Category: News

What’s in your owners’ agreement? I recommend creating these critical documents when the firm is first formed and updating them as needed. An effective agreement can enhance decision-making and productivity, and it’s also the foundation for a successful changeover to new internal ownership. Even in a merger or acquisition, the decisions set forth in an owners’ agreement can set the stage for a smoother and more rewarding transition. Here are some significant issues that should be addressed in any agreement.

Firm governance. When you establish policies on who will run the organization and how it will be run, it can enhance efficiency and profitability. No matter how independently each partner may handle his or her work, there are many advantages to having common agreement on some key issues, such as:

• Voting rights and shares of partners and how they are determined.
• How a managing partner is chosen.
• How much authority he or she has.
• How much time the managing partner spends on administration versus client work.
• How long his or her tenure will last.

Firm valuation. How will you decide what a share in the firm is worth when it’s time to buy out a partner or bring in a new one? Valuation is important to many of the CPAs I work with, which is why it’s essential to clarify the rules for your firm. The owners’ agreement should set forth terms for how a partner’s equity is valued and what formulas or approaches are used.

Buyout considerations. The owners’ agreement should include a buyout agreement that is updated at least annually. Your goal should be to offer a retiring partner a fair payout, with terms that compensate remaining partners for taking on his or her responsibilities and ensure the firm’s ongoing financial health. It should also allow for deferral of payment of the retirement payout if the firm is facing issues such as a cash crunch or the loss of a major client, and address what will happen in case of a partner’s death or disability.

Rules on partner retirement. My experience working with firms has shown that, as a starting point to ensure a smooth transition, the partnership agreement should require a minimum of two years’ notice of any partner’s intent to leave. Other best practices include:

• A provision that prevents two partners from retiring within the same 12-month period. Along with the two-year minimum notice, this policy protects the firm from having to replace talent and capacity in a hurry and from being responsible for buyout payments that it’s unprepared to make.
• Setting rules on termination of partners before retirement. What will happen if a partner decides to leave long before his or her retirement age? What kind of payout does a partner receive if he or she leaves because of performance or other issues? Documenting the answers to these questions ensures that a firm is not caught by surprise or bogged down in disagreements.
• Establishing a retiring partner’s responsibilities for transitioning clients and otherwise ensuring a smooth and timely handover to a new partner. Once again, this is key to maintaining stability during change.
• Deciding whether the firm will have a mandatory retirement age. While not necessarily a requirement, a clear sense of when change will occur can clarify planning.

Succession considerations. A strong bench of potential future leaders will enhance any firm’s success, stabilize its succession path and even make it a strong M&A candidate if an external succession is chosen. The partnership agreement can set forth how promising leadership candidates are identified and groomed, addressing issues such as external and internal training, mentoring and sponsorship and non-equity partnership, and the owners’ related responsibilities.   

                These are just a few of the key issues that a comprehensive owners’ agreement can address. By developing and updating this document, firm leaders can avoid endless meetings over issues that an effective agreement could decide for them and enable all their professionals to concentrate on the important work of the firm. For advice relating to reviewing your current ownership agreement, check out our new personalized reports.

Joel Sinkin, President, Transition Advisors. Joel has been involved with and consulted on 900+ transaction closings of accounting firms since 1990. He teaches CPE courses and lectures for the AICPA, national associations and state societies. He co-wrote the book “CPA Firm Mergers & Acquisitions: How to Buy a Firm, How to Sell a Firm, and How to Make the Best Deal”.

Ownership courtesy of Shutterstock.

     

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The primary function of the government is – and here I am quoting directly from the U.S. Constitution – ‘to spew out paper.’

–Dave Barry

Humorist Dave Barry can be quite silly, but it’s not so funny when faced with a government shutdown like the one that took place October 1-17, 2013. That was the last one before the shutdown that took place Friday at midnight. In 2013, government operations resumed after a continuing resolution, or CR, was signed into law.  And sometimes, well, we just “need that paper.”

Since accountants like to talk numbers, the 2013 16-day shutdown was the third-longest government shutdown in U.S. history. It trails behind an 18-day shutdown in 1978 and a 21-day shutdown 1995-96.

