September 2019
Mike Moyski Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award
Mike Moyski, CPA, co-founder of Mathieson, Moyski, Austin & Co., was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award on Sept. 25 at the Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards ceremony held at Danada House in Wheaton.

The annual awards program, hosted by the Daily Herald Business Ledger, recognizes entrepreneurship in the suburbs of Chicago. According to the publication, the honorees demonstrate "the best traits of entrepreneurship, the willingness to take risk, drive, perseverance and business creativity." Mike was among 21 entrepreneurs acknowledged at the 20th annual awards ceremony.
Since Mike co-founded the firm in 1987, MMA & Co. has grown from five to more than 30 employees with ambitious plans for doubling that growth in the future. For more than 32 years Mike has contributed to shaping the mission and vision of the firm. He will retire this December, leaving the company prepared with a succession plan firmly in place.
Mike has been an entrepreneur all of his professional life. Over the course of years he has invested his time and talent in people, building relationships over time. He was a founding member and treasurer of the Wheaton A.M. Rotary Club as well as the club's first chairperson of the community service committee. He was a board member and treasurer of the Downtown Wheaton Association (DWA) and served on the board of directors of a local community bank. He is a member of the Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS) as well as the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and CPAmerica.
The partners and staff from MMA & Co., including retired co-founder Jim Mathieson and Gail Mathieson, joined Mike's wife Tori and daughter Jenny at the Danada House to celebrate. Mike acknowledged everyone for their support, especially his wife Tori and kids Jenny and Mike for their patience and understanding during tax seasons. "That meant we could never go anywhere during spring break!" he said.
Mike and all the Entrepreneurial Excellence Award winners will be featured in an upcoming issue of the Daily Herald Business Ledger on Oct. 21.
Accounting Roundup: Tax Amnesty for Illinois taxpayers, Upcoming Deadlines and Planning Ahead for 2020
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The Illinois Department of Revenue announced a tax amnesty program for eligible taxpayers who incurred tax liabilities between 2011 and 2018.

“Now is an excellent opportunity for taxpayers with tax liabilities to pay what they owe and come into compliance with the law,” said David Harris, acting director of the IDOR. “By taking advantage of this amnesty program, taxpayers can eliminate any eligible tax debts owed, without penalty or interest. This allows them to have a clean tax slate with the State of Illinois.”

The Tax Amnesty Program is for taxpayers who failed to file during the original tax filing periods or who have taxes due. Those liabilities must have been incurred between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2018. The program begins October 1 and taxpayers have until November 15 of this year to make a full payment of tax and have eligible penalties and interest waived by filing the required paperwork with the IDOR.

The program includes most types of tax liabilities and penalties, but it excludes taxes not collected by IDOR such as property or local government taxes and fees. For more information, visit this website. If you have questions and we can be of service, please give our office a call. We are happy to talk with you.
desk calendar with days and dates in July 2016_ flip the calendar page
Quick Reminder

As accountants, we live and breathe deadlines and there's always another one just around the bend.

The MMA & Co. team are busy helping clients meet the October 15 deadline for tax extensions for both individuals and C-corporations. January 15, 2020, is the deadline for fourth quarter 2019 estimated tax payments.

And our accounting services professionals have a gentle reminder: If you're a business owner, now is a great time to begin collecting all the information you'll need to file 1099s for outside services. Deadline for 1099s is January 30, 2020.

If you have questions about any or all of these reminders, as always, let us know and we'll work with you on the tax calendar that fits your needs.
Our People Make a Difference
We are delighted to introduce you to our newest staff members. Jennifer Grealish is MMA & Co.'s first firm administrator. Jennifer comes to us with an accounting firm background and she has a broad range of skills in operations and human resources. In this newly created role she is charged with supporting and developing both systems and people within the firm to manage our growth. Jennifer has a bachelor's degree from Illinois State University and a master's in business administration (MBA) from Roosevelt University.
Jen Decker, senior accountant, brings a wealth of 16 years of experience in the public accounting profession. She has also been a controller for several not-for-profits. Jen jumped right in helping with audits and she said she was attracted to MMA & Co. because of the diversity of our client work (and, of course, our people!). She has a bachelor of arts degree in accounting and finance from Lewis University.

We welcome both Jennifer and Jen to our team.
Our on-going search for talent leads us to college campuses and on September 26 we visited Northern Illinois University's Accountancy Career Fair. More than 70 employers gathered at Holmes Student Center in DeKalb to talk with juniors, seniors and graduate students pursuing careers in accounting. We were on the look-out for an intern for January 2021 and we're always interested in speaking with potential staff accountants.

Pictured (L to R) are Matt Bennett and Zaid Siddiqui, staff accountants, and John Straus, CPA, partner.
Our stellar intern Iqra Majid joined fellow volunteers from MUHSEN (a word that means "one who shows excellence and compassion" in Arabic and also stands for Muslims Understanding and Helping Special Education Needs) to train for an upcoming pilgrimage. Their trip to Mecca (also spelled "Makkah") is called an Umrah, and people from as far as New York and Texas came to be part of the training. They will provide one-on-one assistance up to eight hours a day as well as basic care and guidance, American Sign Language (ASL) and other language interpretation for those with special needs. The Umrah will be from November 22 through December 1.
We don't want to brag, but... well, OK. New managing partner Ron Austin, CPA, traveled this month to Hawaii for the Leading Partners Conference for members of CPAmerica. After he and wife Kim landed, he did what most of us would do under the circumstances--he participated the next day in a triathlon! Serendipity played a role: the Race Ko Olina was held at the resort hosting the CPAmerica leadership event. He assured us that he'll bring back copious notes from the meetings, too.

We can also brag on the MMA & Co. ladies golf foursome, Cindy Gunderson, Shannon Bachara, CPA, Becky Howell and Helen Demsher, CPA participated as the only female foursome in the Carol Stream Chamber's John Wheeler Golf Tournament. The ladies gave up a day in the office to enjoy sunshine and fellowship at this 30th annual fundraiser. Helen won closest to the pin and Becky won longest putt. Shannon, treasurer of the Carol Stream Chamber, was a big raffle prize winner and Cindy watched her ball sail over a pond to land squarely on the 10th hole green. Brava to all!
Ron appears none the worse for wear after completing the Ko Olina triathlon.
Team MMA & Co. ladies golf foursome show solidarity at the Carol Stream Chamber John Wheeler Golf Tourney.
Hopefully you received our e-blast last week about the Lions Club Food Drive. We have a big box in our lobby and welcome your contributions of non-perishable items. The food will go to the People's Resource Center food pantry. Thank you for your generosity as we help feed people in DuPage County who need assistance. The food drive goes through Monday, October 7.

As the seasons change and we start thinking of fall, it's only natural to share how thankful we are to have leaders, teammates, clients and the resources we need to do our jobs well. We thank you for your trust in us and look forward to a great fourth quarter. Please let us know how we can be of service to you, your businesses and your families.
Ron Austin, CPA
Brian Eisenmenger, CPA
Brian Hagene, CPA
Brett Mathieson, CPA
Mike Moyski, CPA
John Straus, CPA