Professor Elam

Arnold's Pump Club now numbers 600,000

11/23/2023

Arnold on his first Thanksgiving and positive thoughts - notice this guy started with nothing and now lok

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From Arnold: Happy Thanksgiving

This is a special version of the newsletter. We won’t have the normal three items, but I do want to share an important story.

It’s Thanksgiving for all of our American subscribers today, so I wanted to let you off the hook before you start eating everything in sight and let you know it’s perfectly OK to go wild. And I wanted to tell you about my first Thanksgiving, and why it is so important to me.

I moved to America in 1968, just before the holidays. I had no idea what Thanksgiving was. I learned quickly.

One of the guys I trained with, Bill Drake, found out I had no plans. He told me I had to come to his parent’s house, and I had my first-ever Thanksgiving dinner. They treated me like I was part of their family, even though I barely spoke English and had a few language screwups at the meal that were very funny.

Around that same time, the guys at the gym found out I lived in an apartment with basically nothing. Then, like a strange group of really buff, shirtless elves, they showed up one after the other. Pillows, sheets, utensils, plates, a black and white TV, and a wooden clock radio I keep by my bed today as a reminder of the kindness I found here. They brought me everything I needed.

That’s why I give back every year around this time and donate turkeys and toys and hand them out at the Hollenbeck Center in East LA, and why I still have some of the gym crew over for Thanksgiving if they don’t have anywhere to go. I know what it meant to me. You never know what it means to someone to offer them a meal or really anything that shows you care.

Today is about more than eating delicious food and lying on the couch.

So, I also want you to know that I’m thankful for all of you. There are almost 600,000 of us in this village. Every day, we are filling the world with more positive people who know that there are plenty of problems in the world, but we won’t solve them by being angry and complaining about them.

I can’t believe the positivity I see every day in the replies to this email, and I am still in shock when I look at The Pump app’s community even after we opened it to all of you in the newsletter village and see that there still hasn’t been a single negative comment. We have never had to use our power to delete anything — what other app could say that? We are proving that positivity can work online. That’s because of the positivity of all of you lifting yourselves and each other. So thank you, thank you, thank you.

Now, I am giving you a free pass. Not just today but for the celebrations to come. Don’t hold yourself back. Eat that pie. The reason we are healthy almost every day is so that we can let go on days like this. Remember that. We aren’t living lives of subtraction. We’ve added health and fitness to our lives so that we can also add some ice cream or mashed potatoes without guilt.

Let go a little bit. Your healthy diet will be waiting for you. Just remember it is there, and don’t let a day or a weekend turn into a month of saying, “Arnold gave me a free pass.”

Arnold Work Your A -- Off

11/22/2023

Click here for Arnold

 

Wed  Nov 1, 2023

 This was pa t of a   presentation at TXCPA  Educators  this past weekend.This is what we have been doing with the team approach in my classes.

I also discuss this in Conquer Acounting, the idea is to take the student from passive,sitting listenting to active,  participating inn his  or her own education.

 

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We also had  presentations on the new cpa exam and  the TXCPA  Pipeline  Project. All three are  posted under course content  in BB in all three courses.

TPA Educator Conference

 All

Ankur Chopra and I attended the TXCPA Educator Conference in Austin this past weekend

If you have any interest in the cpa exam I suggest you watch these sections of the presentations

 

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The link to  all slides is below, I suggest you view two in particular both on the first day Friday

the url disapears Friday  I saved these in pdsf working on how to display  in typepad.

 

CPA Exam Update with Michael Potenza at  10 45

 

 

General Session Pipeline with Jodi Ray at 4 00 PM

 

 

 

Jodi was candid in my discussion with her at the reception, AICPA  is foot dragging, too slow to respond

to draw down in those taking the exam.                           

 

Arnold S-Write Your Own Story

Monday  10/30/23

I was struck by how muuch Arnold's comments in write your ow story irror just what Ralph Emerson tells us - imitation is suicide! Take a read ans see the similarity.

 

Arnold’s Corner: Monday Motivation

I am flying back from the UK, and I loved seeing all of my fans there. I have to tell you, I was blown away. When I walked out on the stage of Royal Albert Hall and saw almost 5,000 of you, it took my breath away.

