CONSUMER PRICE INDEX The consumer price index (CPI) fell 0.3% in March, following a 0.1% gain in February, and it is up 3.1% annualized.…
Forté Capital’s Selected Statistics
Producer Price Index
PRODUCER PRICE INDEX The producer price index (PPI) for final demand fell 0.1% in March, and it is up 3.3% annualized. The weakness in March…
The Authors Respond
A Response to “There Is No Financial Fraud Personality Type”
We thank Jeffrey Borenstein and Arthur Radin for reading our articles carefully and preparing their response. We believe, however, that they have substantially misunderstood our…
Many individuals desire to make charitable bequests but are not certain how to do so or how they work. This is an area where a…
Retaining a Fiduciary Investment Advisor
Employers Need Up-front Information, Not Belated Explanation
Whether or not the government enacts the Department of Labor (DOL) fiduciary rule requiring retirement plan advisors to act in the employer's best interest, employers…
A number of communication responsibilities and reporting considerations necessarily arise whenever a successor auditor concludes that a client's prior year's financial statements require restatement, either…
CPAs need to be aware of current developments in key states in order to properly advise companies doing business in multiple jurisdictions. This article will…
I enjoyed Richard Kravitz's article in the April issue of the CPA Journal (“Serving the Public Interest,” p. 14). The message's import deserves some comment.…
On June 1, the PCAOB proposed an expansion of auditors’ responsibilities for examining clients’ use of accounting estimates. The board said additional guidance is necessary…
The AICPA’s Financial Reporting Executive Committee (FinREC) issued 12 working drafts of interpretive guidance for six industries— asset management, engineering and construction, gaming, health care,…
Since 2013, FASB has regularly given private companies extra time to adopt new accounting standards. Now the board may be ready to extend a similar…
I started my career with Lybrand, Ross Bros. & Montgomery (LRB&M) in 1952. Back then, life was simpler for CPAs. If you had the credentials,…
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, almost 15% of the U.S. population was 65 or older in 2015 (http://bit.ly/2oEqoBk). The Federal Reserve reports that 20%…
Over the next five to ten years, CPA firms are going to see change at a pace the profession has never seen before. With the…
If it is not already on the schedule, CPAs should remember to talk to business clients about withholding on payments to nonresident aliens. A withholding…
Sridhar Ramamoorti and Barry J. Epstein have written two articles published in The CPA Journal (“Today's Fraud Risk Models Lack Personality,” March 2016, http://bit.ly/2m7UUoX; “When…
FASB News Small Business Advisory Committee Seeks U.S. GAAP Exemptions Some members of FASB’s Small Business Advisory Committee (SBAC) have told the accounting board that,…
In Brief While most individuals probably think their insurance covers them for every conceivable occurrence, many policies have numerous gaps in coverage. Excess liability coverage…
Historically, bankruptcy of governmental units has been rare, but in recent years large municipal units such as Detroit, Mich., Jefferson County, Ala., San Bernardino, Calif.,…
When individuals think about Social Security, they most likely focus on present or future retirement benefits. Millions of people, however, receive benefits from two other…
In Brief Many strategies exist for transferring wealth from one generation to the next without running afoul of the estate tax. Most of these, however,…
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. —Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night (Introduction) For most…
FASB News Businesses, Auditors Repeat Concerns about Debt Classification. Businesses, professional groups, and audit firms repeated concerns they raised to the FASB while the board…
In contemplating the nuances of why financial planning makes sense for CPAs, I thought of the old story about the ship with the stubborn captain.…
Rules for Tax Deductions On Charitable Contribution
Chief Counsel Advice
It has become common practice for some businesses to advertise that they will donate a certain percentage of their sales proceeds to altruistic causes or…
The high costs of long-term care affect an increasing number of individuals and their families. According to Genworth's 2016 Cost of Care Survey (http://bit.ly/2ngymTT), the…
Advising Individuals with Chronic Illnesses
Practical Planning and Practice Development for CPAs
In Brief Chronic illness is more prevalent than many believe. Cognitive decline can occur suddenly as a result of an accident, or subtly over time;…
CPAJ News Briefs: FASB, IASB, and AICPA
Clarifying Accounting For Intangible Assets May Take Years
FASB News Clarifying Accounting for Intangible Assets May Take Years The accounting for intangible assets has been a contentious accounting issue for most of FASB’s…
In Brief With the Baby Boom generation facing retirement, America may soon witness the largest wealth transfer from one generation to another in its history.…
Vacation Vouchers and Other Benefits as Incentives
Special Tax Considerations
Consider the following scenario: a taxpayer enthusiastically informs his CPA that his old family car was donated. Upon further inquiry, the CPA is satisfied that…