SMALL STATE, BIG IMPACT
AICPA Service Feeds Leah Szlatenyi’s Love of Learning
Leah Szlatenyi loves to learn.
And so when the long-time RISCPA member was asked recently to join the AICPA’s Business Valuation (BV) Committee, she jumped at the opportunity.
“It gives me a much broader perspective,” she said. “You get to interact with firms of all different sizes. There is so much to learn. And life is all about learning.”
As a partner and director at Bentley Consulting Group, LLC, in Warwick, Szlatenyi specializes in business valuation, litigation support and cost segregation studies.
“Our business valuation and litigation support center values closely held businesses for a variety of purposes, including business succession and exit planning, estate and gift tax planning and compliance, buy-sell agreements, divorce, shareholder disputes, and business sales and acquisitions,” said Szlatenyi. “Our cost segregation practice offers an engineered approach to maximize cash flow for taxpayers that purchase, improve, or inherit commercial properties.”
Bentley Consulting’s clients, she said, can be categorized into four primary segments: accounting firms, law firms, and business owners and their advisors.
Szlatenyi has long enjoyed the benefits of being a RISCPA member, citing convenient access to educational seminars as among the most rewarding of benefits.
“Not only are the seminars relevant, but they are a great venue to meet and keep in touch with other professionals,” she said. “As a member of the RISCPA, I actively engage with other accountants, many of whom partner with our firm to provide business valuation and cost segregation services. I am also a member of the Business Valuation Committee, which has proven to be an invaluable resource for working, sharing ideas, and brainstorming with local practitioners. It helps me stay current on issues that are pertinent on a local and regional basis.”
The value of that experience was not lost on officials at the AICPA, who recently tapped Szlatenyi to become a member of its Business Valuation (BV) Committee. The AICPA’s BV Committee serves the membership of the AICPA in helping to identify, create, and maintain high quality educational offerings in order to supply credential and non-credential holders with timely and leading-edge technical guidance. It also works closely with the Accredited Business Valuation (ABV) Credential Committee to promote the ABV Credential program.
“As a member of the BV Committee, I also serve on the BV web seminars subcommittee,” said Szlatenyi. “Our primary task is to identify relevant topics, and create and develop presentations in a convenient CPE webinar format.”
In addition, Szlatenyi has been appointed to act as the BV Committee liaison to the Forensic and Valuation Services (FVS) Executive Committee Emerging Issues Task Force, which is charged with helping to identify and monitor issues of significance to the business valuation membership so the AICPA can advocate on behalf of its members who practice in these areas.
Working on national issues has been an enlightening experience for Szlatenyi.
“As part of the AICPA BV webinar subcommittee, I have the honor of working with the leading experts, authors, presenters and instructors in the field,” she said. “For instance, we just finished planning a comprehensive 17-part webinar series that focuses on essential business valuation concepts.”
The semi-monthly series, delivered by the nation’s premiere business valuation authorities, starts in June of this year and culminates in February of 2012.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for CPAs to learn core fundamentals and specialty topics directly from the experts, through the convenience of interactive media,” said Szlatenyi.
And it’s an opportunity for Szlatenyi to pass on her passion for learning to others.
