On July 18, 2007, California’s Office of Administrative Law adopted final regulations on Assembly Bill 1825 which states that employers with 50 or more employees or independent contractors must provide sexual harassment training to all supervisors. In addition, new hires and newly-promoted supervisors must be trained within six months of their hire date and/or promotion. Effective August 17, 2007, final regulations were published, titled “Sexual Harassment Training and Education” (California Code of Regulations & #167;7288.0), to clarify employers’ obligations. The new regulations define various forms of effective interactive training as including classroom training, e-learning, and webinars. The training must be interactive; if a trainer is not present, one must be available to answer questions within two business days after the question is asked. Training must include questions that assess learning, skill-building activities that assess the supervisor’s application and understanding of the content learned, and numerous hypothetical scenarios about harassment, each with one or more discussion questions so that supervisors remain engaged in the training. The regulations also define the qualifications for a trainer as meeting one of the following descriptions: 1) an attorney with at least two years experience and whose practice includes employment law; 2) a human resource professional or harassment prevention consultant with a minimum of two years practical experience designing harassment/discrimination prevention training, responding to harassment complaints, conducting investigations of sexual harassment complaints or advising employers on these issues; or 3) a law school, college or university professor with twenty instruction hours or two or more years experience teaching employment law under the Fair Employment and Housing Act and Title VII. Individuals who do not fit the definition of a trainer as described above may still conduct the training so long as a trainer supervises and is available to answer questions. The regulations contain a list of 11 nonexhaustive topics required by the training. These include: the types of conduct that constitutes sexual harassment; strategies to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace; “practical examples,” such as factual scenarios taken from case law, news and media accounts; resources for victims of unlawful sexual harassment, such as to whom they should report any alleged sexual harassment; and the employer’s obligation to conduct an effective workplace investigation of a harassment complaint. Although at least two hours of training is required, the regulations state the training need not be completed in two consecutive hours, so long as the minimum duration of a training segment is no less than half an hour for classroom training or webinars. Employers must retain documentation of the training for a minimum of two years. The finalized regulations are not retroactive. Accordingly, until the new regulations become effective, employers who made a good faith effort to meet the AB 1825 requirements will be deemed compliant. After August 17, 2007, however, “good faith efforts” are not sufficient. Under AB 1825, the first training deadline was December 31, 2005. Training must be repeated every two years. Thus, for many organizations 2007 is a “training year.” Employers who trained their supervisors in 2005 must retrain in 2007, and must now comply with the new, stricter though better defined – guidelines. Nicole Kamm, Esq. is an attorney in the Employment Law Department of Encino law firm Lewitt, Hackman, Shapiro, Marshall & Harlan. Ms. Kamm’s practice currently emphasizes the areas of employment, corporate, and civil litigation. She can be reached by calling (818) 990-2120 or by e-mail at [email protected].

I started to write about the missing-in-action state budget. How the inability of California’s state senators to agree on how to effectively spend the money we give them is on the verge of creating major problems for many segments of society. How childcare centers, some 11,000 nursing homes, facilities for the developmentally disabled, and many other Medi-Cal-funded institutions just aren’t being paid and are having a tough time paying their employees and other bills. How funding for community colleges and Cal Grants to students are held up by the Senate’s 25 Democrats and 15 Republicans. Of course, how we’ve managed to create such a dysfunctional legislative system is beyond the understanding of most of us. California joins Arkansas and Rhode Island as the only three states in the Union that require a two-thirds vote in both houses of their legislatures to approve a budget. So while our Sacramento solons fiddle, the world’s sixth-largest economy is brought to a standstill. Healthcare issues; highway and other infrastructure repairs; water issues; and just a few other such unimportant matters lie unattended to so that legislators can blame “special interests,” each other and anyone but themselves, for the current situation. If you log onto the State Senate website, (www.senate.ca.gov), and go to the page of schedules, you’ll be informed that a month-long “summer recess” begins on July 20, “provided (the) budget bill has been passed.” No budget bill has been passed, but try to find any of our senators in the Capitol. Comedienne Lily Tomlin might have been speaking of our Sacramento leaders when she said, “Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hardworking, honest Americans. It’s the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them.” The Economist says of California’s budget-setting impasse that, “the legislature was debating a budget that one senator described as having been written by chimpanzees.” The truth is, they’re making monkeys out of themselves and yes, we get no bananas. But I decided not to write about the budget impasse it’s too depressing. Instead, I considered moving to Nebraska. Why Nebraska? It’s the only state in the nation with a unicameral legislature meaning one house. And to make it even better, Nebraska’s 49 legislators are elected on a nonpartisan basis. Senators are elected to four-year terms and receive a salary of $12,000 a year. The state is divided into 49 legislative districts, each containing approximately 35,000 