Monday, Congress voted to approve a temporary funding bill – the fourth since September – effectively reopening the government. But it’s a stopgap measure. And it’s possible we’ll see another shutdown on February 8. This is a critical time for CPAs who’ll be in the midst of filing season.

How did we get here? In September, Congress was unable to agree on a long-term spending bill for fiscal year 2018, so they passed a two-month CR to fund the government from October 1 to December 8. Because Congress was in the throes of tax reform, they passed a second CR to December 21, providing an additional two weeks of government funding. Unfortunately, this additional time didn’t allow for a spending agreement.

On January 19, 2018, a third CR expired. Despite promising signs of a deal, negotiations over a long-term spending and another short-term CR fell apart over immigration policy. Three days later, Congress approved a spending measure that will fund the government until February 8.

What does this all mean? From a macro perspective, should another shutdown occur, approximately 800,000 federal employees would be indefinitely furloughed, including approximately 46,000 IRS employees. Another 1.3 million would be required to report to work without knowing when they’d be paid. None of those workers would be paid during the shutdown. However, Congress has voted to pay federal employees retroactively for every previous shutdown.

Enough of the big picture. It’s almost the busy part of busy season, and CPAs want to know how another shutdown would affect their jobs. Should another government shutdown occur in February, we know from the experience of the last three days that many non-essential IRS functions would shut down, including all taxpayer services and examinations. The closure of taxpayer and practitioner hotlines could be particularly challenging if the shutdown becomes protracted, and you need to contact the IRS. This timing has the potential to be much more problematic than the January shutdown.

Another concern with a shutdown is the IRS’s ability to develop much-needed guidance related to tax reform. Already constrained for resources to leverage the guidance process, a shutdown certainly wouldn’t help. To help keep you up to date in this area, the AICPA has a Tax Reform Resource Center that is an excellent source for all things tax reform. 

While the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the official source of information regarding the impact of shutdowns, the Treasury Department released a “Lapsed Appropriations Contingency Plan (Filing Season)” as a key resource prior to the most recent shutdown. Also, the AICPA Tax Section will post information to help practitioners with related challenges in filing returns and representing clients (e.g., collections, notices, ongoing examinations, etc.).

According to the IRS’s last contingency plan, the following activities would cease in the event of another shutdown:

• Service center processing after the point of batching (e.g. Code & Edit, data transcription, error resolution, un-postables)
• Issuing refunds
• Processing Non-Disaster Relief transcripts, Income Verification Express Service/Return and Income Verification Services
• Processing 1040X Amended Returns
• Most headquarters and administrative functions not related to the safety of life and protection of property
• All audit functions, examination of returns, and processing of non-electronic tax returns that do not include remittances
• Non-automated collections
• Legal counsel
• Taxpayer services such as responding to taxpayer questions (call sites) during Non-Filing Season
• Information systems functions (except as necessary to prevent loss of data in process and revenue collections)
• Planning, research and training and development activities

The plan authorizes several critical IRS functions to continue, however. This includes:

• Completion and testing of the upcoming filing year programs
• Electronic returns that are processed systemically (requiring no intervention by service center functions) up to the point of refunds
• Processing paper tax returns through batching
• Processing remittances including payment perfection
• Processing disaster relief transcripts.

Let’s hope we don’t see another shutdown in February. And if the government does shutdown again, that it has minimal impact on busy season. 

Dave Barry also said “[w]hen trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that individual is crazy.”  As hard as it seems sometimes, those who represent us in Washington are trying to do the right thing for their constituents and the country. 

Ed Karl, CPA, CGMA, Vice President –Taxation, Association of International Professional Accountants

Government shutdown courtesy of Shutterstock.

     

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Accounting professionals in the not-for-profit sector wear many hats. We often have the blessing and curse of selecting and implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. If you have undertaken this herculean effort before, you’ll probably never forget the education you gained throughout the experience. If you haven’t had the opportunity yet, there are some things you should consider to help your not-for-profit or your not-for-profit clients avoid mistakes. Here are five key lessons I learned when selecting an ERP system for my organization.

