February 2018

Payroll

Women Mentorship Programs Help Firms Realize Greater Success

U.S. accounting firms that use advancement programs for promoting women to leadership positions overwhelmingly view them as effective tools in recruiting and retaining talent, according to new research by the American Institute of CPAs.

Firm Management

Clients and Colleagues are Our Greatest Assets

We hope your busy season is a good one. Before long, it will be in the record books. In the meantime, we’ll do our best to keep you up-to-date on the latest developments that impact your accounting practice.

Firm Management

Apps We Love – Time Management

If you’re interested in trying an app for time tracking, PCWorld recommends Harvest, an app that lets you record time for multiple clients and also log your expenses. Scan receipts and enter notes to accompany expenses. The app has been around for ...

Accounting

Key Budget Tips for Small Businesses

Creating a budget is one of the more challenging chores you must undertake as a business owner.

Accounting

2018 Readers’ Choice Awards

The CPA Practice Advisor Readers' Choice Awards give accounting and tax pros the chance to share the technologies and vendors that help them be more productive and profitable in their own firms, as well as the tech tools and programs that help their ...

Accounting

Simplifying the Gig Economy with QuickBooks Online

The lines of work are blurring. Tasks previously carried out by in-house employees are quickly becoming outsourced to freelancers and independent contractors. These gig economy participants may live around the corner from you, or on the other side of ...

Accounting

5 Gig Economy Marketing Tips

Focus on Pain Points for Gig Economy Client Success According to recent studies, an estimated 35 percent of the current workforce is made up of gig workers, which could increase to about 43 percent by 2020. With that diverse and geographically-dispersed group, you have to take a more out-of-the-box marketing approach. Here are five suggestions. […]

Payroll

7 Payroll & HR Documents to Review Now

It’s a best practice to review policies, posters, and forms periodically to ensure that they adhere to applicable laws and evolving company practices. Since the New Year typically brings a host of new laws, now is a good time to conduct this review.

Sage Practice Growth Plan 2018 5a7680719882f

Accounting

Sage Sets Out to Transform the Accounting Practice Model

Sage has designed each of the pillars as a separate learning process, and Sage is offering training in each of these specific areas. While these pillars build logically on each other, practitioners can select the pillars that are the most relevant to ...

Advisory

February 2018 Firm Management Channel

Top Firm Management Blogs & Social Media 10 Busy Season Exercises CPAs Can Do at Their Desk. AICPA Insights blog. http://bit.ly/2shGFBR Are You a Firm of the Future? Ron Baker, CPA, from FirmoftheFuture.http://bit.ly/2GYN7kz Building a Learning Culture in Your Firm. Roman Kepczyk, CPA, from CPA Consultants’ blog.http://bit.ly/2nV5AWu 5 Items You Need In Your Firm’s Owners’ […]

Small Business

February 2018 Small Business Channel

Top Small Business Blogs & Social Media 6 Business Lessons to Take Your Brand from Startup to Growth. Xero blog.http://bit.ly/2quuKjp Online Brand Guidelines for Small Businesses. Barbara Weltman, via the CorpNet blog.http://bit.ly/2GY6Ctk 12 Key Levers of SaaS Success. David Skok, via For Entrepreneurs blog.http://bit.ly/2k98DWU Top Tips for Negotiating with Restaurant Vendors. Annie Pilon, via Small […]

Accounting

February 2018 Accounting & Audit Channel

Top Accounting Blogs & Social Media Are You Too Busy to be a Proactive, Future-Focused Advisor? Tom Hood, CPA, via LinkedIn.http://bit.ly/2EvnBoE New AICPA Chair Shares Vision of the Future. AICPA Insights blog.http://bit.ly/2nSflo8 Re-Engineer Your Audit Process. Wendy Cable from the Wolters Kluwer blog.http://bit.ly/2ET1cPW U.S. Treasury Official Says FDII Rules are BEPS Compliance. Robert Sledz from […]

Payroll

February 2018 Payroll Channel

Top Payroll Blogs & Social Media Payroll Rates for 2018. James Paille, via the Thomson Reuters blog. http://tmsnrt.rs/2EN8nsF Creating an Employer Brand that’s a Talent Magnet. Connect@ADP blog.http://bit.ly/2nqNknG What Your Accounting Resume Should Look Like This Year. Robert Half blog.http://bit.ly/2BfKQB7 Are Your Employees Passionate About Their Jobs. HR Payroll Systems blog.http://bit.ly/2smPRFg 10 Common Payroll Mistakes […]

February 2018 Tax Channel

Top Tax Blogs & Social Media IRS Warns about Private Debt Collectors. Rick Telberg, via CPATrendlines.http://bit.ly/2Ew67Z4 Sales Tax Holidays in 2018. Gail Cole, via Avalara blog.http://bit.ly/2BLvZ2c IRS Alerts Taxpayers about Corrected Forms 1095-A. From the Wolters Kluwer blog.http://bit.ly/2FYg5Ql State Corporate Income Tax Rates and Brackets for 2018. Morgan Scarboro, via the Tax Foundation.http://bit.ly/2GY6D0z Higher Sec. […]

Firm Management

From Performance Management to Continuous Feedback

Enhancing employee engagement is a goal for many firms today. An employee who remains engaged throughout the year is better motivated, more productive and more dedicated to the firm than employees who are disengaged. One crucial way to improve employee...

