What I learned from my clients' tax returns

If you’re a CPA who has considered a move to financial planning, there are a few strong reasons why you as a tax practitioner are already best positioned to offer Personal Financial Planning (PFP) services. A little over a year ago, I achieved a lifelong dream when I opened my financial planning practice after 28 years as a CPA. Setting off on your own can be daunting, but I knew I was ready, in part because of my extensive tax background. Here’s how I knew:

Tax expertise is the foundation of personal financial planning.

What were the challenges of the 2019 tax season?

Do you hear the big sigh of relief? It’s Oct. 18, just three days after we filed the last big group of extended returns for individuals and businesses.

When I started working for a local public accounting firm over 40 years ago, taxpayers had a two-month automatic extension to June 15 for individual returns. We could request an additional two-month extension to Aug. 15. At that point, we could request an additional two-month extension to Oct. 15 if there was a good reason. Can you imagine all that paperwork? With those interim deadlines, we encouraged clients to pull their information together during the summer, and returns were finalized earlier. Although there were always stragglers, today’s compressed workload for Sept. 15 and Oct. 15 was less intense for practitioners.

3 ways data can evolve your business

If you’re not on the data science wagon yet, you should probably consider jumping on in the near future. With 2020 right around the corner, data will continue to remain at the forefront of decision-making – and we’re bound to witness ever more ways it can evolve the marketplace.  

Still convincing yourself that data can help a business thrive? Here are three benefits that might make you think it can.

It can improve efficiency.

Get your brain in shape!

The busy season is on the horizon, and many practitioners are preparing their firms to meet the demands. But are you getting yourself mentally ready for the fast-paced days ahead? Let’s look at some mental tune-up steps to take before the season begins.

Challenge yourself.

Sharpen your mind with quizzes and brain teasers. You can test your knowledge at many websites. For example, the site for the TV game show “Jeopardy!” challenges you with 12 clues every day that weren’t used on the show. In addition, many daily trivia apps focus on general knowledge or specific areas, such as sports or movies.

Embrace an attitude of gratitude for well-being in your career

 “Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues, but the parent of all of the others.” — Cicero

If someone bumps into you and knocks your full cup of coffee onto your shirt, who’s to blame for the mess? You are. Why? Because you had coffee in your cup.

This story from Thich Nhat Hanh shows that while it may be easy to blame external circumstances for our experiences, it is what we hold in ourselves that we spill out into the world. We all face circumstances that make it easy to hold negative emotions in our cups.

3 perks of working for yourself

In today’s ever-evolving job market, there are plenty of new opportunities to work for yourself. Whether it’s freelancing, entrepreneurship or gigs — the list goes on. Actually, seven in 10 the young adult job-seekers the AICPA recently surveyed claim that being their own boss is more valuable than the job security of working for someone else. If you’re thinking of branching out on your own, you’re not alone. 

Not sure if you’re ready to take the plunge? Consider these three perks of working for yourself.

How a kid’s allowance can teach money management skills

Teaching children about money management is a big job for parents, and there are many ways to go about it. Money talk often starts by paying an allowance. According to new research from the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), two-thirds of parents (66%) give their child an allowance at an average of $30 a week. An allowance is just part of a larger conversation about effective financial management. Parents must make sure the lessons sink in. The good news is that nearly half of parents (49%) say they take time to teach their child about money at least once a week. However, nearly a third (32%) say they only teach their children about money no more than once a month, including the 7% who admit they never teach their kids about money.

Advice from a peer reviewer: Documentation missteps to avoid

In my 25 years as a peer reviewer, I’ve reviewed thousands of audits from a variety of firms. You may be surprised by how often I see errors related to a fundamental audit step: documentation.

Audit documentation is important to get right because it provides evidence to support your audit opinion. It’s also crucial for auditors to document their work if they are going to comply with generally accepted auditing standards (GAAS).

I’ve found that several documentation missteps trip up auditors more than others. Keep reading to find out what these errors are and how to avoid them.