1. You get what you ask for. It’s important to be specific about what you want to do and how you want to do it so you can find out if vendors can accommodate your needs. If the business requirements you specify are too generic, you may be surprised to discover significant gaps in the system’s capabilities too late in the game. For example, saying you need the ability to make electronic payments may be too generic. Instead, indicate that you need the ability to automate batches of electronic payments via EFT and wire. In this example, the added clarity ensures the system can not only make electronic payments but also process them via EFT, and that payments may be initiated through automatic batches rather than manually, one by one.

• Look past the sales pitch and focus on the system. Go into the sales presentation prepared. Know that the salesperson will try to wow you by talking about capabilities that may be out of your scope, so stay focused on your specific needs and whether the software product’s capabilities are a good match. You know your organization and what is feasible, but it also may be helpful to invite other key players to the meeting, including your implementation specialist or project manager, since they may have additional questions or concerns.
• Be willing to adjust your business processes. It is likely your organization’s business processes were developed to accommodate the current ERP system. This means it’s unlikely all of those processes follow best practices. If a new system doesn’t meet your business requirements, consider whether it is a deficiency of the ERP system or an internal process. Perhaps the business requirements relate to a process that could be simplified or modified in the future, moving more toward best practice in the new system. Approach the selection process recognizing some processes will have to change.
• Make sure the information technology (IT) team has bought into the solution, even if it is cloud-based. Many vendors try to sell cloud-based applications to the functional side of the business directly by stating that no IT assistance is required. Most of the time, that’s simply not the case. Most business units are not equipped to dive into IT configurations, and the solutions may not meet the internal architectural or security guidelines. Make any selection in partnership with your IT team, starting with input into the functional requirements, through the sales process and on to implementation and evaluation.
• The system is only as good as the implementation. Carefully consider what you are looking for in an implementation partner. Do you need:
  1. Assistance identifying best practices for the future?
  2. Support navigating complex needs that might require customization?
  3. Help with data integrations?
  4. Help following a specific project implementation approach, such as the waterfall or agile method?

Clarify upfront what you need from an implementation partner and seek one with those strengths. Otherwise, you could spend valuable hours engaging with them, only to find they are missing the mark and not providing the specific guidance you need.

No ERP system is perfect, but applying these lessons when selecting a new system may help you choose a good match for your organization and more fully leverage its capabilities.

For more information, tools and resources to help not-for-profit professionals, visit the AICPA’s Not-for-Profit Section. You’ll find a comprehensive resource library covering topics in not-for-profit accounting and financial reporting, assurance, tax compliance, and governance and management, along with the latest news and learning opportunities related to those topics.

Jennifer Brenner, CPA, Controller, World Vision US, has more than fifteen years of public and private accounting experience, including domestic and international accounting and tax compliance. She serves as chair of the AICPA’s Not-for-Profit Industry Expert Panel.

Enterprise resource plan graphic courtesy of Shutterstock 

     

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Today is the federal holiday when we commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life and extraordinary work.

Just shy of fifty years since his assassination, we have undoubtedly made progress. However, we still face an unsettling reality where disrespectful language, aggressive rhetoric and harassing behavior continues in some corners of our society.

To advance successfully together, we must face these facts with courage and uphold Dr. King’s legacy to support respect and inclusion. Of the voices carrying his mantle, Dr. King would be proudest to know that ordinary people are increasingly empowered to echo his original messages of equality and justice. In 2017, we heard from a diverse chorus of voices in entertainment, sports, business and politics as well as our neighbors and friends.

The AICPA is committed to inclusion in the accounting profession as well as within our organization. We rely on each individual (member and employee) and their unique views of the world to make the profession stronger and better prepared for the future. We also rely on respect and equality to bolster us against any negative pressure we face as citizens in our communities.  

We thank the members of the our National Commission on Diversity and Inclusion for their dedication and leadership in guiding the profession through our journey of inclusion. And we salute the many accountants and students across the world who are advocates of inclusion.

May you take this day an opportunity to not only celebrate the legacy of Dr. King, but to begin to create legacies of your own so that in 50 years you too are celebrating standing up for change.

“If we are to go forward, we must go back and rediscover those precious values – that all reality hinges on moral foundations and that all reality has spiritual control.”

– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Please join me, Thursday, January 17 at 1pm, ET for Global diversity: driving innovation through inclusion. This webinar will help you understand how your firm or organization can capitalize on the diversity of thought, background and experience of your team to drum up new business and innovate for the future.

Kim Drumgo, Director — Diversity and Inclusion, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants and Chair of the PhD Project, an effort to advance workplace diversity by increasing the diversity of business school faculty  

Martin Luther King, Jr. courtesy of Shutterstock

     

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Hopefully you were able to slow down long enough over the holidays to catch up on some of today’s most popular shows. If you’re like me, you want to see interesting shows representing a wide spectrum of perspectives and experiences. With the growth of cable networks and streaming services, you can find shows featuring a range of ethnicities, races, sexuality, and abilities, making for much more engaging and enlightening content.

But inclusion in entertainment didn’t happen overnight. Digital entertainment companies like Amazon, Netflix, Hulu and HBO (just to name a few) have been challenging the network television status quo for nearly a decade by assembling writers, producers and actors from various backgrounds to create fresh content. The networks are answering and keeping themselves relevant with their own solid offerings. Today’s improved TV proves that business’ most innovative offerings are spurred on by inclusion as well as competition.

Having access to all of this great programming is why so many of us spent much of our holiday break binge-watching TV. With characters, writers, and actors of all backgrounds, it’s clear we’re embarking upon a golden era of diverse TV programming. Here are some of my favorites:

• Black-ish—Now in its fourth season, this award-winning comedy focuses on an African-American family and the challenges they face living in a mostly white, upper-middle-class neighborhood. The main character and father of four children, Dre, combats cultural assimilation and tries to maintain ethnic identity within his household. Critics agree this ABC show is a stand-out among network sitcoms.
• Fresh Off the Boat—Another ABC sitcom that goes above and beyond. Based on the book of the same name by chef Eddie Huang, this is the first American TV show to star an Asian-American family. It follows the adventures of a Taiwanese-American family trying to adjust to life in a Florida community after moving from Washington, D.C.’s Chinatown.
• The Good Doctor—The Good Doctor puts neurodiversity center stage. It’s about a young surgical resident with autism. Interesting to note that this show is based on the award-winning South Korean show of the same name.
• Master of None—This Netflix show was co-created by Pakistani-American comedian Aziz Ansari and Taiwanese-American screenwriter Alan Yang, both of whom won Emmys for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for their work on it. The humor is fresh and the cast is groundbreaking in its diversity. Special shout-out to African-American writer, producer and actor Lena Waithe who won an Emmy for writing an episode of the show based on her experience coming out to her family during Thanksgiving.
• Mr. Robot—Proof that innovative TV isn’t only happening in comedy, this cyber-thriller features a lead character with social anxiety disorder and clinical depression. It’s provocative, edgy, and suspenseful TV.
• Insecure—Creator, writer and actress Issa Rae presents a fictionalized version of her and her friends’ adventures as millennial professionals in Los Angeles. She’s funny, weird and yes… insecure, but since she’s the first person to point it out, it also makes her charming and loveable.
• Runaways—Prefer something a little (or a lot) less realistic? Then try this Marvel series about six teenagers from different backgrounds who join forces and unique skillsets to fight the criminals they have in common: their parents. Think typical teenage soap meets comic books.

Special mention: It’s not bingeable yet, but take a look at The Chi on Showtime. Lena Waithe (mentioned earlier for Master of None) created this weekly series set in Chicago’s South Side. The show depicts the day-to-day lives and big picture aspirations of two ordinary young men as they navigate their neighborhood’s extraordinarily dangerous streets.

Did we miss one of your favorites? Feel free to add your own must-see diverse show in the comments!

And speaking of diversity, don’t miss the chance to sign up for this webinar I’m hosting—Global diversity: driving innovation through inclusion, January 17 at 1pm, ET. It’ll help you understand how your firm or organization can capitalize on the diversity of thought, background and experience of your team to drum up new business and innovate for the future.

Kim Drumgo, Director — Diversity and Inclusion, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants and Chair of the PhD Project, an effort to advance workplace diversity by increasing the diversity of business school faculty

Cast of black’ish courtesy of Kathy Hutchins/Shutterstock

     

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Don’t let this be you: You sell your practice and all is going well. You are enjoying retired life— when all of the sudden you get a call from your practice’s new owner. A previous client is suing you and you aren’t covered. Yes, this sounds like a nightmare, but luckily it doesn’t have to be your reality. Before selling your firm, protect yourself by considering the following.  

