Decision Makers Conference Wrap-up
On Wednesday, April 20, 2022, GSCPA kicked off its annual Decision Makers Conference. Attendees had the option to attend the event in person or virtually.
Brooke Chesnut, from Brooke Chesnut Speaks, LLC, spoke at the first session of the day on The Elephant in the Room: “The Great Resignation.” He shared the most recent data from Fortune 100 CEOs, and he described why the next decade is going to be essential for corporate culture. He also discussed the top fundamental trends for leadership to help communicate with your workforce and how to build a culture in today’s remote workforce.
Michael Cheng from Frazier & Deeter LLC took on session two and gave an interactive Financial Accounting Standards Board update. He spoke on the recent changes that will impact financial reporting this year and in years to come.
Lastly, Dan Morgan from Synovus Trust Company wrapped up the morning sessions by giving an economical and market update. He discussed the true health of today’s COVID economy if the government stimulus spending leads to inflation and how the Biden Administration policies impact the stock market and the economy.
The afternoon sessions began with Steven Wyatt and Robert Waddell from Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Aughtry addressing the importance of planning and how CPAs should discuss money and children, business divorce, marital divorce, and liquidation events and succession planning with their clients.
Michael Cheng followed with the next session on leasing and lease liability in 2022.
Afternoon breakout sessions offered attendees session choices based on their interests. Option one was Understanding Key International Tax Issues in 2022, by Hale E. Sheppard, Chamberlain, Hrdlicka, White, Williams & Aughtry. Discussion centered around today’s key issues, current IRS campaigns and existing remedies for taxpayers. The second topic, Better Reporting Power BI, was led by Thomas Stephens from K2 Enterprises. He informed attendees how business professionals could enhance and streamline their reporting process using Microsoft’s Power BI platform.
Thomas wrapped up the first day of our Decision Makers Conference with a CFO Tech update for 2022. He gave insights on technology choices and recommendations. Also, he spoke on the benefits and risks of evolving and emerging technologies relevant to accounting, financial and other business professionals.
Day two of the Decision Makers Conference began with Michael Levitt from Breakfast Leadership, who spoke on how to Burnout Proof Your Company. He covered the best techniques that can be used to reduce the stress and burnout you’re facing at work and home.
Theodore Brown and Christopher Schultz from Aprio led the next session. They discussed Modern Data Analytic Techniques to Mitigate Fraud, Waste and Abuse. They covered how to learn the signs that fraud, waste and abuse can be to your company and what tools and methods turn reactive responses into proactive mitigation and prevention techniques.
The final morning session was led by Art Auerbach, who gave the attendees a corporate tax update. He discussed the provisions and updates on items included in the Act in both Houses of Congress and where the bill currently stands.
After lunch, Melisa Galasso, from Galasso Learning Solutions LLC, began the afternoon sessions. In her first session, she gave an audit update for industry professionals discussing how corporate audits may be changing due to new standards. Melisa covered new evidence and risk assessment requirements while also looking at the new auditor’s report. Within her second session, she spoke on control self-assessments taking a closer look at enterprise risk management and an overview of how entities can perform an effective risk assessment to mitigate the risks through a control self-assessment.
Michael Levitt from Breakfast Leadership returned for the mid-afternoon session discussing Employee Engagement and Workplace Culture and the importance of employers taking a proactive approach to creating a culture that can work with various talents.
Lastly, Special Agent Lauren Neal from the IRS Criminal Investigation closed out the day by speaking on Fraud and Embezzlement: A Case Study from the Trenches. She reviewed an embezzlement case where the subject was charged with violating their taxes due to not reporting embezzled funds.