Conveniently located in the heart of Montréal's cultural district, the Wyndham Montreal features 600 spacious guestrooms, an indoor pool and fitness facility, an outdoor sundeck, a whirlpool and sauna, a café overlooking a garden terrace, a piano bar and a business center. The Complexe Desjardins with 150 shops and boutiques, restaurants and movie theaters is adjacent to the hotel. Old Montreal, Chinatown and the trendiest restaurants on St-Laurent and St-Denis streets are within walking distance from the hotel.

Guest Room Amenities

• Attractive guest rooms, carefully detailed for the business traveler
  
• Coffee maker and complimentary coffee in every room
  
• Alarm clock/radio in all rooms
  
• Hairdryer in all rooms
  
• Iron and ironing boards in all rooms
  
• Wayport high-speed Internet access
  
• Real hangers and shower massager
• Color television with remote control
  
• Cable channels and in-room movies
  
• Non smoking rooms available
  
  

Hotel Services

• Pool
  
• Laundry and valet service
  
• Safe-deposit boxes available
  
• Evening room service
  
• Currency exchange
  
• Business center
  
• Indoor valet parking

Friday, June 27, 2003

RISE & SHINE BREAKFASTS
(M) Practice Management 101– PART II
By Rita Keller, Brady Ware & Schoenfeld
(N) Raising the Bar Panel
Moderated by: Don Scholl, D.B. Scholl, Inc.

Participants:

Mary Ellen Meador, Kemper CPA Group John Jackson, Battelle & Battelle Nigel Jacobs, Taylor Leibow LLP, CAs Kathy Anthony, O'Sullivan Creel

BREAKOUT SESSIONS
(O) Attitude: The Key to Your Bottom Line
By Frank Bucaro, Frank C. Bucaro & Associates
(P) Creating a Learning Firm (repeated at 1:15 p.m.)
By Richard Brehler, Plante Moran
(Q) The Foundation for Winning: When the Rules Keep Changing
By Linda Talley, Linda Talley

• Managing Beyond the Numbers
• How to Keep the Stars on Your Staff: Employee Retention Strategies
• The Foundation for Winning – When the Rules Keep Changing
• Attitude: The Key to Your Bottom Line
• Applying "Sustainable Performance Strategies"
  
• Branding Yourself and Your Profession

The Association is planning to have several featured speakers on various timely issues. Plans are coming together for a fabulous symposium with two and a half days of interesting speakers and topics certain to please attendees from accounting practices, regardless of firm size or the specific responsibilities of the professional manager. The symposium will kick off on Wednesday afternoon with a dynamic speaker, followed by breakout sessions and forums for organization leaders and first time symposium participants.

First Timer's Forum
By Virginia Lowery, Illinois Agricultural Auditing Association and Rita Keller, Brady Ware & Schoenfeld

Spend thirty minutes learning the ins and outs of the AAA National Symposium. Veteran attendees Virginia Lowery and Rita Keller will take a fresh approach to adding value to the annual symposium while providing tips to receive the maximum return on your personal and firm investment.

Heard on the Street – Observations from the Playing Field
State of the Accounting Industry Address
By Allan Koltin, Practice Development Institute

This session is designed to give both practitioners and professional management insight into:

• The factors driving change (and opportunity) within our profession
  
• The different life cycles of CPA firms and the challenges they face
  
• The future roles and responsibilities of partners
  
• How (and why) partner compensation methods have to change
  
• Products and services of the future
  
• The continuing evolution of the managing partner role/professional management
  
• The impact of mergers and acquisitions/strategic alliances on CPA firm growth
  
• Why top talent and profitability are intertwined
  
• The impact of Andersen/Enron and Sarbane-Oxley on our profession
  

Breakouts by Firm Size
Participants will break out into four groups by firm size (annual fees). Each group will be led by a seasoned administrator with professional management experience in an accounting firm of that particular size. Issues such as marketing, human resource management, facilities management, technology, and practice development will be discussed but the sky is the limit for topics. Agendas for the various groups will be set prior to the Symposium by the participants themselves.

