In Brief The proliferation of home-sharing platforms has allowed many property owners to make some extra money by renting out their homes, or portions thereof,…
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) was enacted on December 22, 2017. Among other things, the TCJA amended Internal Revenue Code (IRC)…
The Elastic Statute of Limitations on Claims for Refund
Why Old Claims May Still Be Open
In Brief Tax professionals have traditionally cited the statute of limitations on claims for refund to be the later of two years from the date…
CPA Exam Performance
The Effect of Graduate Education and Accounting Faculty Credentials
*** In Brief The debate over how well the accounting curriculum in the United States serves the needs of both students and practitioners continues unabated.…
About the Panelists Prabhakar Kalavacherla, a partner in the audit quality and professional practice group at KPMG; Mark LaMonte, former managing director at Moody's Investors Service; Sarah Ovuka,professional accounting…
Hedges of Recognized Foreign Currency–Denominated Assets and Liabilities
Applying ASU 2017-12
Accounting Standards Update 2017-12, Derivatives and Hedging (Topic 815): Targeted Improvements to Accounting for Hedging Activities,modifies the accounting and reporting of foreign currency forward contract hedges…
About the Panelists Wesley Bricker, chief accountant at the SEC's Office of the Chief Accountant; Kyle Moffatt, chief accountant at the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance; and Matt Jacques, chief…
The Challenge of Embedded Leases
Leases May Be Hiding in Supply and Service Contracts
As companies face the significant challenges in adopting Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 842, “Leases,” little has been written about the challenge posed by the…
The advertising industry has recently earned its place in corporate infamy, as several well-publicized disagreements between the largest agencies in the business and their clients…
In Brief One of the goals of GAAP is to present a full picture of a company's financial situation, but for various reasons, companies often…
The COSO Internal Control Framework and Sustainability Reporting
The Benefits of Good Governance and Internal Controls
In Brief Even as corporate reporting of sustainability information continues to gain in popularity, the practice still is not standardized, either domestically or globally. While…
The Expanding Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Understanding their Utility and Regulatory Limitations
In Brief There is a long history of businesses reporting non-GAAP financial measures, often to highlight a change in operating structure or illuminate the impact…
Performing Tests of Internal Controls Using Process Mining
What Could Go Wrong?
Process mining provides a new approach to gathering audit evidence by automatically analyzing the entire population of event logs recorded in a company's IT system.…
Fraud in a World of Advanced Technologies
The Possibilities are (Unfortunately) Endless
In Brief For many years, internal controls have been the focus of auditors' risk assessment as they seek to attest that the control environment is…
Risks and Rewards of Financial Disclosure on Twitter
What CPAs and Management Should Know
In Brief Twitter has become an important distribution channel, but using the social media platform presents unique challenges. The authors examine the current regulatory environment…
Machine Learning in Auditing
Current and Future Applications
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…