Tax tops the list of best jobs. But wait — there’s more

A day before my meeting with Brooke Salvini, CPA/PFS, she receives a serendipitous note from one of her clients:

… Thank you so much for your genuine way of being. You create such an atmosphere of peace, acceptance, and sincere interest in your work and in individuals. It’s just so clear you care. You’re appreciated by me. Please know you make such a difference in my life…

I call this note “serendipitous” because Brooke and I are scheduled to discuss the results of a recent survey published by Glassdoor and popularized by an article in Barron’s. The study reveals that tax managers have the best job in the United States — a claim supported by several measures including median pay, upward mobility and job availability. The study also echoes a popular notion championed by the AICPA — that automation and other technologies are untethering tax professionals from data entry and other repetitive accounting functions, allowing them more time to forge stronger relationships with clients.

AICPA finds public accounting hiring model shifts

The AICPA recently released the 2019 Trends in the Supply of Accounting Graduates and Demand for Public Accounting Recruits report. The report shows that the accounting profession requires new skill sets because of the rapid advancement of emerging technology, especially in data science and analytics. This is changing who we do business with and how we do it. As a result, non-accounting graduates make up about 31% of all new graduate hires in public accounting — an increase of 11 percentage points from 2016 to 2018.

Accounting graduates and newly licensed CPAs must have the skills and expertise to support the growing technology needs. One of the ways the AICPA seeks to address this trend is through the CPA Evolution project, in partnership with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. This project strives to ensure that CPAs can support an accounting profession that plays a critical role in protecting the public interest.

New business challenges call for CPAs to take on new roles

Many factors have contributed to vast changes in the corporate reporting landscape in recent years. These include accounting standards changes such as revenue recognition, leases, and credit losses. However, it’s widely recognized that financial statements and financial information alone may not tell the whole story when evaluating businesses. What do these changes mean and how can CPAs take a leadership role?  

Surveying the landscape

Developing a resilient staff who’s ready for anything

Five years ago, could you have predicted the challenges you and your team would face in 2019? And if you had a crystal ball, what challenges would you see approaching over the next five years? The AICPA’s Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS) team asked firms of all sizes to predict their top challenges between now and 2024 in the 2019 PCPS Firm Top Issues Survey. They say they’d be most affected by staffing, emerging technologies, competition, changing client needs and the regulatory environment within the next half-decade.

3 signs your client’s investments aren’t tax friendly

You know a lot about your tax clients — their jobs, their kids’ names, what kind of cars they drive — and you know even more about their finances. Most of the time, your clients are happy to share their complete financial lives with you. But, occasionally, when delving into the numbers, you’ll uncover financial moves you didn’t know about. Often, those moves involve their investments.  

You may be hesitant to talk to your clients about their investments. But remember, proactive conversations about all the financial issues affecting them are part of a CPA’s job. In addition, talking about investments as a part of their entire financial picture is a great way to start planning conversations — especially as we head into year-end. Not to mention, this is an added chance to cement your relationship as their trusted adviser.

What the current political environment means for CPAs

Ron Elving is a senior editor and correspondent for NPR’s Washington Desk. Ron delivered the keynote address at this year’s AICPA Governmental Accounting and Auditing Conference. We sat down with him to get his insights on what’s going on in Washington and how it affects CPAs.

What would you say are some of the legislative and political issues that CPAs should be following? What issues will most affect them?

4 strategies to attract and retain female talent at your firm

Did you know one in five women say they’re the only woman in the room at work? If you’re like me, unfortunately, you’re not too surprised by this information. Professions like finance & accounting and tech spaces have been known to have a harder time attracting and retaining female talent.  Yet, companies that have a higher percentage of female leadership have been proven to excel. A report released by Credit Suisse states that companies that have women making up at least 15% of senior management are 50% more profitable than those where less than 10% of senior managers are female. So, here are four strategies that will help you attract top female talent to your firm and retain them, too.

3 steps to prep for the new EBP audit standard

Last month, we issued a new statement on auditing standards (SAS) for employee benefit plan audits, Forming an Opinion and Reporting on Financial Statements of Employee Benefit Plans Subject to ERISA. The SAS is designed to make the auditor’s report easier to understand and more relevant, leading to improved EBP audit quality.

If you perform financial statement audits of EBPs subject to ERISA, you’ll want to carefully review the changes and start planning for implementation well before the effective date

Here’s some advice to get you started.