1. Be Aware of the Danger

When you sell or merge your practice, the potential liability claims don’t go away. Instead, they could move forward into the new firm, ready to erupt when you least expect it. Even if you simply shut down your firm, the possible claims don’t disappear. They can follow you into retirement.

2. Understand the Limitations

The professional liability insurance you buy is typically issued on a “claims-made and reported” basis. In other words, it is good for claims that are made only while the policy is active. For example, let’s say you sell your practice to Sue’s firm as of January 1, 2018. Early in 2019, an old client makes a claim against services you performed in 2017. The claim may not be covered under Sue’s current professional liability policy, and your policy expired when you sold the firm. You and Sue may be now potentially faced with a claim that is not covered by insurance.

3. Cover Your Tail

The solution is extended-claim reporting-period coverage, which is also known as tail insurance. Tail insurance extends the reporting period past the time your policy expires, so that claims related to past work are covered. Depending on the rules of your state’s insurance commission, the period of extended coverage could be one, three, five or an indefinite number of years.

If you’re practicing and not planning a merger or sale soon, you have no need for tail insurance right now, because your liability is covered by your current policy. Extended-claim reporting-period coverage is only something you—and your merger or acquisition partner—must think about once a transaction is in the works.

4. Step in the Acquirer’s Shoes

For the buyer or merger partner, investigating quality control practices and past claim experience is a crucial part of the due diligence process. You should know that they may insist that your firm have tail insurance before a deal is finalized. As noted, it’s also something you should know about even if you plan to close your firm’s door on your way out to retirement, since you can’t shut the door on past liabilities.

5. Make the Most of Existing Resources

Tail insurance is one of the many issues to consider as part of your succession planning process. For help with any succession-related concern, be sure to turn to the Private Companies Practice Section Succession Planning Resource Center. Have insurance questions? To learn more about the AICPA Professional Liability Insurance Program, visit cpai.com or call 800.221.3023.

Don’t let the problems lurking in past procedures or engagements pop up unexpectedly in retirement. Use tail insurance to put your worries to rest and stay problem free.

Clients of the AICPA Professional Liability Insurance Program through Aon Affinity may be eligible for a discounted or free extended reporting period.  The Named Insured must be a sole practitioner retiring and discontinuing the practice of accounting to be eligible for the vesting credit.  Those insured in the program as a sole practitioner for 7 or more years consecutively may receive a free extended reporting period.  Credit is subject to specific state requirements as well.  For the purposes of determining the vesting credit, a sole practitioner shall mean: One who is engaged in rendering professional accounting services alone with no other partners, CPAs, consultants, bookkeepers, or other professionals working on client engagements.

Keep in mind that policies can be structured differently so it is important to review your policy and options with your broker before retiring, selling a practice, or an M&A transaction.

Mark Koziel, CPA, CGMA, Executive Vice President- Firm Services, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants

Tail insurance is courtesy of Shutterstock.

     

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The stage is set. Who will be crowned the 2018 College Football National Champion tonight? Georgia and Alabama, the teams left standing in the playoffs, will face off to decide. The game is expected to draw a huge viewing audience. Last year’s title game between Clemson and Alabama – the Crimson Tide is back for a third straight year – pulled in more than 26 million viewers.

It’s no secret college football is big business. There’s been a long-time debate about whether student-athletes should get some of the profits (this blog post won’t go down that road). But how do you put a price tag on a team?

Having fans throughout the country focused on top-ranked teams during the season can really boost a university’s brand. A winning football program can lead to a university’s higher student enrollment, better alumni engagement, more scholarships, high-profile donors and increased visitor spending in the community on gamedays.

So, which college football program has the highest net worth? According to a 2017 analysis, Ohio State. The program has a $1.5 billion value, a 50% jump just from the previous year. The increase perhaps because of the Buckeyes’ 2015 national championship win. Texas and Oklahoma trail Ohio State valued at $1.2 and $1 billion, respectively.

