In Brief Machine learning provides the potential for significant improvements in audit speed and quality, but also entails certain risks. The authors provide a general…
Earning Real Income from Fantasy Sports
Tax Opportunities and Pitfalls under the TCJA
According to the Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA), fantasy sports is a $7 billion industry, with 59.3 million people in the United States and Canada…
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) will have broad-ranging effects on all kinds of individuals. Taxpayers with a personal connection to gambling…
Financial Planning Using Qualified Opportunity Zones
The Integration of Estate Tax and Income Tax Planning Is Now Complete
In Brief The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 expanded the federal estate, gift, and generation-skipping transfer tax exemption amounts, dramatically changing the landscape…
Thousands of CPAs work in the not-for-profit sector, and thousands more volunteer as members of the governing boards of not-for-profit organizations. There is little in…
In Brief Trusts enable individuals to ensure the financial health of loved ones long after they are gone, but only if they are properly set…
Attest services rendered to not-for-profit (NFP) entities provide assurance to stakeholders as to the quality of the financial condition, results of operations, and internal controls…
Charitable Contributions by S Corporations
A Mismatch of Pass-through and Basis Adjustment
Many taxpayers oversimplify the rules surrounding the charitable contribution deduction. Most are aware that contributions to public charities were previously deductible up to 50% of…
To Audit or Not to Audit
Whether to Accept a Uniform Guidance Audit
For many public accounting firms, the client acquisition decision often follows a common cost-benefit analysis; beyond the consideration of additional revenue generated, scheduling constraints, opportunity…
The Reporting Impact of ASU 2016-14
Painting the Picture from a Nonprofit’s Financial Perspective
In Brief The nonprofit landscape has changed significantly over the past 26 years, expanding in size and scope while facing new challenges and keeping up…
The New Yellow Book
What CPAs Need to Know
In Brief The Government Accountability Office recently released a new version of Government Auditing Standards, also known as the Yellow Book. The revised version has been…
In Brief Not-for-profit organizations receive financial donations as a matter of course, but the accounting for that revenue depends on whether the transaction is classified…
In Brief Cause investing—the directing of one's investments to companies that directly promote or embody through their conduct a particular social good—is becoming more and…
In Brief Key performance indicators (KPI), long familiar to corporate managers, are increasingly being used by financial managers at notfor-profit organizations to measure the effectiveness…
New Revenue Recognition Guidance and the Potential for Fraud and Abuse
Are Companies and Auditors Ready?
In Brief Now that FASB's new revenue recognition standard is effective, it is worth considering how well the guidance meets the goals originally set by…
Analyzing the LinkedIn Profiles of Audit Partners
A Snapshot of Firm Leadership
As social media has become increasingly important in the recruiting and hiring process, CPA firm leaders have become increasingly visible on professional social media platforms.…
In the past year at the PCAOB, we've had a lot of change. At the beginning of the year, and for the first time since…
Employee Versus Independent Contractor
The IRS and Department of Labor’s Focus on Worker Classification
In Brief Classifying a worker as an employee or an independent contractor has a significant effect on the cost of employing that individual. For this…
The term “passive foreign investment company” (PFIC) suggests a sophisticated, highly specialized non-U.S. investment medium that the majority of U.S. persons probably would not select…
Redefining Nexus in Wayfair
The Supreme Court Rules on E-Commerce Taxation
On June 21, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court decided South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., 138 S. Ct. 2080 (2018), whereby the longstanding precedent of Quill Corp. v. North…
In the past year (2018), have you noticed any trends in practice at your firm/organization? For example, changing workloads; challenges in recruitment, retention, training, promotion,…
Adapting to the New Business Environment
The Rise of Software Robots in the Workplace
All organizations need to leverage new technologies to stay competitive, and one such technology, business analytics (BA), has been a hot topic among CPAs for…
One of the most challenging issues facing leaders in the public accounting profession is the high rate of employee turnover. A recent survey finds that…
Captive Insurance Companies
A Common Sense Approach to Improved Risk Management
Although many believe that captive insurance companies are a relatively new phenomenon, the captive insurance industry can be traced back to the 19th century. Today,…
ICYMI | Accounting for Leases Under the New Standard, Part 2
Lessor Accounting, Changes in Lease Terms, Practical Expedients, and Preparation Tips
In contrast to the lessee model, the lessor model under FASB's new lease accounting standard has three different types of leases: operating, sales-type, and direct…
Few countries can claim that integrated reporting (IR) is common among domestic companies. An exception is South Africa, with many listed and public organizations having…
In Brief Corporate sustainability reporting is becoming more widespread with each passing year, and with that growth comes the need for companies to back up…
The Current State of Sustainability Reporting
A Work in Progress
In Brief Sustainability investing continues to grow in popularity, but the lack of standardization in sustainability reporting poses a challenge for investors wishing to maximize…
U.S. Unemployment Rate Unemployment trends remain strong, as indicated above. The most recent unemployment rate was 3.9%, with 164,000 new jobs recorded in the most…
New York State recently adopted a “first-in-the-nation” set of cybersecurity compliance requirements that impact any businesses or organizations that report to the Department of Financial…