8 cybersecurity resources you literally need right now

Suffice to say, it’s not been a good week for the 5^th largest U.S. credit card issuer. This week, Capital One was hacked in what’s being called one of the largest data breaches in history. A lone hacker gained access to more than 100 million American and Canadian customer accounts and credit card applications. The data theft exposed 140,000 social security numbers, 1 million Canadian Social Insurance numbers and 80,000 bank account numbers, among customers’ other personal data. Capital One estimates the breach will cost them between $100M and $150M in 2019 on customer notifications, credit monitoring, technology costs and legal support.  And this does not include potential reputational damage or political and regulatory actions, including possible penalties. Capital One’s stock also plummeted 6% overnight.

4 ways to get your firm beach-ready this summer

The coming of summer means longer, lazier days filled with outdoor fun. But once we’ve packed away the thick wool and sleek leather jackets that defined our winter existence, we’re often faced with an unpleasant truth: months of indoor living have left us feeling unprepared for outdoor activities like beach volleyball and surfing. And many times, a long winter may have left your firm a little out of shape, too.

Whether the barely managed chaos of tax season forced you to put off the exercises that would have helped keep your firm… well, firm, or the rapid approach of October has you procrastinating in getting to your firm’s self-care, summer is a perfect chance to get everything in shape and ready to show off.

5 principles for evolving CPA licensure

What does the CPA of the future look like? Does that person need the same skills and competencies CPA licensure requires today—or should changes be made to expand the pipeline of talent the profession needs for the future?

As technology continues to change the services we perform and the way we deliver them, the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) and the AICPA are exploring whether initial CPA licensure requirements need to change to be more inclusive of those who have expertise in technology and analytics. You may have read about our CPA Evolution initiative in a blog post I wrote in January or a follow-up post I wrote in May sharing what CPAs had to say about evolving licensure.

3 tips to help your clients with revenue recognition implementation

Summertime is finally here! But before you hit the beach, head to your clients’ offices and make sure they are ready to adopt the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (FASB) accounting standard on revenue recognition, issued as FASB ASU 2014-09 with subsequent amendments.

Public companies adopted the new guidance in 2018, and soon private companies will get their turn.  The guidance is effective for private entities in 2019 for annual reporting periods, and in 2020 for interim periods.

New AICPA Chair focuses on the profession’s leap into the future

In May 2019, Bill Reeb, CPA/CITP, CGMA, assumed the role of Chair of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). He also serves as the Vice Chair of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants (the Association). We asked him a few questions to help you get to know him and his vision for the future of the profession.

You can also watch the video of his AICPA inaugural address.

1. Congratulations on becoming the 106th chair of the AICPA! As you look ahead, what do you see as the biggest opportunity for the accounting profession?

The digital era has swept in a blistering pace of change that’s transforming the world around us. The change is not incremental — it’s exponential. And in these rapidly changing times, we find our greatest opportunity.

Our clients and employers need us more than ever to help them navigate increasing uncertainty and complexity. To seize the potential, we must take leaps, not steps. We must race to the horizon of possibility. Go where there has been no footpath before us to follow. Become comfortable with being uncomfortable.

5 things you need to know about the new auditor reporting standards

You may have heard that we issued a new auditor reporting standard effective for audits of financial statements for periods ending on or after December 15, 2020. The standard was designed to enhance the relevance and transparency of the auditor’s report. One key change is that with the new standard, the auditor’s opinion comes first. It’s like opening a box of Cracker Jack at a ball game and seeing the prize right on top. No need to fish through the rest of the good stuff in the box to find it.

The new Statement on Auditing Standards Auditor Reporting and Amendments, Including Amendments Addressing Disclosures in the Audit of Financial Statements, known as SAS No. 134, contains four sections that replace AU-C Sections 700, 705 and 706. There’s also a new section: 701 in the AICPA’s Professional Standards.

Find value in what you love: One tax CPA’s value pricing story

In 2006, Dominique Molina, CPA, had a revelation: she was working too much.

It was busy season, and like many nights, she was working late from her home office. As the owner of a successful tax firm in San Diego, she felt a great pressure resting on her shoulders.

In a laser-focused, deadline-driven push to the end, her 3-year-old son put everything in perspective.

“My son came into my office and started to ask me a question,” Molina remembered. “But he stopped himself and said: ‘Never mind. I’ll go ask Dad.’ I was crushed.”