people. (By comparison, California’s Senators each represent 846,791 people in one of the most gerrymandered states in the nation.) In Nebraska, a candidate’s political party is not listed on the election ballot. The two candidates who obtain the most votes in the primary election face each other in the general election. So, unlike our fair California, Nebraska’s legislative leadership is not based on party affiliation. A new experiment in governance? Not exactly, Nebraska has had a single legislative house since 1937, thank you. And they’re very happy with it, those Cornhuskers. What would such a system mean in California? No party bosses or group voting; no expenses for 80 Assembly members and 40 Senators for a total of 120 elected officials, their staffs and their expenses; and no wrangling over minor language in bills in committees representing the two legislative houses. The truth is, whether we adopt something similar to Nebraska’s 70-year-old approach to the legislative branch, keep what we have, or simply blow up the system, there’s an old saw that’s operative here: People get the government they deserve. Until we have the political will to really teach our elected officials, at all levels of government, that they work for us, we don’t work for them; until we find a way to let them know that their focus on scoring political points works to the detriment of the people and is unacceptable; and until we find our way out of this quagmire of partisan bickering, our state and our nation will continue to flounder. Of course, Nebraska doesn’t have Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, or “girlie men.” Maybe I’ll stay here after all. How bad could it really be? “Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.” —Otto von Bismarck First Chancellor of Germany Martin Cooper is president of Cooper Communications, Inc., marketing and strategic planning. He is the immediate past chairman of VICA; past president of the Public Relations Society of America-Los Angeles Chapter, and of the Encino Chamber of Commerce; president of the Los Angeles Quality and Productivity Commission; and a member of the Los Angeles Business Retention and Attraction Task Force. He can be reached at [email protected].

When Stephen Lynch was in university it’s doubtful that anyone would have guessed that he would one day head the largest subsidiary of one of America’s top publicly traded managed health care companies. That’s because the Health Net of California president majored in English literature as an undergraduate and went on to obtain a master’s degree in Irish literature. While it would seem that Lynch’s literature background would have no relevance to the work he’s doing now, he believes the opposite is true. “I think a liberal arts education teaches you how to think and how to communicate,” he said. “I find that most of my job is about thinking and communicating. It makes me particularly well suited for my job.” Lynch has held the position for two-and-a-half years. Prior to that, he was head of Health Net of Oregon. When he made the switch to the California subsidiary, Health Net Inc. was recovering from a financial crisis. In 2004, the Woodland Hills company’s profits plummeted to $42 million from $234 million. It rebounded the next year,stock prices doubled,only after raising rates and giving its product line a facelift. “It was a time of transition in some ways for the company,” Lynch recalled. “It was a time fundamentally of trying to put a steady hand on the tiller because it’s a matter of needing to focus, needing to have discipline, needing to meet your promises and commitments and do it every single day. To me, it wasn’t something complicated or difficult to understand, but it required showing up at work every day with a positive and steady approach to the business.” Now the San Fernando Valley’s fifth-largest public company is in the midst of a financial upswing. Its 2007 second quarter net income was $92.0 million, or $0.80 per diluted share, a marked jump from last year during this period, when net income was $77.0 million, or $0.65 per diluted share. And Health Net of California, the subsidiary that’s setting trends in areas such as cross-border health care, has undoubtedly played a key role in the company’s financial turnaround. Question: How has Health Net of California contributed to Health Net Inc.’s recent financial performance? Answer: It’s 60 percent of the corporation. It has significant effects. What’s happened in Health Net of California really is we’ve turned around our growth pattern. We’re selling more business. We think the market is more vibrant. Diversity sort of plays to our strength, so it’s mostly about growth and mostly on the small end of the business in terms of small employers. We also have some Medicare growth, which has helped the cause. It’s the first time in a few years that we’ve grown in Medicare. Q: How has Health Net generated enrollment momentum by focusing on the small group and individual segment? A: For years, Health Net has been a company that was available to the very large employers. We still do that work. We still have a lot of big-name clients, but by trying to grow in the small employer segments, I think the difference can start to show up about how we can seem more local with offices in multiple parts of the state. We also try to be as good as possible in understanding the dynamics of a local market with the local offices. Small groups are really a local phenomenon. Because there’s a lot of entrepreneurial activity in the state, there’s a lot of growth in the small group segment of the market for employers. If we can be local and if they can see us as meeting their needs, then we can really start to do some work that we really haven’t been all that involved in over the years. So in the last two years, three years, we’ve grown a lot in the small group market and it’s a good business to be in. Q: Let’s discuss the insurance stores that you have in East LA and Modesto. What role do they play in helping the uninsured know that they can indeed get insurance and insurance that’s appropriate for them? A: The stores help us do business the old-fashioned way. There’s a certain segment of the population that really wants to know the company they’re doing business with. The point