Why Can't Everybody Just Get Along
By Christine Holton-Cashen, Christine Holton-Cashen

Are you plagued by "difficult" people? Learn the techniques to identify, understand and cope with confrontations and develop the confidence you need to resolve difficult issues. Learn the secret of saying "no" without using the word and create the outcomes you want. Christine will help you approach conflict creatively by outlining tactics to keep your cool, defuse situations and blow off steam before you boil.

Practice Management 101
By Rita Keller, Brady Ware & Schoenfeld (www.bradyware.com)

This two part session is designed for the professional manager looking for the basics of CPA firm administration. Whether you are new to the profession, have changed industries or simply need a refresher or renewed sense of enthusiasm, this is the Rise and Shine Breakfast for you. Rita is one of the most sought after administrative coaches in the country and will help participants grow and develop in their respective roles.

Practice Management 401
By Allan Koltin, Practice Development Institute

This open session is geared primarily towards directors of administration, COOs, administrative and managing partners and is designed to allow participants an open exchange of questions for discussion. The session will provide participants an opportunity to share their questions and concerns with Mr. Koltin, who will draw on best practices from similarly sized firms with whom he has consulted around the country.

Get What You Want With What You've Got!
By Christine Holton-Cashen, Christine Holton-Cashen

This program gives you the tools to get the absolute best with what you've got! We are all given what we need to succeed and Christine will help you take those skills to the next level. Communicate with effectiveness, have more energy, utilize your time to the fullest and tap into your creative potential. Get what you want both personally and professionally~ you deserve it!

Your Ticket to the Future: Branding Your Career
By Cory Dillon, Right Management Consultants

What's your ticket to the future? Branding. What is branding? What's your AAA Career Brand? What questions should you be asking yourself about your current and future professional identity? And how will your answers impact others' perception of you as a key player?

Partner Performance Management
By Todd MacDonald, MacDonald Business Development

This session will explain how collections, premiums, client service, consulting orientation, sales training, adding value, client satisfaction, time management, dealing with difficult clients, client ranking, cross-selling, budgeting, lead generation, follow-up, training, motivation, and goals and objectives all converge into a performance management program. Mr. MacDonald will also define the role of the marketing person, managing partner, practice group leader and firm administrator in relation to the above and how to maximize the performance of this role.

Applying "Sustainable Performance Strategies"
By Michael McDowell, McCrory & McDowell, LLC

Over the past several years, the process that we had come to recognize as strategic planning has undergone extensive review/modernization. Businesses in all industries have revisited "Balance Scorecarding", Activity Based Management Techniques and even the theories of the recent best seller "Six Sigma", as alternatives to improve performance and achieve objectives in today's increasingly competitive business environment. SPS has emerged as an effective assembly of the best characteristics of each of these models. SPS was developed from, and is supported by, the AICPA sponsored strategic planning process, Performance View Plus.

Many firms have strategic plans, management reports and day-to-day decision making criteria that do not, collectively, support the actual goals of the firm. The SPS process identifies the specific factors that are, or will be, critical to the success of the organization. These critical success factors must relate to the overarching goals of the firm. As these critical success factors are identified, the Sustainable Performance Strategies process drives the firm to develop a practical measurement system that can provide real time feedback about key activities surrounding these success factors (how much progress is being made). Armed with a better understanding of the important goals and objectives of the firm, and the drivers critical to successfully achieving those objectives, management will make better, more consistent, less arbitrary management decisions.

First Class: Coaching Your "A" Players
By Cory Dillon, Right Management Consultants

Who are the "A" players in your organization? What are their unique needs? How will you keep them engaged with your organization? What will it cost if they leave? How do you coach them--either to advance or to maintain their high performance? In this interactive session, Cory will share Right Management Consultants comprehensive research on satisfying "A" players along with tips for coaching them effectively.

Firm Strategy Buy-In
By Todd MacDonald, MacDonald Business Development

This session will show participants who to create a firm strategy buy-in and get professionals to embrace change concepts. Most professionals are self-centered and resistant to management and change. Mr. MacDonald will explain how the vertical silos that have been built up in your practice can be replaced with a horizontal management program that gets everyone's efforts harmonized.

