Edward Mendlowitz, Author at CPA Trendlines

Tax Follow-Up Worksheets Can Mean More Revenue

Samples included here.

By Ed Mendlowitz
How to Review Tax Returns: The Field-Tested Update

There are two types of work papers that are generated by the reviewer. One is the reviewer’s notes-based errors found and corrections that need to be made. This should be kept in any manner the reviewer wants, but after the return is completed this should be discarded and not kept in the files. This is done to mitigate liability issues should the workpapers be subject to a subpoena.

MORE: Tax: The Procedural Checklists Your Firm Needs | Don’t Use Eyes, Use Brain | Three Types of Tax Return Reviews | Tax Review Procedures Are Your Quality Control | How to Turn Tax Returns into New Business
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The other is a tax season follow-up form based on issues disclosed by the preparer, reviewer or partner. The follow-up worksheet is a client service and practice development tool. It provides a uniform method of recording items that need follow-up.
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MANAGEMENT

Simple Controls Can Prevent Fraud

Even their existence can be a deterrent.

By Ed Mendlowitz
77 Ways to Wow!

I’ve talked about fraud in not-for-profits, but it is also a serious issue for business firms. Here are some cash fraud scenarios and prevention techniques that can apply to all types of organizations.

MORE: Five Ways to Ward Off Fraud in Not-For-Profits | Manage Better with the Right Financial Tools | Do You Need a Forensic Professional? | Six Benefits of an Internal Audit | The Ten Financial Controls That’ll Make You a Hero | Five Cash Reports You Can’t Live Without
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SCENARIO: One employee who is responsible for, or has access to, the handling, recording and mailing of cash disbursements creates a non-existing vendor who sends the company invoices, which are paid.
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PRO Member Exclusive

Tax: The Procedural Checklists Your Firm Needs

Best practices for individual and business returns.

By Ed Mendlowitz
How to Review Tax Returns: The Field-Tested Update

Ask a preparer who submits returns with errors, “Is this the best you can do?”

Better yet, have the reviewer ask the question before accepting the return for review.

MORE: Don’t Use Eyes, Use Brain | Stop Tax Return Review Shortcuts | Routine Is Key to Reviewing Tax Returns | Seven Types of Tax Return Reviews
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Ask yourself this question after you hear that a return was submitted for review that needed extensive corrections: “Why am I letting the future of my firm depend on people who keep making errors on tax returns?”

Comment: The future of your firm means your future wealth and your eventual financial security.

Question for you: Why do you put up with the pattern of continuous errors on tax returns?
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ADVISORY & CONSULTING

Five Ways to Ward Off Fraud in Not-For-Profits

Reassure donors and regulators.

By Ed Mendlowitz
77 Ways to Wow!

Again and again, stories appear in newspapers about abuse and misuse of funds in not-for-profit organizations. In many cases, these frauds have been schemes that have been going on for numerous years.

MORE: Charity Directors Must Take Theft Seriously | Client Hires New Manager: You Need a Plan | Anatomy of a Fraud | How to Explain Internal Controls to Clients | Organization Minutes Too Often Overlooked | The Seven-Minute Financial Statement | The KPI an Absentee Manager Needs
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The frauds are usually carried out by long-serving employees who earned reputation and trust that resulted in relaxation of controls or oversight. Many times, this provides temptation and ample opportunity to commit and sustain fraudulent activity over long periods paired with a reduction in the “fear” of being caught!
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PRO Member Exclusive

Don’t Use Eyes, Use Brain

What do your clients deserve?

By Ed Mendlowitz
How to Review Tax Returns: The Field-Tested Update

My partner Peter Weitsen frequently tells reviewers to “Don’t use eyes, use brain.” I frequently repeat this. What does this expression mean?

MORE: Stop Tax Return Review Shortcuts | The Best Way to Review a Tax Return | Three Types of Tax Return Reviews | Routine Is Key to Reviewing Tax Returns | Why You Can’t Skip Checklists | Tax Review Procedures Are Your Quality Control | Seven Types of Tax Return Reviews | How to Turn Tax Returns into New Business
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

This is a clarion call to focus on what you are working on and think about what you are supposed to be doing. The focus can be only a couple of minutes, but it has the potential to yield valuable planning ideas and maneuvers.
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SEARCH CPA TRENDLINES

Edward Mendlowitz

MORE AT STORE.CPATRENDLINES.COM

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Edward Mendlowitz, CPA, ABV, PFS, is a partner at Withum, a forward-thinking, technology-driven advisory, and accounting firm. Ed has over 40 years of public accounting experience, is recognized as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting by Accounting Today, and is the CPA Trendlines "Practice Doctor." His latest handbook for CPA Trendlines is 77 Ways to Wow! The Handbook for Small-Business Advisory Services.

Ed is also the author of "Memoirs of a CPA," available at Amazon.

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"Memoirs" tells his story as a CPA and provides an inside look at what CPAs do and how they run their accounting "business." CPAs must serve clients effectively and exceptionally, recruit, train, retain and grow staff, and charge fees that clients happily pay because of the value they receive while the CPA earns a living, funds a retirement account, grows infrastructure, and perhaps makes a profit. This book tells how he did all of this and much more.

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He is a licensed, certified public accountant in the states of New Jersey and New York and is accredited by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) in business valuation (ABV), certified in financial forensics (CFF) and as a personal financial specialist (PFS). Ed is also admitted to practice before the United States Tax Court and has testified as an expert witness in federal and state court regarding business valuations, and twice at the House Ways and Means Committee on tax reform, fairness, and reduction. A City College of New York graduate, Ed earned his bachelor of business administration degree.

He is a member of the AICPA, the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants (NJSCPA) and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA). In addition, Ed was a founding partner of Mendlowitz Weitsen, LLP, CPAs, which merged with Withum in 2005. Currently, he serves on the NYSSCPA Estate Planning Committee and was chairman of the committee that planned the NYSSCPA’s 100th Anniversary. Ed, the author of 19 books, has also written hundreds of articles for business and professional journals and newsletters.

He is the contributing editor to the Practitioners Publishing Company’s 706/709 Deskbook, the AICPA’s Management of an Accounting Practice Handbook, Corporate Controller’s Handbook and Wiley’s Handbook on Budgeting and is on the editorial board of Bottom Line/Personal newsletter and the Journal of Accountancy Member Panel on Business Valuation. Appearing regularly on television news programs, Ed has also been quoted in numerous major newspapers and periodicals in the United States. He received the Lawler Award for the best article published in 2001 in the Journal of Accountancy.

Ed frequently speaks to many professional and business groups, including the AICPA, NJSCPA, NYSSCPA, American Management Association, the National Committee for Monetary Reform, the University of Medicine and Dentistry in N.J., and many more. For 11 years, he taught courses on financial analysis, corporate financial policy and theory, monetary and fiscal policy, and managerial accounting in the MBA program at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

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