19th Annual Catawba Valley Accounting and Management Conference
Friday, November 20, 2020
4 Session Options Beginning at 8:30 a.m. EST
Sponsored by: Catawba Valley Chapter IMA
8 Continuing Professional Education Credits
**Including 2 Hours of qualifying Behavioral Ethics** Register online via our website @
Chapter Events - Catawba Valley ChapterChoose Session 1, 2, 3, 4 or any combination of the sessions Payment accepted via PayPal
Please note: All reservations must be received by Wednesday, November 18, 2020, by registering:
Cancellation Policy: Full refunds will be given for all cancellations made at least 24 hours in advance of the webinar event date. In case of event cancellation due to inclement weather, catastrophic event, or any other reason, you will be contacted via email. For any cancellation questions or concerns, you may contact Ellen Knauf or Ron Nicholson catawbavalleyima@gmail.com. Please contact Ron Nicholson via email at catawbavalleyima@gmail.com with any problems, concerns, or complaints about the webinar event. You may also mail to the attention of Ron Nicholson @ PO BOX 2132, Hickory NC, 28603. Conference webinar evaluation forms will be provided/required. For Chapter information please visit our website @ www.catawbavalley.imanet.org Prerequisites: None
Advance Preparation: None
Program Level: Basic
Delivery Method: Group Internet Based
CPE Information: The Catawba Valley IMA 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 via its website: www.nasbaregistry.org. This program meets the ICMA guidelines for CPE credits for CMAs and CFMs.
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Morning Session 8:30 am-10:10 am (CPE Credit: 2 Hours in Personal Development)
Martin Brossman presents: “Effective Communication in a Diverse Workplace Community”
Effective communication and effective inclusion are more important than ever before in our accelerated and emotionally charged global world. Experts have shown that we all have some form of unconscious bias in the workplace, regarding cultural, generational, and gender diversity, which can be useful or detrimental. Rather than dwell on labeling negative biases, we look at higher-level ways to enhance communication and build long-term relationships that honor individuality. This is not a course in how to avoid offending anyone, but how as leaders in our groups and communities to get the best out of a diverse community. This workshop dives into building rapport, developing trust, and inspiring more productive results.
• Understand the communication process and effective communication
• Identify barriers to effective communication
• Explore biases, stereotypes, assumptions, and attitudes that may exist in the workplace and how our lenses and perceptions affect our communication
• Identify cultural, generational, and gender-based values and preferences for interaction
• Examine effective techniques and strategies for communication in a diverse workplace
• Practice effective listening skills
• Understand verbal and non-verbal clues
• Explore multiple channels for communication
Morning Session 10:25 am-12:05pm (CPE Credit: 2 Hours in Behavioral Ethics)
Ellen Knauf Presents: IMA Ethics Series: “Action Required – Navigating Ethical Dilemmas”
This workshop is designed to appraise the importance of ethics in accounting organizations by examining ethical dilemmas in the workplace at various professional levels and analyzing resources or corresponding regulations to make ethical decisions. This is a scenario-based course that will ultimately create an appreciation for how an ethical framework and adherence to relevant legislation can contribute to the decision-making process and create an ethical organizational culture. We will be following an accounting professional as she struggles with different situations that create ethical dilemmas for her.
• Identify significant ethical dilemmas in the workplace.
• Describe alternative courses of action to navigate ethical dilemmas.
• Analyze legislation and resources to draw conclusions about ethical dilemmas.
• Apply critical thinking skills to make ethical decisions.
• Support ethical judgments and resolutions using the IMA Statement of Ethical Professional Practice.
Afternoon Session 1:00 pm – 2:40 pm (CPE Credit: 2 Hours in Finance)
Yash Bhatia Presents: “Building a Data-Driven enterprise with case studies for Operational Finance Analytics"
What sets companies such as Airbnb, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Uber, etc. apart from their competitors or having no competitors? – It is data. These companies were visionary recognizing "data-driven" as a core strategy of their business model. These companies leverage the transformative power of data and analytics to understand their consumers' behaviors. They then cultivate future opportunities for value creation by creating consumers that are addicted to their products and services. Among other factors, Technology has been the driving force. The data and analytics revolution are only possible because of easily accessible, increasingly inexpensive computing power: the cloud, the Internet, and powerful, versatile software and algorithms. Building a data-driven enterprise will deliver the greatest value for stakeholders and customers. In today's highly competitive business environment, companies need more from Finance than accurate financial statements and reports. They need forward-looking, predictive insights that can help shape tomorrow's business strategy and improve day-to-day decisionmaking in real-time. In short, they need operational finance analytics.