Career Path Management
By Todd MacDonald, MacDonald Business Development

This session will discuss career path management for today's accounting firm administrator. Mr. MacDonald will discuss ways professional administrators can move up through the different stages of career development (i.e. office manager, firm administrator, COO, CEO, principal/partner, consultant) while providing knowledge to continually strengthen the firm.

Raising the Bar Panel

Moderator:		Don Scholl, D.B. Scholl, Inc.
Panelists:		John Jackson, Battelle & Battelle Mary Ellen Meador, Kemper CPA Group Nigel Jacobs, Taylor Leibow LLP, Cas Kathy Anthony, O'Sullivan Creel, LLP

Taking the High Road: How to Succeed Ethically When Others Bend the Rules
By Frank Bucaro, Frank C. Bucaro & Associates

Problems and consequences attributed to poor ethical decisions can arise when ethical behavior is not defined, understood, or demonstrated. Emphasizing ethics can help to foster an environment where:

• Ethical behavior is valued.
  
• Ethical behavior is considered the norm.
  
• Solid ethical decisions help to contribute to long-term success.
  

This program features easy to understand definitions of ethics, guidelines for tackling difficult decisions, practical examples, and a generous amount of humor – the result – an upbeat look at a key factor in long-term success. This session is based on Mr. Bucaro's book of the same title.

Attitude: The Key to Your Bottom Line
By Frank Bucaro, Frank C. Bucaro & Associates

This session will be entertaining and insightful as it focuses on three basics for relationship building that can provide inspiration for personal and business success.

• Change! A problem or opportunity?
  
• You can't give what you don't have. So how do you influence co-workers, employees, and associates?
  
• "Repetition is the mother of learning." Put new skills to work for greater effectiveness.
  

Combining Frank's unique style of rich content, humor, and easy to adapt ideas, this program will explore the challenge that change presents in today's competitive marketplace.

Creating a Learning Firm: A Report From the Plante & Moran Trenches
By Richard Brehler, Plante Moran

Learning is the result of any interaction, formal or informal, that enhances an individual's ability to perform a job, and/or prepares an individual for additional responsibility and/or growth, development and advancement. It has little to do with CPE.

In the next century, learning will become the new currency of client service, and how we differentiate our firm in the marketplace. The successful firm of the future will be the one that learns how to resist the CPE compliance paradigm and learns to plan and manage all the formal and informal mechanisms that create learning.

Learning from our clients is a commitment to improvement. Learning with our clients is a commitment to the relationship. Learning for our clients is a commitment to always be a value-added service provider.

The Foundation for Winning: When the Rules Keep Changing
By Linda Talley, Linda Talley

In today's changing business and economy, more focus is being put on "losses" rather than "wins!" Wins occur when you are able to take responsibility for your life and generate options and choices that will support you in achieving them. You know the rules for winning the game called business yet it doesn't seem to work because "they" keep changing the rules. The rules will continue to change. Why aren't you winning though? Because you don't have the glue to bring it al together and create harmony, melody and balance! This program gives you the right glue, the ingredients of the glue which energizes you to take action and bring your team together to create the business results you want! This is the perfect meeting/conference "opener or closer" because it challenges your attendees to focus on what they can do to achieve wins in today's economy! If you're trying to build a team, this isn't the place to begin! When a person knows how to create wins for him/herself, think about how much further they can go when on a team! They stop blaming and take action!

This session will teach self-motivating skills and internalize the key concepts for moving ahead in life and business, even during a sluggish and/or changing economy. Ms. Talley will provide key insights for implementing action steps which lead to personal excellence and will teach participants how to reframe the difficult situations in their lives and businesses in order to achieve what they want.

Chapter Leadership Forum
Moderator: Dawn Hanna Bell, Wright Griffin Davis & Company

This session is for current and future leaders of AAA chapters. If you are interested in a leadership position or have served in a leadership capacity within a current AAA chapter or are interested in helping form a chapter in your area, this is the luncheon for you. Listen to what works for others, learn to locate speakers and develop interesting programs, develop effective membership campaigns and more.