of this is we’re really trying to reach people where they live, where they work and where they shop and just try to see if this is a way for us to expand doing business. The beauty of the stores is that we cover employers and insurance that way, but we also do Medicare and we also do Medi-Cal. We have over 500,000 Medi-Cal members in Los Angeles County. Sometimes when you meet the whole family you start to realize that people are eligible for different programs, but they need to run into the insurance business as a complete family because if they talk to Medicare, they don’t necessarily end up with how to get the employee covered. If they talk to their employer, they don’t necessarily know how to get their Medi-Cal-eligible person covered or Healthy Families’ child covered. So what we do is we’re able to really focus on the multiple products that are available, that they might be eligible for, all of which are different, but it’s one family. In a sense, it helps us to find those people that are uninsured but are still eligible for multiple programs. Q: Discuss your cross-border plan. A: The program is called Salud Con Health Net, and it’s a series of products. It can vary from group coverage so an employer can put this kind of coverage in or any individual can buy it. We saw a need because Latinos are twice as likely as other ethnic populations to be uninsured. Latinos are also a part of the state’s economic engine. In some ways, particularly first-generation immigrants are not as accustomed to the way care is delivered here, and there are some differences. We’ve moved to a position to say, “Well, if somebody wants to cross the border and get coverage in Mexico, as long as we could accredit the institutions and the physicians and make sure the quality is of the same standard we would look for here, then why wouldn’t we let that happen?” Once we started thinking like that, it become relatively easy to do this sort of product. People can cross the border and get coverage in Mexico for medical care and they can also, if they have family members, dependents, that they could cover who still live in Mexico, then they can go to those doctors in Mexico in hospitals that are in our network. What’s nice about this is that we established the network for this product line that is 30 to 40 percent less expensive than our normal products. So whether they go to U.S. doctors or to Mexican doctors, we have a very affordable product pricing. Q: What about your new health plan that combines a consumer-directed health plan with a traditional HMO? A: Health care in California is cheaper than it is in anywhere else in the country. It’s because of the way business is done here. The way that all plans work with physicians in hospitals, using a prepayment methodology called capitation, you pay for how many members the medical group has. It’s really interesting because I moved from Oregon to California, for example, and nothing else is cheaper here , but healthcare is. That’s because the HMO concept has been in place in California for 25 to 30 years, and it actually keeps the cost down, whereas much of the rest of the country has moved away from HMO as this sort of dominant way to do business. What we thought was all this talk about consumer directed,where people have more money to spend on their own health care but have some funds and some tax breaks,we thought let’s try to put that together with an HMO instead of giving people a $25,000 deductible. This program is a zero dollar deductible. It has a savings account attached to it. It has incentives for healthy behaviors, but it also has the cost predictability of an HMO. We think it’s a good hybrid for people to take a good solid look at. We still offer high deductible plans and straight HMO plans, but this seems to be one that has attracted some interest. I expect a little tweakage as we hear from people about things that they’d like to see improved or changed in the product. Q: What have been the high points and low points for Health Net so far this year? A: I think because we spent three hard years of trying to better understand our customers, we’re starting to get some traction on growth and profitability. We’ve had moments of real exhilaration this year because we can see we have a unique position potentially available to us in California. Many of our competitors are headquartered outside of California now. We’re a major employer of Los Angeles County. Our roots are in California. Even though we’re in other states, we’re essentially a California company. I think what we’re learning, and learning pretty fast, is that it matters to be local even in a sophisticated, diverse state like California. So we’re trying to learn to be local in the San Fernando Valley, in San Diego, in Oakland, in Fresno, etc. It’s because we’ve begun to understand that California itself is like a big local market, although it’s extraordinarily large and diverse. Q: What’s in store for next year? A: In our business, a lot of the very large employers renew for January 1, so we work on those starting in March to May and we hear through the summer and early fall about our results, and we’ve learned that we probably expect to pick up somewhere around 100,000 new members in January that we’ve already heard about. That will be the first time in a number of years that we will really pick up significant membership on January 1, so we’re really excited about that and are preparing to ensure that those new customers have a positive experience right from the start. Snapshot Information Title: Health Net of California President Age: 56 Education: Bachelor’s degree in English literature, University of Georgia; master’s degree in Irish literature, University College, Dublin Most Admired: I’m going to choose Laurie Miller. She was a 10-year-old girl I knew very well who got leukemia and passed away a year ago. The way she handled that was very instructive to me and very moving. And she also designed a shoe for Nike. Career Turning Point: You can see I didn’t follow a typical path, so I think it was probably when I decided that business was an honorable profession. That was about 25 years ago. Personal: Married with four children. My youngest child is 20, and he is about to be deployed to Iraq. I would ask the readers to support that.

