Form 5500: Qs & As

Are you ready for the 2008 and 2009 Plan year Form 5500 filings?  Are you sure?

If you are either a Practitioner or Plan Sponsor involved in the preparation or review of Form 5500: “Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan,” please join this live Webcast where a panel of nationally known experts from both the US Department of Labor and national accounting firms will discuss preparation issues they confront regarding the current Form 5500. 

Additionally, the panel will discuss in detail the pending electronic filing requirement for the 2009 Plan year Form 5500 filings and the accompanying audited financial statements.  During the Webcast, participants will have the opportunity to pose their own questions to the panel for discussion during the Webcast.

Team Training Opportunity
Five members of your team can participate in this live webcast and each can earn CPE credit – all for $299.00 ($59.80 each!). Choose product WBC09071C5.

Field of Study: Auditing
Level: Intermediate
Prerequisite: None
Important Information on Your CPE Credit

Note: Access Instructions will be displayed on the order confirmation screen and will also be included in your order confirmation e-mail.

Speakers
Riquita D. Quarterman – Pension Auditor, Division of Accounting Services, Office of the Chief Accountant Employee Benefits Security Administration
Jason E. Russell – Senior Manager, Global Employment Services, Deloitte Tax LLP
Robert Lavenberg, CPA, JD, LL.M – Assurance Services, ERISA Reporting and Compliance, National Partner In Charge Of Employee, Benefit Plan Audit Quality

Moderator:
John Hudson, CPA

Riquita Quarterman has over twelve years of experience as an auditor, the last six of which have been with the U.S. Department of Labor.  Her responsibilities include:  Designing Form 5500 processing procedures; serving as one of the principal EBSA contacts and trainers for the Form 5500 telephone Help Desk in Lawrence, Kansas; and participating on the Form 5500 revision committee. Ms. Quarterman is also responsible for providing ERISA-related technical assistance to plan filers and plan professionals.

Prior to working with the Department of Labor, Ms. Quarterman worked in both the public and private accounting industries, where she gained valuable ERISA and Form 5500 experience.   Ms. Quarterman graduated from the University of the District of Columbia having earned a B.S. in accounting.

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Jason Russell has been with Deloitte & Touche for eight years, working with a variety of Fortune 500 and closely held corporate, technology, and retail clients.  Jason consults on a variety of benefits issues, including the golden parachute aspects of mergers and acquisitions, executive compensation, deduction limitations under Section 162(m), qualified and nonqualified retirement plans, equity compensation, fringe benefit, and welfare benefit arrangements.  In addition to the income inclusion and corporate deduction of elements in the above areas, Jason consults on the income and payroll tax withholding/reporting requirements in these areas.

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Bob Lavenberg has more than twenty-three years of experience with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and related business advisory services.  His expertise spans reporting, government compliance and assessment of tax implications for plans, including employee benefits, qualified retirement, health, welfare, and fringe benefits.  Bob has shared his knowledge as a part-time faculty member of Temple University’s School of Business and Management where he designed the course, Pension, Profit Sharing and Other Compensation Plans. Bob has written articles for professional journals, contributed to BDO’s published and internal employee benefit plan audit manuals and is a frequent speaker on various technical issues for industry and professional organizations.

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John F. Hudson, CPA is the President of Hudson Consulting Group, LLC. Prior to founding Hudson Consulting Group, LLC in 2002, John was one of the original founders of CPA2Biz, Inc., the exclusive marketing agent of the American Institute of CPAs. John has more than 25 years experience in the practice of public accounting, business strategy, product development and entrepreneurship.

Hudson Consulting Group, LLC, provides business & product strategy consulting services to CPA firms and organizations serving the CPA profession. Previously, John served in a number of senior capacities at CPA2Biz, Inc. including leading corporate strategy, managing a multi-million dollar business unit, and leading the organization's corporate marketing and communications efforts. Prior to CPA2Biz, John served as the Chief Knowledge Officer and in various senior business and technical roles at the AICPA. He also spent 15 years at KPMG, one of the nation's leading accounting and consulting firms.

An authority on the evolution of the accounting profession and the challenges faced by CPAs, John regularly speaks on issues of concern to CPAs. He has been quoted in leading business publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The Wall Street Journal - Europe Edition, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Bloomberg Business News and virtually every trade publication addressing the CPA profession.

John is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and a former member of the U.S. delegation to the International Accounting Standards Board and the Journal of Accountancy Editorial Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Graduate School of Business at Florida State University

John is a Certified Public Accountant [CPA] and holds a Master of Business Administration [MBA] degree from Florida State University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of West Florida.

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Webcast System Requirements

TEST YOUR SYSTEM now!

Operating System

• Windows Vista
• Windows XP
• Windows 2000

Older Windows operating systems, including Windows NT / 98 / ME, will most likely work but are not officially supported. Please consult http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=lifesupsps to determine if your operating system is still supported by Microsoft.

Macintosh and Unix/Linux-Based operating systems
This presentation incorporates advanced multimedia features that allow elements such as slides, polling questions, surveys, and application demonstrations to be dynamically sent out and synchronized with the presentation. Certain standard browser plug-ins do not fully support these features in combination with Macintosh and Unix/Linux operating systems. Supported browsers with a properly installed Adobe Flash player plug-in (version 8+) will be able to view live and on-demand presentations streaming in Adobe Flash format. Not all presentations will feature this option, so alternatives include using the Firefox Web browser in combination with a properly installed RealPlayer plug-in. Please note: Presenters may not offer either option with the live Webcast.

• Pentium III 733mhz+ or equivalent

• 256MB

• Internet Explorer 6 ¹
• Firefox 2.0+
• Pop-up Blocking Software Disabled ²

¹ - Internet Explorer is the preferred browser for presenters.
² - The presentation is built on pop-up-less technology; however, the presenter may choose to use pop-up windows. In these cases, pop-up blocking software must be disabled for the presentation to work correctly. In many cases, holding down the "CTRL" key while opening the Webcast URL will temporarily disable your pop-up blocking software. Please consult the documentation for your pop-up blocking software to determine the correct way to temporarily disable it.

Hardware

• AUDIO: Sound Card with speakers
• VIDEO: Monitor with 1024x768+ resolution support

Media Players

• Windows Media Player 9+
• RealPlayer 10+ ³
• Adobe Flash Player 8+ 56k

³ - If you receive a message that the system did not find RealPlayer installed within your Firefox browser, it's possible the plugin needs to be reinstalled (this can happen if the browser was installed after the player). Simply reinstall RealPlayer to fix this condition. (NOTE: If you have Windows Media Player or Adobe Flash Player installed, you do NOT need to install RealPlayer.)

• Dial-up Modem ⁴
• Cable Modem/DSL ⁵
• Corporate LAN ⁶

⁴ - 56k Dial-up Modem. The presentation must have a low bandwidth video of 56kbps or audio-only 28kbps option listed.
⁵ - Cable Modem/DSL. The presentation must have a broadband video 100kbps or higher option listed. Typical Cable Modem/DSL speeds will average between 500kbps - 2mbps. Check with your local ISP for bandwidth allotment.
⁶ - Corporate LAN. The presentation must have a broadband video 100kbps or higher option listed. Bandwidth on corporate LANs can vary based on network traffic. Check with your local IT administrator for bandwidth allotment.

You can TEST YOUR SYSTEM now.