Demystifying unicorns: How startup valuations really work

Near daily headlines tout the massive valuations of startup companies and their potential public offerings. Some of these entities are valued well into the tens of billions of dollars. Private market investors continue to pump money into technology-based companies with the hope of cashing in on the next unicorn—rare startups valued at more than $1 billion.

At the same time, many of these companies have yet to produce positive net income, with some reporting growing quarterly losses in the millions of dollars. What’s more, some of these organizations are lacking clearly defined plans for how to pull a profit from their operations.

Flip the switch on non-conformity with 5 free audit quality resources

You strive to perform top-notch audits of your clients’ financial statements. You research the company and their industry, meet with the client, gather necessary information and develop and execute a plan. Having resources on hand can streamline the process.

Five years ago, the AICPA formed its Enhancing Audit Quality (EAQ) initiative and changed how we develop resources to help auditors. The EAQ team, working with the Audit and Attest Standards, Peer Review, Engagement and Learning Innovation, Center for Plain English Accounting, and Assurance and Advisory Innovation teams, analyzes data from peer reviews and other sources, identifies where noncompliance with professional standards occurs and develops resources to help firms in those areas.  So far, we’ve focused on: risk assessment, internal control, audit documentation, employee benefit plan audits, peer review, quality control, single audits, SOC engagements and auditing accounting estimates.

Close any deal with these human intelligence skills

So, you’ve made it through the first round of interviews for your dream job — or maybe you’ve made an initial pitch to a prospective new client and now it’s time to close the deal. You want the job, and are more than qualified for it. But is that enough?

Think about the Ivy League college application process where most applicants are qualified but only a fraction are selected. In this case, even though you’ve already proven you have experience and the knowledge to knock the job duties out of the park, closing the deal can come as a challenge.

3 FAQs on the hosting services ethics interpretation

When I started working in public practice more than 20 years ago, “the cloud” referred to something in the sky, not storing data over the internet. Things have changed. Our profession has and continues to benefit from technological advances like the cloud, and the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct is evolving just as practice is.

The code was written before wide adoption of current technological advances. To keep pace with change, we’ve developed guidance for members who act as custodians of their clients’ information—members who store and maintain their clients’ information for them.

Millennials are changing our tax practices. Here’s how

Millennials are everywhere.

As the largest generation of Americans ever, they seem to be changing every aspect of our society. They’re influencing marketing trends, technological advancements, politics, travel, food — there’s little that isn’t affected by this generation’s unique way of doing things.

They are affecting your tax firm too — even if you don’t realize it yet.

Millennial tax clients are few and far between for most of us. Generally, their taxes aren’t yet complex enough to warrant our services. But as this age group acquires wealth, we’ll begin to see more and more of them walking through our doors.

Take a ride with Next Stop: CPA – the official podcast of the CPA Exam

Do you remember how it felt when you decided to become a CPA? The promise of those three magic letters can be very exciting, but first, comes with the start of a big life-journey. A journey that entails the preparation for the CPA Exam and the dedication and time commitment necessary to see it through. What’s the best way to study? Is the CPA even right for me? How do I find time to study? Those are just some of the questions that may have crossed your mind back then, and continue to come up with today’s future CPAs.

The AICPA recently launched a new podcast series, Next Stop: CPA, which takes a more informal, conversational, and at times, humorous approach to covering the wide range of topics that are most relevant and important to your Exam candidates. Hosted by AICPA’s Mike Horan and me, Next Stop: CPA releases 1-2 episodes each month that are designed to share valuable insights about the Exam, the profession and related topics.

What to do when your client gets terrible health news

No one knows when a health crisis will strike. We can take steps to mitigate our risks — eat healthy food, exercise more often, quit smoking — but that doesn’t mean we can plan whether we’ll get sick.

But we can plan financially.

Jim Sullivan, CPA/PFS, specializes in working with clients suffering from chronic illnesses. He has seen firsthand the devastating effects of a sudden, serious health crisis and is an expert at care plan funding and recovery. His work, as he described it, allows his clients to focus on addressing the illness without the worry of how to pay for its costs.

Sullivan said that while he prefers to do proactive planning with clients before they get sick, he often starts working with a client just days after they’ve received terrible health news. Regardless of when he first engages with an ill client, his approach is the same: He creates a financial plan from scratch.

