Dear Fellow Members: Please help me in thanking all of the 2006-07 board members. Everyone did an OUTSTANDING job this year. It was my pleasure to serve you as this year's President. My job was made easier because of the superb group of individuals who serve you on the Akron Chapter Board.
I also want to congratulate this year's winner of the Robert O. Feola and the Michale P. Granieri Awards, Gary Floyd and Ken Bechtol. Some of Gary's hard work can be seen on the chapter's upgraded web site. Steady Kenny continues to put forth the time necessary to get the annual program booklet out in time for the first meeting of the year.
It was great for me to see that so many of our members attended the 2007 Meonske Conference. It was another incredible event. I think we should thank the members of the committee that devote so much of their own time on the event. In particular Akron Chapter Members Nick Sucic, Dr. Norm Meonske and Ken Bechtol.
I would I like to recognize Ron Riebe and his group that put on the first student development seminar at KSU. This event took place on Friday April 27th. The focus was to help students prepare themselves for entry into the job market. Based on the positive feedback it would be wonderful to see this event grow in the years to come.
Finally, please help me in welcoming in the chapter's next president, Doreen Kuster. I am positive that she will do her best to continue to support the IMA, our chapter and its members.
I hope to see as many of you as possible at the golf outing on the 19th.
God bless, be well and THANK YOU!

Sincerely, Dean C. Hull II
President
Akron Chapter IMA

Tangier Restaurant
May 16, 2007
5:25 PM
Daniel Ryder
Financial Planner, Skylight Financial Group


"Financial Planning: An Integrated Approach"

Daniel Ryder began his career in the Financial Services Industry over 20 years ago with KeyBank in Cleveland, OH. He graduated with honors from Cleveland State University with a degree in Finance and attended Cleveland Marshall College of Law. Additionally, after successfully completing the educational requirements and passing the certification exam, Dan is a candidate for Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Board's certification.

Most recently, Dan was responsible for retirement education at KeyBank and was heavily involved in their Retail Retirement Initiative and the creation of their retirement planning tools. He uses his experience in financial planning, with an emphasis in tax reduction strategies and retirement planning, to help his clients achieve their most important financial goals. He also specializes in college funding.

He is a member of the National Association of Investors and participates in a number of small- business-promoting organizations. He is active in his community, serving as a soccer coach, treasurer/trustee of his homeowner's association, and treasurer of his swim team. Dan resides in Strongsville with his wife Laura and their four children.

HOLLY RHOADS
Partner, The Ruby Group

"Life Balance"

Holly Rhoads is a Partner of The Ruby Group, a business development firm whose mission is to help individuals and companies achieve their economic and professional goals. The Ruby Group provides non-traditional business training along with on-going coaching and reinforcement through private and semi- private workshops, as well as in-house training programs.

The Ruby Group provides top-notch innovative and effective sales, sales management, and non- traditional business training to more than two hundred clients in Northeast Ohio. Using the Sandler Selling System, The Ruby Group teaches and coaches selling, negotiation, and management strategies. The Sandler Selling System is a proven approach for both selling and non-selling professionals who depend on a strong client base for their success. The Ruby Group's methodologies can be applied to virtually any industry or product, and can make the difference between struggling to stay afloat and really moving a career forward and achieving life goals.

Before joining The Ruby Group, Holly had a 16-year career in banking and business development. In her last role as District Sales Executive at National City Bank, she was responsible for the sales performance and profitability of the Akron market. In less than 18 months, she more than doubled deposits and loans by utilizing her skills in the area of sales calling, client management and coaching. Her passion is in helping others to develop personally and professionally. She received her BS in Business Administration from Kent State University and her MBA from Baldwin Wallace College. She lives in Hudson with her husband and two children, Brendan 9 and Allison 6.

Holly says "three types of individuals make up our business world - climbers, campers and quitters. We train climbers."

The Certified Management Accountant (CMA) designation provides corporate management and individual Members with an objective measure of knowledge and competence in the field of management accounting.The CMA is an invaluable credential for professional advancement and for broadening professional skills and perspective.

The Board of Directors has decided to form a Committee to assist in continuing to improve and develop the CMA Review Courses offered by the chapter.
We are currently looking for volunteers to join Steve Law in continuing this valuable service to our chapter.