By LINDA COBURN Contributing Reporter Like so many professionals, accountants are constantly seeking new ways to better serve their clients and bring more revenue into their firms. For some in the world of accounting that has meant expanding the menu of financial services they offer. Increasing numbers of CPAs are becoming licensed insurance agents or securities representatives, receiving commissions for products they sell while also receiving fees for advisory services. The accounting community is divided about whether this trend is positive. Some, like CPA Steven Fishman, partner in the Encino firm of Fishman, Block + Diamond LLP, feel the potential conflict of interest in making money by selling products like insurance or securities is too great. “I don’t do any of that,” said Fishman. “The concern I have is, how do you know, on behalf of your client, that you’re giving them objective, honest advice?” That’s why he has stuck with providing what Fishman terms the “traditional services” of auditing, compiling and reviewing financial statements, and tax and wealth planning. “I like being able to play sort of cop, telling people, ‘No, this doesn’t make sense,'” he said. “And that’s hard to do if you’re also their insurance broker or their stock broker or that sort of thing.” Fishman says that he believe most entrepreneurial CPA’s are honest and ethical and can wear both hats well. “But if I lost a client’s money even if I lost money too I would feel horrible,” said Fishman. “If an investment goes bad, you get sued and you know, malpractice doesn’t cover that plus you lose a client and I can’t afford that or stomach it.” The trend toward offering more services has not led to any increase in complaints or suits according to Ron Klein, vice president-claims counsel for CAMICO Mutual Insurance Company, the liability insurer for the California Society of Certified Public Accountants, or CalCPA. “CPA malpractice is a very low frequency event,” said Klein. “We insure 7,000 firms across the country and maybe once or twice a year it happens.” Klein explained that in California a CPA must disclose to their client, in writing, any commission they would receive prior to any transaction such as purchasing an insurance or investment product. “There’s nothing unethical or inappropriate about it,” said Klein. “It’s the CPA acting as the primary business or financial advisor, which is the traditional role of a CPA who is not an auditor.” There are a myriad of rules and regulations surrounding the provision of commission-based services, including a requirement that CPAs create discrete entities that keep fee-based accounting services separate from commission-based product offerings. That’s why CPA Dennis Rose heads two practices in Sherman Oaks. The two companies, Dennis F. Rose & Associates Certified Public Accountants and Consultants, and Premier Financial Consultants, are located in different buildings. “The files are separate, the e-mails are separate,” Rose said. The accounting company only renders accounting and tax services, which the financial services company does not. Through the financial services entity, “we are able to provide to clients either securities, like stocks, bonds, mutual funds as well as third-party money managers, annuities, when appropriate, life insurance and estate planning,” Rose said. He has gone the extra mile in his licensing. While quite a few CPAs have received their Series 7 licenses, allowing them to market securities, Rose has become a fully licensed broker-dealer with a Series 24 license. He is also licensed to sell insurance products. The primary reason he branched out, he said, “is to give his clients better service.” “I want to give my clients the opportunity to meet with their CPA who knows about their finances, not just their tax returns,” Rose said. The intent, Rose said, is not to have every client become a financial services client. “In some cases they may be better served with a Morgan Stanley or a Merrill Lynch,” he said. “I’m not competing with them. I can do what a Merrill Lynch advisor cannot do I can give tax advice. They cannot.” Rose said this gives him the ability to look at each side of the financial equation for his clients. He feels strongly that the eight years that he has been involved with these non-traditional financial services have increased his value to his clients. “I know I’ve become a better tax accountant and clients are getting the benefit of a lot more knowledge which translates, hopefully, into increased financial wealth for them,” Rose said. “I would never do anything just for a fee or commission,” Rose said. “It wouldn’t make sense. It’s always what’s best for the client. Always.” But other than the financial rewards, why would Rose want to go to the trouble of setting up separate companies and getting multiple licenses? In his words, “It’s much more fun to help a client achieve their financial goals rather than just simply preparing a financial statement or tax return.” Rose believes offering financial services “puts us in a completely different light as a financial advocate.” Back on the other side of the fence is Gary Condie, former president of CalCPA’s Los Angeles chapter and a practicing CPA in the firm of Condie & Wood in Valencia. Like Fishman, he personally doesn’t ever want to sell financial products. “It would be real hard for me to be a trusted advisor and member of (my clients’) and at the same time be selling them things,” Condie said. It’s like physicians, he related. “I don’t want my doctor to be selling me products I want them to say what I should do and then go to a pharmacist and buy that product from them and hope there’s not a kickback involved in the process.”

