CPAS - Key Persons
Bob Rojas, owner of the firm, has a direct hand in practically everything - accounting, auditing, tax and administration. As a regional firm we hire and keep experienced professionals. Our staff have a broad range of skills and in-depth insights into both accounting, auditing and tax matters. At work, Bob does everything but wash the dishes. He's been known to mention that he does wash the dishes at home with his wife. At the office and in the professional community Bob's known as an excellent negotiator. He has run a regional CPA firm, audit and tax, for forty years. Prior to that, he was an audit manager at a national CPCA firm, and a tax manager at an international CPA firm. During this time Bob earned his masters in taxation. It is rare to rise to the manager level in the big national firms in both audit and tax, but it was an excellent background for running his own firm.
Brian Newton, CPA, is our senior audit manager with twenty five years of experience and, after Bob, is in charge of audit operations. Brian has a degree in Accounting from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and was graduated with honours. He was trained at KPMG where he specialized in real estate and development and employee benefit plans and was primarily responsible for the development of the firm's Control Assessment Template for real estate. This template was the tool utilized nationwide by the firm for all real estate clients to whom KPMG provided assistance services related to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Brian also spent time as the Director of Financial Planning & Analysis for a publicly traded restaurant company where he was responsible for annual planning and forecasting, analyzing the effectiveness of marketing and other programs, determining profitability of individual menu items, and evaluating the potential return on investment of new and remodeled units. Brian enjoys spending time with his family, volunteering at church, and playing golf and softball with friends.
J. Michael Pusey, CPA, is National Tax Director. Mike has a BBA and Master of Science in Accounting from Texas Tech where he graduated with honors. He planned to be an accounting professor and worked a year on the Ph. D. at the University of Arizona before beginning his career at KPMG Peat Marwick, where he worked in audit and tax. Mike won an award for high grades on the CPA exam. Mike took a position in "National Tax" with Laventhol & Horwath, where he coordinated research and co-authored an AICPA Tax Study, Tax Planning Techniques for Individuals (1980). Mike's perspective includes some background in the IRS National Office scene having worked in Washington, D.C. for Laventhol & Horwath. He worked seven years in National Tax for Grant Thornton in Chicago and Los Angeles, where he coordinated tax research and wrote the firm's tax publications. Mike served as Assistant Tax Director, coordinator of the Big Case IRS exam, at a New York Stock Exchange financial institution where he was promoted to Vice President prior to starting his own practice. Mike is known for planning, research, coordination of exams and controversy, and writing. He has written or contributed to four tax books and a finance course, and written some hundred articles on tax topics. Mike has also stepped in as interim CFO of a $300 million privately held company. Mike works in practically all areas of taxation. Mike's interests include charities. He wrote a book on a type of charitable trust and was guest editor of the Arthur Andersen publication on charitable planning. Mike's earliest career goal was to be a professional golfer and he'd like to get back to golf one of these days. When not working in taxes, Mike enjoys his Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and writing.
Jacob McKiddle, CPA comes from a national CPA firm. He is a senior manager of our audit staff.
Laura Lindal, CPA, specializes in audits of nonprofits and small businesses, including those subject to Government Auditing Standards, Uniform Grant Guidance and the HUD Audit Guide. She also consults with CPA firms regarding efficiency in audit planning, procedures and documentation, while meeting all professional requirements. She assists firms in preparing for peer review as well performing engagement quality control reviews. She is an expert in consulting with CPA firms as part of their quality control procedures.
Mary Ann Sheldon is an accounting Paraprofessional, Certified QuickBooks Pro Advisor, and Certified Peachtree Consultant. Mary Ann identifies bottlenecks and grasps the accounting needs in an efficient and timely manner. Her clients call her Mom because she cleans up accounting messes. She goes the extra mile to help her clients' businesses succeed. Mary Ann is a morning person and arrives at work around 5 am. She has more than twenty years of CPA firm experience.
Nancy Martin has been an accountant and tax preparer with the firm since 2010. As with so many of our staff, Nancy works in accounting and tax and is equally comfortable with tax or accounting software She is also involved in field work in California Department of Development audits. Nancy graduated in 2002 with honors with an associate's degree, emphasis in accounting and tax, from San Joaquin Delta College. Nancy is a certified Quickbooks Pro Advisor. In her rare spare time, Nancy enjoys genealogy and gardening, and her family, particularly watching her son play Little League baseball
Scott Milne, CPA, is an audit manager. Scott was graduated from William Patterson University with a B.A. in accounting. He has worked as a CPA since 2012. His experience is in auditing and review. His expertise extends to credit management, corporate tax accruals and planning, and financial analysis. In his spare time, when he's not doing a final review on an audit, Scott likes to run, read, and travel.
Job Titles:
- Accounting and Auditing Manager
Timothy P. Simas, CPA, is an accounting and auditing manager who also works extensively in tax. Tim is a graduate of California State University, Sacramento with a major in accounting. Tim's emphasis is planning, implementation, supervision and review of audits and reviews of financial statements; He has worked in public accounting since 1980, been a CPA since 1985 and worked with Rojas and Associates since 2000. Tim's work with employee benefit plans includes audits of such plans as well as ERISA tax returns on Form 5500. Tim's tax work includes individuals, unions, corporations, partnerships and trust and estate tax returns as well as research and development tax credits.. He works extensively with real estate, construction and tax issues, and depreciation, including issues of capitalization versus repair expense distinctions, bonus depreciation, cost segregation, and like-kind exchange rules for realty. Tim enjoys the out of doors, including biking, as well as photography, and supporting his wife's work as a chaplain to law enforcement professionals and first responders.