16 free learning opportunities to take advantage of this summer

It’s summertime. The days are getting longer, the temperature is warming up and your most hectic time of year — workwise — is behind you. Congratulations! Now you can relax, at least a little. Summer is also the perfect time to hone your skills in preparation for fall busy season. We’ve assembled a handful of our favorite free resources to help you brush up on your skills and add a few new ones to your toolbox.

Find your niche

Search for that new service offering you’re passionate about. Once you find it, study up and absorb all there is to know about it. Home in and focus so you can really master it and add it to your suite of services. Here are some ideas to get started:

Father’s Day wisdom: A CPA dad’s advice

In 1981, Paul Stahlin, CPA, CGMA, and a former Chair of the AICPA, got his CPA license. Thirty-three years later, his daughter Emily followed in his footsteps by becoming a CPA as well.

The CPA profession of today isn’t the same as the profession of 1981. Technological innovation has created new opportunities for CPAs to provide value and has even changed how CPAs deliver core services. But even throughout all this change, some lessons Paul has learned in his career still ring true today. In honor of Father’s Day, Paul wrote this letter to Emily to share his advice on how she can thrive in her career as a CPA.

Workplace benefit advice for the Class of 2019

Nearly two million students are estimated to graduate with a bachelor’s degree this year. As they enter the job market and evaluate the employment opportunities before them, it’s a good time to remember that the perfect job should be about more than just salary. The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) asked young millennials who graduated from college in the last two years or will graduate in the next year about the workplace benefits they find most important. Matt Rosenberg, CPA and member of the AICPA’s National CPA Financial Literacy Commission, spoke to AICPA Insights about the survey results and shared some insight young job seekers should keep in mind as they evaluate their employment opportunities.

The top three workplace benefits that younger millennials say will help them reach their financial goals are: health insurance, paid time off (PTO), and student loan forgiveness programs. Does that match your experience working with clients?

How to navigate the digital age

We know that disruption is upon us. Not later, not soon, but right this instant. We’re already in the digital age and the profession is changing fast and challenging our minds to keep up. However, we still need a bit of help with some aspects of disruption. For example, what skills and mindsets will help us navigate the digital age? We spoke with Jim Bourke, CPA, CITP, CFF, CGMA, and Managing Director of Advisory Services for US-based WithumSmith+Brown, who travels internationally to address these questions among others. He also advises on how to stay ahead of the curve and strategically grow your business during the fourth industrial revolution that is transforming the finance and accounting professions. Here’s what he had to say:

Q: We hear a lot about digital transformation and digital readiness. What has changed in the last couple of years?

3 steps to reimagining your firm’s culture

Paid time off. Affordable health care plans. Employer-sponsored retirement funds. There’s a lot the modern worker evaluates when considering where they’ll spend their 40-plus hours a week. But more and more, potential employees are looking at another variable when choosing where to work: company culture.

According to a 2018 LinkedIn survey, 70 percent of professionals said they wouldn’t work at a leading company with an unhealthy culture.  

This makes sense to Rachel Montañez, a career coach, trainer and speaker who advises and writes on this exact topic. She said a company’s culture is created by the people who work there, and when staff members are stressed, there can be unexpected effects on culture.

How to stay on track to accomplish your 2019 goals

It’s time to assess those goals

Remember when 2018 was coming to a close? You were thrilled about the new year ahead. Fully living in the “new year; new me” theme, you made a list of your top goals for 2019. You broke them down into pieces and vowed to tackle them incrementally. You remember!

Well, guess what: It’s almost halftime. With the end of the second quarter creeping up on you, it’s time to assess your progress. Whether your goals are personal or professional, here’s how to recommit to the ones you didn’t complete and celebrate the ones you did.

How your feedback is shaping and evolving CPA licensure

Back in January, I wrote about the CPA Evolution initiative, a joint project with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) to explore integrating technological and analytical expertise into initial CPA licensure requirements.

I was thrilled that so many of you sent me emails with your thoughts on the blog post and the need for “CPA” to evolve with the ever-changing business landscape. Clearly, you all are very passionate about keeping the credential strong and relevant.