How to Keep the Stars on Your Staff: Employee Retention Strategies
By Linda Talley, Linda Talley

What really makes you happy? What do you love to do? What do you need from others? If you think you are any different from your staff, guess again! We all want the same thing: to be appreciated, to have value, to receive recognition, to be challenged to be who we really are! With this program, you can begin with yourself and then take the lesson to your staff. This session will offer a four-step action plan to establish and achieve your definition of success, which impacts your business and staff. The premise is that there are many ways to reach an end, some better than others. This focused, dedicated and disciplined process provides immediate and practical help to guide anyone toward higher levels of accomplishments because you know how you feel and you know how to create in a much different way. Participants will receive methods to create better relationships with yourself first and others second, how to self-motivate yourself and get really excited, how to become an innovator and then create an innovative organization.

Conscious, focused work is much more dependable than luck in motivating and challenging staff to grow and achieve goals within your firm. When you know who you are and what you stand for, you can instill this same critical information in your staff. From this session, participants will learn about the results: loyalty, growth, achievement, balance and harmony in the workplace.

Managing Beyond the Numbers
By Debbie Sessions, Porter Keadle Moore

There are plenty of numbers in all CPA firms – from number of people, to chargeable hours, to work in process, etc. Financial management, cash flow, line of credit, collections, payroll are numbers that are an integral part of our lives as administrators. But there is more to managing the financial health of a firm that just numbers. Your firm's numbers and how you use them to motivate and challenge your staff is one of the most important tasks of firm administrators. This session will include all these numbers and how to best utilize them from preparing reports and analyses to communicating their impact to staff.

The Digital Advantage
By Roman Kepczyk, InfoTech Partners North America

This session will explore the tools and technologies that comprise today's state of the art CPA firm. It will offer a unique look at the tech gadgets that will shape our future from the viewpoint of one of the accounting industry's leading technology consultants. Be prepared to learn how to transition your firm successfully to a digital environment, manage your knowledge more effectively in a "less paper" world, and access firm resources at your fingertips from any place, at any time. This session will also discuss how to maximize your technology investment, as well as avoid the single biggest mistake CPA firms make in regards to their technology utilization.

Resources to Complement Your Learning Experience!
Each full symposium registrant will receive one copy of all session handouts on compact disc accompanied by a notebook for taking notes during educational sessions. Individual photocopies of handouts will be available on-site. The CD also includes important information about Association services and products as well as information regarding the AAA website – your resource to the accounting administration world. Plus, information about vendors and sponsors with links to their websites is included.

Certified Public Accountant
Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Credits

Following the guidelines specified in individual state regulations, up to 18 hours of continuing professional education credits will be available for the Conference sessions. The Association for Accounting Administration is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be addressed to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors, 150 Fourth Avenue North, Nashville, TN, 37219-2417. Telephone: 615.880.4200. Web site: www.nasba.org. Upon course and evaluation completion, participants attending the 2002 National Conference, desiring CPE credit will earn up to 18 hours. The Conference does not require advance preparation or prerequisites.

Chartered Accountant
Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants The Chartered Accountant (CA) is Canada's premier business and financial designation. CAs are recognized throughout the world for their high professional standards, competence, integrity and commitment to serving the public interest.

The CA qualification process is designed to ensure that CAs continue to enjoy global prominence. The educational and professional components of the qualification process are continuously updated to reflect new learning methodologies, new technologies, and emerging business realities. The new qualification process detailed on this Website and in the publications listed below will equip tomorrow's CAs for the rapidly changing business environment. At its heart, however, remains the commitment to developing the highest possible standards of professionalism and proficiency.

Becoming a CA is an excellent springboard for careers in business, public practice, government or academia.

To become a CA, there are five basic admission requirements:

• a university degree (there are exceptions in some jurisdictions for mature students);
  
• specified university courses or the equivalent;
  
• a provincial institute/order student professional program or the equivalent;
  
• prescribed practical experience; and
  
• a passing mark on the uniform evaluation.

In Canada, CAs are admitted to the profession through their province are responsible for the qualification process, admission criteria, and performance standards within their jurisdictions.

Individuals with accounting designations from a number of accounting bodies outside Canada are admitted to the Canadian profession under the terms and commitments of international qualifications.

