In four decades as a CPA, I have done some interesting things: preparing expatriate tax returns in South Korea and the Philippines, holding a uranium pellet during a nuclear fuel rod inventory, and making PICPA CPE presentations locally and statewide. But a private letter ruling request? Never. Well, I was about to check off one more item on my tax CPA bucket list.

Reviews are generally identified in context of historical financial statements, either in accordance with the statements on auditing standards or statements on standards for accounting and review services. However, for those reviews that fall within the scope of the statements on standards for attestation engagements, there is a pathway to perform an attestation service on other than historical financial statements. There are three types of attestation engagements: agreed-upon procedures, examinations, and reviews.

I am incredibly excited to be writing my first Pennsylvania CPA Journal column as chief executive officer! But I may be even more excited to work each day on behalf of the profession I care so deeply about. I’m currently spending some time refining my vision for the PICPA, which is no simple task. The PICPA has been a vital support network to the profession for the past 125 years, and it’s my honor and privilege to help guide the PICPA into the future.

Do you provide information technology services for your attest clients? Or does the firm that performs your attest work also provide information technology services? Those services may now cause independence concerns.

This feature does not look at business interruption claims as a result of COVID, but rather how business interruption claims were analyzed and evaluated in the past and what impact COVID-19 has had on this process to date and going forward. The world is adjusting to a new normal, and how business interruption claims are evaluated is evolving as well.

With more than nine months of availability of multiple COVID-19 vaccinations, many U.S. businesses have committed to reopening their offices in fall 2021. Firms have been preparing for a safe return to in-person work, but the pandemic undoubtedly changed the operational landscape. In addition to employee safety, firms must also manage the intricacies and implications of hybrid and remote work.

In this issue: PICPA Clarifies End to Pandemic-Related CPE Waivers; Pa. General Assembly Busy During Quiet Summer; PICPA Monitoring New Legislation; and more.

In this issue: Wolf Signs $39.8 Billion Pennsylvania Budget; Tax Code, Other Pa. Budget Pieces Signed into Law; Wolf Vetoes Republican Pa. Election Measure; and more.

In this issue: Pa. Budget Agreement News; Pennsylvania Sales Tax Fix Proposed; Pa. House Lawmakers Introduce Fair Share Tax Plan; and more.

In this issue: Pennsylvania Budget Deadline Approaches; Remote Work Tax Guidance Issued by Pa. DOR; Pa. Bills Advance on Like-Kind Exchanges, CNIT Decrease, Data Center Credit; and more.

In this issue: Pa. Lawmakers End Disaster Emergency, Position Budget Bills; Data Center Tax Exemption Passes Pennsylvania House; Pa. Democrats Call for School Investment, Equity; and more.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission, which provides sentencing guidelines, collects substantial amounts of information on sentencing, including dozens of data points for every criminal case. The data are publicly available, permitting an analysis of specific categories of crimes, including tax crimes.

What do Uber, Equifax, and Target have in common? All were subjects of data breaches that compromised corporate records with resulting damage to the companies and account holders. The problems caused by a data breach are often compounded when the breach is not disclosed in a timely fashion.

Even as online information and digital applications proliferate, the paperless office remains a fairy tale. Paper-based tools and physical things are alive and well – they may even be making a comeback, as chronicled by David Sax in The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter. Choosing tools for individual workflow and productivity is deeply personal, but could it be generational? The two of us (Lauren, a millennial, and Jim, a Gen Xer) discuss how we work and debate the merits and implications of the digital and analog alternatives.

As defined by ASU 2016-02, a lease modification is a change to the terms of a contract that results in a change in the scope of, or consideration for, a lease. An example would be a change to the terms and conditions of a contract that adds or terminates the right to use one or more underlying assets or extends or shortens the contractual lease term. A modification must be evaluated to determine the requisite application of lease accounting.

For years, business pundits have predicted the demise of the accounting profession as technology replaces work traditionally performed by the industry. According to The Hackett Group, since 2004 the median number of full-time employees in the finance department at large companies has declined 40 percent, to about 71 people for every $1 billion of revenue.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act modifies rules related to depreciating tangible property, net operating losses (NOLs), interest expense limitations, and the taxation of foreign income. One area that remains mostly untouched are the rules related to taxable and nontaxable reorganizations, spin-offs, incorporations, and liquidations.

In this issue: Pennsylvania Budget Deadline Looming; Pa. Revenue Collections Post Strong May; Pa. Local Governments Urged to Request Pandemic Funding Now; and more.

In this issue: Pa. Estimated Payments, Tax Credit Bills Advance; Pennsylvania Lawmakers Wrap Up a Busy May; IFO Releases Pa. Revenue Estimate; and more.

I am the biggest fan, cheerleader, and promoter of the accounting profession, which is why I am so delighted to represent PICPA’s 20,000 members. I am extremely honored and proud to serve as PICPA president for the 2021-2022 year. Though my presidency will kick off remotely, I hope to meet many of you face-to-face at some point during the year.