I Call to Order and Roll Call - 9:35 A.M.

A meeting of the New Jersey State Board of Accountancy was convened in accordance with the provisions of the Open Public Meetings Act. Pursuant to those provisions, the proper notifications were made to the Office of the Secretary of State, the Camden Courier-Post, the Trenton Times, the Asbury Park Press, the Record, and the Star-Ledger. Board President Albertus Jenkins called the meeting to order at 9:35 a.m. The following roll call was taken:

Keith Balla, CPA Present
Robert Cagnassola, CPA Present
John Dailey, Jr., CPA Present
Andrew DuBoff, CPA Present
Bennie Hadnott, CPA Present
Albertus Jenkins, Public Member Present
Donald Jump, CPA Excused
Aubrey Kosson, CPA Present
Margaret Shoe, PA Present
Robert Sommer, PA Present
Peter Torok, Public Member Excused

Also present at the meeting were William Mandeville, Executive Director; Tobey Palan, Deputy Attorney General; Melba Rodriguez, Secretarial Assistant; Marie Lisa, Staff; Ralph Thomas, Executive Director, NJSCPA; Mike Polito, Past President, NJSCPA and David Plaskow, Editor, NJSCPA Magazine.

II Minutes of the Meeting of February 17, 2009

On a motion made by Andrew DuBoff, seconded by Keith Balla, the Board voted to approve the February 17, 2009 Public Session minutes with corrections. The vote of the Board was unanimous.

III President’s Remarks

Board President Jenkins had no report for the Board.

IV Executive Director’s Remarks

Executive Director Mandeville had no report for the Board.

V Requests for Waivers

A Guy L. DiStefano

Mr. DiStefano is requesting consideration from the Board to accept six months of work experience while employed by a CPA. Mr. DiStefano is unable to provide further statements of experience.

This matter was previously reviewed at the October 16, 2008 Board m eeting and the Board voted to request that Mr. DiStefano attempt to contact his former employer, Reber and Sons, Inc. to obtain a Statement of Experience.

Mr. DiStefano has provided further documentation from Reber and Sons, Inc. which was reviewed by the Board. After this review, there still remained some question regarding Mr. DiStefano’s Accounting and Auditing experience.

On a motion made by Robert Cagnassola, seconded by Robert Sommer, the Board voted to approve Mr. DiStefano’s request for a waiver. Mr. DiStefano is required to submit to the Board office a notarized statement that he worked for Reber and Sons, Inc. for one year. The vote of the Board was unanimous.

B Eugene G. Taormina

Correspondence was received from Eugene Taormina wherein he is requesting reinstatement of his New Jersey CPA license through reciprocity from the State of Connecticut.

On a motion made by Robert Cagnassola, seconded by John Dailey, the Board voted to approve Mr. Taormina’s request for reciprocity of his Connecticut license. The vote of the Board was unanimous.

VI Focus Questions

On a motion made by John Dailey, seconded by Robert Sommer, the Board voted to approve the draft answers to the Focus Questions and forward them by email to NASBA. The vote of the Board was unanimous.

VII Legislative Matters

A Assembly Bill No. 3765

This Bill establishes an 18-month moratorium on the promulgation of new administrative rules and issuance of new policy circular letters by State agencies.

On a motion Robert Cagnassola, seconded by Robert Sommer, the Board voted to oppose Assembly Bill No. 3765 because this Bill does not serve the public interest. The vote of the Board was unanimous.

VIII Committee Reports

A CPA Examination Committee

Aubrey Kosson had no report for the Board.

B Ethics Committee

John Dailey recused himself from this matter.

In the absence of Donald Jump, Keith Balla reported to the Board that the Committee reviewed the two New Jersey Law and Ethics courses that had been submitted for the triennial licensing period ending December 31, 2011.

The Committee recommended that the course submitted by the Education Foundation of NJSCPA, both the live presentation and web assisted versions, be approved.

The Committee further recommended that the course submitted by Accounting Educators be approved for live presentation only. It was noted that additional information regarding the procedures and technical aspects of their proposed web assisted presentation has been requested from Accounting Educators and therefore the Committee is not recommending approval for that course at this time.

On a motion made by Keith Balla, seconded by Robert Cagnassola, the Board voted to approve the Law and Ethics Committee report. The vote of the Board was eight in favor with John Dailey abstaining.

C CPE Committee

Robert Sommer reported to the Board that a Committee meeting will be held following the Board meeting. Mr. Sommer also informed the Board that he attended a NASBA CPE Conference for NASBA CPE Providers in Jacksonville, FL. There were approximately 200 hundred in attendance.

