Accounting: Moss Adams appoints new Santa Rosa partner

Moss Adams LLP appointed 13 new partners, including one new partner in Santa Rosa and two in San Francisco. The new positions are effective Oct. 1.

In Santa Rosa, Shawn Jensen was admitted as partner. His appointment followed recognition of his expertise providing audit and advising services to the food-processing and manufacturing industries.

[caption id="attachment_62185" align="alignright" width="180"] Shawn Jensen[/caption]

Mr. Jensen has co-authored articles from Moss Adams about the wine industry, and was a recipient of the North Bay Business Journal Forty Under 40 award in 2012. He is a graduate of Sonoma State University.

In San Francisco, Elizabeth Dollar and Ben Mack were named partners. Ms. Dollar leads the firm's Not-for-Profit and Government practice, and Mr. Mack specializes in the health care industry.

Nine of the new partners are based in California. In a statement, Chief Executive Officer Rick Anderson noted that women now make up 24 percent of the firm's partnership.***

A new law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last month will make it easier for certified public accountants from outside California to do business within the state.

As of July 1, out-of-state CPAs will be able to provide services to California clients without obtaining a license or paying fees to the California Board of Accountancy.

The law, Senate Bill 1405, was sponsored by state senator Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, and followed years of lobbying by the California Society of CPAs, American Institute of CPAs and other professional groups.

Prior to the signing, California was one of two states without a mobility provision for public accountants, along with Hawaii. Accountants in the state were able to practice elsewhere without registering with that state's respective board of accountancy, but accountants outside of California or Hawaii would need to register in order to practice in those areas.

After the new law takes effect, out-of-state CPA firms must register with the state's board in order to perform audit and other functions. Public accountants practicing in the state will still be subject to the oversight of the California board, and consumers will be able access the licensing information of out-of-state accountants through the board.

"This change in the law makes the playing field even for California CPAs and eliminates the possibility of retaliatory action by other states that could reduce opportunities outside our state for California CPAs," said Johanna Sweaney Salt, chair of CalCPA, in a statement.

The law also creates a "military inactive status" for CPAs who are engaged in active duty.***

Financial regulators have jointly announced multiple efforts to assist the financial industry in preparing for the potential effects of new proposed regulatory-capital rules connected to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Released late September, a new calculator (fdic.gov/regulations/capital/calculator.html) allows banks, savings associations and holding companies to estimate how capital ratios would be impacted by the new requirements known as the Basel III capital-reserve standards.

The public comment period for the proposal was recently extended to Oct. 22.

In addition, regulators reopened the comment period for proposed rules to establish new capital requirements for dealers and major participants in security-based swaps. Originally slated to end July 11, the comment period now will close Nov. 26.***

Submit items for this column to eric.gneckow@busjrnl.com or call 707-521-4259.

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