Accounting

The changes this pandemic has wrought don’t appear to be temporary, as we once imagined. It’s no longer a question of waiting this thing out and returning to yesteryear. That’s why I’m advising my clients to re-evaluate their growth strategies. Ambitious firms need to lean into the new reality and reconfigure their approaches. I understand

KANSAS The Kansas Society of CPAs Educational Foundation announced the 2020 KSCPA scholarship recipients: Clayton Burrows, from the University of Kansas, won the $3,000 Byron Bird Graduate Scholarship; Myriah Webster, McPherson College, received the $2,500 John J. Killian Scholarship; and Mary LaBelle, Kansas State University, won the $2,500 Mary Ellen Kirkpatrick Leadership Scholarship. Every year,

Woodard Events announced that its signature Scaling New Heights conference will be held in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2021, on June 20-23. The theme of the 2021 event — whose 2020 edition wrapped up earlier this month in Orlando, Florida — will be “Unstoppable.” “Though the challenges facing accountants may seem daunting, they are not

Intuit Inc., the software company behind TurboTax, won U.S. antitrust approval for its $7.1 billion takeover of personal finance website Credit Karma Inc. The Justice Department said Wednesday it was clearing the deal after Credit Karma agreed to sell its tax business to Square Inc. for $50 million to resolve government concerns over competition in

On election night, Democratic campaign consultants may have been wondering, “Where did all these voters come from?” But unless the next Congress sets a legislative course over the next few months, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi may soon be wondering, “Where did all the voters go?” The incoming Biden administration will need to navigate

Changes for the year; partnerships’ reporting; building your brand; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers. Blunt truths Taxable Talk (http://www.taxabletalk.com/): Sometimes the IRS processing time “ain’t pretty” — though to be fair this tale does start with a return sent certified mail taking nearly a month to get from Las Vegas to Ogden,

The COVID-19 pandemic looks set to be a work mate for a while. Key for accounting firms and tax practitioners — where the business has historically relied on handshakes and talking to clients across no distance more safe than a width of a desk — will be how to operate in this coronavirus future. “I

The IRS Office of the Chief Procurement Officer has partnered with Data and Analytic Solutions of Fairfax, Virginia, and with academic researchers to use data analysis to improve IRS procurement operations. The team will consist of procurement practitioners as well as university professors and students with procurement and experience in machine learning, a form of

France is hoping for a quick end to the simmering transatlantic trade battle over its tax on technology giants such as Facebook Inc. as soon as President-elect Joe Biden takes office. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire will speak with members of Biden’s team on Monday with the aim to end the bilateral conflict by

Have you ever brought what you felt was an incredible presentation to your client, only to be met with glassy eyes and half-hearted nods? Or perhaps you gave them a full arsenal of information in a financial report, but they kept returning with more and more questions? It can be frustrating to put so much

Christina Ricke The Kansas Society of CPAs, Topeka, elected officers of the 2020-21 executive committee: Christina Ricke (pictured), principal at K-Coe Isom, to chair of the board; Amber Goering, of Goering & Granatino, Overland Park, to vice chair; and Joe Ronnebaum, of PwC, Kansas City, to secretary/treasurer; and elected to three-year terms on the board

Did you ever hear the joke that begins: “A dentist, a brain surgeon and a CPA walk into a bar?” I didn’t either. However, more and more CPAs need to decide if they want to run their practices like dental offices or neurosurgery practices. And there’s nothing funny about that. You can do well with

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants has named Mark Millar, the former head of a hospice in the United Kingdom, as its new president. Mark Millar, from Suffolk, England, was appointed as the leader of the international accounting organization at the ACCA’s Annual General Meeting, which was held entirely online for the first time ever

The American Institute of CPAs is firing back after a congressional hearing Friday featuring Internal Revenue Service commissioner Charles Rettig in which he took issue with a recent letter from the AICPA on the subject of penalty relief for taxpayers dealing with the novel coronavirus pandemic. During a House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee hearing,

Wirecard AG’s former chief executive officer appeared in public for the first time since his July detention in connection with the collapse of the electronic payment company, but lawmakers hoping for insights from the disgraced manager were left disappointed. After winding his way through a throng of waiting journalists into the hearing chamber in Berlin,

Drug money; Phoenix descending; stepping down; and other highlights of recent tax cases. Las Vegas, New Mexico: Preparer Carlos Perea, 44, has pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding and abetting the preparation of false income tax returns. Perea owned and operated Perea Fast Tax, where he prepared income tax returns for clients and filed

The Internal Revenue Service is planning to ramp up audits of smaller businesses and their investors by about 50 percent next year, following years of persistently low examination rates, an agency official said Tuesday. The result could be a surge in audits of companies ranging from mom-and-pop retail stores and technology startups to investment funds

The novel coronavirus pandemic is throwing a monkey wrench into plans for the Internal Revenue Service to reorganize itself to provide better taxpayer service, as mandated by the Taxpayer First Act that Congress passed last year. A new report released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office found that so far the IRS’s planning has only

Bill.com, maker of the popular AP and AR app, has released a new product for wealth management and accounting firms supporting high-net-worth clients. The offering for wealth management firms adds two features to BIll.com’s standard automated platform: automated bill payments, and multiple flexible and rapid payment options. Bill.com auto-enters invoice details for review, and bills

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has released an exposure draft of proposed implementation guidance on a number of topics, including leases and fiduciary activities. The Implementation Guidance Update, which takes the form of questions and answers, also proposes amendments to some previously issued implementation guidance. When GASB propose new or updated guidance, it’s based on: