Finance & Accounting

CPA firms are becoming increasingly concerned about clients who have lax cybersecurity in place, making them vulnerable to ransomware attacks like the ones that have been in the news lately. In early July, between 800 and 1,500 businesses around the world were reportedly affected by a ransomware attack centered on Kaseya, a provider of widely

Launching a business is not without its challenges, and the more help, support and advice entrepreneurs receive, the likelier they are to succeed. This was the finding of a report by Skynova, a small business resource for creating professional invoices using an online platform. Skynova’s ‘The Entrepreneurial Journey’ report surveyed 250 entrepreneurs about their work

The Financial Accounting Standards Board’s proposed update to its hedge accounting standard could help companies with their risk management, but they will probably need sophisticated hedging expertise to benefit. FASB issued the proposed accounting standards update in May to align a company’s hedge accounting more closely with its risk management strategies (see story). The proposals

Democratic senators rejected any attempt by Republicans to set conditions for increasing the federal debt limit, showcasing an escalation in partisan bickering as a two-year suspension of the ceiling approaches expiration. “Nobody is going to hold the American economy hostage, period, full stop,” Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden said Wednesday following a meeting with

Take a deep dive into payroll, bookkeeping, and much more. July 19, 2021 2 min read Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. Entrepreneurs and

Proper, a San Francisco-based provider of automated accounting and bookkeeping services for real estate property and asset managers, has scored $9 million in Series A funding from investors. Proper plans to use the extra funds to accelerate development of its automated accounting technology, build a new customer-facing platform, and hire strategic talent across all functions.

Rage against the Machine; property casualty; herbal remedy; and other highlights of recent tax cases. Kissimmee, Florida: Tax preparer Joseph Amaya has been sentenced to a year in prison for aiding and assisting in the preparation of false returns. From 2014 through about 2018, Amaya co-owned and managed the tax prep business Tax Machine. Amaya

Nearly one out of five accountants who identified as LGBTQIA left the accounting profession because of a lack of diversity, equitable treatment or inclusion, according to a recent study. The study, released in February by the Institute of Management Accountants and the California Society of CPAs, found that only about half of LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay,

The Internal Revenue Service posted new rules Friday for multiemployer qualified retirement plans that have run into funding problems and need extra financial help from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The guidance in Notice 2021-38 also aims to help the participants and beneficiaries in such plans in accordance with provisions of the American Rescue Plan

The recent leasing rules from the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board are turning out to be harder to follow than many organizations expected. Not only do the new leases standards, FASB’s ASC 842 and GASB’s Statement No. 87, require entities to put operating leases on the balance sheet for the

Part of Allen Weisselberg’s legal troubles began when his former daughter-in-law couldn’t get the numbers in her divorce proceedings to add up. Jennifer Weisselberg says she was befuddled. The lifestyle she’d shared with her ex-husband, Barry Weisselberg — including an apartment overlooking Central Park and tuition for two children at Manhattan’s Columbia Grammar and Preparatory

Accounting skills are extremely valuable as they can help save your business money. July 2, 2021 2 min read Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce

National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins pointed to continuing backlogs at the Internal Revenue Service and difficulty reaching telephone assistance in a report to Congress Thursday. The Taxpayer Advocate Service’s midyear report to Congress praised the IRS for its efforts in processing most tax returns and issuing most Economic Impact Payments on a timely basis despite

Based on U.S. Census Bureau data for business applications, new business formation is on the uptick. The pandemic forced many business closures, but this data show the entrepreneurial spirit will not be stifled. If you’re thinking of starting a business now, recognize that it may be costly to get started and some time before you

The Internal Revenue Service is focusing on cryptocurrency tax evasion with virtual currencies like Bitcoin and nonfungible tokens, employing data analytics to uncover transactions that crypto users assumed were hidden. The IRS has been training its spotlight on crypto users, adding a question to the front page of the tax form asking taxpayers, “At any