My publisher said it was the first time an author sold that place out, with everyone there buying a book. I love the support for Be Useful, but it was a perfect reminder that I can never call myself self-made. At Royal Albert Hall, and the night before at the sold-out Palladium, I told the audience to imagine me sitting on stage with no one there to listen. The events were made by the fans — not by me.

Something I said at one of my events seemed to be a big hit.

I was asked about the difficulties of finding your vision in this day and age, and you guys have heard me say, over and over, that you have to put the machine down. But I said something else, and afterward, a few people came up to me and said it clicked, so I had to share it with all of you.

When you’re looking at your iPhone, whether it’s social media, email, or news, you’re reading someone else’s story. And that’s time you could be spending dreaming up and writing your own story.

I usually finish each week with a challenge. This week, I am starting with one.

Get off your machine. For an hour a day at first. Eventually, I want you to try for a day a week, too.

When you spend too much time on your machine, you’re costing yourself more than you will ever know.

Your head is down, and you only read other people’s stories. You’re never going to find yourself there. You need to lift your head up and start on your own story. You need to look inside yourself, not at your screen.

I know that this will be uncomfortable at first. A lot of you grew up with these phones in your hands and don’t know any other way. You feel anxious when you have nothing to do because you never learned the joy of having nothing to do.

You call it boredom. I call it time to daydream.

Instead of daydreaming and letting your mind wander and discover, many of you grew up filling your mind with other people’s ideas.

I was lucky. My parents didn’t have a telephone or a television when I grew up. All I had were my dreams. And I used my time daydreaming to discover who I wanted to be. My teachers, who used to throw chalk at my head when I was staring out the window dreaming, might tell you that I let my mind wander too much.

I’d tell you that you can never let your mind wander enough. People call it “getting lost in your thoughts.” I think it’s the opposite. When you take the time to sit alone with your thoughts, you can find who you want to be; not who your parents want you to be, not who your friends want you to be, and definitely not who some shyster on Instagram or TikTok wants you to be.

All of you are getting pushed and pulled in a million directions. You’re choosing to give up control of your mind every time you open up social media to see what the influencers you follow are saying.

You may think those accounts you follow that tell you what to think and how to live your life help you.

And in the short term, they probably make things easier for you. It’s more comfortable to have someone else tell you what to think and who you are than it is to spend time alone, really deciding who you want to be.

But in the long term, it’s going to hurt. If you keep running from the discomfort of sitting with your own thoughts, you’ll spend your whole life having your brain filled up by others, and you won’t be able to think for yourself.

Embrace the discomfort right now for the growth you’ll have in the future. Lock up that phone for one hour a day and just walk or sit with your thoughts. You don’t need TikTok, or Instagram, or podcasts every hour of your day. Let your brain entertain itself.

It’s going to be hard at first. But if you keep going every single day, just like a muscle adapts to lifting weights, your mind will adapt. It will get used to thinking for itself. It will learn to daydream.

You’ll be ready to write your own story. That’s where you’ll find yourself.

TXCPA Scholarships

10/25/2023

The Accounting Education Foundation of the Texas Society of CPAs is pleased to announce that we are accepting scholarship applications for the 2023-24 academic year.  Last year, the Foundation awarded $126,000 in scholarships to students intending to earn the CPA credential in Texas.  This year the Foundation plans to award fifty $2,500 scholarships to students attending Texas colleges and universities. We ask that you follow these steps in connection with this scholarship program: 

 

1. Distribute the application link: https://txcpa.secure-platform.com/a to all students eligible to apply for the scholarship.  Students must complete and submit the application online. Schools are no longer limited to a maximum number of applications.

 

2. Applicants must submit electronically a current transcript during the application process. The selection committee will not consider an application unless a transcript has been received.  If the applicant has attended more than one university, the cumulative college transcript should show grades and credit received from all previous schools.  If the transcript does not show a previous record, then a separate transcript (or transcripts) will be required. 

