News for Small Firm Practitioners

CPAs in tax practice have seen an increase in identity theft, so electronic security is now a top issue (see "2015 Tax Software Survey"). Besides causing untold misery to any taxpayer whose identity has been stolen for use on a fraudulent return, identity-theft fraud requires correcting the taxpayer's account, costing practitioners unanticipated additional time and expense at the worst possible time, when they are in the busiest time of their tax preparation cycle. Here are some tips for dealing with this vexing problem.

A certified public accountant has been preparing income tax returns for a trucking firm for 10 years. Out of the blue, the CPA is named in a lawsuit. It appears that an employee at the trucking firm with a gambling problem was stealing money from their accounts for years. More than $250,000 is now gone.

(New York, New York, September 8, 2015) – Regulation has become immensely complex and is impacting organizations’ opportunities to grow and innovate, according to the Global Regulation Survey, a study of accounting, finance, and business professionals conducted by the International Federation of Accountants® (IFAC®).

When it comes to business, it can be tough for a small business to match the salaries offered big companies. The solution? Focus on benefits and perks that make employees happy and are still cost and tax efficient.

Under the new health care law, sometimes called Obamacare, the “employer mandate” kicks in for businesses with 50 or more full-time equivalent employees (FTE). For purposes of the mandate, FTE includes full-time employees plus each 30 hour period worked by non-full-time workers.

Hiring a CFO could help you take your business to the next level and enjoy more profitability than ever before. So the question is, how do you know if you should hire a CFO?

A benchmark of borrowing by U.S. small businesses hit a new record in June, providing possible ammunition for an interest-rate increase, Reuters reports. U.S. Federal Reserve officials have been weighing what would be the right time to lift short-term borrowing costs from near zero, where they have been for 6-1/2 years. Last week, the central bank said it would need to see “some further improvement in the labor market.”

The U.S. Small Business Administration said it reached the $18.75 billion cap for its main loan guarantee program on Thursday, forcing it to halt the funding of new loans with more than two months to go in the current fiscal year.

Okay, what is keeping you up at night? That’s exactly what the team at the AICPA Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS) wanted to know.

CPA firms once again are feeling the pressure to hire and retain high-quality professionals. That’s one of the most striking findings of the 2015 AICPA Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS) CPA Firm Top Issues Survey. Reviewing the results, it’s reasonable to conclude that factors such as steady demand for CPA services, continuing workload compression issues and, perhaps, concerns about the ongoing retirement of Baby Boom-generation partners have motivated firms to focus on their most important assets.