October 2018

Technology

5 Challenges Faced by CPA Firms and Strategies to Address Them

Accounting firms face challenges today which are more formidable than those faced in previous generations. With margins shrinking, competition increasing, constant technology and security challenges, as well as the twin threats of artificial ...

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Tax Reform and How it Affects You and Your Clients

When the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was signed into law in December 2017, the tax and accounting community was abuzz with speculation on how the new law would impact not only tax year 2018, but tax practices in general. Today, we’re almost one year into discussing and analyzing the new law and discovering […]

Payroll

The Case for a 4-Day Work Week

Nearly half (45 percent) of full-time workers say it should take less than five hours each day to do their job if they worked uninterrupted, while three out of four employees (72 percent) would work four days or less per week if pay remained constant.

Firm Management

9-Step Marketing Process to Gain Political Clients

As we head into mid-term elections, you might be wondering how you can attract politicians to your practice? Like them, you must campaign for their attention, with the right message that meets their needs when they want them met. Here are some tips you can use to increase the awareness of your brand in politician’s […]

Payroll

Meeting the Millennial Challenge

Millennials, generally acknowledged to be those born between 1981 and 1999, have become the largest age group in today’s workforce. This is understandable since there are an estimated 92 million of them – the largest generation in our country’s history.

October 2018 Tax Channel

Top 10 Signs of Tax Data Theft By Isaac M. O’Bannon, Managing Editor Tax professionals need be be alert to the subtle signs of data theft. Cybercriminals often leave few signs of their burglary until the fraudulent tax returns are filed and clients are harmed. This is one more reason tax professionals should use strong […]

Firm Management

October 2018 Firm Management Channel

Why Accounting Firms Should Niche in the Medical Cannabis Industry By Richard Roppa In case you haven’t noticed yet, the medical marijuana industry is growing fast. No matter your position on the medical and recreational use of marijuana stands, you should be paying attention to the explosive growth and needs of this industry because… the […]

Payroll

October 2018 Payroll Channel

The lunch "hour" may be a concept of the past, new research from staffing firm OfficeTeam suggests. More than half of workers (56 percent) said their typical lunch break lasts 30 minutes or less.

Small Business

October 2018 Small Business Channel

Small Business Optimism Hits New Highs By Isaac M. O’Bannon, Managing Editor Small business optimism is at an all-time high in a new study. The latest quarterly Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index, which measures small business optimism, had an overall Index score of 118, 12 percentage points higher than last quarter and the highest level […]

TCJA Provides Greater Accounting Changes for Businesses

A business using the accrual method reports income when all events fixing the right to the income have occurred and the amount can be determined with reasonable accuracy. (Reg §1.451-1(a)) The first part of this test (the all events test) is met on ...

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Sales Tax

6 Types of Services Subject to Sales Tax

Historically, most states exempted services from sales tax – for a good reason: When states first began to levy these taxes around 1930, people spent more of their money on tangible goods. However, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, those ...

Sales Tax

The Supremes, Wayfair, and Taxes: What Startups Need to Know

Many states are likely to move quickly to impose taxes (some already have). But it could take time for things to play out. For the moment, the Supreme Court’s decision applies only to South Dakota’s tax on internet retailers.

Accounting

The Why and How of Bots for Accounting Firms

Engagement with clients and leveraging your brand is done easier and made stronger with Bots. This emerging technology has promise today and in the future. While applying some Bot technology may be more technically difficult for you to apply without ...

Accounting

The Cloud: Streamlining Workflow and Automation

As an example of how accountants might leverage the cloud’s capabilities, clients can just scan or take a snapshot of invoices to be paid using an app. Those images go into a document storage system, where an optical character recognition (OCR) system ...

Firm Management

2018 Review of Website Builders for Accounting Firms

Today, a website is a must. Fortunately, there are products and services available to ensure that your website is engaging, informative, and professional in appearance.

Firm Management

2018 Review of Client Portals for Accounting Firms

There are few industries as paper-driven as accounting. W-2s, 1099s, bank statements, and other tax related documents all start out as paper documents. The ability to import some of these items electronically has helped reduce paper loads, but the ...

Firm Management

2018 Reviews of Hosting Systems for Accounting Firms

In this issue, we reviewed five application hosting providers. The products vary in size and scope, with some products simply offering QuickBooks Desktop hosting, while others can host multiple applications and even create a custom server for users if ...

Payroll

The Pros and Cons: Biweekly vs. Semimonthly Payroll

Deciding on a pay frequency for your small business is an important decision. Your pay frequency determines how often you process payroll and when employees receive their paychecks. Two popular, yet easily confused, pay periods are biweekly and ...

Accounting

Streamlined Workflow and Automation: Two Important Benefits of the New Cloud

The cloud is poised to revolutionize Client Accounting Services (CAS). With a desktop system, bill payment and bookkeeping for a substantial number of clients is a daunting task. Getting invoices and source material, entering data, and printing and ...

Accounting

Accounting for Political Contributions

We scoured the Federal Election Commission website to find relevant information for accountants who are working with political candidates and campaigns. The following material is excerpted from published reports of the Federal Election Commission.

Accounting

You, Your Clients, And the Cloud

Anyone still skeptical about the importance and viability of cloud software in business probably should consider a line of work that doesn’t involve business. The promise of the cloud (and all its various nomenclatures: “SaaS,” “web,” etc.) is here ...

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Firm Management

IT Planning for Mergers & Acquisitions

A common issue firms run into when acquiring a new firm is under-licensing. The firm being purchased may be completely under-licensed in certain software programs. Non-compliance can be costly in terms of fees and penalties – running into the tens of ...

Firm Management

Building a World Class Marketing Culture Part 3: Rhythm and Habits

The path to your new client relationships is built over time. It’s base on your communication and your ability to establish beliefs of trust, dependability and business acumen—an endeavor that calls for frequent and consistent content marketing.

Firm Management

How to Attract and Keep Top Performers in Accounting

Of course employees want to be fairly compensated for their skills and expertise, but they’re also after the things that money can’t buy, according to a recent Accountemps survey. These are the top three factors — besides salary — workers tend to ...

Accounting

5 Steps to Compliance with New Lease Accounting Standards

The compliance countdown is on for ASC 842. The new lease accounting standard published by the Financial Accounting Standards Board in 2016 will require companies to report most operating leases on their balance sheets starting in 2019.

Small Business

Moving Forward: How to Plan Right for Succession

Incredibly, three in five small businesses do not have a business succession plan in place, according to a Nationwide Small Business Survey. Of those, 47% don’t have a succession plan because they don’t think it’s necessary, while 14% don’t have a ...

Artificial Intelligence

3 Essentials for Business Transformation

Improving technology and processes allows you to do more with fewer people. As technology advances and we implement better processes, the amount of time your people spend on certain tasks may be reduced, but each human interaction becomes even more ...

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Firm Management

Survival Tips for Fall Busy Season

What can you do to keep yourself going, coast through the deadlines, keep your colleagues satisfied and your family and friends happy, and maintain some semblance of the self you want to be?

Sales Tax

Supreme Court’s Wayfair Decision: How States and Sellers Are Reacting to New Sales Tax Rules

Although we have the decision from SCOTUS, many questions remain. How will the states proceed with remote seller legislation? What will the effects be of the South Dakota remand? Will Congress step in and pass any federal legislation?

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Firm Management

Why Your Firm’s Business Development Efforts Fail

Every firm needs to attract new clients and most firms in the country tend to have one partner who seems to have a natural gift of bringing in new clients. That person is your rainmaker. Everyone else at the firm maintains a client relationship and ...