CLIENT NEWS

Bob Russell and Abb Jeffcoat
The March of Dimes will be holding its Ninth Annual Real Estate Award Breakfast on Tuesday, October 30, 2007. They will be honoring Bob Russell and Abb Jeffcoat of Russell & Jeffcoat Realtors as this year’s Award Recipient.

The Real Estate Award was established in 1999 by the South Carolina Chapter of the March of Dimes to honor a member of the commercial real estate community who has demonstrated a long history of service. Recipients are chosen for their outstanding leadership and vision in the community. Not only does the Real Estate Award raise money and awareness for the March of Dimes lifesaving mission of fighting for babies, but it also gives the real estate community a unique opportunity to network with associates from throughout the Southeast.

• Russell & Jeffcoat Realtors Website
   

Mungo Homes
Mungo Homes and Harbor Homes received the National Housing Quality Award at an awards ceremony in Atlanta. They were one of only four builders in the entire nation to win this award, which is awarded by The National Association Of Home Builders Research Foundation and Professional Builder Magazine, to builders who achieve the highest standards of performance and customer satisfaction (it is the homebuilding equivalent to the Malcolm Baldridge award for manufacturing). They are the only builder in South Carolina to ever win this award, which has existed since the 1990's.

• Mungo Homes Website

NEWS FROM BP&S

New Hires
We are excited to welcome the following new employees:

Kim Kraus
Kim Kraus has joined the Firm’s tax staff.  Kim earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting in May of 2006 before earning a Masters of Accountancy in May of 2007, both from the University of South Carolina.  In school, Kim was a member of the Beta Alpha Psi National Accounting Honor Society.  She is now responsible for providing tax compliance and planning services to Firm clients and is working toward her CPA designation.

In her free time, Kim enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her dachshund, Beamer.

Carolina Hall
Caroline, a Columbia, SC native, has joined the firm as an audit staff accountant.  In May, Caroline earned her Bachelor of Science in Accounting, cum laude, from Clemson University. While in school, she was an active member of the Beta Alpha Psi National Accounting Honor Society, as well as Mortar Board, Order of Omega, Alpha Chi Omega, and Golden Key.

Caroline served as an audit intern before formally joining the Firm. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and is currently working toward her CPA designation.

Caroline's other interests include competitive tennis, traveling, and Clemson football.
 

BPS Seminars
Our September 28 seminar was a great success.  The 24 attendees heard a mixture of accounting, auditing and tax topics.

Our next seminar for this year will on Friday, October 26.

As in the past, we are planning for four hours each day, starting around 8:30am and ending with lunch.  The schedule for October 26 is as follows:

If you are interested in attending the seminar, please contact Tom Pietras (so we can get a head count).

Telecom Industry Seminars

During the week of October 16, we will again be presenting our wireless telecommunications industry seminar in Las Vegas, presented in association with CoBank and Moss Adams.  Please contact Chris Stormer (cstormer@bpscaps.com) if you are interested in attending.

Softball News
The BPS softball team has continued to hone their fielding and batting skills, thanks to several good practice sessions and some in-season adjustments to positions. September 28 was the 8^th game of the season for the ‘Phat Assets’ against the J.W. Hunters and some notable individual plays were made. In a 5^th inning pitcher change, “Coach Phil” brought in our closer, Neil ‘N-Rod’ Jones to put some additional pitching pressure on a formidable hitting team. Jones made a particularly impressive strike out against the other team’s pitcher with a steep change up to take him out swinging.

The in-field defense continued to improve, despite some veteran players being on the injured list. Ben ‘Ragin Cagin’ Glenn effectively plugged the third base hole that has been particularly troublesome in past games. Despite being an LSU alumni, Glenn stopped some powerful line drives and helped keep the scoreboard under control. Eddie ‘The Rocket’ Brooks continued to push the limits of physics on both defense and offense, hitting the game’s only true homerun ball over the center field fence and continuing to frighten our first basemen with his legendary arm. Directly in his line of fire, David ‘D-Dub’ Ward bravely guarded first base and managed not to break any fingers.

In the out-field, Thomas ‘ T-Tom’ Hughes, despite a pulled hamstring,  and Tommy ‘BTK’ Kassekert managed to keep most of the fly balls in front and were gaining speed at hitting their cutoff players. Caroline ‘Katie’ Hall in the outfield and Joy ‘Base Line’ Pierson covering home plate, continued to improve their hitting skills.

Despite all the improvements in play, The Phat Assets fell to the J.W Hunters for the second time. When interviewed after the game, Coach Phil cited several costly mistakes on defense and a failure to place the ball in strategic weak spots on offense as the main areas for improvement. He promised longer practices with a continued focus on batting practice. With two more games left in the season against the Burkett Beancounters and Scott McElveen, we will have to wait and see if his strategy is effective.
 

Captive Insurance Road Show
Chris Stormer will be a part of the South Carolina Captive Insurance Association’s “Nashville Captive Road Show” on October 9.  Chris will join other professionals from South Carolina as they “sell” the captive insurance idea and our state as THE domicile of choice for captive insurance.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

From the IRS
Updated Sept. 19, 2007 — Another recent e-mail scam tells taxpayers that the IRS has calculated their "fiscal activity" and that they are eligible to receive a tax refund of a certain amount. Taxpayers receive a page of, or are sent to, a Web site (titled "Get Your Tax Refund!") that copies the appearance of the genuine "Where's My Refund?" interactive page on the genuine IRS Web site. Like the real "Where's My Refund?" page, taxpayers are asked to enter their SSNs and filing status. However, the phony Web page asks taxpayers to enter their credit card account numbers instead of the exact amount of refund as shown on their tax return, as the real "Where's My Refund?" page does. Moreover, the IRS does not send e-mails to taxpayers to advise them of refunds or to request financial information.
 

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