Recent accounting news, and in particular the recent mix up at the Oscars and damage control.
Read Article: http://goingconcern.com/accounting-news-failing-to-predict-failure-unauthorized-tweeting/ If asked, accounting practitioners would look at this question, scoff, and answer with an emphatic, “No!”
“We are professionals, our clients are successful business owners, and we are their most trusted advisor,” they might say. “How can one even suggest the issue of low self-esteem?” As a former Big Four CPA and current industry consultant and coach, let me suggest that the assertion is not preposterous. According to low self-esteem experts Dr. Marilyn Sorensen and Ronya Banks, the following traits appear frequently in those suffering from LSE:
Read Article: https://www.accountingtoday.com/opinion/do-accountants-have-low-self-esteem The staffing company Randstad has released a new salary guide for accountants, including detailed listings of salaries for a variety of accounting and finance jobs in states and major cities across the U.S.
The annual guide is broken down by company size, with small companies defined as those with annual revenues of up to $100 million, midsize companies as those with annual revenues between $100 million and $500 million, and large companies with revenues of over $500 million. Positions include CFO, director of finance, controller, accounting manager, senior accountant and more. Randstad noted that one of the most highly compensated lower-level finance and accounting positions across different regions is an assistant controller at a large accounting firm, with a base salary of around $130,000 per year. The lowest paid accounting and finance jobs across various markets are accounts payable and accounts receivable clerks at small companies, where annual salaries start around $35,000. The guide provides listings for 25 states, plus the District of Columbia. Read Article: https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/randstad-publishes-2017-accounting-salary-guide Life is expensive, from business expenses to personal expenses to paying Uncle Sam on April 15. Wherever you go, it may seem like your wallet is open. One way to save money each year is to find legitimate tax write-offs that intersect both personal and business expenses.
As a certified public accountant, everywhere I go, even when I'm at dinner with friends, I constantly am asked the question: "So, what can I write off my taxes?" Surprisingly, there isn't some master list included in the Internal Revenue Code or provided by the Internal Revenue Service. There is simply the tax principle set forth in Code Section 62 that states a valid write-off is any expense incurred in the production of income. Each deduction then has its own rules. Read Article: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/219474 An interesting article predicting a future with robots doing many tasks accountants presently do.2/21/2017
TAX SEASON HAS arrived, as the Super Bowl recently reminded us: In the first half alone, two commercials encouraged viewers to trust computers to do our taxes, the first from H&R Block with its new partner Watson, and the second from TurboTax with its friendly talking tax bot.
Machines won’t be able to automatically file taxes with the IRS for a few years. But do these commercials signal that robots can come close, requiring fewer human experts, mostly for sanity checks? Is another human profession on the verge of biting the dust? It sure seems that way. As my research shows, robots are best-suited to predictable tasks when the cost per error is low. As a task becomes less predictable and a robot makes more mistakes, the automation is worth it only if those mistakes don’t carry significant costs. For example, driverless cars make few errors, but those mistakes can be expensive and deadly. In contrast, most tax return decisions, especially the simpler ones, aren’t terribly risky, as they’re based on massive amounts of historical data on which the machine learns to anchor its decisions. Read Article: https://www.wired.com/2017/02/robots-will-soon-taxes-bye-bye-accounting-jobs/ If you make $100,000 or more, you probably pay a significant amount of your income to the IRS every year at tax time. That makes it critical to look for tax deductions and credits that you can use to reduce your tax bill.
Unfortunately, high-income taxpayers don't get to take advantage of all the tax breaks that are available to those with lower incomes. However, there are a few deductions, credits, and other favorable tax provisions that can help those who top the $100,000 mark. If you use them, you can save thousands on your taxes come April. Read Article: www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2017/02/16/if-you-make-100000-or-more-here-are-3-tax-breaks-you-dont-want-to-miss/97887064/ Kimberley N. Ellison-Taylor, chairman of the AICPA, recently noted that technology tops her list of the most important trends shaping 2017 because it will drive so many of the profession’s opportunities and challenges in the year ahead. But how are accountants supposed to keep up with all of the technological trends?
Many accountants could make a full-time job out of simply trying to understand the various types of technology that can make their personal lives easier and their practices more profitable and secure. However, three technology trends are of particular interest to public accountants because of their potential to transform major aspects of the profession. These three trends are the progress of blockchain technology, the continued shift to the cloud, and advances in automation. Below are brief descriptions of each trend. Read Article: https://www.accountingtoday.com/opinion/3-top-tech-trends-for-public-accountants-to-watch-in-2017 The number of changes facing the accounting profession will leave most practices radically altered in the near future, according to Barry Melancon, the president and CEO of the American Institute of CPAs.
Speaking at a gathering of technology vendors hosted by CPA.com and the institute, Melancon told attendees, “We are in a change management profession. The world requires changes in a quicker time frame than ever before.” All those changes will have their affect: “We won’t recognize the vast majority of CPA firms in five or 10 years,” he predicted. “If all other businesses are going through major changes, who are we to think CPA firms won’t have to as well?” Read Article: https://www.accountingtoday.com/news/melancon-cpa-firms-will-be-unrecognizable-in-5-10-years Tax reform is hard
Here’s Richard Rubin of the Wall Street Journal reporting on how Republicans are learning that reforming the tax code is difficult: A linchpin of the House Republicans’ tax plan, an approach called “border adjustment,” has split Republicans and fractured the business world into competing coalitions before a bill has even been drafted. A border-adjusted tax would impose a levy on imports, including components used in manufacturing, and exempt exports altogether. Opposing it are retailers, car dealers, toy manufacturers, Koch Industries Inc., oil refiners and others that say it would drive up import costs and force them to raise prices. Ways & Means Chairman Kevin Brady is quoted: “Yes, I know tax reform is difficult. That’s why it only occurs once a generation.” And if you’re tax nerd who also enjoys some politics, I recommend reading Showdown at Gucci Gulch to give you an idea of what Brady is talking about. Back in the ’80s, politicians just wanted lower rates and fewer deductions, which seems much easier than what Brady and Speaker Paul Ryan are trying to do. Brady and Ryan want to fundamentally change the tax system so, naturally, they’re running into resistance. Rubin does a good job of covering all the moving parts and it’s good reading (especially if your clients end up asking you about it). Companies that import a lot of goods or raw materials would get hit hard by border adjustment, giving companies that make products here a big advantage. That oversimplifies the problem, but you get the idea — it’s complicated! Read Article: http://goingconcern.com/accounting-news-roundup-tax-reform-hard-good-bad-accountants-02-08-17/ |
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