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IMA Student Night Wednesday, February 16, 2005
Location: Holiday Inn Downtown Redstone/Silver Plume Rooms 1450 Glenarm Place Denver, CO (303) 573-1450 Times: 3:30 – 4 p.m. Registration (students) 4 – 5 p.m. Interviewing Advice and Resume Critique (students) 5:30 p.m. Social Hour 6:30 p.m. Dinner 7:30 p.m. Speakers Cost: $25 Members with reservations $28 Guests and Members without reservations $17 Students with reservations Menu: Fusili Chicken or Vegetable Wellington For reservations, please contact Barb Girdlestone: • Phone: (303)296-1010 x 259 • Email: [email protected]. (Note when you email about your reservation please include the word IMA in the subject line, so your message is not discarded as spam; do not put quotes around IMA.) Reservations not made by the Sunday before the meeting will be charged $28. Please spell out your last name and company when calling. Cancellations: Please call (303) 296-1010 x 259 at least 48 hours prior to the meeting. If you do not cancel, you will be billed for the meeting. Directions: The Holiday Inn Downtown is located at the Corner of 14th Street and Glenarm Place.
Thank You Student Night Sponsors
The Denver – Centennial Chapter would like to thank these businesses for their generous financial support of student night. It is through their support that we are able to provide this informative event to students.
Platinum
Clifton Gunderson Hein + Associates
Pricewaterhouse Coopers
Gold
Comcast Lockheed Martin
Silver
Anshchutz Corporation Cobe Cardiovascular
Grabel Green Acres Technology
Harvery Nash Kelly Financial Resources Two Degrees
Bronze
AccountantsChoice Ajilon Ehrhardt, Keefe, Steiner & Hottman
Gillett Group McData
Powers Products RemX Robert Half
Tradewind Solutions Find Your Next Job with the Help of
the Denver – Centennial IMA Did you know that the chapter’s website contains job postings? In just the last two weeks there have been six postings in areas such as financial reporting, internal audit and controller. The direct link is www.denverima.org/employment.htm. Whether you are currently seeking employment or thinking about changing jobs be sure to check out this resource.
Rocky Mountain Chapter http://www.imarockymountaincouncil.org
The General Ledger A Publication of the Denver – Centennial Chapter
February 2005
http://www.denverima.org
Student Night 2005
Dear Chapter Members, The momentum is building as our chapter gears up for another exciting Annual IMA Student Night meeting! Here’s a peek at what we have planned for the evening. We will be awarding a total of $3,000 in scholarships to students. Right now we are expecting 40-50 students to attend this year’s event. The theme for the evening will be: “Opening the Red Door of Opportunity.” To help the student open doors, we have staffed for the evening a wonderful group of recruiters who will work one-on-one with the students assisting them with interview preparation and resume critique for an hour prior to our meeting. We are also proud and honored to announce our speaker for the evening, Dr. Ron Kucic, Department Chair, Daniels School of Accountancy at DU. Dr. Kucic will lead a panel discussion in an important mentoring topic, A Discussion on Ethics in Accounting, Challenges, and Lessons Learned. Our raffle for the evening will include 2 tickets to an upcoming Denver Nuggets game! If you haven’t joined us in a while, this is surely one meeting you will not want to miss! So mark your calendars now for Wednesday, February 16, 2005, The Holiday Inn, Downtown at 14th and Glenarm, 5:30 p.m. Please make your reservations early! Patricia Simmers Denver Chapter Board Member and Chairperson, Student Night Event, 2005 & 2006 [email protected]
Student Spotlight
This is the last installment of the STUDENT SPOTLIGHT with winners of the 2004 IMA Scholarship Awards. Other Scholarship winners were highlighted in the January issue. Sylvia Tanner (METRO) was awarded a $600 Scholarship: I wish to express my gratitude to the Institute of Management Accountants for awarding me a scholarship on Student Night 2004. I feel privileged to be part of such a prestigious organization, and am thankful to Metropolitan State College of Denver for introducing me. I became a member of the IMA at Student Night 2003. I was amazed that an organization cared so much about the people in the accounting profession that it held a special event just for students to get them started in their careers. I was anxious to get involved with such wonderful people. Going back to college after 20 years was a difficult decision and I was afraid that I would never make it, financially and emotionally. However, through the encouragement of the IMA and the wonderful people that I met with this organization, my dream became a reality. I was not only able to finish me accounting degree in May 2004, but am able to continue my education now at Regis University where I hope to receive an MBA with an accounting emphasis. Eventually, I hope to teach. My scholarship award certificate hangs on my wall above my desk where it continues to inspire me. The IMA will always be part of my life, and I look forward to the many events of 2005 and the friendships I have made with other members. I know the scholarship recipients this February will be as overwhelmed and grateful as I was. Renee Hiser (METRO) won a $400 Scholarship and was also a previous winner! I, Renee Hiser, am a senior at The Metropolitan State College of Denver. Last year I was lucky enough to receive one of the scholarships from the IMA. The scholarships are great because they not only introduce students to the IMA, giving them a chance to meet experienced professionals in the accounting field, but they also take a lot of financial strain off of a student. This scholarship helped with tuition and probably one book (they sure are expensive). I am getting pretty close to that degree; I only have seven more classes to go. I plan to stay away from the tax end of accounting in my career; I know I’m going against the cliché there. I am really more interested in the topics in cost accounting: budgeting, product and service costing, and mostly measuring effectiveness (evaluating variances). I plan to hit the market soon and look for internships or even part-time positions until I can finish these last few classes.