• Recipe for a successful data-driven enterprise.
• Why operational finance analytics is needed.
• Benefits of operation finance analytics.
• Case studies of operational finance analytics
Afternoon Session 3:00 pm – 4:40 pm (CPE Credit: 2 Hours in Information Technology )
Tom Foss Presents: “Beyond Risk Assessment – 2020”
This presentation will review the current threat landscape as it stands in late 2020, discussing the trends analysts are seeing, the attack vectors being used, and the most common types of malware in use. We’ll look at a process for performing risk assessments in your organizations, and identify strategies for the protection of both persons and corporate data. Finally, we will review possible approaches to providing things to organizational staff to help mitigate loss and ensure information integrity.
• Review Current Risk Assessment Approaches.
• Review a Process to Identify Security Requirements.
• Develop and Review Strategies for protecting personal and corporate information.
• Understand Training Requirements for Information Assurance at both personal and corporate levels.
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Guest Speaker Biographies
Martin Brossman
Martin Brossman is a leading authority on social media and online marketing. He is a business coach, consultant, and dynamic trainer known for his insight and humor. A member of the National Speakers Bureau, Martin is a popular speaker on social media topics and web-related topics for business professionals. He teaches at North Carolina community college Small Business Centers throughout the state since 2006. Currently, he teaches a Social Media Management Certificate program at NC State University TTS. His published books include Social Media for Business, Linking into Sales (professional use of LinkedIn), and How to use Hashtags. He has been self-employed since he left IBM in 1995 and has over 10 years of experience in the business use of Social Media.
Ellen Knauf
Ellen’s accounting journey started with her first job during college. She worked for a local lumber home center where she was tasked with balancing the daily cash and assisting the Manager with tracking prices on purchases to determine gross margins. Later, she was employed by Holland Wire Products in Holland MI, which later was purchased by HSM Solutions. For 27 years, she worked concurrently as the plant Cost Accountant, Office Manager, Safety Officer, and Purchasing Agent. This exposed her to all sides of accounting – purchasing, raw material costing, balancing accounts payable, and plant general ledgers. In doing so, she learned to work through two different ERP systems. The Holland Wire plant was consolidated, and she was moved to HSM Solutions Corporate Office in Hickory NC. With her background in plant processes, she continued her work as a Cost Accountant but was soon transferred to the Accounts/Payable/Receivable Manager, soon followed by Office Manager. It was during this time that she was introduced to the Catawba Valley IMA. She was elected to the Treasurer position, which she held for two years. She has been the President for four years. Currently, Ellen is the Office Manager for Supreme Corporation in Conover, NC, where she wears many hats. She is the Purchasing Agent, HR representative, handles product costing, Safety Manager, and has some month-end responsibilities. Doing the right thing and playing by the rules have been the backbone of her success.
Yash Bhatia
Yash Bhatia is President of Datos Consulting, a data science and analytics consulting firm that provides process improvements and integrated analytical solutions for end-to-end optimization and decisionmaking. He has over 15 years of strategic business consulting experience with Fortune 500 companies. He is currently on the board of the APICS Industrial Crescent Chapter in Greenville, SC and, Co-Chair of the Warehouse Education and Research Council (WERC) of South Carolina. Yash has been a speaker at APICS PDM in Greenville, SC; IMA (Institute of Management Accountants) at BMW Zentrum; Clemson University; and was on a panel at the Supply Chain and Quality Conference in Charleston in August 2017 speaking on "Data-Driven Automotive Supply Chain Management."
Tom Foss
Tom Foss is President of Chapel-Hill based TC Foss & Associates and an Instructor in the Information Security program for American Military University. Tom has been focused for more than 40 years on improving the way organizations use information technology, and for the last 15+ years, has been training and consulting in the area of organizational security; working with dozens of clients to develop technology plans and solutions that address the balance between effective service delivery and appropriate organizational security. Tom was the first CIO of the City of Hickory, NC, and has worked with IBM and Cisco Systems as a consultant to clients moving systems and services into the cloud environment.