Accounting

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department released proposed regulations and temporary regulations to offer guidance for consolidated groups on net operating losses in the wake of changes under both the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and the CARES Act from this year. Both pieces of legislation amended the rules for NOLs,

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board released a technical bulletin with guidance for applying existing GASB standards to transactions related to the CARES Act and outflows incurred in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It answers some of the questions raised by GASB stakeholders, especially state and local governments. Technical Bulletin 2020-1, Accounting and Financial Reporting Issues

The House gave final last-minute congressional approval Wednesday to extending the popular Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses until Aug. 8, hours after the deadline for applications lapsed with more than $130 billion still available. The Senate had passed the extension Tuesday, shortly before the Small Business Administration was to stop accepting new loan applications

Employers added 4.8 million jobs in June and the unemployment rate fell to 11.1 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a decline of 2.2 percentage points from the previous rate of 13.3 percent, as employees returned to work despite the ongoing spread of COVID-19. Accounting and bookkeeping services gained 17,500 jobs. The

The current coronavirus pandemic and the damage it is inflicting on the economy are affecting virtually every industry, and accounting is no exception. As markets shrink, revenues dry up, and companies struggle to stay afloat, finding ways to increase their firm’s value and not just maintain revenues but increase them is becoming Job One for

CohnReznick, New York, elected two members to its executive board: Sheslie Royster, tax partner and leader of the Baltimore office tax practice who also assists the Charlotte office tax group; and Kristen Soles, partner and leader of the government contracting industry practice in Tysons, Maryland. Additionally, Alan Wolfson, regional managing partner, Northeast, is currently on

Audit firms can enhance the reliability of environmental, social and governance reporting during the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report from the Center for Audit Quality. The report, The Role of Auditors in Company-Prepared ESG Information: Present and Future, describes how investors are using ESG information and the changing role of auditors in

The Internal Revenue Service is extending timelines for performing some of the actions associated with the low-income housing tax credit and bonds for qualified residential rental projects to give businesses more time during the COVID-19 pandemic. The IRS issued Notice 2020-53 Wednesday to offer regulatory and tax relief to issuers, operators, owners, and tenants of

Yet another fictional company; more tooth and justice; unsafe bets; and other highlights of recent tax cases. Denver: Tax defier Lawrence Birk has pleaded guilty to failing to surrender to serve his prison sentence for tax evasion and illegal possession of a firearm. Birk, convicted a year ago of tax evasion, founded a sole proprietorship,

Three worldwide accounting groups have banded together to issue a report offering guidance on how CFOs and finance teams can steer their organizations toward long-term value creation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report, issued last week by the International Federation of Accountants, the International Integrated Reporting Council and the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants

The Institute of Management Accountants appointed accounting professor Paul Juras as chair of IMA’s Global Board of Directors for fiscal year 2021 from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021. Juras (pictured), a professor at Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, plans to focus on creating educational opportunities for students and developing technological strategies to drive

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board are under new chairmen Wednesday after their long-serving leaders completed their terms. FASB chairman Russell Golden has chaired the standard-setting board since July 2013 and has been a board member since 2010, He was succeeded Wednesday, July 1, by Richard Jones, a former chief

Sports fans have heard the adage, “The best offense is a good defense.” I feel the same way about the financial planning process. To be competitive in the ever-changing landscape of professional services, financial planners need to be as holistic as possible. Your defense against competitors is going to be your thoroughness and attention to

The Internal Revenue Service has released its annual IRS Data Book for 2019 with a new format that aims to showcase the IRS’s work in fiscal year 2019, along with an additional message about its response this year to the novel coronavirus pandemic, which delayed publication. The redesigned IRS Data Book includes the usual annual

The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board voted during an online meeting last week to open a new standard-setting project to address single-use plastics and bio-alternatives in the chemicals and pulp and paper industries. Increased public scrutiny of the environmental impacts of plastics use has led to increased regulation and changing customer demands for packaging, creating risks

It is important to develop a specialty, but it needs to be balanced with the needs of the practice and your interests. In this age of specialization and niche expertise, being a generalist is a negative to most people, indicating a lack of competency in an area. When someone professes to be an “expert” in

The Internal Revenue Service wasted $22.7 million auditing tax returns that resulted in no additional revenue for the federal government, according to an agency watchdog. Almost half — 47.2% — of the audits on large companies from fiscal years 2016 through 2018 resulted in the IRS concluding that no additional tax was due, the Treasury

Wirecard AG’s long-time auditors, Ernst & Young, accused their client of “an elaborate and sophisticated fraud” that allowed more than $2 billion to go missing. Now that Wirecard has filed for court protection from creditors, the accountants who signed off on the fintech firm’s books for a decade are rejecting responsibility for their role in

BKD CPAs & Advisors, Springfield, received two Marketing Achievement Awards from the Association for Accounting Marketing. In the social corporate responsibility category, the We AAM to Serve award for promotion of the BKD Foundation, and in Collateral and Content Marketing category for its “2020 Annual Higher Education Outlook: The Race to Financial Sustainability.” In other

Setting partner compensation is an art and not a science. Show me your compensation plan and I’ll tell you your firm’s strategy. As a consultant to small and midsized CPA firms, I frequently have the opportunity to provide guidance on partner compensation plans and it never ceases to amaze me to see how many plans