Ezinne Ama (UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO) won a $400 Scholarship: I have been interested in accounting for a while and it was because I knew I wanted to work in a math field. I enjoyed math in high school and also in college and as I have grown through college I have found that the variety that comes with working with different clients and different industries, like with auditing, is what I really want to do. The money from the scholarship helped in paying off my tuition for that semester and that was a great big help. I really enjoyed the speeches and the resume sessions before the dinner. The speeches were very informative and helped in know what we can really do when we get out into the real world and also what other certifications we could get to help us further our careers. The resume sessions helped us work with different firms to compose our resume so that we know what our resumes should look like and what the firms are looking for when they look at your resume. It also helped us to socialize and meet different people from different firms and different colleges. Since receiving the award last February, I have been taking a few more accounting classes to increase my knowledge of accounting and I graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in accounting early December 2004. I plan on taking my CPA exam by mid next year and hopefully getting a job working with a CPA firm in Denver.
Frequently Asked Club By Chuck Kremer. Chuck, a long time IMA member and supporter of the Denver-Centennial Chapter passed away January 16. The question for this broadcast is; What is the best process for conducting effective monthly team huddles (financial conversations)? This is a great question, and here's why. Too often decision makers just review their financial information passively - this does not generate nearly as much value as using the information for creating a proactive conversation. To create such conversations requires instituting a standardized, effective process. Some of Novations' clients tell us that they really like our four-question process from "The Financial Game for Decision Making(tm)." These questions should always be addressed in the order shown. 1. Which is the weakest bottom line? (Based on latest reading, identify one: Operating Cash Flow [OCF], Net Profit or Return on Assets.) Continued on next page
2. Which crucial drivers are responsible? (If OCF was chosen for the weakest bottom line, check for increasing Receivable Days, Inventory Days or both.) 3. What's the business story behind the numbers? (If OCF is chosen as the weakest bottom line - have a decision maker share some latest insights about what's going on with this business, big picture. Be sure to identify weaknesses. [Maybe your company just landed a demanding new customer. With strong competition, sales executives may have made major concessions including longer than normal payment terms.]) 4. What specifically will we do in order to achieve our financial goals this year? (When teams really understand the problem, people will come up with great ideas, like streamlining another process to compensate for lost cash flow.) Identify above weaknesses by comparing the numbers to yourself (trend analysis). Alternatively compare your ratios to your industry ratios (benchmarking). This entire process needs to be completed in one hour maximum, each month. Our 4-question process is the secret for meeting this requirement. Optionally some companies integrate this monthly conversation with other high-level meetings. To be effective, monthly conversations must happen as scheduled; if a key decision maker is out of town, someone else must substitute in his (her) role. Now that you have my answer, try the process. After using this process for several months, your decision-making team should become fairly
proficient with it, and should be able to positively impact your company's three bottom lines. Here is a question for the next broadcast: Are there any other assets or liabilities that affect OCF besides Receivables, Inventory and Payables? Here is a relevant quote: "Play by the rules, but be ferocious." The late Bill Bowerman, University of Oregon Track Coach and co-founder of Nike. And may the cash be with you.