D RMA Committee

Robert Cagnassola had no report for the Board.

E QE Committee

Robert Cagnassola reported to the Board that the review of the proposed revision to QE regulations has not been completed. At the current time, the proposal is being held by the Division of Law Office awaiting correspondence from DAG Palan.

Mr. Cagnassola expressed concerns about the timing of the approval process since he was hoping that the amended regulations would be finalized before the commencement of the upcoming firm registration renewal period.

F Education Committee

Bennie Hadnott had no report for the Board.

G Reciprocity Committee

Keith Balla had no report for the Board.

H Nominating Committee

Andrew DuBoff reported to the Board the proposed slate of officers from the Nominating Committee to take office at the May Board meeting is as follows:

President - Donald Jump
Vice President - Keith Balla
Secretary - John Dailey
Treasurer - Bennie Hadnott

There were no other nominations from the floor. The Board will vote on the proposed slate at the April Board meeting.

I Statute/Rules/Regulations Committee

Andrew DuBoff reminded the Board that at the February meeting he gave a report on several meetings of the Rules and Regulations Committee. During that report he failed to mention a matter that he wished to have on the record.

When the revised CPE Regulations were adopted in 2008, there were concerns expressed by the several educators in attendance regarding the disqualification of credits earned for teaching CPE courses by full time teachers. At that time it was suggested by some Board members that this matter would be reconsidered in the future. This issue was revisited during a recent Committee meeting and after some discussion the Committee felt that there were no need to make changes to the revised CPE regulations as finally adopted.

In addition, Mr. DuBoff distributed a March 2009 Draft of two proposed changes to the regulations relative to Mobility.

On a motion made by Andrew DuBoff, seconded by Robert Sommer, the Board voted to approve the draft proposal for exposure for public comment. The vote of the Board was unanimous.

Andrew DuBoff also informed the Board that there will be a meeting on April 17 to begin the process of reviewing all regulations of the Board in accordance with the Sunset requirement.

J Planning Committee

Margaret Shoe had no report for the Board.

Ms. Shoe went on to inform the Board that she did participate in a NASBA teleconference on February 24th regarding improved communications. There were representatives participating from all States. Unfortunately, there were many technical issues during the teleconference. Participants were encouraged

to report back to their States and support involvement in communications via the internet. Ms. Shoe stated that this is a great idea since Board members are not able to travel because of the current budget constraints.

K Monitoring Profession Committee

John Dailey had no report for the Board.

IX Public Comments

Mike Polito, Past President, NJSCPA, informed the Board that he had received a call from a successful candidate regarding his inability to obtain a letter of experience from his former employer because the employer has placed his license on an inactive status.

Executive Director Mandeville informed Mr. Polito that the successful candidate should write to the Board office and provide the name of the former employer and this matter will be reviewed by the Board. The candidate should also be informed that he can submit a notarized statement of experience to the Board.

Ralph Thomas, Executive Director, NJSCPA informed the Board that , to date, 38 states have passed the Mobility rule, including 7 states that have adopted their law since the beginning of this year.

Mr. Thomas also informed the Board that the State of New York has finally updated their Accountancy Act, which had not been updated since 1947. While New York State has expanded their scope of practice rules, the revised Act is without a full Mobility law.

Mr. Thomas informed the Board that the Society’s Scholarship Ceremony will be held on April 23rd. That evening, the Society is scheduled to award $423,000 in scholarships.

Mr. Thomas reminded everyone that the Annual in-State Convention will be held on June 3-5, 2009 at Bally’s in Atlantic City, NJ. On August 6-8, 2009 the Annual Getaway Convention will be at the Fairmont Hotel in Boston, MA.

Legislatively, Mr. Thomas informed the Board about Senate Bill 1609 and also stated that the Society is looking into amending the "5 Year Rule". He also stated that he attended the Governor’s Budget Address in Trenton.

On a motion made by Robert Cagnassola, seconded by Andrew DuBoff, the Board voted to adjourn the Public Session Board meeting at 10:35 A.M. to reconvene in Executive Session to discuss the results of the Investigative Inquiry that was conducted on March 5, 2009, two matters of New Business, two matters of Old Business, three Requests to Sit for the CPA Examination, one Request for Reinstatement of CPA License and four Consumer Complaints. The vote of the Board was unanimous.

Respectfully submitted,

William Mandeville
Executive Director