Bill Perish had some comments on the conf call made from his Florida Office to the
Committee in St. Louis, with the committee present.

Practice management and practice usage
Low registration fee 
Bill is doing it free,  and he wants 2 or 3 more streams.  Streams in other areas, tax, acct ie.
Caution,  good review and critiques, but the reviews have been a 4.8 in feedback.  He cautioned

In another webinar on Adding  other services.  105Concepts, which was an NSA vendor.
Cost Segregation Services.  Sometimes these seem to be pushing their products.

Do something before or after the Webinars.   He has volunteered to do one for the committee as a demo.

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Click here for the locations of the Grand Events.
Click here for the Program Announcement
Click here for Administrative Policies
Click here for Asheville, NC Information
Click here for Las Vegas, NV Information
Click here to register.

NSTP 2007 Regional http://www.nstp.org/2006RC.html  Conferences at the IRS Nationwide

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Sunday Morning Agenda   11/11/07   Mariott Airport,   St Louis MO.

Lynn Holomon Chaired the meeting throughout the entire 3 days.
Nov 26 to Dec 15 is the live exam throughout the country. We need to get better control of what we can do to set up the source documents.

"However they contract it is fine but if the education committee is the distribution point,
then the education committee must have a handle on the source documents in the distribution as ACAT requests." (Lynn)

Jim Bates and the educator from AZ put the manual together originally.
The pay and arrangements have all been run through the NSA.

They want an update of the test questions bank because of the blueprint. 
Lolita Keck was the SME panel, to contract to complete the contract with a budget not to exceed 5000. 
The test questions will be reviewed in the process.

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Topic:

Pre convention education programs   "Lynn"
Are we going to be involved in the ABA review.???

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Capstone Presentation Debuted

·        A PowerPoint presentation on ACAT’s Capstone Program premiered at the May TACTYC Annual Meeting. 
(TACTYC stands for teachers of accounting at two-year colleges.) The Capstone Program is partnership between a
college and ACAT where the college offers a final course in accounting that summarizes all that has been taught before using the

ABA Prep Book. 
ACAT offers the participating colleges discounts and special programs in return. 
 ACAT ran the PowerPoint on a continuous loop at its booth and offered CD copies of the
presentation for the instructors to use to promote the Capstone Program in their departments. 

ABA /ATP Exam Given
The ABA / ATP exam was administered on June 1^st with 129 examinees;

ACAT

Credential Holders

·        The table below shows the number of people holding each type of accreditation that ACAT offers. As of October 1^st, there are 4,182 accredited professionals and 282 Inactive professionals. A total of 6,298 credentials are held.

New Logo

·        The ACAT Board has adopted a new logo that gives ACAT a fresh, contemporary look. Using slate blue and gray the logo emphasizes the words, “Accreditation Council” and ACAT will refer to itself as that when the readership would not be aware of the meaning of our initials.

Beta Test of Computerized ABA Examination

·        During the week of October 8^th, ACAT will do a “dry run” of the new computerized exam.  We want to be sure there are no glitches before we go “live” in November/December. The Beta test will check:

·        the registration process from ACAT to LaserGrade and to examinees;

·        site selection and sign-up process;

·        day-of-the-test check-in processing;

·        administration of test questions;

·        appearance of test questions on the computer screen; and

·        receipt of examinees’ answers by ACAT and processing here.

      The live exam is November 26 to December 15 at locations around the country.

NCCA Application

·        Work has begun in earnest on the NCCA application to certify the ABA exam.  Much of this process is chronicling what ACAT already does; but there are some new procedures and changes in process to be made.  ACAT is putting psychometrician Paul Naylor on retainer to aid with the statistical and psychometric questions. A committee of ACAT Board members met in Tampa to develop procedures in areas where ACAT had none to meet NCCA’s standards.

Cram Course and ABA Exam at Annual Meeting

·        For the first time in many years, NSA held an ABA Cram Course before the annual meeting. The two-day workshop was followed by the day-long ABA and ATP examination.

Of the 49 people signed-up for the course, 29 (60%) passed both parts of the ABA exam and earned the Accreditation Business Accountant credential. This is a higher percent than usual, but then the attendees had much more experience than is the norm. Nine people passed one part and 6 failed both parts.  Five people were no-shows. In addition, 10 people took the Accredited Tax Preparer portion of the test and earned the ATP credential. Two failed the ATP examination.

Credential Promotions

·        ACAT has printed for the ABA and ATP credentials. We has printed mailers to go to:
1.      Medium-to-small size firm accountants giving them a discount on ABA registration (we’ll still cover costs).
2.   EA holders showing them the benefits of getting the ATA or ATP (or both).

Two similar mailers to test to see which pulls better:
3.   Head of firm promotions showing the benefits of their staff getting the ABA.
4.   Head of firm promotions showing the benefits of their staff getting the ATP.

5.   A flier/ad to promote the ABA exam.

Each of the pieces will direct readers to a landing page on the ACAT website where details and specifics will be given. (One landing page for each promotion.)  The brochures and ad will focus solely on selling the benefits of the tests and accreditation.  This means the brochures will have a long shelf life, we need only change the web pages to update the test periods.

ECS Test

·        The ACAT Board of Directors has crafted a policy for professionals wanting to take the Elder Care Specialist Exam: The policy states that: ”to qualify to take the Elder Care Specialist test, an individual must have earned 36 CPEs in the elder care topics listed in the ECS Blueprint. The ECS Blueprint identifies the topics that will be covered in the ECS examinations.  It is broken into three levels and 12 CPE must be earned for testing on each level.” This leaves ASOs open to create their own courses to prepare registrants for the exam.