Gleim is offering a discounted rate for CMA/CFM review materials to IMA members. The member order form can be accessed at http://akron.imanet.org/CMA/Gleim.pdf.

For further information contact: E-mail Steve Law (at Home)

or E-mail Steve Law (at Work) or phone (330) 666-8395.

On May 16th we will elect our Board of Directors for the coming year. All of the positions have been filled with the exception of one. The Director of Speakers position is still open and waiting for you to let us know that you are interested in the job. Fortunately there is a strong group of directors that collectively pool resources together and fill the slate of events with quality speakers year in and year out.

Each year we elect a group of people to run our chapter and most people do not give this much thought, but if you are reading this article you are one of the many people that benefit in some way from their work. Over the years many chapters of the IMA have dissolved for lack of interest and those communities and the professionals in those communities are worse off for it. We are fortunate in Akron to have a strong and healthy chapter. This in its small way adds to the vitality of Akron as each group of involved and interested people energizes the region ultimately attracting business and making things happen. Please consider joining the Board of Directors and give back to your profession and community through service.

Board of Director Nominations

IMA Ohio Council, Kent State University
33rd Annual Meonske Professional Development Conference
Huge Success

The 33rd Annual Meonske Professional Development Conference was a huge success on the last Thursday and Friday of April 2007 at KSU, with both the April 26 Workshop (on Excel, Ethics and Selling your Ideas/Self to Management) and the April 27 Conference (with Business Fairy Tales author Cecil Jackson, many regulators, Tony Alexander, and superstar Warren Johnston) drawing boffo crowds. The Workshop drew 174 registrants and the Conference, 369. About 420 were in the Ballroom to hear FirstEnergy CEO Tony Alexander's take on corporate governance. Somehow, we got everyone parked and in the Kiva the same day as KSU President Lester Lefton's inauguration in the M.A.C. Center.

From a chapter support perspective, Akron chapter led the way with 40 attendees (18 on Thursday and 37 on Friday). Other Ohio chapter support included 18 from Canton (9 on Thursday and 15 on Friday), 16 from Cleveland East (5 on Thursday and 16 on Friday), 15 from Cleveland (7 on Thursday and 14 on Friday), 4 from Ohio Mid-Eastern chapter (1 on Thursday and 4 on Friday), 2 from Toledo chapter (2 on Thursday and 2 on Friday), ) 2 from Dayton (1 on Thursday and 2 on Friday), 1 from Columbus (1 on Thursday and 1 on Friday), and 1 from Cincinnati North (0 on Thursday and 1 from Friday).

Many of the Thursday attendees won prizes from MrExcel.com and we learned a neat way to have your computer talk to you. The Friday registrants started the day with a flashback to 1974 (the year of the first PD Conference) by Nick and Norm and with a free copy of Cecil Jackson's book (learning the top 20 ways to commit fraud). Dr. Jackson observed that April 27 was Fra Luca Pacioli's birthday (he was the father of double-entry bookkeeping around the time of Columbus); Dr. Jackson said he "was stoked". The FASB and SEC regulators' panel briefed us on what to expect in 2007 and beyond. The luncheon speaker gave us a CEO's perspective on corporate governance (including his opinion on whether global warming is real), and the afternoon concluded with an overview of Sarbanes-Oxley internal controls and an ERM solution from IMA, followed by a dynamic presentation of how Goodyear's top-down, risk-based approach reduced costs and put Internal Audit in an oversight role. The 50/50 raffles on Thursday and Friday produced some nice contributions for the Meonske scholarship fund. Additional contributions were obtained by spirited bidding on a $2,570 Becker CPA Review Course scholarship and a $1,000-value free tuition to the Annual IMA Conference & Exposition (in Phoenix in June).
Ken Bechtol

Staff Accountant / Financial Analyst
Description
Excellent growth opportunity for degreed accountant with previous accounting experience in a manufacturing environment.
Responsibilities in this position include performing data entry, cost analysis, inventory analysis, operational analysis, and working under the direction of the Manager of Plant Accounting. This position will work directly with operations and accounting management teams to prepare and monitor forecasts and budgets.
Requirements
Qualified candidates will possess a 4 year degree in accounting or related field of study and offer previous manufacturing industry experience. We seek self- motivated, team-oriented, service-minded and hands- on candidates with strong communications and computer skills.
For immediate consideration, qualified candidates my contact:

Melisse Boyd Human Resources Republic Engineered Products, Inc. 3770 Embassy Parkway Akron, OH 44333 mboyd@republicengineered.com

Position 2
Degreed accountant for position doing Standard Cost and Fixed Assets. Company is just South of Akron. Some experience is preferred but not a extensive experience is not required.
Position 3
Credit manager for a company with over $1 billion in sales.