Board Meeting Dates All meetings begin at 6:00 pm unless noted
Date Location
August 25, 2004 Holiday Inn Downtown September 29, 2004 Holiday Inn Downtown
October 27, 2004 Holiday Inn Downtown November 23, 2004 Holiday Inn Downtown
December 2004 No Meeting January 26, 2005 Holiday Inn Downtown February 23, 2005 Holiday Inn Downtown March 23, 2005 Holiday Inn Downtown April 27, 2005 Holiday Inn Downtown May 25, 2005 Holiday Inn Downtown
CMA Review Courses Offered By
Regis College
Exam Preparation Course – CMA 402 – Part 2 Offered in association with the Institute of Management Accountants. In cooperation with the Centennial, Colorado Chapter of IMA COURSE SCHEDULE: Classes meet for 8 weeks, one night a week from 6:00 to 9:00 pm February 15, 2005
Tuesday evenings
Lowell Campus
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The CMA Learning SystemTM is based on the newly revised and updated Certified Management Accountant (CMA) body of knowledge. The primary focus
of this course is to prepare individual professionals for the CMA certification exam. The course is also an excellent professional development tool for career advancement. The CMA certification program is developed around extensive knowledge which includes accounting, finance, and business management skill sets required for success in today’s dynamic managerial finance and accounting profession as defined by the Institute of Management Accountants – IMA (www.imanet.org). SUBJECTS FOR COURSE ONE
- Business Economics - Global Business - Internal Controls - Quantitative Methods - Financial Statement Analysis
TUITION includes all materials – The CMA Learning SystemTM
$500 – Pilot sessions for spring 2005 offered in cooperation with the Centennial IMA Chapter for New Exam format Students $300 – Pilot sessions for spring 2005 offered in cooperation with the Centennial IMA Chapter for Old Exam format Students (must supply own study materials)
INSTRUCTORS are CMA Certified with Adult Learning Experience Certificate and 2 CEUs awarded for attendance and exam requirements NEW COURSE OFFERING! These courses are identified as follows: CMA 401 – The CMA Learning System, Part 1 CMA 402 – The CMA Learning System, Part 2 CMA 403 – The CMA Learning System, Part 3 CMA 404 – The CMA Learning System, Part 4 For more information contact Sue Bicknell at (303) 526-3005, ext. 117 e-mail [email protected] To register contact Marlys Mangus at (303) 964-5220 e-mail [email protected] Fax (720) 529-4844 To register on-line go to www.regislearning.com
Encourage Teamwork through Brainstorming Sessions
One of the best ways to build teamwork in the workplace is to conduct brainstorming sessions that allow team members at all levels to participate in open discussions about business challenges and potential solutions. With the accounting landscape continuing to change, group efforts at coming up with creative solutions are an effective way to maintain strong productivity levels. As a manager, these activities can help you identify some of your firm’s most innovative thinkers and allow you to maintain a competitive edge by generating fresh ideas.
Below are a few tips to get your team’s creative juices flowing:
• Collect ideas in advance. To get staff members thinking creatively, ask each of them to submit a well-thought-out suggestion before the meeting. Remind them there is no such thing as a bad idea, and every approach will be fairly considered. Meet in a comfortable setting with few distractions. Continued on next page
• Invite free expression by assuring
employees their ideas will not be criticized. Having a bank of proposals to draw on can get the discussion off to a quick start and help ensure a productive and efficient session.
• Identify the most productive time. For
most people, morning hours are the most conducive to creative thought. Often, people feel refreshed and relatively free of distractions early in the day, making it ideal for brainstorming sessions.
• Encourage teamwork. Ask participants
to build on each other’s thoughts. One member’s creativity will stimulate an idea from someone else. Brainstorming is a
group process and won’t be effective if people fail to share their ideas or listen to suggestions from others.
• Provide food for thought. Without
letting food become the focus, light snacks and beverages can be the key ingredient in offering an energy boost to brainstorming meetings.
Accountemps is the world’s first and largest temporary staffing service specializing in the placement of accounting, finance and bookkeeping professionals. The company has more than 330 offices throughout North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and offers online job search services at www.accountemps.com. For more information, call 1-800-803-8367.
