Too many firms are hobbled by intransigent leaders.
By Tamera Loerzel
The Rosenberg Survey: National Study of CPA Firm Statistics
Survey shows healthcare costs and market volatility drive client fears.
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Like Post Tweet Email thisTrend Watch: But don't expect your firm to pay for it.
For more breakout stats and thought leadership, see the Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey.
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5 guidelines.
By Barry J. Friedman, CPA
IndustryNewsletters
Charitable contributions are deductible, says the IRS, only if you itemize deductions.
MORE: Beware the Taxes of Self-Employment | 6 Key Facts About Excise Taxes | Gifts to Charity: 6 Facts about Written Acknowledgments | Yes, Home Equity Loans May Still Be Deductible | Social Security Hike the Largest in 7 Years | How to Talk to Clients about ‘Basis’ | Basis: Turning a Common Client Question into New Business | The W-4 Time-Bomb and What To Do About It
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But how do your clients know that the charity they are donating to is qualified?
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But upbeat on their clients', their firm's, and their families' outlook.
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The TCJA Impact on Your Practice and Your Clients
Join the Survey: Get the Results.
By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines Research
Tax and accounting professionals are headed into the jaws of Busy Season 2019 fairly confident in the business and economic outlook for their clients, their firms and themselves – except they are distinctly negative on the direction of the nation's economy as a whole, according to the latest readings from the annual CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer.
More on BUSY SEASON: Tax Shops Bulk Up for Big Busy Season | BUSY SEASON: The Busiest Ever? | Survey: Tax Season Launches with a Whimper16 Big Questions for Tax Season | SURVEY: Tax Accountants Alarmed by TCJA & Shutdown | Shutdown: What to Tell Tax Clients During “The Lapse” | Beware the Leeches and Consultants | Charitable Giving under TCJA | Why Padding Tax Deductions Is a Risky Proposition | Handling the Delay in 199A Regs | Survey: Clients Rush for TCJA Answers |
FREE TO PRO MEMBERS: Busy Season 2019 Trend Report (log-in required)
With more than 475 practitioners reporting, 52 percent expect better times ahead for their firms, 37 percent see no change, and only 10% are bracing for declines, yielding a weighted average of about 2.4 on a five-point scale. READ MORE →
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User report results finally make their way into the app.
By Rick Richardson
Drivers will soon have an extra set of eyes on the road, courtesy of Google.
MORE TECH THIS WEEK: IBM’s New Quantum Computer Could Make History | 5G is Coming: Ford Leads the Way | RCS: What It Is and Why You Might Want It | Vaporize Invisible Smartphone Filth | 190 Universities Launch 600 Free Online Courses | Can a New Font Boost Your Memory?
Google’s navigation app, Google Maps, is starting to roll out speed limit and speed trap features.
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Leave room to be surprised.
By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting
Planning is a trait of most accountants, including me. Maybe that is one reason we become accountants. I always seemed to write out plans – for myself, partners, staff and sometimes personal activities.
MORE: The Art of the Deal: Starts with Listening | Fired from My First Job | Staffers Need to Speak Up with Clients | Bored by CPE? You’re Missing Out! | Clients Buy Solutions, Not Hours | Roger Is My Only Client | Blown Loan Covenants and How to Recover from Them | Beyond the Numbers: Be a Friend | Perception Becomes Reality
One time I had a plan for a new staff person who became our tax manager and eventually ran our firm’s tax department.
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Like Post Tweet Email thisFirms turn to mergers to solve problems.
By August Aquila
The Rosenberg MAP Survey
This may well be the year that the dinosaurs become extinct.
MORE FROM THE MAP SURVEY: 2019: Appetite for Growth Unabated | 2019: Doing More With Less | 2019: Tech Isn’t the Problem. It’s the Solution | 2019: Using M&A to Launch Consulting | 2019 Trends: Client Service Changes | Staff Policies Improve, But Not Mentoring
Because profitability is still somewhat strong, partners are less likely to embrace change. The reaction is “Why change, things are going well?” This is a false sense of security.