Ryan Brewer, associate professor of finance at Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus, conducted the study. He looked at what each program would be worth if sold on the open market like a professional sports team. Brewer broke down the football program’s most recently available revenues and expenses, making cash-flow adjustments, risk assessments and growth projections.

Brewer considered many variables and valued the programs by:

• analyzing financial data including revenues and expenses;
• assessing cash flows;
• developing a risk profile using relevant publicly available characteristics; and
• developing a capitalization of cash flows using quantitative risk assessments and growth forecasts.

A few years ago, Forbes.com used a weighted scoring system to compile its list of the most valuable college football programs and looked at value to the:

• university – football profit used for academic purposes including football scholarships;
• athletic department – net profit generated by the football team that is kept by the athletic department;
• conference – distribution of the bowl game payout; and
• surrounding community – estimated spending by visitors on days of home games.

The two methods have clear differences. Brewer’s risk profile used adjusted cash flow generated by the programs, incorporated historical performance and rankings, attendance, proximity to and association with the nearest “major league” town or franchise, school reputational quality, and power conference affiliation. By diving in a bit deeper, Brewer’s valuations painted a different picture of college football’s powerhouses.

As for the two teams colliding tonight on the gridiron, Alabama came in fourth on Brewer’s list valued at $900 million. Georgia was eighth at $822 million. Will the Tide roll past the Bulldogs once again?

Price tags aside, which team are you pulling for in the title game? Leave your pick in the comments below.

The valuation field offers practitioners a range of unique opportunities. There’s a widespread demand for CPAs with expertise in forensic accounting and business valuation, and that’s why the AICPA offers the Accredited in Business Valuation and Certified in Financial Forensics credentials.

Paul Wapner, CPA/ABV, CGMA, Lead Manager – Forensic and Valuation Services, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants

Football courtesy of Shutterstock.

     

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An auditor’s report gives lenders confidence that financial statements are free of material misstatement. But does the auditor’s report really tell the story of what the auditor did to gain assurance about the financial statements? Thanks to proposed changes to the auditor’s report, readers will gain a better understanding of what the auditor did and observed.

The AICPA Auditing Standards Board (ASB) has released a set of exposure drafts  aimed at enhancing the relevance and usefulness of the auditor’s report.

1. Proposed Statements on Auditing Standards: Auditor Reporting and Proposed Amendments―Addressing Disclosures in the Audit of Financial Statements
2. Proposed Statement on Auditing Standards: The Auditor’s Responsibilities Relating to Other Information Included in Annual Reports
3. Proposed Statement on Auditing Standards: Omnibus Statement on Auditing Standards—2018

In developing these exposure drafts, the ASB considered reporting projects undertaken by the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB). The messages heard as part of those projects included:

• Users value the “pass/fail” nature of the auditor’s opinion, but they consider much of the rest of the report to be boilerplate, providing little transparency into the audit.
• Certain users want more and better information about areas that pose higher assessed risks of material misstatement or involve significant judgment by management and the auditor, or relate to significant events or transactions.
• Users and other stakeholders favor expanding the description of management’s responsibilities for preparing the financial statements. They are also in favor of expanding auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements to address the long-standing expectations gap in audits.

 

Proposed Changes

In light of their findings, the ASB is proposing the following changes:

1. Letting readers know the auditor’s opinion immediately by moving that section to the front of the report, followed by a “Basis for Opinion,” or an explanation of how the opinion was reached.
2. Stating the auditor’s independence and adherence to other ethical requirements in the “Basis for Opinion” section.
3. Providing a framework in which auditors of non-issuers may communicate key audit matters (KAM). While communicating KAM is not required for audits of non-issuers, it may be agreed to as part of the engagement. In that case, auditors would follow the rules in proposed Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) Communicating Key Audit Matters in the Independent Auditor’s Report, which can be found here.
4. Moving the discussion of going concern issues. If there is substantial doubt about the entity’s ability to continue as a going concern for a reasonable period of time, it would be expressed in the auditor’s report under the heading “Substantial Doubt About the Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern,” instead of in an emphasis-of-matter paragraph.
5. Identifying at what point before the date of the auditor’s report the auditor has obtained other information, if any. This would be included in an “Other Information” section of the report, under another Proposed Statement on Auditing Standards: The Auditor’s Responsibilities Relating to Other Information Included in Annual Reports.
6. Expanding the description of management’s responsibilities for preparing and fairly presenting the financial statements, including identifying those responsible for oversight of the financial reporting process, if they are different from those responsible for financial statement preparation.
7. Enhancing the description of auditor’s responsibilities and key features of an audit.

