Mar 2, 2020, 14:14 PM by Mitchell K. McKenney, CPA

Statement on Standards for Accounting and Review Services No. 21 has been effective for more than a year now – for engagements on financial statements for periods ending on or after Dec. 15, 2015. Sufficient time has passed to allow the peer review process to shine a light on some of the implementation issues that firms and practitioners may be experiencing.

Mar 2, 2020, 14:05 PM by William “Billy” E. Ebersole, CPA, JD, CFE

As a CPA and a federal agent, I appreciate the importance of maintaining a current understanding of the proper application of accounting principles and the ever-evolving accounting landscape. Once you have a firm understanding of how legitimate businesses operate, fraudulent enterprises can become more apparent. This is true for lease agreements too.

Mar 2, 2020, 13:53 PM by Brian W. Carpenter, PhD, CMA, and Daniel P. Mahoney, CPA, PhD

After four or five years of college, you’ve landed a great job – maybe even your dream job. It’s time to put all of your accounting education to work. You’re likely preparing for one or more certification exams, which means having to recall details from all of your previous coursework.

Mar 2, 2020, 13:48 PM by Andrew M. Bernard Jr., CPA, and William Long

In the global economy, companies operate foreign business in various currencies. U.S. taxpayers must translate their foreign currency transactions into U.S. dollars. Many times the rules are misunderstood.

Mar 2, 2020, 13:45 PM by Cory Ng, CPA, DBA, CGMA, and Mason Pan

Vast amounts of data are generated every day – about 2.5 quintillion bytes according to estimates from IBM. This “big data” originates from numerous sources: from individual social media posts and text messages, to corporate supply chain management activities and financial transactions. Businesses are gaining valuable insights through the analysis of all the data they can gather.

Dec 20, 2019, 13:28 PM by Andrew M. Bernard Jr., CPA, and Marc Lim, JD

In response to a number of highly publicized governmental hearings regarding how certain multinationals (including Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and Starbucks) achieve low effective tax rates on their foreign earnings, in 2013 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, an international economic organization of 34 countries, undertook a major review of international tax policy and best practices via the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project.

Dec 20, 2019, 13:26 PM by Leonard Schneidman, JD, and Andrew M. Bernard Jr., CPA

This column discusses the key organizational, operational, and repatriation tax issues of foreign-owned U.S. enterprises. We start from the assumption that the foreign corporation is entitled to the benefits available under a U.S. income tax treaty (the tax treaty).

Dec 20, 2019, 13:24 PM by Todd A. Sacco, CPA, PFS, JD

Many tax practitioners who work with high-net-worth families are asked to prepare fiduciary income tax returns for trusts. Preparing fiduciary returns for trust accounts that are invested in basic stocks, bonds, and cash is complicated enough.

Dec 20, 2019, 13:23 PM by William G. Ruffner, CPA, and Kevin Wilkes, JD

While reviewing a possible re-organization involving a traditional merger, savvy consultants consider whether the restructuring could be accomplished more efficiently through one or more corporation-to-limited liability company conversions.

Dec 20, 2019, 13:22 PM by Jonathan S. Ziss, JD

When an audit client is exposed as a corrupt enterprise and a court-appointed receiver pursues claims against the auditors for malpractice and aiding and abetting, what defenses are available to the auditor? There are some, but you must make sure they are strong and in place at the beginning of an engagement.

Dec 20, 2019, 13:22 PM by J. Stephen McNally, CPA, CMA

There are three ways for a company to increase economic value: increase revenue, cut costs, or do a combination of the two. But a number of “growth-starved” companies have moved toward zero-based budgeting (ZBB) in an effort to stay profitable.

Dec 20, 2019, 13:22 PM by William G. Ruffner, CPA, and Michael J. Tighe, CPA

You may be familiar with Internal Revenue Code Section 382 of the tax code, which limits an acquiring corporation’s ability to use certain preexisting tax attributes once the target corporation experiences an “ownership change.” The triggering of Section 382 can raise some rather complex issues, and may even serve as a potential roadblock to profitable, tax-paying corporations who are eager to reduce their tax burden by attempting to purchase the tax attributes of “loss corporations.”

Dec 20, 2019, 13:21 PM by Robert E. Duquette, CPA, Andrew M. Bernard Jr., CPA, and Florian Hanslik

The projected deficits for the next 25 years raise concern about how long we can continue deficit spending. But is the country ready for a serious debate about an overhaul of our tax system?

Dec 20, 2019, 13:21 PM by Herbert R. Fineburg, LLM

One commonly used vehicle in gift and estate planning is the intentionally defective grantor trust, or IDGT. An IDGT is a separate and distinct entity from the individual transferor (grantor) who establishes the trust. The transfer in trust is treated as incomplete or “defective” by using strategies that cause the grantor to continue to be the owner for income taxes.

Dec 20, 2019, 13:18 PM by Jonathan S. Ziss, JD

Any closely held business that operates without adequate segregation of duties is exposed to the risk of embezzlement. This is hardly a revelation. In fact, it’s Bookkeeping 101. Yet, time and again, this vulnerability is exploited to devastating effect. There is an odd, overarching irony to it all.

Dec 20, 2019, 13:18 PM by Robert Bloom, PhD

A new Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) leasing standard is finally available, and it likely will impact many companies in a wide array of industries. The major change in ASC Topic 842 is to put most leases, which reflect the right of the lessee to secure the asset in accordance with the underlying contract, on the lessee’s balance sheet instead of only in the footnote disclosures. This will affect corporate balance sheet and income statement ratios, the nature of corporate financing, and the leasing industry.

Dec 20, 2019, 13:17 PM by Scott L. Austin, JD, Jennifer T. Loughery, CPA, and Ilya A. Lipin, JD

On Feb. 19, 2016, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue issued Information Notice Corporation Taxes 2016-01. The notice provides guidance regarding the add-back provision enacted in July 2013. Effective for tax years beginning after Dec. 31, 2014, the add-back disallows certain Pennsylvania corporate net income tax deductions for transactions between affiliates involving intangible expenses and costs.

Dec 20, 2019, 13:17 PM by Elizabeth A. Gordon, CPA, PhD, and Cory Ng, CPA, DBA, CGMA

Higher-order thinking skills are essential for success in today’s workplace. According to a survey in The Wall Street Journal, more than half of college recruiters responded that a combination of critical thinking, problem-solving, and independent thinking were skills that college graduates needed to improve the most. The purpose of this column is to assist accounting educators in preparing students to succeed as accounting professionals by integrating higher-order thinking skills in the classroom.

Dec 20, 2019, 11:43 AM by Peter J. Kaye, CPA, and Robert G. Korbeck Jr.

Peter J. Kaye, CPA, and Robert G. Korbeck Jr. explain how cloud computing technology can help many types of companies, but urge those who choose to take the leap to understand the implications of faulty risk management.

Dec 20, 2019, 11:42 AM by Laurie Horvath, CPA

When building a volunteer organization, optimizing volunteer resources and capitalizing on employee time are primary challenges. The common solution is to institute overarching committees of finance, nominating, programming, and fund-raising. Due to this committee consolidation, audit and financial reporting responsibilities are often added into the finance committee.