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An exercise to help you perform a seelf assessment.
By Bill Reeb
Everything in my posts is designed to help you become more aware of yourself, more aware of how you both propel and sabotage your own desires and efforts, and how to better harness the power of momentum into progress.
MORE: Aligning What We Think with What We Do | Don’t Be Someone Else’s Rug | Are You a Box or a Funnel? | Tension Impacts Performance | Your Perception Will Shape Your Experiences | For CPAs: The Road to Wisdom Is Paved with Failure | Being Judgmental Is Self-Destructive | 3 ‘Letting Go’ Actions to Help You Get Unstuck | Get Better, Work Better, Right Now | Constantly Build on the Basics | From Martial Arts to Business: 5 Steps of Evolution | Expect and Embrace Failure Anytime You Do New Work | Determining Your Desires Should Be an Active Process | Know Where You Are Running To | Let Go of What You Think You Know
These articles are meant to facilitate the building of your self-evaluation and reaction skills to the point that when you determine you are feeling unsuccessful or unhappy about your progress or priorities, you can call upon the process and its techniques at a high level allowing you to alter your desires, plans, tactics, priorities, the way you work and the way you are thinking to quickly resolve your dissatisfaction and find the success and happiness you are attempting to achieve.
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Like Post Tweet Email thisTrend Watch: Backup methodologies are in a state of flux. READ MORE →
Like Post Tweet Email thisFirms need procedures to ensure the deletion of outdated electronic files on the network. Yet only 53% do. READ MORE →
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Wages hit new highs.
By Beth Bellor
CPA Trendlines
New hiring in the tax and accounting industry may be slowing in many areas, but the latest CPA Trendlines Jobs Report finds gains overall. Up is up and we'll take it.
MORE ON JOBS: Jobs Report: 43,000 New Hires | Tax Shops Cut 6,200 Jobs | Salary Survey: Top Skills Getting Top Pay | Accounting Wages Set New Record | All Staffed Up? New Tax Prep Hiring Stalls on Eve of Busy Season | The Myth of the Staff Shortage
Payroll agencies continue to show strong growth year over year on three fronts: employees at all levels, particularly women. And just in time for busy season, tax prep has good news to report. But CPA firms account for 1,200 of the 2,200 jobs lost in the latest month.
In this report, CPA Trendlines highlights:
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Insurance premiums can be deducted ... in part.
By Barry J. Friedman, CPA
IndustryNewsletters
Can your clients deduct medical and dental expenses? That's a complicated question.
MORE: Beware the Taxes of Self-Employment | 6 Key Facts About Excise Taxes | Gifts to Charity: 6 Facts about Written Acknowledgments | Yes, Home Equity Loans May Still Be Deductible | Social Security Hike the Largest in 7 Years | Basis: Turning a Common Client Question into New Business
To start with, their deductions must exceed 7.5 percent of their adjusted gross income. And they have to fall into an IRS-approved category.
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Like Post Tweet Email thisTax professionals expect a very busy Busy Season.
Today's Bonus Question:
The TCJA Impact on Your Practice and Your Clients
Join the Survey: Get the Results.
By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines Research
One thing’s certain about the 2019 tax season: Nothing’s certain.
The early results from the 16th annual CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer show tax practitioners hopeful but nervous.
More Busy Season: Tax Season 2019 Launches with a Whimper | 16 Big Questions for Tax Season | SURVEY: Tax Accountants Alarmed by TCJA & Shutdown | Shutdown: What to Tell Tax Clients During “The Lapse” | Beware the Leeches and Consultants | Charitable Giving under TCJA | Why Padding Tax Deductions Is a Risky Proposition | Handling the Delay in 199A Regs | Survey: Clients Rush for TCJA Answers |
For many, the season seems to be shaping up for more clients and increased revenues. At the same time, however, practitioners are showing unprecedented concerns that instead of success, they could end up with a mess.
And mess or success, they’re in for a lot of work. READ MORE →
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