Tag: CPAs

Accounting News Roundup: Haiti Relief Passes Senate; Accounting Job Surge? CPAs Basically Control People’s Lives | 01.22.10

• Senate votes for faster tax breaks for Haiti gifts [WaPo]
As expected, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed legislation yesterday that allows taxpayers to deduct donations made for Haiti relief efforts. You have until the end of February to donate so that it may be included on your 2009 return.

Maybe it’s bad legislation but we’ve been over that.

• CPA Jobs Set for Surge. But When? [CPA Trendlines]
That’s the question, isn’t it? Rick Telberg, who has done a great job of tracking the Bureau of Labor Statistics on accountants, points out that while the latest BLS forecasts a 22% increase (279,400 jobs) by 2018, there’s no indication that it’s happening now:

[M]any tax, accounting and finance professionals are still slogging through the Great Recession. The Association for Financial Professionals, for instance, reported that about one in four respondents say their organizations will contract in 2010. At the same time, a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of private companies found 43 percent of CEOs and CFOs still budgeting no expansion over the next 12 months to 18 months. The data just seem to reinforce economic uncertainties and a weak outlook.


The BLS is looking past the past the recession for the jump in opportunities but just when the hell will that be? Just because the economy isn’t contracting currently, doesn’t mean it won’t in the future and this “recovery” has been tepid at best.

• Theismann to CPAs: You Are the Conscience of America [Web CPA]
Joe Theismann gets it. He knows that without all of you out there in CPA land, your clients don’t stand a chance. They’d be finished. Finished!

“You’re the conscience of America,” Theismann told conference-goers. “You are the survivors in tough times. With accountants, I’m not looking for someone to file taxes and do my financials. I can do that myself online. In your position you can basically control people’s lives.”

So get out there and control somebody’s life. Joe Theismann is expecting it.

Is David Paterson Trying to Pander to CPAs?

DavidPaterson.jpgGood news haters of all thing red tape! There is a pesky little fee in New York that goes into effect on December 31 that will require all tax preparers to pay $100 and register with the state tax department.
In case you haven’t heard, Paterson and the rest of the crew up in Albany have a bit of budget shortfall on their hands and need every dime they can get. Well! Your trusty New York State Society of CPAs has lobbied their asses off and gotten you out of this particular case of government meddling:

A bill signed into law by New York State Governor David Paterson provides an exemption from the state’s new tax preparer registration requirements for CPAs, including those who hail from outside the state.
…
The New York State Society of CPAs had advocated for an exemption for all CPAs from the registration requirements and had earlier succeeded in getting CPAs who were licensed in the state from being subject to the requirements.

Those state society fees do get you something! Call them up and thank them. And thank the Guv, while you’re at it.
New York Exempts CPAs from Preparer Registration [Web CPA]

CPAs Can Be Heros Too

hero.jpgCPAs clients’ have high expectations. Not only do you have to provide timely, exceptional service, you never know when your client might go off the deep end. And we’re talking your typical, frantic phone call, going off the deep end. We’re dealing with ‘My life is over, I can’t go on’ deep end:

[Barry] Schimel recounted how one of his clients was suicidal, so they spent 10 hours driving around talking about the clients’ problems until he got the client back home and safe. He believes the job of the accountant is to make the client successful and more profitable. “Your role is to turn obstacles into an opportunity for clients,” he said.

Not only does Schimel have clients that are in personal distress, he also has some that got the short end of the stick in the smarts department:

Another client was a trash-hauling company that didn’t know it was being charged extra at the dumping station because its drivers remained inside their trucks while the load was being weighed. Once Schimel’s firm pointed this out, the supervisors soon made sure their drivers got out of their trucks, lightening the scales.

This Schimel guy might be our personal hero. A CPA that literally saves lives and doesn’t rub their clients noses in shit when they do something stupid. Who knew this was even possible? Young CPAs, this is your idol.
How to Be a Hero to Clients [Web CPA Debits & Credits]

CalCPA Is Doing About Everything It Can to Motivate You to Reactivate Your CPA

the-big-lebowski-bridges-dude.jpgThe California Society of CPAs understands that some of you are lazy. You don’t work for a company that provides enough CPE (and the cheapskates won’t send you to Vegas for a week) and self-study is out of the question, so your license becomes inactive.
So CalCPA is trying to get you back on the fast track to active status by offering the CPA Active Pass.
This will allow you to get the “inactive” from behind those precious letters and you can wear all of your CPA attire again without having to explain that you’re technically not an active CPA. Details-shmetails.
The CPA Active Pass allows you attend 80 hours of live CPE courses including webcasts, which is the real bonus so you won’t even have to leave your house.
No more excuses people.
CalCPA Helps Inactive California CPAs Reactivate [Web CPA]
Earlier: Arnie Signs 150-Hour Rule for California

Arnie Signs 150-Hour Rule for California

arnold.jpgNo one panic, if you get licensed before 2014, you’re grandfathered in as substantially equivalent. So if you feel like procrastinating, don’t let us stop you but maybe keep the date in mind.
In addition to the new credit hour requirements, Ah-nuld also signed bills requiring mandatory peer review for CPA firms starting next year and requiring non-active CPAs to disclose their status. We thought those were both standard operating procedure but a couple more laws won’t hurt anything.
If you can’t bear the thought of 25-30 extra credit hours in college, move to Colorado, Puerto Rico, or the Virgin Islands as they’re the holdouts on the 150 credit-hour requirement.
California Adopts 150-Hour Rule [Web CPA]

CPAs Rank #6 for Best Jobs in America

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for accountant.jpgDon’t have enough corporate magazine lists in your life? Didn’t think so. CNN/Money’s Best Jobs in America dropped this morning and lo and behold, CPAs come in at #6.
Seem high? Maybe. CPAs did only receive grades of ‘C’ on “Benefits to Society” (you don’t keep people from dying) and “Low Stress” (‘C’ seems generous).
Also, CPAs only rank in the top ten in “Flexibility” but still managed to sneak into the top ten overall.
Continued, after the jump


Dubious, right? Money still makes their case:

Businesses began stocking the payroll with CPAs after major accounting scandals earlier this decade, and a host of new corporate accounting rules going into effect soon should ratchet up demand further.
Government agencies are also hiring CPAs, to monitor how well companies are complying with the new regs. Add inevitable changes to personal income tax rules and you have a pretty recession-proof profession.
“Unless Congress does away with taxes, we’ll always have work,” says CPA Lisa Featherngill of Winston-Salem, N.C. Some 33,000 independent CPAs also work for themselves, typically as tax preparers.

Debunk:
1. Scandals early in the decade? What about present scandals? Lotta good hiring all those CPAs did.
2. Remind us which agencies are doing a bang up job keeping companies in line with regulations?
3. Oh, and regardless of the certainty of taxes, this happens.
Maybe we’re overreacting. Perhaps they’re pointing out that if you’ve got a CPA, that gives you options (get crackin’ non-CPAs). Regardless of what Grant Thornton’s latest survey says.
So, if you’re a CPA and you’re happy, clap your hands. And discuss the list and why (or why not) being a CPA kicks so much ass.
Best Jobs in America [CNN/Money]