The Internal Revenue Service released a Data Book Thursday highlighting the IRS’s activities this past fiscal year, particularly in response to the pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the IRS developed new technology and furnished the equipment needed to allow thousands of its staff to work from home, enabling the IRS to resume processing returns and

U.S. oil and gas companies, along with their investors, may be facing the risk of significant stranded assets because they aren’t doing enough to reflect the impacts of the climate crisis in their financial reports. A report released last Thursday by the sustainability nonprofit Ceres analyzed how the oil and gas industry should address climate

The Biden administration’s proposal to impose a global minimum tax on corporations has been provoking opposition in Congress, with Republicans advocating user fees instead to pay for infrastructure improvements. A bipartisan group of senators has proposed indexing the gas tax for inflation as a way to pay for an infrastructure plan, but the White House

Implications of a big leak; taxing multinationals; better current than new clients; and other highlights from our favorite tax bloggers. Money troubles The Tax Times (https://www.thetaxtimes.com): A look at recent reports that private wealth clients, hedge fund managers, cryptocurrency traders and other well-heeled heels are skipping out to Puerto Rico for its tax breaks and

Congress introduced bipartisan legislation Friday to recognize accounting as part of the STEM programs in schools, as part of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics curricula. Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Indiana, and Haley Stevens, D-Michigan, introduced the Accounting STEM Pursuit Act, which would amend the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grant program to promote career awareness

June 10, 2021 2 min read Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. Running a business is challenging enough without juggling all of the ins

The senior Republican on the House Financial Services Committee said he’s opening an investigation into the firing of the leader of the U.S.’s audit watchdog. In letters sent Tuesday, Rep. Patrick McHenry dismissed the move by the Securities and Exchange Commission as “partisan” and an “unprecedented attempt to politicize” the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

The Group of Seven rich nations secured a landmark deal that could help countries collect more taxes from big companies and enable governments to impose levies on U.S. tech giants such as Amazon Inc. and Facebook Inc. The agreement by the G-7 finance ministers in London satisfies a U.S. demand for a minimum corporate tax

Bait, switch and threaten; power corrupts; Herbal remedy; and other highlights of recent tax cases. Jacksonville, Florida: Tax preparer Kenyan Shondre Scott has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for aiding and assisting others with the filing of fraudulent returns and for filing fraudulent returns on his own behalf. Scott owned and operated a

The average small business loan amount for small businesses in the United States in 2020 was $71,072. This compared to fixed-rate loans, which had an average balance of $66,917 in the same year. These figures were uncovered by research by small business resource and research provider, AdvisorSmith. Average Small Business Loan Amount in 2020 The

Writing something that people would want to read is essential to establishing yourself as an expert, publicizing your practice, sharing what you know and your experience, and learning more about your topic. Further, by letting your clients and contacts know about it, your reputation will start to be established and you will have enhanced credibility.

President Joe Biden’s proposed tax hikes are forecast to bring in $3.6 trillion over the next decade, the Treasury Department said Friday, a key funding source for the $4 trillion he hopes to spend remaking the American economy and social safety net. The figure, representing the sum of all tax increases if enacted by Congress,

The pandemic forced many businesses to require their staff to work from home.  Now that the economy is opening up, businesses are deciding whether to retain remote work arrangements. A PwC survey found that 55% of employees expect to continue working from home even after the pandemic passes. In making the decision, employers should keep the

The Securities and Exchange Commission wants input from accountants on rules it is developing for disclosing climate risks and environmental, social and governance reporting. SEC commissioner and former acting chair Allison Herren Lee asked for feedback Monday during a webcast co-hosted by the Center for Audit Quality, the American Institute of CPAs, the Chartered Institute

A sizable chunk of private companies still aren’t ready to implement the new lease accounting standard before the end of the year, despite postponements in the deadline due to the pandemic. Nearly one-fifth (19.8%) of executives at privately held organizations feel unprepared to comply with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s lease accounting standard, according to