On June 3rd, the Senate passed the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act.  The bill now awaits the president’s signature.  The bill includes some much needed changes that will help businesses and organizations utilize the funds to meet their needs.  The covered period is now extended to 24 weeks, up from the original 8 week period.The covered period is now extended to December 31,...

No matter how long you’ve owned your business, you probably feel comfortable relying on the methods that have served you well in the past, like doing your own bookkeeping. But when it comes to accounting, it pays to outsource. Keeping your own financial records takes a lot of time, especially if you use Excel or other tools that require tedious hours of manual input. Whether you handle your accounting...

According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ 2018 report, when looking at 2,690 cases of occupational fraud across 125 countries, there were $7 billion in total losses with a median loss of $130,000 per case. The two largest categories of fraud are asset misappropriation (i.e. theft) and financial statement fraud (i.e. lying). Asset misappropriation is the more common type, accounting for 8...

Legislation signed December 20, 2019 retroactively repealed Internal Revenue Code Section 512(a)(7), which increased unrelated business taxable income by amounts paid or incurred for qualified transportation fringes.  The IRS released guidance this week on how to go about obtaining refunds if an organization incurred any tax related to qualified transportation fringes. Internal Revenue Code Section...

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 included a provision that had a significant impact on certain tax-exempt organizations that provided qualified transportation fringe benefits. It required these organizations to pay an “unrelated business income tax” (UBIT) on the cost of the transportation benefits provided after December 31, 2017. The President signed into law legislation that includes a repeal of...

In July 2019, the AICPA issued SAS 136, which makes significant changes to virtually every aspect of audits of employee benefit plans covered by ERISA.  The revision with the most significant impact on auditors is the effective replacement of the "limited scope audit" provisions with new Section 103(a)(3)(C) audit rules. This SAS effective date will be for periods ending on or after December 15, 2020....

I’m a plan sponsor, now what? A retirement plan can be a great way to attract new employees and offer a benefit to existing employees, but it comes with certain responsibilities. If your company or organization sponsors a retirement plan, you have certain fiduciary responsibilities as the plan sponsor. But, let’s get to know ERISA first. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERIS...

Audits aren't supposed to be scary. Watch as Abby and Emily give some practical tips to make your audits a little less scary and make sure you don't give your auditor a fright! https://youtu.be/XuSCRTT0EBQ ...

“100% of your contribution directly supports our program.”   Although it would be impressive to be able to make this claim as a charitable organization, it’s impossible.  The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued Accounting Standards Update 2016-14, Not-for-Profit Entities (Topic 958) – Presentation of Financial Statements of Not-for-Profit Entities to make improveme...

Institutional knowledge. What your staff knows is one of the most valuable intangible assets of every organization. It’s often taken for granted and losing it is costly, frustrating, and inefficient. The concept of business continuity is more than having a disaster recovery plan for natural disasters or technology failure. It should also include personnel transitions, which are much more common. How ...