The CICA plays a critical supporting role in the CA qualification process, working closely with the provincial institutes/ordre to ensure the development and maintenance of nationally consistent standards for the profession's qualification process. These standards are important to ensure the portability of the CA designation across Canada and internationally, through our agreements with many other countries.

The profession is currently in the process of establishing uniform guidelines for training offices and for the providers of CA education. Draft guidelines are in consultation.

In close consultation with the provincial institutes/order, the CICA supports the development of:

• The CA Competency Map, which defines the competencies of the CA, the levels of proficiency required to qualify as a CA; and
  
• The uniform evaluation (the "UFE") which every candidate must pass in order to be a CA

• Several new exclusive services offered by General Motors:
  

  Friends of the Festival Tent where, between noon and 11 p.m., they were treated to a free bottle of water or Frappuccino, suntan lotion, a cushion and a massage, as well as being given access to a listening area where they could hear the sounds of the three artists performing on the site that day;
  
  

  Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts where they were able to borrow binoculars and receive a free non-alcoholic drink during the concerts presented as part of the General Motors Pleins feux series;
  

• 15% discount on Languedoc-Roussillon wines available at participating SAQ outlets (an exclusive offer for Friends cardholders during the Festival);
  
  
• Special access to the Jam Sessions that took place on the Du Maurier stage, moved to the Jeanne-Mance Room of the Wyndham Montréal (Lobby level) to allow a greater number of jazzofiles to attend. These free-spirited evenings, where audiences were able to enjoy totally intimate and improv performances by musicians participating in the event, began at 11 p.m. every evening. The host was none other than the celebrated Vic Vogel and his trio, the only artist who can boast of having participated in all editions of the Festival.
  

As in past years, for $10, Friends of the Festival cardholders also received:

• a free Jazz Festival 2002 special edition CD from the Verve label;
  
• a participation coupon for the Grand Tirage - First prize: the choice of vehicle from among four General Motors models; Second prize: a GIC worth $5,000 offered by the National Bank; Third prize: one year's worth of groceries and President' Choice products.
  

In 2002, the Friends of the Festival Card was more widely distributed than before. For visitors to Montreal, cards for the 2003 event may be purchased on the Festival's official website, www.montrealjazzfest.com after the first of the year. The $10 contribution goes entirely to the financing of the event and its free concerts.

Participants of the AAA National Symposium are encouraged to spend the weekend in Montreal and enjoy the Montreal Jazz Festival. For more information visit their website at www.montrealjazzfest.com.

Please note that the 2003 Jazz Festival will be headquartered at the Wyndham Hotel (the same hotel AAA will be utilizing). Because of the high demand for rooms, AAA Conference participants are encouraged to book their rooms early, especially if you plan to stay for the weekend and enjoy the festival. AAA's negotiated rates are good three days pre and three days post conference, depending on availability. Make your hotel reservations now , we can always handle conference registrations and airfares later! All reservations need to be made through the Association. Reservations can be made on-line, by telephone or fax.

Culture
Culture is to Montréal what air is to all living things. In fact, most of those native to the area don't distinguish culture from their daily existence. It's just there. Perhaps it's the effect of the majestic St. Lawrence River that leads to rich voyages of the imagination, or maybe it's the French passion that has stimulated artists for centuries. Whatever it is, it has inspired such world-acclaimed artists as l'Orchestre symphonique under the baton of Charles Dutoit, the Grands Ballets Canadiens under the direction of Gradimir Pankov, novelists Michel Tremblay and Mordecai Richler, Céline Dion and the Cirque du Soleil.

Painting and sculpture flourish here, too, in the great halls of Montréal's many prestigious museums, and hundreds of top-notch local galleries. Each year the Opéra de Montréal offers a complete roster of the greatest classics, while various theater companies stage eclectic productions, from the works of Shakespeare to the latest in fringe. Visitors will also find Ex-Centris, a revolutionary Cinema and New Media Complex where film buffs go to see the best independent films from around the world and the totally "plugged-in" get their technological thrills.

A veritable hotbed of creativity for the arts, Montréal has a special soft spot for contemporary dance. Ever since the pioneering Festival international de nouvelle danse was first held here in 1985, it has provided a stage for new aesthetics and has showcased radical experiments by the best and brightest choreographers and dancers in the world.

