Employee Benefit Plans Strategic Briefing – 2008/2009

The AICPA’s Employee Benefit Plans Strategic Briefing covers all the hot issues currently impacting employee benefit plans. This Webcast recording – available with or without CPE credit – will address issues specific to 2008/2009 engagements and will include a discussion and offer guidance these and more emerging issues:

• The credit market crises and its effect on plans
• The Pension Protection Act
• FASB Statement No. 157
• FSP AAG INV-1 and SOP 94-4-1
• The risk assessment standards
• And much, much more!

Note: The Webcast on Demand and Online Self-Study Course will be viewable immediately after completing the purchase process. Access instructions will be shown on the Order Confirmation Screen and also included in the Order Confirmation Email.

Presenters:

Marcus Aron, CPA
Employee Benefits Security Administration
U. S. Department of Labor

Marilee Lau, CPA
KPMG LLP

Michele Weldon, CPA
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Moderator:

John Hudson, CPA

Mr. Marcus Aron
Mr. Aron has over seventeen years’ experience in working with audits of ERISA-covered plans and his responsibilities include providing technical assistance to plan filers and plan professionals and providing ERISA-related accounting and auditing expertise within the Employee Benefits Security Administration.  Mr. Aron is a certified public accountant and holds a B.B.A. degree with a major in accounting from the College of William and Mary in Virginia.

Back to top

Marilee Lau
National Partner in Charge — Employee Benefit Assurance Practice

Marilee Lau is the National Partner in Charge of the Employee Benefit Assurance Practice for KPMG LLP. She is located in the San Francisco office and is the Employee Benefit Plan Practice Leader for the firm's Western Area. She is also the audit resource partner for employee benefit plans for this Area. As a designated resource partner she is responsible for coordinating training for benefit plan audits as well a providing technical support to other engagement teams related to employee benefit accounting and auditing questions.

From 1995-1998 Marilee was the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants' (AICPA) representative to the ERISA Advisory Council for the Department of Labor in Washington D.C. This Advisory Council provides guidance to the Secretary of Labor on specific issues related to employee benefit plans. She was the Chairperson for the 1998 Council. Currently she is a Chair of the AICPA Employee Benefits Plans Experts Panel, which is responsible for recommending accounting and auditing changes to the AICPA and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB). The Panel also updates the Accounting and Auditing Guide for Audits of Employee Benefit Plans as well as the annual Audit Risk Alert. This Panel works closely with the Department of Labor in order to provide appropriate guidance to plan sponsors and their accountants. In 2003 the AICPA formed the Employee Benefit Plan Audit Quality Center. Marilee is currently the vice chair of the executive committee that sets policy for the Center.

Professional Activities
Western Benefits and Pension Conference
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and California Society of CPA's
Speaker for numerous professional conferences and programs

Education
B.A. Economics, University of Santa Clara —1969
M.B.A., Accounting, University of Santa Clara —1970

Back to top

Michele Weldon

Michele is a partner in the Financial Services Industry Practice group of the ABAS practice.  She has specialized in employee benefit plan and ERISA collective investment fund audits since 1990.  Michele has more than 50 Boston office employee benefit plan clients and provides consulting to engagement teams across the U.S.   She assists PricewaterhouseCoopers’ National office in developing employee benefit plan practice aids and in resolving auditing, accounting and reporting issues. 

She is a frequent speaker at industry conferences on employee benefit plans.  She also assists in developing and teaching in-house training sessions on the industry. 

She is currently serving as chair of the AICPA’s Employee Benefit Plans Expert Panel and is also a member of the Audit Guide Revisions Task Force.  She served a three-year term on the Department of Labor’s Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Plans.  Michele received an M.B.A from Babson College and a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. 

Back to top

John F. Hudson, CPA

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.

Back to top

Webcast-On-Demand System Requirements

Though AICPA Online Learning will operate in a variety of configurations, only the configuration described below is supported by our technicians:

• Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP operating systems, or later versions
• Macromedia Flash 6 or higher
• Adobe® Reader® 7 or higher
• One of the following browsers: 
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or higher 
  • Mozilla Firefox 1.5 or higher