A few themes emerged from your feedback. Since your insights are so valuable to this initiative, I wanted to share them with you as NASBA and the AICPA continue our discussion throughout 2019. Here’s what I heard:

Implementing RPA is easier than you think

Robotic process automation (RPA) has advanced quickly in just a few years. In a short amount of time, both the number of RPA providers and the range of capabilities have greatly increased.  So much so, it can be difficult to keep up with all the changes.

This leads to the misconception that RPA is either too complicated, too costly, too technical or simply too difficult, for small or medium-sized businesses to put in place. While these statements may have once been true, that is no longer the case. Today, the wide variety of available options mean RPA is now for everyone. The barriers to entry have dropped so now is the right time to reconsider how automation can help your business.

Rising to the challenge of a digital era: Reflections from AICPA chair

When I stepped into the role of Chair of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) in February 2018, we were — and continue to be — facing an unprecedented pace of change that’s transforming our profession. And I put forward a challenge:

Be early to be on time. Take bold steps and initiate change today so that we will not just be prepared for tomorrow — we will be even stronger than we are today.

You have risen to that challenge. As I’ve spoken with members and leaders across the U.S. and around the world, I’ve been energized and inspired by the progress our profession is making. We’re not just imagining the possibilities. We’re seizing them to create an even stronger tomorrow for ourselves and the next generation.

Here are some of the ways we’re doing it.

Delivering more value

We’re pushing our own boundaries by adopting new technologies, competencies and service areas to become even more indispensable.

5 steps to get started with audit data analytics

If your firm hasn’t started using audit data analytics yet, it’s time to get on board. Audit data analytics (ADAs) are a technique that can help you leverage current technologies and move toward a more data-driven approach to planning or performing an audit.

How? ADAs help you discover and analyze patterns, identify anomalies and extract other useful information from audit data through analysis, modeling and visualization. You can use ADAs to perform a variety of procedures to gather audit evidence.

What that means for you: You can focus more of your time and energy on analyzing your data, understand more of what’s happening at your client’s organization and often analyze an entire population of data instead of just a sample.

Getting started with new techniques and technologies can be overwhelming, especially if you’re comfortable with your traditional method—and you may have concerns about using ADAs while complying with audit standards. However, we have a few resources and tips to show how you can comply with the standards while performing your audits with ADAs. Get started with these five steps.

Shake off this tax season’s pain points with these perfect pairings

Chocolate makes a bitter coffee taste sweeter. A dry wine brings out the flavors of a well-cooked steak. Good pairings make everything better.

The same can be said for the work you do. Pairing solutions with the challenges you face can improve the final result. And this certainly applies to the most recent tax season.

We asked tax practitioners about what they experienced this spring, and in this informal AICPA Tax Section survey, we found out pretty much what we were expecting: It was a demanding one. (You can read more about the survey in this AICPA Tax Section newsletter article.)

A former FBI agent’s view on the recent Medicare fraud

Last month news broke about a wide-spread fraud that caused Medicare to lose roughly $1.2 billion. While this case is noteworthy for the huge price tag attached to it and the brazen nature in which seniors were targeted, similar scams are going on across the country that don’t get the same headlines. CPAs can play a role keeping their clients safe from fraud schemes like these by educating them on the importance of keeping their personal information safe and being cautious about who they communicate with — both online and offline.

To better understand how frauds like this work and how people can protect themselves, I spoke with Randal A. Wolverton, CPA/CFF. Wolverton is a member of the AICPA’s FLS Fraud Task Force and is a former FBI agent who specializes in financial crimes. He currently provides financial crime instructional programs to numerous local, state and federal law enforcement entities, various state and federal agencies, businesses and banking institutions and provides articles and insights on preventing fraud on his blog.

A solid password today keeps the hackers away

With identify theft becoming one of the world’s fastest growing crimes, days like World Password Day are crucial to raising awareness of online threats. I sat down with Jay Overcash, Director of IT Security Strategy, to talk about how people can protect themselves from hackers.

Why is a day like World Password Day so important?

As more and more of our lives move into the digital realm, we rely on authentication to protect our valuable online data and assets.  Usernames and passwords remain the predominant method for securing online data.  World Password Day is important as it draws attention to the need to adequately protect online data with a strong password.

