Russ: Hi, I’m Russ Capper with The BusinessMakers Show and we’re here to talk about the 13th Annual Houston CPA Society Energy Conference and I’m here with Brian Baumler, Audit Director and head of the Energy Practice at PKF Texas and also Chairman of the conference; Brian, welcome.
Brian: Thank you Russ, appreciate it very much.
Russ: You bet, and I’m also here with David Butler, Manager of the Energy Valuations at HSSK and Vice Chairman of the conference; David, good to see you too.
David: Good to be here Russ.
Russ: Okay, tell us what the conference is all about.
Brian: Really appreciate that Russ. Well it’s the 13th annual conference, I’m very excited about it. It’s in the rows of coming together and being organized. It’s really intended to be an opportunity for putting the industry together but also to talk about trends and techniques and where things are going in the industry in both the upstream, midstream, and downstream space. It’s also intended to bring together a lot of thought provoking thought leaders in the organizations of which they represent to talk about what’s going on in the industry.
Russ: Okay, so who should attend and why should they attend?
David: Well I think if you’re involved in the energy space and accounting, finance, investment banking, operations this probably will be a good conference for you. You know one of the things that we pride ourselves on is that this is a conference for grownups; we’re not going to tell you that everything’s going to be okay. We’re not going to give you a crystal ball with rosy predictions, we’re going to tell you where things are; we’re going to tell you how companies in the entire energy spectrum space are adjusting. And hopefully people will walk away with some ideas they can take back to their organizations on a daily basis.
Russ: Okay, when is it and where is it?
Brian: Well it’s actually going to be on August 25th, 2015 it’s held at the Norris Conference Center. We’ve had it there now for the last 3 years, it’s a great venue; it holds about 350, almost 400 people. Comes with 9 ½ hours of CPE which is great for the accountants that’ll be attending and also you’re going to get an opportunity to mix and mingle with your peers and also professionals in the industry.
Russ: Okay, that’s Norris Conference Center, out at City Centre, right?
Brian: Yes it is.
Russ: Okay and how do you register?
Brian: Well I think you can register by a couple of ways; one, you can go to the Houston chapter’s website at HoustonCPA.org and you can register online. Or you can download and print the form and you can mail that in. Registration fees are $250.00 for members of the chapter, $300.00 for non-members; really anyone and attend. Also we’re providing some group discounts in case you want to send a small group of 4 or more from you organization.
Russ: Okay, really cool. That’s August what?
Brian: August 25th, 2015.
Russ: August 25th, all right, the 13th annual Houston CPA Society Energy Conference.