Journal of Accountancy Podcast

Earlier in February, numerous amendments to the 2021 fiscal year budget resolution were voted on by the Senate. One of those nonbinding amendments, which passed unanimously by a voice vote, could lead to a lessening of an administrative burden for many employers and employees. The amendment related to mobile workforce legislation , introduced by Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and supported by Sen. Sherr...

A recent survey showed that a majority of couples have experienced relationship stress because of finances. So, how can couples openly communicate about money? Mike Landsberg, CPA/PFS, shares a few reminders. Also, Sara Lord, CPA, a member of the AICPA Auditing Standards Board (ASB), expands on the board's recent exposure draft related to quality management . The comment period on the ED runs thro...

The onset of COVID-19 meant that more people became online shoppers out of necessity. Ordering groceries by phone or computer also means more of us are putting potentially sensitive information online. Robert Westley, CPA/PFS, shares advice to avoid becoming a victim of identity theft, expanding on the tips in a recent Journal of Accountancy article . Alistair Nevius, J.D., the JofA 's editor-in-c...

Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and the start of tax season are two topics squarely on the minds of CPAs these days. This episode analyzes the Jan. 25 update by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) about processing second-draw loan applications and looks at what recent IRS announcements mean for tax season. Kari Hipsak, CPA, CGMA, a senior manager at the Association of Internationa...

Earlier, Eileen Sherr, CPA, CGMA, MT, a director of the AICPA's Tax Policy & Advocacy team, discussed prospects for reversing by legislation the IRS's position regarding deductibility of business expenses paid with loan proceeds from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) that are ultimately forgiven. Now, that legislation has been enacted, by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA), P.L. 1...

Accountants played a crucial role in helping millions of organizations, most of them small businesses, receive $525 billion in Paycheck Protection Program loans last year. Now, the PPP is back and businesses will again be looking to CPAs for advice and assistance in accessing the program, which provides forgivable loans that borrowers can use for payroll and other essential expenses as the COVID-1...

In late 2020, Robert Half's Paul McDonald delved into the hiring outlook for 2021 . The second part of that conversation addresses the ways organizations can keep those already on staff during COVID-19. McDonald, Robert Half's senior executive director, says the businesses that already had strong culture in place were better equipped to adapt to COVID-19. He offers advice for managers, details on...

As the year draws to a close, many clients are pursuing charitable giving. Mike Landsberg, CPA/PFS, partner at Homrich Berg in Atlanta, discusses what he's seeing in terms of charitable giving this year, how the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, P.L. 116-136, has affected giving, and how clients can use giving to save on taxes while contributing to causes that matter to t...

Eileen Sherr, CPA, CGMA, MT, director of the AICPA's Tax Policy & Advocacy team in Washington, D.C., discusses recent IRS guidance regarding the tax treatment of loans under the U.S. Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). This guidance holds that the amount of a PPP loan that is forgiven under the SBA's procedures is not included in the loan recipient taxpayer's gross i...

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented hiring freezes, job losses, or furloughs in 2020. While the outlook on hiring remains somewhat unsteady, there are reasons for optimism, according to Paul McDonald, the senior executive director at staffing firm Robert Half. In this episode, McDonald discusses the roles and certifications that are in demand, how remote work's rapid rise has affected o...

Kelly Richmond Pope, CPA, CGMA, Ph. D., is an accountant and a professor. She's also a storyteller and TEDx speaker. Keeping people engaged is a better way to educate, said Pope, an associate professor at DePaul University's School of Accountancy and MIS in Chicago. In this episode, Pope discusses another way to keep learners engaged: gamification. Turning learning into a game helps with the recal...

Several months into the pandemic, we take a look at how some CPA parents are faring. They talk about the struggles they've faced, how they balance parenting and working from home, what they do to recharge, and the unexpected joys they've experienced while spending more time with their families. Our guests for this episode are Lindsay Stevenson, CPA, CGMA, and Chris Hervochon, CPA. Stevenson is vic...

