President's Message

August 2010

Dear AZ Valley of the Sun Members:

Our July technical meetings focused on updates regarding the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) from Dr. Dale Davison - Dean of Faculty & Professor of Accountancy Thunderbird School of Management. At the afternoon session, Dr. Davison spoke on IFRS versus U.S. GAAP. For the evening session, Dr. Davison continued the his presentation on the topic of IFRS and where it is leading, including the discussion of “Big GAAP vs. Little GAAP”. Both sessions were very informative. Many members asked for Dr. Davison’s presentation slides which he has provided to us and are now posted to our chapter website. We are planning to invite Dr. Davison back in 2011 for updates as the IFRS convergence process evolves. Thank you to Director, Bill Fraser, and V.P. of Education, Wes Lewis for engaging Dr. Davison as our speaker and planning this outstanding education event.

July was a busy month for the AZ Valley of the Sun chapter. We held our chapter management session on July 17th. I am excited about all the activities and education sessions we are planning and already scheduling. Thank you AZ Valley of the Sun board members for your continued commitment to our membership and the accounting profession.

On July 21st, we held our first FDIC Financial Literacy instructor class where several of our board members and IMA members were trained to teach the FDIC Money Smart courses. The first class is already scheduled to take place on August 18th. This is a great community service we will be continuing to provide all year with other organizations. Thank you to Community Service Director, Cathy Guerriero, for your efforts in making this happen. Great job!

On July 23rd, our Chapter co-sponsored the “2010 Empowering today’s Accountant” seminar with the Mesa Chapter of the ASWA. This 1-day seminar was a successful event with sessions on topics including Ethics standards, Information Management, Financial Statement Fraud, Leadership and Supervisor skills, and Career Management and Networking. This was a great opportunity to get 8 hours of CPE credit and to network with accounting professionals in different industries. Thank you to Laura Mangan for putting this seminar together and your continued work and devotion to the accounting profession and the IMA.

The August technical meeting speaker is Dave Cooke, of the Strategic Resource Group, LLC; the topic is "Financial Leadership - Differentiating Ourselves". Mr. Cooke is a nationally recognized presenter and author … I look forward to seeing you at the meeting. Also, be sure to mark your calendar for August 20th… our chapter is hosting a Meet & Greet– at the Jobing.com office on Highland and 22nd street. We have several sponsors participating with us this year.. invite your coworkers and other accounting professionals to attend. See our chapter website for more detailed information on these events.

We are off to a great start this year …. see you soon.

Sincerely,

Pam
Pamela Zanzucchi, MBA
2010-2011 President
IMA AZ Valley of the Sun Chapter