Winter 2022
Features
The New & Improved CPA Exam: A Look Inside the CPA Evolution Updates
By Heather M. Demshock, CPA, CMA, and Robert E. Duquette, CPA
The CPA Evolution initiative, a joint project between the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) and the AICPA, was created to transform the CPA licensure model. It was undertaken to embrace the changing skills and competencies required of CPAs, today and into the future.
Story Time: CFOs Can Make Their Financial Tales Engaging with a Good MD&A Report
By Michael F. De Stefano, CPA
Have you ever produced financial statements that you reported out at a monthly management meeting only to be met by blank stares on the faces of those without a financial background? It can be unsettling, but it can be overcome. To break through those blank stares, you have to tell the financial story of your organization in a meaningful way to those with diverse backgrounds and varying levels of financial knowledge.
Columns
Accounting & Assurance
Material Misstatements: Find Them Before They Find You
By Charles B. Hall, CPA, CFE
Explores the dangers material misstatements present to the accuracy of the audit opinion.
Forensic Accounting
How the Pandemic Impacts Determining Economic Damages
By James A. Stavros, CPA, CFF, and Allison Greenfield, CPA
Delves into some of the factors that should be considered when seeking to calculate lost earnings connected to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Government & Not-for-Profit
GASB’s New Essentiality Criterion
By Khaled Abdel Ghany, CPA, PhD
Dives into GASB’s revised exposure draft, which states that for information to be included in the notes of financial statements it needs to pass three tests of essentiality.
CPA Advocacy
PICPA Star Power You Didn’t Know We Had
By Jennifer Cryder, CPA
Showcases the valuable role PICPA members play in shaping the landscape for issues that affect the Pennsylvania business environment.
Legislative News
Reaching Across the Delaware on Cross-State Tax Matters
By Alexandra C. Fabian
Goes behind the scenes of a recent agreement between the PICPA State Taxation Steering Committee and the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants to work together to solve cross-state tax issues.
Business Transformations
Due Diligence on the Flip Side: A Seller’s Tool Too
By James P. Swanick, CPA, and Michael J. Tighe, CPA
Stress the importance for sellers to proactively review a buyer’s financial records and tax positions prior to entering into possible protracted negotiations.
Liability Lessons
Long-Standing Client Relationships Pose Largest Professional Risk
By Jonathan S. Ziss, JD
Utilizes case studies to show that although long-term client/CPA firms can be the most satisfying, they can also be the relationships that bring the biggest risk of liability claims.
Careers & Lifestyles
Interviewing Your Potential Employer Is a Must
By James J. Caruso, CPA, CGMA
Identifies the job search process as a two-way street, one where the employer is not only interviewing the job seeker, but where the job seeker is vetting their potential new place of business as well.
Employee Benefit Plans
Improving the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System
By JulieAnn C. Verrekia, CPA
Discusses the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System’s role in permitting plan sponsors to correct failures and continue to provide their employees with retirement benefits on a tax-favored basis.
Emerging CPAs
The Importance of Soft Skills for CPAs
By Carrie Steffen
Seeks to answer the question of whether the increase in technology tools has served to devalue the importance of conventional relationship building.
Ethics
Transparency, Accountability, and Governmental Ethics
By Nicholas Ring, CPA
Reviews the importance of ensuring ethical behavior by CPAs working in governmental accounting.
State & Local Tax
Alternative Apportionment Options of State Income
By Jonathan Liss
Explains the concept and purpose of the statutory relief mechanism known as alternative apportionment.
Federal Tax
Are Your Clients Prepared for a Wave of IRS Audits?
By Philip Karter, JD, LLM, and Kevin F. Sweeney, JD
Advises CPAs to ensure their clients are ready for a possible uptick in federal audits due to changes in tax legislation.