DEN
DATE June 16, 2004 July 21, 2004 August 8, 2004September 22, 2October 20, 200November 17, 2January 19, 200February 16, 2 (free for studeMarch 16, 2005April 20, 2005 May 18, 2005* ALL DINNER Mnoted. TIMES: $28 guests and mfor 1 prices for e TO MAKE RES(note: in your Reservations notcompany/school
Article Deadline for the March Newsletter is February 27. Submit articles or comments to [email protected]
VER-CENTENNIAL CHAPTER EVENT CALENDAR 2004-2005
SPEAKER TOPIC Tim Riley, Denver Mint Making Money for the Federal Govt.1CPE
William Yeates, Hein & Assoc SOX Issues for Private Companies, 1 CPE Picnic at Loretto Heights 004* Gary Colbert, CU Denver Accounting in its Strategic Context, 1 CPE 4 Expert Panel Jump Start Your Career!, 1 CPE 004 Jay Malik, Serenic Software The Software Selection Process 1 CPE 5 Annual Social Blue Bonnet Restaurant, Denver
005 Panel Discussion Student Night- Interview Tips nts) and Resume Review Ben Torrez, Merrill Lynch Cash Management, 1 CPE
Stephen Miller, RE/Econ Consulting Metro Denver Economic Dev. Holli Baumunk, Metro Denver EDC (1 CPE)
Kim Wallen, National IMA Chair Leadership & Motivation, 1 CPE
EETINGS are held at the Holiday Inn Downtown, 1450 Glenarm, Denver, unless otherwise 5:30pm Social Hour, 6:30pm Dinner, 7:15pm Program. COST: $25 members with reservations,
embers without reservations, $17 Students with reservations. * Denotes meeting nights with 2 ach 2 students who make advance reservations together.
ERVATIONS call Barb Girdlestone 303-296-1010 x260 or [email protected] email, please include the word IMA in the subject line, do not put quotes around IMA.) made by the Sunday before the meeting will be charged $28. Please spell out your last name and when calling. Please cancel at least 48 hours prior to the meeting or you will be billed.
Board Member Listing for the 2004-2005 Chapter Year
President Mike Westcott H:(303) 306-6866 C:(303) 917-4407
[email protected] Brian Bedford (720) 480-3693
[email protected] Administration / Finance Open Treasurer Bill Borgman (303) 734-0546
[email protected] Sarah Johnson (303) 871-4930
VP Membership Paula Frazer (303) 300-0188 [email protected]
Community Outreach Cheryl Borgman (303) 214-6954 [email protected]
Database Administrator Eric Boland (303) 345-7492 [email protected]
Employment Coordinator Larry Hall (303) 299-1272 [email protected]
Front Desk Person Juliann Hudson [email protected] Desk Person Renee Hiser (303) 910-2589
VP Education Open Director of Speakers Linda Hendrix (303) 463-4690 C (720) 205-7785
[email protected] / CFM Programs Cynthia Berglund (303) 768-0221
[email protected] Promotions Person John Tillett (303) 904-8627
[email protected] Research Person Karen Welborn (303) 460-4384
[email protected] Statician Tandy Hill (303) 742-4456 Student Night Chairperson Patti Simmers [email protected] Night Committee Person Robin Schneider (303) 254-9023
[email protected] Night Committee Person Sylvia Tanner [email protected] Night Helpers Mike Westcott – Brian Bedford VP Communications Bobby Olsen (303) 521-8589
[email protected] Diane Albert (303) 941-3812
[email protected] Editor Ray Reed (720) 236-8822
[email protected] Master Andrew Vara (303) 672-8717
[email protected] Membership Info Person Ken Shames (909) 264-2863
[email protected] Calling Committee Chairperson Barb Girdlestone (303) 296-1010 x260
[email protected] Calling Committee Member Four open positions
Area Conference Past-President
Dawn Browne (303) 210-6409 [email protected]
Member at Large Past-President
Gene Robbins (303) 973-2523 [email protected]
Member at Large Past-President
Lou Sillstrop (303) 905-6960 [email protected]
IMA Denver - Centennial Chapter c/o Ray ond Reed m21122 White Pine Lane Parker, CO 80138
The General Ledger February 2005 Newsletter A Publication of the Denver - Centennial Chapter
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