I never got into the newspaper business because it was inflexible, boring or absolutely black and white (I’m not talking about the printing process.) I got into it because it is tremendously exciting dealing with the issues of the day. Sometimes a newspaper can even set agendas as to what the issues of the day are. I got into it also because everyday you’re in the thick of things, making readers happy and making readers mad. It’s all very public. But because of this, you can’t expect to please everybody all the time. Everybody’s different and each reader wants something different. So it is with our Top 25 CPAs special report in this issue of the Business Journal. As you see, the Business Journal editorial staff under my supervision chose from a pool of more than 100 nominees 25 individuals who we felt exemplified the best in the Valley accounting profession. There were many more than 25 who are deserving of this honor. But 25 was the number and I had to do my job as an editor to choose only 25. Here was the editorial staff’s criteria as it chose the Top 25. – Finalists needed to be in leadership positions at an accounting firm or private or public company. – They all needed to have a good size book of business. We chose $1 million as a cutoff. Some CPAs didn’t want us to publish their book of business but we needed to know it internally to even consider the person. – We looked at significant achievements. Did they start a firm? Were they managing a firm? Were they implementing new ideas or growing a firm significantly? Because we were measuring accomplishments, it made it necessary for our honorees to be in the business for awhile usually at least 10 years. Community involvement was not considered in choosing the Top 25 just purely professional achievements. During the process, I had some concerned readers call and ask me if I was going to limit the number of CPAs that could be honored from a single firm. I didn’t. I felt that would limit too many fine accounting professionals. And as with all Business Journal special reports in which individuals or companies are selected to honor, the Top 25 CPAs were selected by the editorial department of our newspaper and the editorial department only. If you don’t agree with out criteria for choosing the Top 25, let me know. I had one person come up to me at the end of our event last week in which we honored the Top 25 and told me that she was very unhappy with our picks. She thought that largely it was the same old, same old a lot of people who have been honored before. She thought we should move things forward in the industry picking people that don’t get written about that much. We’re always looking for new ideas and to write about new people. I’m totally open to that. But those people who have made significant achievements in their professions year after year should not be ignored either. I think we have a great group of winners who we have written about in this issue and I think our process was fair and sound. If you feel differently, let me know. That’s the beauty of the newspaper business. It’s all very public and a free press is very flexible. Business Journal Editor Jason Schaff can be reached at (818) 316-3125 or at [email protected] .