 

3. A short nomination form will be sent to the faculty member the applicant identified in the application process.

 

The deadline for receiving applications and all supporting documents is Tuesday, October 31, 2023.  Awards will be made during the fall semester and will be sent to the school for disbursement to the students.  We appreciate your efforts in making this scholarship program a success and look forward to receiving applications from your students. 

 

Please note, incomplete or late applications will not be considered.   

 

Questions can be directed to:

Stephanie King 

TXCPA Accounting Education Foundation  

[email protected]

972-687-8533 

 

AEF Scholarship Requirements 

 

All applicants must be a student member of TXCPA or have submitted a new Student Member application (complimentary membership for students) at www.tx.cpa.

 

To be considered for an Accounting Education Foundation scholarship, a student must: 

 

1. Be an accounting major with the intent of becoming a Texas Certified Public Accountant and entering the accounting profession upon graduation.

 

2. Enrolled as a full-time college student (at least 12 semester credit hours each semester for undergraduate students/at least 9 semester credit hours each semester for graduate students).

 

3. Have satisfactorily completed at least 90 semester credit hours of college-level courses by August 31 of the year of application and graduate no earlier than spring 2024.

 

4. Submit a reference from an accounting professor or department chair.

 

5. Have completed 15 semester credit hours of accounting courses required of accounting majors by August 31 of the application year.

 

6. Have an Accounting GPA of 3.25 or more on a 4.0 scale.

 

 

 

This Just Sucks Arnold

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JrCjQpEAzSM

geez we get older?

Kick Scooter Offered for your Kids

10/20/23

When I was in the fifth grade, Dad bought me a kick scooter. Yikes I wanted a new bicycle but he knew what he was doing.

After a year of learning to balance on the scooter, I got on a bicycle and rode off  no problem on my first attempt.

I forgot that then I was five feet tall andweighed 95 pounds, a kick scooter works very  well  in that dynamic.

Ahem, I am  now   six feet and   180 lbs and the kick does not result in much progress

 

So I am offering the  Swagtron Commuter Kick Scooter to which ever parent would like it for his or her young man.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07THFQVDX?ref=nb_sb_ss_w_as-reorder-t1_k3_1_8&amp=&crid=14P8EV8Z51X4W&amp=&sprefix=swagtron

the vertical handlebar is adjustable for height, so it will fit just about anyone

 

Only ridden once, solid tires no flats, and  well made of aircraft aluminum

It is a  $100 item, yours free for the asking

 

DLE

[email protected]

 

Anyone interested? ?.,mnbv/.//.,mnbvcxz

The Trouble with High School

TXCPA Scholarship andMock CPA Exam

10/10/23

 

TXCPA has several opportunities for students and faculty this fall! Please share these with others on your campus!

 

October

 

TXCPA is now accepting applications for the Accounting Education Foundation scholarships. Applications are accepted through the end of October. You can find details about eligibility, as well as a link to the online application here. Students must be members to apply (membership is free!).

 

The annual Accounting Education Conference is coming up on Oct. 27-28, with limited seating still available for the in-person program in Austin and a webcast opportunity. With so many changes impacting the profession, this is a learning and networking opportunity Texas accounting faculty don’t want to miss! Register here.

 

November

 

TXCPA is hosting a Mock CPA Exam on Wednesday, Nov. 16 from 2-6 p.m. CT. This is a FREE opportunity open only for members of TXCPA.

 

Participants will experience what it is like to sit for any CPA Exam section with questions pulled from the actual CPA Exam Blueprints. Everyone will leave the session with a personalized ReadySCORE™ (an accurate measurement of your actual exam score) and a detailed report showing areas of strength and weakness.

 

Please note the registration deadline is Sunday, Nov. 12.

 

Learn more and register here.

 

November is also Accounting Opportunities Month where AICPA, TXCPA and more than 30 other state CPA societies are mobilizing our members to share their stories with students across the country. We encourage you to volunteer to visit a school and consider inviting a guest speaker for your classes or student groups on campus. You can volunteer and request a visit here.

             

Please let us know how we can help you this semester and thank you for serving as a TXCPA ambassador!

 

Melinda Bentley, CAE

Chief Operating Officer

Texas Society of CPAs

800-428-0272, ext. 8579 | [email protected]