Whether it's reproducing the belly laugh at the Just For Laughs Festival, or tapping your feet to the magnificent sounds of some of the world's best known jazz bands, Montréal parties longer, harder and more often than any place on earth. In fact, during peak festival season, you can't walk half a block without being invited to join a street party, a parade or some other joyous manifestation during the month of June.

Sites of Interest
In Downtown and Old Town Montreal alone, there are hundreds of sites of interest. To name just a few in the areas around the conference hotel:

• Old Montreal
  
• Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal
  
• The Clock Tower
  
• Phillips Square
  
• Redpath Museum
  
• Champ de Mars
  
• Dolls and Treasurers Museum
  
• Framing Economuseum
  
• IMAX Theatre of Montreal Science Centre
  
• Museum de' art urbain
  
• Environment Canada's Biosphere
  
• Canadian Centre for Architecture
  
• The Montreal Science Center
  
• Mount Royal Park
  
• Chinatown
  
• Christ Church Cathedral
  
• Church of St. Andrew and St. Paul
  
• Compagnie Jean Duceppe
  
• Crescent Street
  
• Economuseum of Violin-Making
  
• Just for Laughs Museum
  
• L'Opera de Montreal
  
• Mary Queen of the World Cathedral
  
• Montreal Candadians Hockey Club
  
• Montreal Planetarium
  
• Museum's Quarter
  

Visit http://www.tourisme-montreal.org for more information regarding any of the above attractions. Please note that tour times and costs will more than likely change after January 1, 2003, so visit these sites frequently.

Websites of Interest

http://www.montrealjazzfest.com
http://www.stcum.qc.ca
http://www.admtl.com
http://www.viarail.ca

Montreal Tourisme Bureau information and city web site:
Web site: http://www.tourisme-montreal.org

There are certain restrictions on what you may bring into Canada aside from your own personal effects. There are regulations concerning pets and livestock, firearms, prescription drugs, plants and meat products, alcohol, tobacco, commercial samples and anything you may leave in Canada. For detailed information on what you are allowed to bring in please click on the following link: http://www.cdnconsulat-la.com/eng/trade/travgood.htm.

Currency
For visitors from many countries including the U.S.A. exchange rates with the Canadian Dollar are very much in their favor, making a trip to Canada particularly good value for money.

Travelers checks and major credit cards are accepted at most commercial establishments. Many stores accept U.S. currency, but for a better rate it is best to exchange these at a bank or currency exchange facility. All banks cash and sell travelers checks and exchange currency for Canadian Dollars. Most banks are open from Monday to Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. A few banks are open on Saturdays. Cash machines or ATMs are widespread and are on one or more of the following networks: Interac, Cirrus or Plus.

GST Refunds
Did you know that travelers to Canada are eligible to receive tax refunds on purchases over $50 CDN? The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a national 7% sales tax charged on all purchases and collected by merchants. You may also qualify for PST (Provincial Sales Tax) and HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) refunds. As a foreign traveler to Canada, significant savings can be realized by taking advantage of this refund program.

International Tax Refund Services clears the way to ensure your GST refund is maximized and returned as quickly as possible. A mistake on your part may result in Revenue Canada not accepting your claim.

You qualify for a refund if:

• you are not a resident of Canada
  
• you have ORIGINAL RECEIPTS
  
• the combined total of all your receipts is a minimum of $200 CDN.
  
• each individual receipt shows a minimum of $50 CDN.
  

For a refund form or procedures call 1-800-66-VISIT (Canada) or (613) 991-3346 or visit www.gstrebate.com.

WorldWeb TravelGuides

With interactive websites covering all of Canada and the United States, TravelGuides are the front-runners in online travel information and the perfect place for potential visitors to get more information.

• Brochures with registration forms will be mailed to all AAA members in early December and can be accessed by clicking here. Non-AAA members who wish to receive a printed piece should contact the AAA office at the address below.
  

AAA NATIONAL OFFICE
136 South Keowee Street
Dayton, OH 45402
Phone: 937.222.0030
Fax: 937.222.5794
aaainfo@cpaadmin.org