North Hollywood The El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood becomes the center of San Fernando Valley filmmaking next month when it plays host to the 7th annual Valley Film Festival. This year’s event taking place Sept. 12 to 16 will screen the most feature films in the history of the festival, said organizer Tracey Adlai. A Valley native who attended film school at New York University, Adlai created the festival as a way to promote the area as a rich environment for filmmakers. “It is overlooked as a contributor to Hollywood,” Adlai said. The festival includes nine feature films, 40 short films and two featurettes from all genres. Many were shot in the Valley by local filmmakers. On the drawing board is a screening of “Fast Times At Ridgemont High,” the classic comedy filmed in the Valley, including the old Sherman Oaks Galleria. The film’s director Amy Heckerling is an NYU alumnus. Happy hour shorts screenings on Sept. 13 and 14 will be preceded by cocktails. The festival is funded through donations, sponsorships and out of pocket money. It has broken even the past two years, Adlai said. The festival is administered by Community Partners, a not-for-profit organization. Monthly screenings at the Two Road Theatre in Studio City help raise money to put on the festival. New potential sponsors from the entertainment industry approached Adlai in July but were too late to be included in this year’s festival. Instead, Adlai said she would work the businesses in starting in October with the resumption of monthly screenings at the Two Roads Theatre. Past films shown at the festival have been picked up for DVD distribution. Studio City filmmaker John Putch, director of “Mojave Phone Booth” that was shown last year, is in negotiations for cable and DVD release of the film. She does get contacted throughout the year by distributors wanting more information about films that were screened, Adlai said. The timing of the festival precludes more distributors from attending because of the Venice International Film Festival, Adlai added. SAN FERNANDO VALLEY Chatsworth Musical: Youth who attended the Chatsworth Recreation Center Theater Class will be strutting their stuff Friday and Sunday in two performances of “Grease.” Show time is 7 p.m. both evenings. Tickets are $7 for adults and $4 for children ages 5 to 12. Children under four are free but must be accompanied by a parent. Refreshments will be available for purchase in the auditorium which is located at 22360 Devonshire St. North Hollywood Films: Submissions are being accepted for the 5th Annual Hollywood International Student Film Festival taking place Nov. 14 to 18 in North Hollywood. Entries must be submitted by registered students by Aug. 31. If a recent graduate, the film must have been made while a student. More than one entry can be submitted. For more information call (818) 203-4179 or visit www.isffhollywood.org. Award: Golden Globe winner Hugh Laurie, star of Fox-TV’s hit show “House M.D.” will receive the Clinic’s Visionary Award by Valley Community Clinic on October 10. Also receiving an award for Corporate Visionary Award will be Vince Liuzzi, senior vice president/regional president of San Fernando Valley Community Bank Wells Fargo and Company. This award ceremony is VCC’s 4th annual fundraiser called “Laughter is the Best Medicine” benefiting VCC. Included at the event will be cocktails, a Celebrity Doodle Silent Auction, dinner, and entertainment. Tickets for the 499-seat event are $250 each. For more information call Michael Teta at (818) 906-0240. Northridge Lecture: Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center’s Karl Kaplan, MD and board certified in internal medicine and geriatrics, will give a lecture called “The Circle of Life” on August 23 from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Kaplan will discuss the circle of life as a pie, with slices representing our mental, emotional, physical, social, behavioral and spiritual aspects of our lives. Located at the Wilkinson Senior Center, this lecture is free and no preregistration is needed. Tarzana Aircraft: Worldwide Aeros Corporation confirmed participation at the National Business Aviation Association, Inc.’s 60th Annual Meeting & Convention on September 25 to 27, 2007 in Atlanta, GA. During the event, there will be an official announcement for the launch of the Aeroscraft ML866 program. Built on the basis of a new concept of flight, the Aeroscraft’s versatility allows it to be used as a private air yacht, corporate air vehicle or commercial commuter. “We are coming to the NBAA show because we have reached a level where we can solicit an input from the customer community to ensure the Aeroscraft will change the way executives travel and do business outside of the office,” Aeros Vice President Fred Edworthy said in a written statement. SANTA CLARITA VALLEY Santa Clarita Packets: The City of Santa Clarita Enterprise Zone’s employer voucher application packets are available to help city businesses in the zone file for hiring tax credits. The packet includes step-by-step instructions for employers on how to complete the voucher application forms, as well as the guidelines for determining the eligibility of employees. Applications are available online at www.santa-clarita.com and at City Hall in the city’s Economic Development office, Suite 210, 23920 Valencia Blvd. ANTELOPE VALLEY Fair: The 69th annual Antelope Valley Fair & Alfalfa Festival begins its 2007 festivities on August 24 with the 11-day festival continuing through Labor Day. The fair will feature carnival rides, animal exhibitions, craft competitions, educational expositions and concerts. The Robertson Palmdale Honda concert series line-up includes country music queen, Reba McIntire; country phenoms, Lone Star with fiddler, Charlie Daniels; rock passionistas, Heart; power pop band, The All-American Rejects with Alana Grace; and rocker Daughtry. Ticket prices for the fair vary. Festival: The City of Lancaster will be sponsoring Celebrate! Downtown Lancaster, a free festival at Lancaster Boulevard and Forn Avenue. Activities include wine tasting, arts and crafts, miniature train rides and a free concert by The Funk Brothers on Sept. 15 between 5:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. SIMI VALLEY Mixer: A Multi-Chamber Mega Mixer will occur on August 23 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. by the Simi Valley, Moorpark and Chatsworth/Porter Ranch chambers. The theme of the mixer is “As American as Apple Pie” and it will be located at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library-Air Force One Pavilion. Admission is $5. To RSVP call (805) 526-3900 or (805) 529-0322 CONEJO VALLEY Unveiling: Janss Marketplace will be unveiling its newly re-designed community fountain at an event Saturday, August 25 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Festivities will include Chumash Native American dancers, a live band, crafts for the kids, face painting, a balloon artist and a bounce house. The Marketplace is located at Moorpark Rd. and Hillcrest Dr. in Thousand Oaks.