In an economic downturn such as the one that resulted from the coronavirus pandemic, not-for-profit organizations can feel pinched in two ways. People who have lost jobs or fear losing them may be less likely to donate to the NFPs at a time the services offered by the organizations are needed most. Strategies and models must be changed to find new opportunities and deal with the challenges present...

Corporate board work may have changed forever as a result of COVID-19. The lessons corporate directors take away from the pandemic will be critical to company survival and success beyond 2020. Paula Loop, CPA, the leader of PwC's Governance Insights Center, explains in this podcast episode how boards have been changed and what they're thinking about as they navigate the pandemic's effect on busine...

Cannabis for medicinal or recreational use is a fast-growing business, and the advisory opportunities for accountants in the industry are also growing. Along with those opportunities are emerging issues on the regulatory and risk fronts. Ron Seigneur, CPA/ABV, the managing partner of Colorado firm Seigneur Gustafson LLP, shares more on the topic, including what to look for in proposed federal legi...

This podcast episode follows up one posted on Aug. 20 about President Donald Trump's memorandum directing Treasury to defer the withholding, deposit, and payment of workers' 6.2% Social Security or Railroad Retirement tax for the last four months of 2020. Since then, Treasury and the IRS have issued much-anticipated guidance on just how the deferral applies and how the taxes are likely to have to...

Finance executives in the United States are more confident about their own businesses than about the overall economy. Why is that? And what is the hiring outlook for companies for the next 12 months? Ken Witt, CPA, CGMA, a senior manager for management accounting and member engagement at the AICPA, provides further detail and analysis on the quarterly Business and Industry Economic Outlook Survey,...

This episode explores the huge implications for state and local taxes raised by workers more often untethered from the employer's physical location, sometimes in another state. And now, during the COVID-19 pandemic, remote teleworking has become the rule for many professions. Eileen Sherr, CPA, MT, and Mo Bell-Jacobs, J.D., bring us up to speed. Sherr is a senior manager with the AICPA's Tax Advoc...

In this podcast, we touch base with Ed Karl, the AICPA's vice president–Tax Policy & Advocacy, to discuss questions the AICPA Tax Executive Committee has raised in official comments to Treasury and the IRS concerning President Donald Trump's Aug. 8 memorandum ordering Treasury to defer the withholding, deposit, and payment of payroll taxes imposed by Sec. 3101(a) — better known as the employee por...

The changes brought about and accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic are numerous. Our day-to-day lives have been altered, forcing rapid adaptation. A new report from the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants and EY Seren, explores the patterns of behavior emerging from this uncertain time. The report, Human Signals, also offers actions for accountants to take. This podcast...

The changes brought about and accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic are numerous. Our day-to-day lives have been altered, forcing individuals and organizations to adapt quickly. A new report from the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants and EY Seren explores the patterns of behavior emerging. The report, Human Signals, also offers advice for accountants in an era of uncer...

The culture of a workplace, be that in a company or an accounting firm, determines how employees and customers are treated, says Stephanie Creary, an identity and diversity scholar and professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. To assess how racism is a factor requires open, frank conversations and leaders willing to listen and learn what they probably didn't...

These days, it's tough to know the best next steps for organizations that are reopening to customers or employees — or considering doing so. Lee Terry, who practices corporate and securities law for the Denver firm Davis Graham & Stubbs, has advised organizations and CFOs for years on crisis management. Terry offers insight into the legal concerns that organizations are facing and this advice on f...

The new principles-based standard on audit evidence, issued last week by the AICPA Auditing Standards Board, addresses issues such as emerging technology, professional skepticism, and expanding sources of information. Jay Brodish, CPA, a partner at PwC, and Bob Dohrer, CPA, CGMA, the chief auditor of the AICPA, discuss the standard in detail, explaining how it can be applied to today's evolving bu...

We check back in with two AICPA leaders: Ed Karl, the AICPA's vice president–Tax Policy & Advocacy, and Chris Hesse, a tax principal in the National Tax Office of CliftonLarsonAllen in Kennewick, Wash., who also chairs the AICPA Tax Executive Committee. They'll update us on how the 2020 marathon of a tax return filing season is going, whether the coronavirus-related return due date delay until Jul...