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ACCREDITATION COUNCIL FOR ACCOUNTANCY AND TAXATION
REPORT TO THE NSA BOARD OF GOVERNORS
NASHVILLE, TN

May 18 – 19, 2007

Statistics:  As of May 1, 2007, ACAT has 4,475 credential holders holding a total of 6,902 credentials.  There are also 265 inactive members who maintain their association with ACAT by paying an annual fee. The number of credential holders has increased by 189 (4.4%).

The number of credentials held has increased from 6,360 to 6,902 (8.5%) since my previous report as of October 1, 2006.  About half of these new credentials were due to additional credentials being earned by existing credential holders.  This is a strong indication that our existing credential holders value their credentials, and that our marketing efforts to existing credential holders are successful.

 ACAT needs to increase the number of new credential holders, and since the number of Capstone colleges has increased dramatically over the last year, we should soon see new credential holders as a result of the expansion of the Capstone programs. 

 Finances:  ACAT’s balance sheet as of March 31, 2007, shows net assets of $479,123, compared to net assets of $437,915 on March 31, 2006, for a 9.4% increase in net assets over the past year.  Prior year-to-date net income was $65,164, compared to $31,357 for the current year.  The ACAT Board is pleased with this result, as some of the financial gains in the past two years were due to ACAT’s inability to complete some of its goals.  During this fiscal year, ACAT has accomplished the majority of its plans and goals, while still keeping expenditures within budget for the current year.

 Projects & Programs:

• Marketing and Public Relations.  In July 2006, ACAT worked with Association Vision to identify our key audiences and messages.  In November, ACAT reviewed a marketing and public relations proposal from Association Vision, and accepted the general content of the proposal.  A communications audit has been completed, and ACAT is currently working with Association Vision and other vendors to implement most of the changes recommended as a result of the communications audit.  A time line for these changes was established at ACAT’s January Board meeting.  Projects that are currently underway or nearing completion are:  Re-design of brochures, logo update, implementation of e-mail newsletter, and development of PowerPoint presentations. 

• ABA Examination.  The ACAT Board recognized the need for a thorough update of the test question bank because of the examination blueprint changes that have been implemented as a result of the recent Job Practice Analysis (JPA) completed in 2006.  Lolita Keck, the chair of the SME panel, was contracted to complete this task, at a cost not to exceed $5,000.  All questions in the test bank will be reviewed during this process.

 As of May 2, 133 people had registered for the June 1 ABA & ATP exams, with more registrations expected even though the cut-off date has passed

 A cram course and special administration of the ABA exam will be given in Portland prior to the 2007 NSA convention.  ACAT and NSA are jointly promoting this event, and early registrations and inquiries indicate that it will be a successful effort.  This special administration will probably be the last pencil-and-paper exam.

• Conversion to computerized examinations.  In November, the ACAT Board decided to seriously investigate the possibility of converting to computerized exams.  Following the January Board meeting, proposals for converting ACAT’s pencil-and-paper exams to computer based testing (CBT) were solicited.  In March, the Board voted to contract with LaserGrade to administer our credentialing examinations, with the goal of converting to computer based testing by December 2007.  LaserGrade is the largest United States owned and operated network in North America. Headquartered in Vancouver, WA, LaserGrade offers proctored computer-based test administration for licensure and certification examinations using its own secure network and software. With LaserGrade, examinees will have over 500 testing sites to choose from in the U.S.  LaserGrade has also agreed to work with the Capstone colleges to establish additional testing sites.  One of the biggest benefits in switching to computer-based testing is that instead of our tests being administered on just one day, there will be a three-week window when examinees can test allowing more flexibility. The December’s window will run from Monday, November 26 through Saturday, December 15.  Test question preparation will still be done by our Subject Matter Expert Panel, and the test “blueprint” – the number and categories of questions – will remain the same. When taking the test, examinees will be able to mark questions they want to return to, to see exactly where they are, and to know how much time is left. Post testing, the responses will still be analyzed by our psychometrician and the Chairman of the SME Panel. 
• Representation at national events.  ACAT will be represented at all of the IRS Forums, the annual TACTYC conference, and most of the NASBA meetings in 2007, as well as other events when opportunities arise.  The ACAT Board feels that this exposure is needed in order for our credentials to become more widely recognized.

• TACTYC Conference.  The annual TACTYC conference (Teachers of Accounting at Two Year Colleges) will be May 17 – 18, 2007.  ACAT will have a booth at this conference, as well as participating in a special presentation promoting the ACAT credentials and the use of ACAT’s Capstone program in the college curriculum.  ACAT directors Milton Brown, Lanny Nelms, and Chris Gerig will be participating.  Typically, about half of the people sitting for the ABA exam come from the Capstone schools.  With the dramatic increase in the number of Capstone schools in the last year, these numbers should increase even further. 

• ACAT Committees:  The following ACAT committees have been appointed, in addition to the standing committees – ECS panel chaired by Jeff Adelstone, Ambassador Committee chaired by Robert Cross, and Prep Course Review committee chaired by Chris Gerig.  Because tax season is not a good time for committees to accomplish their tasks, the work of these committees is just now underway. 

 ACAT’s next Board of Directors meeting has been scheduled for July 7^th and 8^th in Alexandria. 

 Respectfully submitted,   Peggy Johnson   President

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Meet our Speakers,   in the booth at the Convention

Jarvis' charge along with Tom.

Catherine Murphy #36-09617   
The Stakeholder Contact
Senior Stakeholder Liaison for Missouri
C L & D, Stakeholder Liaison
13 Executive Drive, Ste 4
Fairview Heights, Il 62208
Office: 618-622-2019  cell: 913-375-4369    

 We need to talk about foreign tax;    What we want people to talk about.

irs specialits

Teresa McGill from irs is a great speaker.

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 Charlene for form 706

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Nsa Expense Voucher    PDF.

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