201704.03
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Need a CPA Expert? What CPA Did You Have in Mind?

By Vincent J. Love Do you want a CPA, or a CPA? That is, do you need a Certified Public Accountant (a governmentally licensed professional) or a Certified Professional Accountant? It may all depend on whether he or she is a member of the AICPA or the AICPA, or actually both organizations as an AICPA member is now automatically a member of the  AICPA. These two organizations, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, are the result of AICPA members (that is, the public accountants) approving a proposal last year to revise its bylaws (the results were announced on June 18, 2016)….

201703.09
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Voices Art of Accounting: Top 12 Tax Season Time Savers | Accounting Today

By Edward Mendlowitz Published March 06 2017 Here are some ways to save you and your tax practice some headaches this season. 1. I know you are busy getting corporate returns completed, but you should give priority to 1120S and 1065 returns where K-1s will be going to people that you do not prepare 1040s for. If these are not out by the middle of March, you will start getting calls from accountants and the participants looking for the K-1s since the client will tell them to call you. Make your life easier—give priority to returns that generate K-1s. 2. Do each extension as soon as you know a client…

201703.01
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Art of Accounting: Withum Dress Code

By Edward Mendlowitz February 27 2017 WithumSmith+Brown, PC has rolled out a “Dress for Your Day” policy with a manual illustrating the different ways staff can dress depending upon what they are doing that day. The 12-page manual shows 10 staffers in various poses and pretty much elevates comfort over a traditional look. Withum is a Top 30 firm with half of its staff millennials. It has become the firm of choice for many recent graduates. The “Dress for Your Day” policy is another way that helps us have one of the lowest turnover rates among accounting and advisory firms. This program was introduced at our annual State of the…

201702.13
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Salvatore Collemi – The Future of Auditing | CPA Journal

February 2017 The Future of Auditing A Roundtable Discussion Scott Marcello, Thomas Ray, Doug Carmichael, Jim Peterson, Sridhar Ramamoorti, Salvatore Collemi, and Bruce Nearon In Brief Technology has transformed the way that businesses operate. The auditing profession is no exception. The SEC’s recently released statistics for fiscal year 2016 showed that it filed 868 enforcement actions exposing financial reporting-related misconduct by companies and their executives, registrants, and gatekeepers. This is a single-year high, and many have attributed the results to the SEC’s increasing use of data analytics. In addition, a recent Pew Research study released by the AICPA showed that CPAs are among the highest regarded business professionals, but auditors…

201702.01
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Art of Accounting: Becoming an Expert Generalist

By Edward Mendlowitz Published January 23 2017, 2:16pm EST This is a follow-up to my previous column, where I suggested larger firms have a specialization as a generalist. This will illustrate some ways of accomplishing that. A generalist has to be knowledgeable in most areas, but possibly expert in none. A generalist should be able to handle most issues except the most complicated and be able to identify when a specialist should be consulted with. Most clients do not have many complicated issues, if any at all, so the generalist should be able to handle their tax, accounting, systems and consulting and relate what they do to the clients’ situations,…

201701.26
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Accounting Today: AICPA CEO Melancon Anticipates Major Tax Reform

By Michael Cohn January 24 2017 American Institute of CPAs president and CEO Barry Melancon is expecting Washington to pass major tax reform legislation during the Trump administration, and some Democrats may even cross the aisle to help Republican lawmakers enact it. Speaking Tuesday in New York at a meeting of the Accountants Club of America, Melancon gave his predictions for tax reform and addressed a wide range of other topics of interest to CPAs. Melancon acknowledged that nobody knows exactly what’s going to happen with tax reform in the political process. “There are some pretty interesting provisions that are being debated, and I think they will have huge ramifications…

201701.26
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Joanne Barry: Five Ways CPAs Can Build a Stronger Democracy | Accounting Today

By Joanne Barry January 23 2017 Donald Trump being sworn in on the steps of the Capitol Building. Bloomberg News Some people love him. Some people hate him. Regardless of what anyone feels about him, New York City real estate mogul and TV reality show star of The Apprentice Donald J. Trump has been sworn in as the president of the United States. While some of the new president’s proposals have, at times, lacked specificity, anyone seeking some level of certainty in the immediate future can find it in the fact that the United States will have a sitting Republican president acting with the full power of a Republican-majority House…

201701.05
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Federal Tax Planning Strategies for Individuals and Small Businesses

Federal Tax Planning Strategies for Individuals and Small Businesses By: Warren M. Bergstein, CPA, AEP Published Date:  Jan 1, 2017 Every year, to minimize their overall liability, taxpayers should start giving consideration to moves that may either lower their current year tax bill or equalize their tax liability over a two-year period. Some of the ideas presented below are traditional planning suggestions involving timing of income, deductions, and other payments qualifying for tax credits. But consider also the Alternative Minimum Tax and proposed changes that the new Trump Administration may enact. As a result of the Protecting American from Tax Hikes, Act (PATH)—hereafter referred to as “the Act”—the individual marginal…