Karen L. Benson, CPA, PFS
Manager


Education, Employment, and Professional Experience

Karen L. Benson graduated Magna Cum Laude from Grove City College in 1978 with a Bachelors Degree in both Accounting and Business Administration.  She became a CPA in Pennsylvania in 1979.  From 1978 to 1981 she worked at Arthur Andersen & Co, (Pittsburgh office) leaving as a senior(supervisor) accountant.  From 1981 to 1984 Karen associated with the firm of F.S. Fejes Company in Cleveland, OH.  Between 1984 and 1994 she maintained her own accounting practice.  In 1994, she merged her practice into Pashke, Twargowski & Lee, a predecessor firm. 

Karen became a Manager in 1997. Karen specializes in Pension and Welfare Benefit Plans, Personal Financial Planning, Small Business and Individual Tax Planning and Estate and Succession Planning.  She is also a member of the Training Task Force team.

Memberships and Affiliations     

• Member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
• Planning committee member for the AICPA 2006 Employee Benefits Conference.
• Member of the PKF/NAN Employee Benefit Plans Task Force
• Member of the PICPA Speakers Bureau.
• Finance and board member of Community Resources for Independence.
• Serves on the Working Together Planning committee with the IRS and PA Department of Revenue.

Certifications

• Certified Public Accountant
• Personal Financial Specialist by the AICPA (PFS)

Publications (Quarterly Report)

       "Incentives for Research and Development"
       "Retirement Plans: Do They Have to be so Complicated?"

Seminars

Karen has presented seminars on the following subjects: 

• “Year-End Tax Planning for Small Businesses,”
• “Audits of Small Business,”
• “Employee Benefit Plan Auditing,”
• “Tax and Financial Planning for Real Estate Professionals,”
• “Investments and Your Future: Policies to Provide a Steady Hand in Uncertain Times.”
• "Research & Development Tax Credits"
• "Practical Planning of Your Employee Benefit Plan Audits."
• "Finance 101 for Nonprofit Board Members."

She was an instructor for the 2002 and 2003 Penn State Tax Institute and a 2004 and 2005 instructor for the PA Tax Institute. Karen will be a speaker at the AICPA National Employee Benefits Conference in 2006. She will also speak at a national conference of PKF/NAN, an international association of accounting firms, on the subject of employee benefit plans.