Please contact Roy Howarter if you have a job available or are looking for an employment opportunity.

Roy Howarter - Akron IMA Employment Director, 1- 800-321-5583

Through the April tech session meeting, the following Akron chapter IMA members have perfect attendance: Ken Bechtol, Jim Campbell, Tamra Emmett (missed the November meeting, but attended January 9 luncheon meeting in place of missed meeting), Gary Floyd (missed April, but attended Jan. 9 meeting), Wayne Hawkins, Roy Howarter, Dean Hull (missed April, but attended Jan. 9 meeting), Steve Law (missed November, but attended Jan. 9 meeting), Nancy Layer (missed February, but attended Jan. 9 meeting), Jim Pollock, Becky Price (missed March, but attended Jan. 9 meeting), Ron Riebe (missed January, but attended December 19 Canton chapter meeting), and Mike Savage.

The following missed one meeting: Andy Balint (September & October, but attended Jan. 9 meeting), Jack Brillhart (February), Shirley Calvin (April), Joan Chamberlain (February), Bill Dreyer (September & March, but attended Jan. 9 meeting), Chris Guest (September & January, but attended Jan. 9 meeting), Doreen Kuster (October), Rich Lewandowski (September), Larry McKay (April), Rodney Seiwert (January), and Ed Wagner (April).

The following missed two meetings: Susan Arnold (February and April), Harold Matney (November & March), Diane Saulino (September & November), and Linda Simko (January & February).

You can be listed with "Perfect Attendance" in the Annual Program Book by attending the May 16 tech session meeting and making up your missed meetings by attending meetings of other IMA chapters (before May 26) or by obtaining (and listening to) audio tapes of the missed meetings. You can get the audio tapes from Roy Howarter (330-769-5583 or Roy@BlairRubber.com) before July 1.

In a recent survey conducted by Accountemps, executives were asked about the value of using temporary professionals. More than one-third of respondents (35 percent) said the most important benefit of employing interim workers is that it "helps avoid overstaffing followed by layoffs." Twenty-three percent said utilizing temporary workers "allows a firm to evaluate a prospective employee," while 17 percent of the executives said it "takes the burden off existing employees." Following is a closer look at the most significant advantages of using interim professionals:

You protect the jobs of your full-time staff. Many accounting departments today meet varying project demands by relying on a combination of full-time staff and temporary professionals. This approach helps avoid overstaffing followed by layoffs and provides flexibility in controlling costs. By employing temporary accountants for certain projects, a portion of your labor costs can be made variable as you respond to workload peaks and valleys. In short, you can keep your core staff level consistent while maintaining optimal productivity in any economic climate.

You can identify full-time prospects. Having a temporary accountant onsite provides a low-cost opportunity to determine if there's a match for a permanent position with your firm. Evaluating a professional's skills, performance and personality firsthand gives you key insight that is difficult to obtain from just a resume, cover letter or interview.

You keep your team fresh and focused. Missed deadlines, low morale, increased absenteeism, excessive overtime and high turnover rates can occur when workloads are high. Augmenting your team's talent mix during busy times can take the burden off your employees and help you maintain a stable, energized and happy team.

By proactively using interim professionals who possess specialized skills, you can increase productivity, control costs, effectively handle unexpected workload spikes, or possibly even discover a new full-time recruit.

Accountemps is the world's first and largest temporary staffing service specializing in the placement of accounting, finance and bookkeeping professionals. The company has more than 350 offices throughout North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and offers online job search services at www.accountemps.com.

Please welcome the following new members:
Daniel Arnold - Timken Co
Paul Hall Jr. - retired ELA
Amy Needles - Classical Optical Laboratories
Terry Burnell - PPG Industries
Dominic Reolfi - Student at Walsh University
Stephen Houle - Student at Kent State University