202108.16
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Firms slowly return to offices while giving employees flexibility

Accounting firms, like many businesses, are reopening their doors as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes thanks to wide availability of vaccines in the U.S., but they’re trying to avoid alienating staff. Firms have been welcoming back employees who have been working from home for over a year, but giving them options to keep working remotely, if they choose, to avoid losing talented staff and partners to the competition. While a year ago, companies were laying off millions of employees due to the economic fallout from the pandemic, the situation has reversed and businesses in many industries are having trouble finding qualified workers. Even before the pandemic, the accounting profession had long…

202011.03
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Accountants look to educate younger generation in latest tech skills | Accounting Today

By Michael Cohn October 28, 2020, 5:02 p.m. EDT Institute of Management Accountants president and CEO Jeff Thomson told an online meeting Wednesday of the Accountants Club of America about how the profession can appeal more to young people by emphasizing technology know-how in areas like data analytics and data science. “This really is a race for relevance and the future of our profession,” said Thomson. “It really is about velocity, the rate of change of technology and our ability to absorb and leverage technology for betterment of our effectiveness and efficiency.” He sees a move in college and university accounting programs to train students in technology skills. “More and more…

202008.28
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Myrna L. Fischman, PhD, Presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who’s Who

Myrna L. Fischman, PhD, Presented with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who’s Who Dr. Fischman has been endorsed by Marquis Who’s Who as a leader in the fields of finance, law, accounting and taxation A licensed certified public accountant in the state of New York, Dr. Myrna L. Fischman is also a professor emerita who taught at Long Island University (LIU) in Brooklyn, New York, for 40 years NEW YORK, NY, April 13, 2020 /24-7PressRelease/ — Marquis Who’s Who, the world’s premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Myrna L. Fischman, PhD, with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Dr. Fischman celebrates…

202008.03
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COVID-19 Has Slowed Mergers, But Market is Still Active | Robert Fligel, The Trusted Professional

By: Chris Gaetano Published Date: Jul 9, 2020 Robert Fligel, a consultant specializing in CPA firms who spoke at a recent NYSSCPA CPE event, said that while the global pandemic has slowed merger-and-acquisition activity among CPA firms, it has by no means stopped, and there remain many opportunities for owners looking to sell or merge their practices. Speaking on July 8 before members of the Society’s Small Firms Practice Committee, Fligel said that since the middle of March, he has had “a lot of meetings with buyers and sellers.” While the process is slower, as “the in-person meetings haven’t happened yet and timetables may be stretched out a little bit,”…

202005.13
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PPP Payback Deadline May Have Unintended Consequences by Walter Primoff, CPA/PFS, CGMA | The CPA Journal

PPP Payback Deadline May Have Unintended Consequences CPAs Should Revisit Advice Given to Clients April 2020 To supplement its Payroll Protection Program (PPP) Rules, the Small Business Administration (SBA) regularly issues PPP frequently asked questions (FAQ) in numerical order, easily found from the “red line” across the Treasury Department homepage. On April 23, the SBA issued FAQ 31 (https://bit.ly/2SjiC01), stating that PPP loan recipients who have not faced COVID-19 crisis liquidity problems and economic harm were not PPP-eligible borrowers. Anyone who received PPP funds has until May 7 to return unneeded funds without violating the “good faith” certification made about suffering economic harm. FAQ 31 likely was a response to…

202004.28
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Art of Accounting: Deciding Who To Let Go | Accounting Today

Art of Accounting: Deciding who to let go By Edward Mendlowitz April 20, 2020, 10:00 a.m. EDT In normal times, ideally no one should be let go unless they are just not good. In these times, being practical means some may need to go. How do you decide? Small firms are businesses, but many are run like a family unit. Loyal and long-term employees get favored in many ways over newer staff even if the newer staff outperform the longer-term people. I believe we need to operate in some sort of survival mode. While loyalty should be rewarded, we now need a harder look at skills, growth, competence, client relationships…

202002.25
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Art of Accounting: Black History and Women’s History Months | Accounting Today

By Edward Mendlowitz February 24, 2020, 12:48 p.m. EST February is Black History Month and March is Women’s History Month. Here is some information about the first black CPA and the first woman CPA. John Cromwell Jr. became the first black CPA in 1921 in New Hampshire. He was a native of Washington, D.C., which had an experience requirement in order to become a CPA, as did all of the surrounding states. He wasn’t able to get a job with any CPA firm in that area. New Hampshire did not have an experience requirement, so he took the exam there and was successful. Cromwell was a member of one of the…

202002.17
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Art of Accounting: Barry Melancon updated | Accounting Today

By Edward Mendlowitz AICPA president and CEO Barry Melancon gave his annual update at the Accountants Club of America on Feb. 4. This was a can’t-miss program for me and likely for all of the other attendees at the sold-out breakfast. An excellent article by Michael Cohn appeared that day reporting on the presentation. However, my interest in what Barry said is less global and pretty specific to small firms, so I am adding my views on what he said. There are really big issues confronting public accountants, but most of the firms are small and they face issues getting through the day, hiring and retaining staff, trying to keep up with…

202002.13
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AICPA’s Melancon Addresses Need to Keep Pace with Technology, Warns of Licensing Threats | The Trusted Professional

By: Ruth Singleton Published Date: Feb 7, 2020 At the Accountants Club of America’s (ACA) “Annual Issues Breakfast,” Barry C. Melancon, the president and CEO of the American Institute of CPAs, discussed how the profession needs to evolve to match the pace of technology and warned of threats posed by some state governments to unwind the basic licensing regime. Melancon began by addressing the tremendous impact of technology on the profession. “I get to spend a lot of time with people who are futurists,” he said, and thus has gained insights on what to expect from technology. He spoke of 2012 as the year when the power of artificial intelligence really took…

202002.04
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AICPA CEO Melancon: CPA Licensing Under Threat | Accounting Today

American Institute of CPAs president and CEO Barry Melancon talked about the need for CPAs to learn new skills as hiring of accounting graduates has slowed and the CPA licensing model has come under threat in some states. “There’s a lot of action in the states,” Melancon noted during a speech Tuesday at a meeting of the Accountants Club of America in New York. “There are major forces at work, and lots of big money, to unwind in the states the basic licensing regime that exists in this country. It’s not just targeted to CPAs, but it’s targeted to all licensing. Now that doesn’t mean it’s manifested itself in every…