Local CPA is 1998 Accountant Advocate of the Year

Charles Town, WV - Katherine F. "Clissy" Funkhouser, CPA has been recognized by the U. S. Small Business Administration as the 1998 Accountant Advocate of the Year for both West Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic region.  Through their awards program, SBA recognized outstanding leaders in the small business community.  Those recognized as "Advocates of the Year" are honored for their promotion of small businesses, including volunteering their time and services to small business interest groups, as well as advocating the cause of small business in the legislative process.  Following her selection as West Virginia's Accountant Advocate of the Year, her nomination was submitted for regional competition with other winners from Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Washington, D. C., and Delaware.  As the regional winner, she is now among ten finalist competing for the National Accountant Advocate of the Year Award.   Funkhouser is a member of the Jefferson County, West Virginia and Clarke County, Virginia Chamber of Commerce and PBWA, Professional Business Women's Association.     

Work adds up to Award

To Katherine Funkhouser, the two accounting honors she recently received from the U. S. Small Business Administration add up to a nice pat on the back.  "I still have to keep my clients pleased, but it's quite an honor," Funkhouser said.

Funkhouser, of Charles Town, was named the Small Business Administration's Accounting Advocate of the Year for West Virginia and the mid-Atlantic.  She is one of the 10 finalists for the national honor. 

She said that for a time, the most important adding she was doing was increasing the size of her family with three children.   "I was home for years.   There was nobody out there saying 'good job.'   But I was putting just as much time and energy into raising my kids," Funkhouser said. 

When her children got older, she went back to school and became a certified public accountant in 1992.  "They're all teenagers now and I had to make money to pay for college," Funkhouser said. 

She always liked math and had done the accounting for her family farm.  Funkhouser entered the work force later in life, but she hit the ground running. 

In 1992, she became a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the West Virginia Society of Public Accountants.  In 1994, Funkhouser was a founding member of the Professional Business Women's Association and served on the five-member management council as treasurer for two years.   She is a member of the Independent Business Group of Shepherdstown, W. VA. 

Most of Funkhouser's clients are owners of small businesses.  "I know there are accountants our there who are smarter accountants, but I have a real passion for small businesses, to help them through the maze of tax laws," Funkhouser said.

Corporations and larger businesses have marketing, accounting, purchasing and sales departments.  Small business owners often have to do those jobs themselves while continuing to put out the product that keeps them in business, she said.  "I try to keep them on track, either by helping them with the tax laws or by determining if they are charging enough for their products," Funkhouser said. 

Her office is in Berryville, VA, but she has clients from Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia. 

As a hobby, Funkhouser performs as an amateur actress and director at the Old Opera House.  She has starred as Annie in "Annie Get Your Gun,", Lady Macbeth in "Macbeth" and Billie Dawn in "Born Yesterday."  She is also the drama director at Covenant Church in Shepherdstown. 

Hagerstown Morning Herald
March 6, 1998
  by Clyde Ford

Say "Charge It" at Tax Time

For the first time, starting January 15, the IRS will allow you to pay your personal federal income tax with a credit card-as long as it's American Express, Discover Card, MasterCard, or Novus.  (Visa is not participating in the program.)

Customers will have to pay a "convenience fee," however, to the company handling the transactions, US Audiotex of San Ramon, California.  The fees will be "tiered," according to Steven R. Johnson, senior vice president of US Audiotex.   The more tax you pay, the higher the fee, although, on average, the fee will be 2 1/2 percent of your tax bill.  (It will be added to any finance charges normally levied by your credit card company.)  To pay with a credit card, you'll either call a toll-free number, 888-272-9829, or, if you file your taxes electronically, follow the directions on your screen. 

"If you can benefit from the grace period on your credit card, or if you're into racking up frequent-flier mileage with your card, plastic could be a boon," notes Katherine Funkhouser, a CPA in Charles Town, West Virginia.  But remember-if you don't pay off the balance fast, your ultimate tax bill will be even higher.    

                                                                     Readers' Digest New Choices, January 1999
by Ellen Hoffman