AICPA Makes Recommendations on IRS Guidance Priority List [CPA Practice Advisor] AICPA’s high priority recommendations relate to guidance on regulations found in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA); the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act; and the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act. These recommendations address many significant tax issues, including employee retention credits, payroll tax deferrals, Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan forgiveness and various aspects of section 199A, virtual currency taxation and international taxation.
Building entrepreneurial accountants and partners during coronavirus [Accounting Today] Sometimes the best changes come because we are forced into them. For example, the pandemic has made many accounting practitioners more aware of limitations — and the value that can come from changing to better manage the stresses and unknowns of current working conditions. Firms managing well through COVID-19 have found ways to become more efficient, more alert, more communicative, more creative and more strategic.
Video interview tips for forensic accountants and auditors [Journal of Accountancy] While presenting new obstacles to conducting effective forensic interviews, virtual approaches can be successful and even provide benefits not present in face-to-face interviews. However, focused modifications to traditional in-person interviews must be addressed and implemented.
Deloitte gets another huge COVID contract – for ‘crazy’ plan to test millions each day [Open Democracy] The British government had plans to test everyone in the country for coronavirus every week by October – and it’s handed most of the work to the global accountancy firm Deloitte, openDemocracy can reveal. Labour MP Clive Lewis has dubbed the deal “potentially the biggest NHS privatisation in history”. Last week, civil servants were instructed to carry out the plan for all 68 million people in the UK to be tested weekly, according to a senior civil service source familiar with the conversations. The ambitious cross-departmental plan, dubbed Operation Moonshot, anticipated a second peak of COVID-19 in the winter.
Rihan v EY: The Case that Shook the Big Four and Beyond [Law.com] In April, London’s High Court heard the case of Rihan v EY – a landmark whistleblowing matter that lawyers and analysts believe will have major ramifications for not just the auditing industry.
PwC pushes financial results back to 2021 [Accountancy Daily] PwC has announced that it will delay the publication of its financial results for the year ending 30 June 2020 until January 2021. The move represents a shift from its normal timetable which would have seen the UK’s largest firm publish its results in September.
Man with religious objection to filing tax returns sentenced [The Spokesman Review] A judge Thursday sentenced a northwestern Oregon man to probation for four counts of willfully failing to file tax returns after the court last year threw out his religious objection as a viable defense in an unusual second trial with no jury or witnesses. Michael Bowman, of Columbia City, Oregon, said the case has destroyed him financially and he accused the judge of causing him a “grave injustice” by rejecting his defense that he didn’t want to fund abortion, the Oregonian/OregonLive reported. “I’m down to nothing and I’m doing this on principle,” Bowman, 56, said.
