In the News: AICPA to Congress: Consolidate Small Business Retirement Plans

The AICPA is gearing up for our Fall Meeting of Council, which begins Oct. 20 in Los Angeles. Be sure to follow @AICPA_JofA and @AICPANews on Twitter and subscribe to the AICPA’s Press Center RSS feed to keep up with all the news and information coming out of the meeting.

In the meantime, I’ve highlighted a few recent accounting articles in the news that you may missed over the last week.

Accounting Today covered the recent written testimony that the AICPA submitted for the record of the House Small Business Committee’s hearing on retirement savings for small employers. In the testimony Jeffrey A. Porter, AICPA Tax Executive Committee chairman, suggested several ways to simplify the complexity of the retirement planning universe.

“When a small business grows and begins to explore options for establishing a retirement plan, the alternatives, and the various rules, can become overwhelming,” he wrote in his testimony.

“There are too many options that businesses need to consider before deciding which plan is appropriate for them. Some plans are only available to employers with a certain number of employees, whereas other plans require mandatory contributions or create significant administrative burdens. Such administrative burdens include annual return filings, discrimination testing, and an extensive list of notice requirements with associated penalties for failures and delays in distributing such notices to employees.”

More information on the AICPA’s advocacy efforts is available on AICPA.org.

The AICPA recently announced their annual curriculum awards, which are bestowed upon professors who have developed innovative teaching practices that will help accounting students for years to come.

The AICPA has long recognized and appreciated the vital role that accounting educators play preparing accounting students to become the accounting professionals of tomorrow. As the demands of the marketplace continue to evolve, so to must the education that accounting students receive if they are to be prepared to meet those needs.

"It is critical that the education university accounting students receive prepares them to enter a profession which serves the needs of individuals, small businesses, and large companies in a dynamic marketplace," Jeannie Patton, AICPA vice president, Academics, Professional Pathways, and Inclusion.

Deanna White of AccountingWEB wrote an in-depth article about the awards, including insights from the winners on how they believe their curriculum will help students in the classroom and once they join the profession.

More information about the AICPA educator awards, including a list of honorable mention recipients and submission criteria, can be found online.

While the government shut down deal reached yesterday means that federal workers who were furloughed will likely be returning back to work soon, many Americans deal with furloughs each year due to economic conditions and their company’s situation.

Kelley Long, CPA/PFS, spoke to MainStreet.com about some steps workers can take to limit the negative financial impact of being furloughed.

“If you find yourself struggling to make ends meet, prioritize bills and pay those that could hurt the most first," said Long. “Utility companies could cut off service if you miss a payment and charge expensive reconnection fees. Missed payments could be reported to credit agencies, lowering your credit score. Consider paying utilities, credit cards and medical bills first.”

The AICPA’s 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy website provides Americans with tools and resources to make sound financial decisions at every stage of life.

Have you seen an interesting article about the profession that your peers would be interested in reading? Let us know in the comment section.