Category: Accounting
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A survey of state-specific continuing professional education ethics courses for Delaware CPAs
Editing note: In February 2020 the state Board notified me by email that they completed an audit of my CPE program records for the period of July 2017 through June 2019 and found no deficiencies. Most Certified Public Accountants, like me, take continuing professional education (CPE) courses from a variety of sources on a range…
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Three nonnegotiable points on CPA verification letters
CPAs are commonly asked to verify business information including ownership, finances and available funds. This is a useful part of business operations and often part of the bank lending process. Some banks go as far as to ask for verification of an opinion, which if course is not possible. But to the extent that a…
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An accounting niche opposite the AICPA trend
An advertisement by a top-qualify national information publishing firm joined up with a prominent AICPA event to deliver an educational program designed to prepare CPA firms for imminent change. The bullet points describing the course content are: End-to-end, automated cloud-based tax preparation AI-enhanced, highly intuitive tax research A cloud-driven, Integrated Audit Approach that focuses on…
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Ten million people with tax debt can still move forward with a normal financial and personal life
Millions of Americans are saddled with tax debt that prevents them from moving financially. That financial struggle impacts other aspects of life including mental and physical health and relationships. I’ve observed that the key to resolving these problems – even when they seem insurmountable in the beginning – is to establish a supportive professional relationship…
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Who audits the State of New Jersey?
This blog post sprung from a discussion among members of the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants at a meeting this week that carried over into online discussion. I present the topic with a focus on our local area of Cumberland County. New Jersey has 1,900 separate governmental units that are required to have…
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Are tax free gains in your future?
In general, it is more difficult to avoid capital gains taxes than ordinary income taxes. One simple way to avoid the capital gains tax is to gift the appreciated asset to a parent and inherit it back with a new, higher stepped up basis. But what is easy under the tax law might be more…
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Two tips for new nonprofit organizations
There are more than a million nonprofit businesses in the U.S. with more every day. State requirements that new cannabis companies be in nonprofit form bring more attention. Yet most nonprofit organizations are small volunteer-driven businesses with small budgets. They still need to make smart business management decisions, beginning with the business start-up. Starting out…
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Accounting for volunteer services provided to a nonprofit organization
The accounting treatment of services donated to a nonprofit frequently comes up in conversation. This blog post is meant to simplify three of the most common scenarios if those discussions: Should a nonprofit include the value of donated services in its reported revenue? No, unless the contributed service either: 1) creates a new non-financial asset,…
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Sample small business bill payment policies and procedures
Every small business – even one person firms where one person wears all the hats – benefits from having a well-considered bill payment policy. This sample policy is one that I drafted for a client with about $25,000 per month in expenses. The intent is to allow this to spark some ideas about how your…