The beginning of the 2020 legislative year for state lawmakers across the country comes with new threats to the future of CPA licensure. Legislative challenges to professional licensing standards remain a threat to CPAs and other professionals as groups such as the American Legislative Exchange Council and Americans for Prosperity advocate for anti-licensing legislation in […]

Issues for state and local governments related to lease accounting, other post-employment benefits (OPEB), and other topics were addressed Wednesday in an omnibus standard issued by GASB. The new standard, GASB Statement No. 92, Omnibus 2020, addresses various issues that include: Modifying the effective date of Statement No. 87, Leases, as well as associated implementation […]

The IRS announced Friday that, effective Jan. 31, 2020, applications for tax-exempt status under Sec. 501(c)(3) must only be submitted electronically (Rev. Proc. 2020-8). Taxpayers will no longer be able to file Form 1023, Application for Recognition of Exemption Under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, on paper, but must complete and submit the […]

The SEC voted to propose amendments designed to simplify and enhance certain company financial disclosures and issued guidance on key performance indicators and metrics in management’s discussion and analysis (MD&A). Item 301 (selected financial data) and Item 302 (supplementary financial data) would be eliminated from Regulation S-K under the proposal. Meanwhile, Item 303 would be […]

Serving on a not-for-profit board can be a rewarding experience, as board members’ involvement in organizational planning can help the not-for-profit fulfill its mission. To achieve this, it’s important for board members to consider a core element of many not-for-profit organizations: the volunteers. Why do volunteers matter? Not-for-profits cannot always depend on extensive financial resources […]

The AICPA Auditing Standards Board has issued guidance to practitioners for engagements to examine and report on aspects of an investment firm’s claim of compliance with the 2020 edition of the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS). Guidance for this type of engagement, known as a verification, is contained in Statement of Position (SOP) 20-1, Reporting […]

Firm leaders can improve audit quality by modeling the behavior they say they value, according to a new study performed with the backing of the AICPA Assurance Research Advisory Group. For example, if firm leaders work 80-hour weeks even though they encourage work/life balance among their employees, audit quality may suffer, according to the research, […]

News PERSONAL FINANCIAL PLANNING By Anita Dennis {:else} {timeSince} {/if} {@if cond=”{isCGMA}”} {:else} {/if} {/.} Americans’ financial satisfaction hit an all-time high in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to the AICPA’s Q4 2019 Personal Financial Satisfaction Index (PFSi). Gaining ground from the previous quarter and up significantly from its record lows a decade ago, […]

When Ed Wilkins, CPA, talks to audit committees about adding data analytics to the audit process, he explains to them that it usually takes three years for investment in a complex audit analytic to pay for itself. Audit analytics give practitioners the ability to examine an entire dataset rather than just a sample, improving the […]

Three years ago, the AICPA Women’s Initiatives Executive Committee (WIEC) launched a pilot program and chose three midsize public accounting firms to participate. The mission? To kick off a step-by-step plan to create internal women’s programs from scratch or to rejuvenate such programs already in the works. These initiatives aim to not only improve the […]