Small Business

2018 Reviews of Cash Management Systems for Small Business

It’s no secret that inadequate cash management is a major contributing factor to why businesses fail. Small businesses in particular need to implement proper cash management procedures into their everyday business, including timely reconciliation of ...

Advice for Accountants and Bookkeepers Working with Freelancer Clients

Freelancers have unique circumstances associated with filing their income taxes. They work on many jobs in a year which results in receiving many 1099-Misc forms. If they have jobs that pay less than $600 each, then they may not receive 1099s for those...

Payroll

IRS Issues New Payroll Tax Withholding Tables for 2018

The Internal Revenue Service has released Notice 1036, which updates the income-tax withholding tables for 2018 reflecting changes made by the tax reform legislation enacted last month. This is the first in a series of steps that IRS will take to help ...

Advisory

Why and How: A Strategy for Innovation

Over the last two to three years we have watched pundits and consultants promote ideas around emerging technologies. Some of the claims are ludicrous, loony, and ill-informed. Others are trying to position, parlay and learn. You’ve seen this column ...

Sales Tax

Every Cloud Company Should Rebate Instead of Discounting

Discounting. There is nothing worse for customer service in the world of SaaS than offering a discount, and yet every salesperson at every software and SaaS provider does it.

Small Business

How to Hand Off Your Bookkeeping to a New Employee

Whether you’re hiring a new worker whose responsibilities will include bookkeeping or you’re tapping an existing employee to take over the job, you have to find a way to transfer all your knowledge about your customers and vendors, your products or ...

Accounting

3 Ways CFOs Can Accelerate Payback from New Technology

Though many recognize that implementing a modern cloud enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is an obvious answer — many that take start the transition are surprised by marginal improvements, slow user adoption, and unchanged processes that still ...

Advisory

Be Relentless in the Pursuit of Change

Has your firm started the transformation to advisory services? If not, in the not so distant future you will be too behind to catch up. That sounds harsh, but it’s better to face the reality that soon the gap will be so wide that your options for ...

Firm Management

Dos and Don’ts for Tapping Your Team’s Innovative Side

Innovation even affects your ability to hire the best and brightest to your team. An overwhelming majority (87 percent) of professionals in a Robert Half survey said they pay attention to a potential employer’s reputation for being innovative.

Estate Planning and the 2018 Tax Reform Law

For most practitioners the estate tax hasn’t come into play for many years. Instead of eliminating the estate tax, the estate tax exemption has been raised to $11 million for an individual, and $22 million for a married couple that elects portability.

Sales Tax

Changes Coming to Use Tax Reporting

If sales tax is not charged at the time of sale, states expect use tax to be paid to the state in which the good is used or consumed. However, given the complexities of the many different variations of local and state tax laws, it’s no surprise that ...

sexual harassment complaint 1 58c19dc901c68

Payroll

Sexual Harassment – What’s Happening?

The sexual harassment incidents that arise in today’s ordinary workplace are usually more mundane than the outrageous conduct reported recently involving the Hollywood set and some in the halls of Congress. The most frequently reported complaints ...

Advisory

How to Transform from an Accounting Firm into an Advisory Firm

Your cheese is moving. You’d have to be living under a rock to not be aware how much of a leap forward we took as a profession in 2017. From technology to process, talent development to growth strategy – many firms underwent not just minor change but ...

Firm Management

Buying Out Retiring Partners

Many firms focus first on the financial terms of the buyout as the most critical issue. While this is important (and discussed below) it pales in comparison to assuring you have competent replacement partners in place and a strong transition plan for ...

Small Business

3 New Year’s Resolutions for Small Business Success in 2018

The new year has always been a time to reflect on the progress, challenges and goals of the past twelve months. And, while many are focused on personal health and growth, it is equally as important for business owners to focus on their company’s ...

Payroll

Workplace Resolutions For the New Year – 2018

Too often workplace policies are only considered in the context of some negative workplace action when it is actually occurs, such as a termination or other employment issue. Sometimes it may involve a legal claim by an applicant or employee.

In this issue

Women Mentorship Programs Help Firms Realize Greater Success

Clients and Colleagues are Our Greatest Assets

Apps We Love – Time Management

Key Budget Tips for Small Businesses

2018 Readers’ Choice Awards

Simplifying the Gig Economy with QuickBooks Online

5 Gig Economy Marketing Tips

7 Payroll & HR Documents to Review Now

Sage Sets Out to Transform the Accounting Practice Model

February 2018 Firm Management Channel

February 2018 Small Business Channel

February 2018 Accounting & Audit Channel

February 2018 Payroll Channel

February 2018 Tax Channel

From Performance Management to Continuous Feedback

2018 Reviews of Cash Management Systems for Small Business

Advice for Accountants and Bookkeepers Working with Freelancer Clients

IRS Issues New Payroll Tax Withholding Tables for 2018

Why and How: A Strategy for Innovation

Every Cloud Company Should Rebate Instead of Discounting

How to Hand Off Your Bookkeeping to a New Employee

3 Ways CFOs Can Accelerate Payback from New Technology

Be Relentless in the Pursuit of Change

Dos and Don’ts for Tapping Your Team’s Innovative Side

Estate Planning and the 2018 Tax Reform Law

Changes Coming to Use Tax Reporting

Sexual Harassment – What’s Happening?

How to Transform from an Accounting Firm into an Advisory Firm

Buying Out Retiring Partners

3 New Year’s Resolutions for Small Business Success in 2018

Workplace Resolutions For the New Year – 2018