Gates to be interviewed by Peter.

Peter: “How old are you?”
The accountant: “33”
Peter: “That’s impossible!”
The accountant: “Why?”
Peter: “I have reviewed your time sheets. By my reckoning you must be at least 100!”

Now that the intense focus of tax season is over, it is time for fun. Fun comes in many packages. As the incoming chapter president it is my intent to show you the fun side of involvement in the CPA profession and its future. CalCPA has had a long history of encouraging excellence in professionals and recruiting new enthusiasts to come after us. Great leaders have preceded me in this effort.

During May we will be planning educational and fun activities for you. Join with me this year as we strive to make our profession better and have fun in the process.

It’s hard to believe my term as chapter president has come to an end. The past year has been busy, exhausting, challenging, exciting and rewarding all at the same time. It has been an amazing experience and I have enjoyed every minute of it.

I would like to thank my fellow board members and our program associate Kay Coffin for their support, time and commitment over the past year in helping make the chapter such a success. I would also like to thank my fellow chapter presidents, who I have come to know and respect over this past year. I have enjoyed getting to know each of you and look forward to seeing you at future CalCPA events.

I would like to welcome Tim Baker, our incoming president, and the rest of the incoming board members who will officially take office at the board retreat in May. It is a great group of people and I look forward to serving with them as past president. The chapter has many more exciting things in store and is always looking for more members, so please be sure to keep an eye out in the Bulletin and emails for events and opportunities.

If you ever have any comments, questions, ideas or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

This is a subject near and dear to my heart, as it is something I struggle with, most often in my personal life. I am an obsessive list maker and have the best of intentions for accomplishing everything on my to-do list. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out as planned. Recently, I have read some interesting quotes on this subject, which I hope will give me the necessary boost in this area!

According to self-discipline strategist Rory Vaden, the key to self-discipline is focusing on doing the more difficult things now for more freedom, money, happiness, etc. in the future. He refers to this concept as “The Paradox Principle of Sacrifice” and believes understanding how to apply this principle to your everyday life is the first step toward motivating yourself to take action for your future.

Vaden has also developed a methodology he calls the “Take the Stairs,” which is the subject of his book, “Take the 7 Stairs: 7 Steps to Achieving True Success.” The premise is that you have two choice when faced with a decisio: take the escalator or take the stairs.

Taking the escalator is the easy option. Some examples include going through a drive-through restaurant instead of cooking a healthy dinner at home, or sitting on the couch instead of getting up and going to the gym or walking the dog.

Taking the stairs is the more difficult choice. Most successful people process their decisions using this mindset. However, this can be challenging when the easy option is more tempting. Who hasn’t wanted to just stay on the couch or order a pizza instead of going to the gym and cooking a healthy meal?

One of the most important tips Vaden offers to help shift your mindset is to create a long-term vision of what you want out of life and use that as motivation to endure short-term sacrifices. People have a tendency to get caught up in the here and now and just focus on the difficulty of a short-term decision, such as going to the gym after a long, tiring day at work, instead of focusing on their long-term vision, such as decreasing their chances of major injury or long-term illness by maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle.

If you have any comments, questions, ideas or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

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Student Night: American Tax Credits Group; Becker Professional Education

Golf Tournament:

Denham Resources; Dowling Aaron & Keeler; Bank of the Sierra; Whelan Financial; The Business Journal; Payroll People; Baker Manock & Jensen; Wells Fargo; Sebastian; St. Agnes Medical Center; Valley Business Bank; SinglePoint Outsourcing; Paychex; The Hobbs, Conner & Tirapelle Group; Principal Financial Group; Thomson Reuters; Fresno Lexus; Price Paige & Co; Stoughton Davidson; David Harris, CPA; Sutton Hatmaker Law Corp.; Retirement Plan Consultants; Helon & Manfredo, LLP; Security First Bank; G.L. Bruno; Torosian & Walter; Fresno First Bank; and Coleman & Horowitt, LLP

Member’s Award Dinner: Thomson Reuters

I recently attended a training designed to help people become more comfortable with networking and enhance their sales and marketing skills. For some people, the idea of networking and meeting new people is exciting and fun. For others (like myself), it can be a bit more stressful.

The training focused on meeting new people, adding them to your contacts, building relationships with them and then strengthening and maintaining those relationships. It is equally important to have strong business and personal relationships. In fact, most people prefer to do business with people they have good relationships with and who make them feel good.

Another topic discussed was networking. When done correctly, networking is one of the most effective ways to expand your contacts and bring in new business. The most basic rule of networking is to help people, and they in turn will want to help you. If you are sincere in your efforts to help others, they will trust you and be grateful for your help or advice.

One of my favorite quotes is from the famous American poet and author Maya Angelou: “I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

I have challenged myself to get out there and attend more networking events in 2012, with the goal of meeting new people and finding ways that I can help them. The chapter will host its first ABC networking event Wednesday, May 2, from 5–8 pm, which will be the perfect time for me to try out my new strategy.

If you have any comments, questions, ideas or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

• Excellence in teaching and mentoring, as evidenced by receiving various awards or citations;
• Educational innovation, including developing curriculum, case studies and new programs;
• Published articles in professional or academic journals or written textbooks for use in accounting classes; and
• Significant involvement in professional or academic societies and related activities.

Download nomination criteria and a nomination form, which is due May 1.