Accounting Students File Over $3 Million in Taxes; Find $98,000 in Refunds

Accounting students were busy this tax season assisting other students and community members through VITA, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. VITA is a free program designed to assist residents of the San Diego area who make less than $40,000 a year. SDSU accounting students are trained and certified by the IRS to prepare the tax returns.

“This year, we assisted 205 participants, most of which were single students with about 35% from the community,” said Gene Whittenburg, professor of taxation in the School of Accountancy. Approximately $3 million in taxes were filed and about $98,000 was refunded to the participants. The average tax refund was about $480.

Padres General Manager Visits
Sports Business Management MBA Program

Students in the inaugural class of the Collegeís new Sports Business MBA Program were treated to a one-on-one session with the San Diego Padres General Manager Kevin Towers on May 16. Towers visited the class to talk about his career from his college days as an ALL-WAC pitcher at BYU, through his years in San Diego's farm system to his time as a scout and then management in the Padres organization. He elaborated on his role as general manager of the Padres, his management style/philosophy and the challenges he faces in Major League Baseball. Towers gave some humorous anecdotes about working with baseball players and students were then given the opportunity to ask questions.

The CBAís Sports Business Management MBA is in partnership with the Padres and has received national attention for being the first university program to partner with a major league team. The inaugural class began in January and already has had visits by several sports industry experts including Tom House, Leigh Steinberg, Bill Walton and others. For more information on the program, visit www.sdsu.edu/sportsmba.

Two SDSU Students Received the John Burnham Scholarship

Malin Burnham, center, awards scholarships to SDSU students Sarina Demers (left) and Augustus Gatto (right).

Graduate student, Sarina Demers (far left, next to Malin Burnham) and undergraduate, Augustus Gatto (right) were presented with the John Burnham Scholarship to continue their education in Real Estate and Finance on May 4.

The students were presented with $2,000 to assist in paying for tuition costs. Both students had over the minimum GPA of 3.0 and have been active in the SDSU and San Diego community. The recipients had to be selected by a member of the John Burnham Company and a member of the SDSU faculty. This year the company member was John Casey, a SDSU alumni, and the faculty member was Andy Do, professor of finance.

In 1984, the John Burnham Scholarship was developed to aid students in the real estate or financial services majors, or pre-business majors who intended to declare real estate or finance as their major.

Accounting Students Win First Runner-Up Award at Regional Case Competition, Invited to Attend National Competition in Miami in August

Student team members are (l to r) Mark Joelson, Zarek Lee, Eduardo Moreno, City of San Diego Auditor and Competition Judge John Torrell, and Nancy Soto.

A team of accounting students was awarded the First Runner-Up Award at The Association of Latino Professionals in Finance and Accounting (ALPFA) and Klynveld, Peat, Marwick and Goerdeler (KPMG) student case study regional competition in San Francisco on April 29.

Students Mark Joelson, Zarek Lee, Eduardo Moreno and Nancy Soto presented their case on how a company could best transition from the intrinsic method to the fair market value of accounting for employee stock options. Under the faculty supervision of accounting professor Sharon Lightner, and with the help of Ghassen Jabber from KPMG, the students developed a 20-minute presentation based on their research.

 “I was particularly proud of the students. They wanted a chance to prove themselves against the other universities and they worked incredibly hard to beat these teams.” The other universities included the University of Washington, University of Southern California, University of California at Berkeley and San Francisco State University.

Each year, the top runner-up team is invited to compete in the national competition.   The judges extended the invitation to the SDSU team, which will travel to Miami in August to vie for a national prize.

EMC Hosts “Successfully Managing Growth” Forum

Margie Blanchard, co-founder of Ken Blanchard Companies, talks to the seminar attendees about managing growth.

Nearly 150 attendees came to the Hilton Mission Bay on May 11 to attend the Entrepreneurial Management Center’s (EMC) open business forum titled, "Successfully Managing Growth."   Panelists included Margie Blanchard, Co-Founder, Ken Blanchard Companies; Russell Lewis, CEO, Rhino Linings; Ken Smith, CEO, Southwest Traders Food Distributors; and Linden Blue, Vice Chairman & Senior VP, General Atomics. The forum was moderated by John Cardosa, Vice President, Union Bank of California.

The panelist’s companies ranged from $50 million in revenues to $250 million. Although they all experienced various degrees of growth, Ken Smith from Southwestern Traders, a $250 million food distribution company, cautioned the audience on rapid growth, as it almost put his company out of business in 2004.  “I discovered that less is more,” Smith said. “Cash flow is essential, as is the leader’s ability to see the big picture and understand how growth will fit in with current operations.”

The EMC's Business Forum serves the growth of closely held and family businesses. The Forum’s purpose is to drive the growth and development of member businesses by providing entrepreneurial education, training programs, resources and peer support to closely-held and family businesses in the San Diego region. Larger forums, open to the public for a fee, are scheduled periodically throughout the year. For more information or to join the Forum, contact Carmen Bianchi, director, at 619.594.2781 or emcforum@projects.sdsu.edu.

email: business@sdsu.edu