Talk to accounting professionals in the greater San Fernando Valley and they will tell you that they have more business than they know what to do with. The excess work can be traced to a robust economy and the changes made to the industry following the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. “When the economy is good usually the CPA does well,” said James Macklin, a lecturer in the accounting program at California State University, Northridge. The accounting field in the Valley is a mixture of mid-size firms, small firms and sole practitioners. The largest of those firms have not differed much in the past several years, with Miller Kaplan Arase & Co. and Grobstein Horwath & Co. as the only ones with more than 100 employees. Of the Big Four accounting firms only Ernst & Young and KPMG LLP have Valley offices. Michael Grobstein, the managing partner of Grobstein Horwath, called accounting a tough business because it requires saying no to a client and presents opportunities to do the wrong thing. “When I was young, I used to say that character was the most important ingredient to success in our business. If you didn’t have the character you can fail,” Grobstein said. “You’ve got to be able to turn self interest away and do what’s right.” The general public didn’t think the right thing was being done when it came to the accounting scandals of five years ago involving Enron, WorldCom and other major corporations, many of which filed for bankruptcy. The fallout led to the failure of accounting giant Arthur Andersen and Congress taking action with Sarbanes-Oxley to create stricter internal auditing and accounting guidelines for publicly traded companies. For Valley firms this meant picking up the work the Big Four were no longer allowed to do and the chance to specialize in services for public companies and set up niche practices related specifically to the SOX guidelines. Niche practices Getting into niche practices is key to growth at accounting firms. Having that niche allows an accountant or firm to distinguish themselves from their peers, said Mark H. Fowler, a management consultant to CPA firms. “You want people to remember you,” Fowler said. Human resources, investment services, broadcasting, estate planning, and cost segregation, or how to reallocate costs to accelerate depreciation on a piece of property to save taxes are hot niche areas in the industry. Fowler involves himself with the sale and merger of accounting firms and if a deal does not bring the purchaser talented people, additional locations and niche practice areas he won’t complete it. Miller Kaplan Managing Partner Mannon Kaplan estimates that his firm starts a new niche practice every decade to capture more of the market. The large number of technology companies in the Valley region also provides a growing client base, Macklin said. With their broad business experience and connections within the industry, a CPA is suited to help out tech companies. “When you have lots of clients in different industries and involved in different business activities, there is nobody like a CPA,” Macklin said. Fred Greenspan, a sole practitioner, concentrates on tax returns and compilations and sees that a lot of small firms do the same. In fact, many accountants skip public practice altogether and go into the private sector. One advantage to an accounting degree is the opportunities it presents in working for corporations or for government agencies such as the IRS or the state Board of Equalization, said Al Partington, a professor who teaches accounting at Pierce College in Woodland Hills. According to data from the American Institute of CPAs, 40 percent of its membership is in public accounting while 43 percent are in private practice in such positions as controllers or chief financial officers. The remainder of the membership is in consulting, government work, education, law or is inactive. The California Society of CPAs has 30,000 members and about 5,000 members are in private business or industry although that number is not precise, said spokesman Bill Spaniel. Mergers, acquisitions Niche practices can be started from scratch or be brought in to a firm through mergers and acquisitions. In the Valley, mergers and sales of firms have taken place on a lower level among small and mid-size firms. Kellogg & Andelson Accountancy Corp. in Sherman Oaks is among the firms actively looking to buy others. Acquisition, however, helps firms get around one of the most severe challenges the industry faces finding qualified accountants to come to work for them, especially those with three to seven years experience. The reasons for the shortage vary. The dotcom boom lured accountants away from public practice and into private technology companies. The meltdown of Arthur Andersen in the face of accounting mismanagement with Enron showed accountants their careers could be affected by what happened in other offices. At that point, the accounting profession was not seen as glamorous, said Allan Fisher of Premier Financial Search, a headhunting firm based in Valencia. On average, the firms he’s working with are looking for two to four people, Fisher said. And because firms are not hurting for business, they need employees with skills to maintain the existing client relationships, he added. “The local firms have the work to do but graduates lack the communications skills,” Fisher said. Added into the mix is a generation entering the workforce with a different work ethic than their parents and grandparents. Workers in their 20s and 30s take more seriously a work-life balance and may not put in the extra work needed to get ahead at an accounting firm. When CSUN’s Macklin worked for Andersen in the 1960s, putting in hours over a weekend was not unusual. “In today’s environment you suggest to someone they work a Saturday or Sunday and they look at you as though you are from Mars,” Macklin said.

