The Institute’s board of directors approved an enhancement to the Group Variable Universal Life (GVUL) insurance product—GVUL Preferred—now available to eligible members and their spouses. GVUL Preferred offers significant rate reductions—from 20% to 69%—for many members based in part on evidence of good health. To be eligible, you must be age 50 to 79 and hold a CPA Life policy valued at $250,000 or more. The new plan offers coverage to age 100 (20 years longer than CPA Life).

Investment options under the plan include a tax-deferred account with an annual return guaranteed at 4% (currently 5%). For information on transferring your CPA Life coverage to GVUL and to obtain a prospectus, call AON Insurance Services at 800-223-7473.

In recognition of their professional achievements, five St. Louis CPAs won the second Women to Watch Award, presented by the AICPA’s Work/Life and Women’s Initiatives Executive Committee and this time the Missouri Society of CPAs and cosponsored by Accountemps and Robert Half Finance & Accounting. AICPA Chair Leslie Murphy (left) gave out the 2006 awards at the Missouri Society’s Women’s Retreat in August in St. Louis. Winners were Darlene M. Davis, principal, Davis Associates CPAs; Diann D. Gross, partner, Ernst & Young LLC; Tina L. Klocke, chief financial “bear,” treasurer and secretary, Build-a-Bear Workshop Inc.; Constance L. Ochs, director, RSM McGladrey Inc. The Emerging Leader was Jamie C. Jabouri, audit manager, Schowalter & Jabouri PC.

Accountemps and Robert Half Finance & Accounting will present a scholarship in each winner’s name to the Missouri scholarship fund. For information on the winners, visit www.mocpa.org .