Keeping pace in a tax environment that never slows

Tax practitioners are on the frontline of change, and because of that, we’re constantly evolving our businesses. It’s a big ask, and we’re doing a great job keeping up. However, the changes continue to come, and not everything is matching our pace.

The AICPA’s Statements on Standards for Tax Services (SSTSs) were last updated almost ten years ago, and in that time, our profession has transformed dramatically. As a result, the current SSTSs don’t reflect today’s practice environment. What do we do when the standards we rely on to do our jobs no longer suit our needs?

We change the standards. Together.

The audit risk model: your first step in risk assessment

This blog post is the third in a series on risk assessment, a significant audit quality issue. View the first blog post here and the second here.

The audit risk model is the foundation of any audit. This might seem like CPA 101, but are you correctly applying it to your engagements?

In doing so, your first consideration is your client’s risks of material misstatement (RMM), which is made up of inherent risk and control risk. As a reminder, inherent risk is the risk of material misstatement assuming no related controls, while control risk is the risk that your client’s controls won’t prevent or detect and correct a material misstatement. So how do you apply this to your audit?

How small eco-friendly changes can mean big money in your home

Do you use plastic wrap to keep leftovers fresh? When you spill coffee on the floor, are paper towels your go-to clean up tool?

If you’re like me, you haven’t spent much time thinking about how disposable household products are adding to an Earth-health crisis.  

Americans produce an unsightly amount of trash each year — enough to reach to the moon and back 26 times. The worst part may be that more than 75 percent of this waste is recyclable, and 25.1 million tons of our trash is compostable food waste.

I’m guilty of adding to the problem. I used to throw out old food, plastic bags and shampoo bottles with reckless abandon. This not only caused injury to the environment but put a strain on my household’s budget.

Master these 3 skills for your next video conference call

For lunch meetings, there are nearby restaurants. For quick talking points over coffee, there’s your office Keurig or the coffee shop next-door. For everything else – every other type of meeting – there’s now video conferencing. The increase in work-from-home culture and the need for a more personal alternative to the standard phone call have made way for the perfect alternative: video-conferencing. Although some would see these conferences as an opportunity to be casual, it’s important to keep your professional image intact. The same reason you wouldn’t show up to your in-person business presentation wearing your pajamas might be the same reason you avoid turning on the webcam wearing a robe. To keep the other participants from gossiping about you in the private conference chat box, here are some human intelligence skills you should brush up on for your next on-camera business meeting.

How to manage clients’ high expectations for retirement

Mrs. and Mr. Penny are sitting in their CPA financial planner's office. Mrs. Penny, a 66-year-old community college professor, retires at the end of the school year with a modest pension. Mr. Penny, a 67-year-old construction foreman, plans to retire next year.

Neither paid much attention to their retirement savings until about five years ago, when they first engaged their CPA financial planner for tax advice.

“I hear Bora Bora is beautiful in the summers,” Mrs. Penny says to her husband, who nods and mentions taking off for the mountains in Austria after their beach trip.

How you can help reduce red tape for your firm

Running a CPA firm today has plenty of challenges. As business clients expand their operations at an accelerated pace, CPAs must monitor multi-level tax compliance, international treaties and a host of global accounting and reporting standards. CPAs also stay current on technical standards and find, recruit, train and retain top talent in a competitive economy. We adjust our work models to align with the values of a new workforce, invest heavily in technology and develop new service offerings to meet client needs, all while combating shrinking profit margins. As a profession, we are more than capable of overcoming these challenges.

Of all these challenges, there is one that can be simplified: CPAs’ and CPA firms’ ability to seamlessly cross state lines to provide services to clients.

Why some healthcare companies are betting big on blockchain

Quick -- what’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word blockchain? If you said bitcoin or some other type of cryptocurrency, you’re not alone.  Most people associate blockchain with cryptocurrencies, trading, and remittance platforms. But blockchain technology, which serves as a digital ledger for information, is making a name for itself in several other industries. Retail, politics, and finance worlds alike are enthusiastic about the potential of blockchain. And now the healthcare industry is starting to lay some roots. Although it may not be fully ready to implement the technology yet, here are a few ways that healthcare payer and providers plan to use blockchain and thus reasons accountants should be at the forefront of groundbreaking solutions to saving billions in healthcare.”