If there is a common trait among the accountants named as the Business Journal’s Top 25 CPAs in the Valley it is that they have gone out of their way to set themselves apart from their peers. Whether through their education or work experience, these accounting professionals carved out areas leading to their success. On its face, the accounting field may not seem glamorous but the honorees have shown otherwise. Take, for example, Lester Knispel who counts among his clients top names in the sports, acting and music worlds. George Nadel Rivin and Nancy Chandler serve clients in the broadcasting industry while Jerry Otchis is unique among the honorees as an accountant who has spent his career in private industry as the vice president of finance and administration with Bobrick Washroom Equipment Co. Clients of Greg Lippe can count on his political ties to help them out in a jam. Their backgrounds are as varied as their specialties. Chandler uses her knowledge of interior design to attract clients from that industry to her firm. Mark Nelson served on the organizing committee for the 1984 Olympics. Kevin Holmes managed a surf shop before taking the advice of his father and returned to school to take accounting classes. Alfred Warsavsky didn’t enter the accounting arena until in his 30s, a move he found beneficial because he was more mature to make it through stressful times. Warsavsky is one of several accountants honored making a name for himself for his courtroom work as an expert witness in marital dissolution, fraud and embezzlement cases. It’s an expertise also practiced by his co-worker Barbara Luna, who compares herself to a financial detective when she delves into documentation to trace lost money. The list includes accountants still in the early stages of their careers, such as Sally Aubry who has spent half of her 34 years in the field and Scott Sachs, who made managing partner earlier this year in the Valley office of Good Swartz Brown & Berns. At the other end of the scale are veterans James Pulsipher, Fred Solomon, Michael Grobstein, Mannon Kaplan, Tony Rose, and Mel Kohn who have more than 200 years of combined experience among them.

Baby-Friendly USA has designated Providence Holy Cross Medical Center as one of only 59 “Baby-Friendly” hospitals nationwide. Providence was the only hospital to receive this designation out of the San Fernando, Santa Clarita, Simi and Antelope valleys. According to their Web site, “The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative is a global program sponsored by the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund to encourage and recognize hospitals and birthing centers that offer an optimal level of care for lactation.” Baby-Friendly hospitals are chosen after a rigorous on-site survey focusing on the optimal level of care and information for breastfeeding mothers. “We feel like it validates the wonderful work we’ve been doing for the health of our patients and our community,” said Sherry Mendelson, RNC, PhD, IBCLC, a clinical nurse specialist and lactation consultant, in a written statement. Located in Mission Hills, Providence has been working toward the goal of a Baby-Friendly designation for five years. Providence offers round-the-clock breastfeeding support services, pump rentals and prenatal education in their Babywise new parent education service.

The Board of Directors for Ixia approved the company buying back $50 million in its common stock. The shares of the Calabasas-based provider of performance test systems will be purchased on the open market in negotiated transactions at management’s discretion. As of June, 30, the company has 68 million shares of common stock outstanding. The repurchase program is in the best interests of Ixia and its shareholders, said President and CEO Errol Ginsberg. “Our current cash balance, along with our expected future cash flow, provides us the financial flexibility and liquidity to repurchase shares, while allowing us to continue to pursue strategic growth initiatives,” Ginsberg said.