CPA Now Blog Archive

Cheri H. Freeh, CPA, PICPA past president and a leader in the efforts to streamline and increase efficiency in local income tax collection, has moved to the national stage with her three-year appointment to the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council (IRSAC). Cheri took a few minutes to share her impressions on the experience.

The PICPA’s “busy season” is just beginning to roll with the start of chapter annual meetings. I look forward to this renewal every spring — the weather improves, member activity resurges, and many networking opportunities open up for our members.

I know it’s busy season, and your intention of taking care of you, may have slipped a little, or maybe a lot. What can you do to get back on track? Ultimately it comes down to one question: How important is it to you?

The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare (DPW) released the 2014 HealthChoices audit guide on Feb. 7, 2014. The guide was revised through a joint workgroup that consisted of the Office of the Budget, Bureau of Audits (BOA), the DPW, and the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA).

It’s officially budget season, so let the legislative and political tussles begin. Gov. Tom Corbett unveiled his proposed fiscal year 2014-2015 spending plan to a joint session of the Pennsylvania General Assembly last Tuesday, Feb. 4.

Public accounting can be challenging, but it can also be extremely rewarding, especially during tax season. New associates may have trouble looking past the long hours and the deadlines to realize the amazing opportunity that is in front of them. I am about to begin my eighth tax season in public accounting, and I can honestly say that I am not dreading it; I am looking forward to it! What follows are a few pieces of advice for not only surviving, but thriving during tax season.

The #GuardianCPA tax campaign is the brainchild of PICPA’s CPA Image Enhancement Committee. It describes some of the complicated tax changes that could require the assistance of a CPA to more accurately complete this year’s tax return.

How interesting would it be for firm partners to learn that a benefit considered a big deal by a senior partner has little or no influence on a younger firm member when making choices about staying or leaving a firm? Do you know how your firm’s benefits stack up with others?

I find myself reflecting on the past year and looking forward to the new challenges that lie ahead. But before I get too far ahead of myself, I need to express some gratitude for the reason the PICPA exists – our members!

When in doubt, blame it on the creative accountants! That seems to be the mantra among many in politics, the media, and elsewhere, particularly when it comes to tax policy and tax planning strategies. I don’t know why the phrase “creative accountants” bothers me – I live with the “lobbyist” tag, after all – but it does, and I’m not even a card-carrying member of the esteemed CPA profession.

It’s a well-known fact that the FDIC insures deposits in banks up to the first $250,000 in any single bank. Any funds on deposit over this amount are considered uninsured and subject to loss if a bank were to go into bankruptcy. These rules apply to commercial bank accounts as well as individual accounts.

The AICPA, for its part, released a completely new special purpose framework designed for small businesses. Called the Financial Reporting Framework for Small- and Medium-Sized Entities, (FRF for SMEs), this new framework offers a simplified financial reporting option for those entities that are not required to use U.S. GAAP. Is this new framework right for your business or clients? The devil, as always, is in the details.

The PICPA offers our members a free service to schedule courses in their offices, which we call on-site training. A lot of our members may not know that this service is available.

I work closely with PICPA’s Pennsylvania CPA Journal Editorial Board and the CPA Image Enhancement Committee, and these questions are what we talk about at the committee meetings. The conversations are interesting, enlightening, engaging, and, believe it or not, fun!

The relationships between a CPA and his or her clients can last for many years, having been built on a foundation of trust and professionalism. However, the increase in third parties asking for comfort letters threatens these relationships and challenges the integrity and ethical behavior of the CPA as well as their billable hours.

The end of a busy tax season for our members represents the beginning of a busy season for PICPA networking, and we look forward to re-engaging with members.

More state economies are shifting from manufacturing to services, and budgetary challenges are not letting up. State legislatures across the nation are aggressively looking to close budget gaps with new revenues. One of the first places legislators are looking is at sales taxes on professional services.

I don’t know about you, but when I first heard that the pope had resigned, I was waiting for the punch line. By now, we know it wasn’t a joke. The white smoke confirmed that there is a new leader of the Catholic Church. How does that relate to accounting? Change. Succession planning. Diversity.

With the Capitol rotunda’s white marble steps as a backdrop, members of the PICPA Fiscal Responsibility Task Force yesterday released a second report. The task force, created by the PICPA Council in 2010, is designed to position PICPA as a key public policy stakeholder in Pennsylvania.

The PICPA will be in full strategic mode over the next several months, and, based on recent member volunteer activity, we will have plenty to keep us busy. The PICPA could not function, and could not be effective, without the countless hours that our members provide.