CPA Now Blog Archive

Financial neglect, financial exploitation, and health care fraud are among the more egregious examples of elder abuse. CPAs, as trusted financial advisers, have an intimate knowledge of their clients’ finances, business matters, and family dynamics. CPAs will often see problems early, and there may be opportunity to render preventive assistance before concerns materialize into full-blown crises.

Economic conditions long have had a significant impact on CPA professional liability claims. Expectations are elevated when the economy is challenging. CPAs need to be prepared and vigilant to minimize the potential for additional liability exposures during these times.

Annually, the PICPA and the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue (DOR) meet to discuss issues affecting CPA practitioners and their clients and to bring clarity to complex regulations. In October 2021, the PICPA State Taxation Steering Committee hosted the DOR. Topics covered include personal income and corporate tax, sales and use tax, and administrative issues.

Many companies that take advantage of the research and development (R&D) tax credit rarely go the distance to maximize the credit they can actually claim. EPSA USA has been able to help CPA firms and their clients optimize R&D tax credits.

The AICPA is shifting away from its Quality Control Standards to something it calls Quality Management Standards. Find out what that means, how it impacts you, and some implementation concerns.

The more things change, the more things stay the same ... and some professional debates continue unabated. Will you, as a CPA, be more comfortable working in public accounting or pursuing a career in industry? This blog highlights career tips from three different perspectives.

When CPAs get to the mid-career level, they are often expected to serve in some leadership capacity. But do these CPAs understand the best way to lead? Leadership coach Jon Lokhorst explains leading is not simply a top-down endeavor.

When CPA firms received requests from lenders seeking creditworthiness verification for clients who had requested Paycheck Protection Program loans, they were often unsure of how to respond. Know that accommodating these requests is not required, and a CPA providing assurances regarding a borrower’s solvency or ability to repay the debt could violate professional standards. And this is true for all similar circumstances in which a lender wishes the borrower’s CPA to provide creditworthiness feedback.

CPAs understand that sometimes minor changes to a client’s financial situation can go a long way in helping their cashflow. Sometimes it’s finding a small additional source of income. Perhaps it is shedding a nagging little expense. If you have Medicare-eligible clients, read on to learn more about one of those simple changes that can work wonders.

With the impending effective dates looming for ASC 842, Leases, learn more about some implementation challenges and practical expedients in this video blog by Allison Henry, PICPA's vice president of professional and technical standards.

Eighty-two percent of accounting professionals lack pricing confidence, and only 5% increase their rates more than once per year. Charging more raises money-specific fears, and as a result the decision becomes paralyzingly difficult for too many CPAs. Don't despair: just a few small, yet strategic, changes can bring immediate relief.

PICPA's new Career Center connects members with the resources and content they need to help them excel professionally. Organized by career stage, the Career Center features an array of programs, blogs, podcasts, and professional development opportunities.

A CPA's decision to sell or merge their practice should not be based on whim. There are many solid reasons to motivate such a decision. Here are six common factors that can lead one to a merger, sale, or acquisition.

Wake up, coffee, shower, office, meeting, call, meeting, call, work, work, call, store, gas, home, dinner, walk, work, bed, repeat. How did you end up in this seemingly endless cycle? In all likelihood, a little at a time. So, how does one stop the churn? The same way it started: one step at a time.

Working with tax preparers and incorporating the information they gather is a good idea for financial planning, but working off a tax document alone will be severely limiting. It can be very deceiving to assume the portfolio reporting on a tax return is truly representative of how much a client has made or lost in their overall portfolios.

To help a company push past a performance plateau, achieve growth goals, or gain a competitive advantage, consider a business process assessment. It may sound daunting, but it truly helps organizations take stock of their structure, staffing, and systems. This blog explains scenarios where a business process assessment is needed the most, what the process looks like, and what benefits can result.

There have been numerous Financial Accounting Standards Board updates over the years to Topic 820, Fair Value Measurement, and Topic 825, Financial Instruments. When reading through these topics or consulting a financial statement disclosures checklist, it is not always easy to see which rules apply for a given period, especially when it comes to private entities (nonpublic business entities).

We can spend hours – or even days – in our email inboxes, feeling busy but having little to show for our efforts. Instead of planning our work, we react in a chaotic, ad hoc manner that is dictated by the flow of email. But you can bring order to this chaos. Find out how as this blog reviews Cal Newport's A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload.

Too often, organizations develop their business processes to conform with the technical limitations of their enterprise resource planning system. The self-limiting is then repeated when an incumbent system is replaced with a new system that is deemed "equivalent" rather than one that is more efficient and effective. This problem can be avoided if the organization pursues a digital transformation with an overarching view of desired outcomes that can be supported by technology.

This Nov. 2, Pennsylvania voters will go to the polls to elect several judges. It’s no secret that these municipal election years tend to lack the luster of other years, but don’t fall into that sense of complacency. The decisions made during these elections will have resounding public policy impacts for years to come.