CPA Now Blog

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.

To relieve pandemic-impacted business, the U.S. government provided billions of dollars to businesses, state and local governments, and not-for-profits. While the funding provided much-needed relief, the assistance comes with added complications for many: specifically, the need for single audits.

New Hampshire recently challenged Massachusetts's policy of taxing nonresidents who had worked in-state but were working remotely from New Hampshire due to the pandemic. Although New Hampshire's efforts were blocked, the underlying issues are far from settled. In fact, for jurisdictions that employ “convenience of the employer” rules, such as Pennsylvania and Philadelphia, the issue is very much alive.

The effective implementation date of ASC 842 for private companies is Jan.1, 2022, and these companies and their CPAs simply are not ready. The PICPA’s Accounting and Auditing Steering Committee has petitioned the FASB for a two-year deferral of the effective date of ASC 842 , but we need your input, and we need it today!

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) measures continue to evolve as a strategic business imperative. Future accountants need to be aware of the continuing growth of sustainability accounting and reporting. To date, 80% of Fortune 500 firms provide some form of nonfinancial disclosure regarding their ESG landscape.

The COVID-19 pandemic had an odd collateral effect on more seasoned workers. Previously distant retirement plans were suddenly within arm’s reach. Personal savings grew as economic impact payments were stowed away by those with uninterrupted employment. If you are one of those with a pandemic-induced retirement acceleration option, should you take the money and run?

Emerging technologies are truly attainable and accessible to all corporations. It is important to separate fact from fiction as it relates to the perceived barriers of entry. This blog highlights three "reasons" why many firms feel they are unable to implement emerging technologies and addresses those concerns head on.

There are plenty of ways to make more money as a CPA, but the trick is making more money without working any harder. There are three general reasons why CPAs work as hard as they do and still under-earn. Fix these shortcomings and you will be on the path to earning more without working harder.

Accounting firms with double-digit growth have one thing in common: they actively focus on recruiting and retaining a high-quality marketing staff. These high-performers have almost twice the marketing resources of slower-growing firms.

Technology offers the accounting world a wealth of benefits, from saving time on tedious processes to incorporating innovative ways of handling compliance, insight, and advisory services. A digital transformation can make refocusing a company swifter and easier so it can seize new opportunities for growth while ensuring stability.