Share Your Thoughts

We encourage you to share your opinions on the exposure drafts with the ASB by the May 15, 2018, comment deadline. Please send all feedback to Sherry Hazel at Sherry.Hazel@aicpa-cima.com. We look forward to hearing from you.

Ahava Goldman, CPA, Associate Director – Audit and Attest Standards, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants

     

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The 2018 score release dates are posted to the Score Release Timeline page of the AICPA’s CPA Examination page. For complete information regarding scoring, please visit the Examination Scoring and Scoring FAQ pages.

The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy will release scores to boards of accountancy based upon the target score release dates listed in the tables below. Some boards may require at least one day beyond the published target release date in the table to process and release scores.

Note: There are score holds for the 2018 Q2, Q3 and Q4 testing windows. For more information about these score holds, please read the specific Scoring FAQs.

*The Exam data files the AICPA receives after March 11 will be included in the final target score release date.

• All dates and times are based on the Eastern Standard Time (EST) zone.
• For most candidates, Prometric sends Exam data files to the AICPA within 24 hours after you complete testing.
• Exam data files received after the AICPA cutoff dates will result in subsequent scheduled target score release dates.
• If you take the BEC section, you might receive your score approximately one week following the target release date due to additional analysis that may be required for the written communication tasks.

 

     

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Each year, millions of Americans lose an average of 20 pounds and learn a new language within a few months of making their New Year’s resolutions.

Wait, what? That’s not actually true. I can tell you what really happens: Every January 2, a slew of people show up at my gym and hog the treadmills. It is rather frustrating. Luckily, I know they’ll be gone in a few weeks. That’s because they are part of the 80% of Americans who abandon their resolutions by the second week of February.

There has to be a better way. What if instead, we set goals throughout the year, rather than all at once when the clock strikes midnight? We would be less likely to feel overwhelmed by our commitment to training for a marathon and writing a novel, so we’d have a better chance of getting something done. After doing some research, I found a few other tips to achieve those goals you set.

Be specific. Begin by writing down exactly what you want. We’d all like to be more successful or more fulfilled, but what exactly does that mean to you? Let’s say you’d like to raise your professional visibility. There are a number of ways you can do it, including getting further training that can make you more valuable to clients or your employers or becoming more involved in professional or community organizations. And remember this isn’t a once-a-year activity, since it’s good to set new goals as circumstances change and new opportunities pop up.

  

Get even more specific. Once you narrow down your goal, drill down some more. If you wrote down that you want to raise your professional visibility, find out what’s available to you, when classes or activities take place and what you need to do to get involved. It’s easy to put off or forget about a goal such as “taking a class,” but once you find a class that fits your schedule and will truly add something to your professional or personal life, you’re more likely to follow through.

Consider timing. New Year’s resolutions are particularly challenging for CPAs in public practice, because no matter how motivated you are about a fresh start, you’re still looking straight ahead at busy season, with little time for extracurricular activities. Instead of trying to do it all at once, get out your calendar and make a reasonable schedule for following through on various objectives over the course of the year. Prioritize your goals to make sure you focus on what’s most important and that you make the best use of your time. 

Commit. That includes resisting the temptation to give up when getting there takes longer than you expected, or turns out to be much more complicated than you had hoped. Talking about your goals can help, since other people can cheer you on and help motivate you to get through when the going gets tough.

Use these tips and tools whenever you want to reach an important goal, even if it’s in August! When it comes to goal setting for CPAs and CPA firms, there are some great resources available, including the PCPS SMART Goal Planning Grid and Goal Category Checklists. Small firms can also find a wealth of tools that can help them achieve their objectives on the AICPA small firm resources site.

Shelly Guzzetta, Manager- Firm Services, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants

Resolutions courtesy of Shutterstock

     

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