News

New data suggests that for almost 70% of people, their manager has more impact on their mental health than their therapist or their doctor—and it’s equal to the impact of their partner.

CPA firms are extremely busy during tax season, as you know, and many tax accountants become swamped during this stressful time of year. You want to give the best service possible for each person, and it’s important to be open and honest with your clients throughout tax season.

Improve the health of your employees and your business with these methods.

It is no secret that nonprofit organizations have historically struggled to recruit and retain quality accountants, controllers, and CFOs. That struggle is about to get worse.

The future of accounting education has been a topic of concern for the profession’s leaders for years in the light of demographic shifts, competition for talent, and declining enrollments. The authors, following up a previous article on the subject, take another look at trends in enrollment, hiring, and sitting for the CPA exam. The authors fear that without major changes—more flexibility in education and licensing, higher salaries, and greater work/life balance—these trends will continue in a negative direction and imperil the future of the profession.

The recent CPA Evolution Project represents the accounting profession’s attempt to transform the CPA licensure model to fit the skills and competencies that new CPAs will require today and in the future. It marks the most significant change to the Uniform CPA Examination in many years. This article describes the changes to the structure and content of the exam, assesses the likely impact of the changes, and discusses how universities will need to adapt their curricula to new exam.

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) released the updated Uniform CPA Examination® Blueprints, the official document of content eligible for assessment on the Exam. The Blueprints are based on the knowledge and skills required of a newly licensed CPA to meet the demands of firms, employers and clients.

The current Uniform CPA Examination® is changing significantly in January 2024 under the CPA Evolution Initiative. It is important that you learn about this initiative and the upcoming changes to the 2024 CPA Exam to fully understand how it may impact your journey to become a CPA.

A Montana State University graduate student was one of fewer than 100 students nationwide to be recognized this fall with a scholarship aimed at increasing the diversity of the accounting profession.

Know the value of your firm by having a formal valuation done by a third-party professional; otherwise, you could leave money on the table. Ask for advice from an attorney, advisor, or coach. Take their advice seriously. Put everything in writing; if it is not written down, it does not exist.

As auditors navigate the financial waters ahead, what challenges might exist and how can you best prepare for 2023? Using a data-driven approach through the Enhancing Audit Quality initiative, AICPA & CIMA have identified possible issues and ways to overcome them in four main topics: risk assessments, single audits, auditor's reports and technology-enabled auditing.

Working professionals and companies that employ them are in much need of information regarding mental health. Several industries, including finance, technology, healthcare, and sales and marketing, struggle to address this topic among employees. As a result, these industries experience high turnover rates and burnt-out professionals. Globally, depression and anxiety account for 12 billion missed work days each year, and companies lose $1 trillion in productivity annually.

The Montana Society of Certified Public Accountants, or CPAs, said it’s been generally supportive of the administration’s efforts to reduce the number of policies and “red tape.” Allen Lloyd, chief executive for the society, said often government adds more policies while forgetting to update and eliminate old, outmoded ones.

Is your accounting firm taking steps to protect against a cyberattack? If not, you may be putting your firm’s future at risk. On average, cyberattacks cost companies $4.24 million in 2021, up from $3.86 million in 2020. On top of that, an estimated 60 percent of small businesses go out of business within six months of a cyberattack.

It is widely understood that job stress can lower job satisfaction and performance while increasing feelings of stress and burnout. This is especially true in public accounting—a profession notorious for its high levels of job stress. For decades, employers have considered stress management an individual responsibility that employees should handle on personal time. Recent research suggests that there may be a more effective strategy. Active workplace interventions that help employees build resilience may help firms to effectively lower employees’ susceptibility to job stressors, retain valuable staff, and improve productivity. In fact, enhancing employee resilience levels can have a powerful protective effect against three common causes of job stress: role overload, role conflict, and role ambiguity.

Job interviews can be intimidating, but virtual interviews can often be even more intimidating. Many employers have transitioned to virtual recruiting and interview processes. While this has many benefits for both parties, it opens the door to some possible complications or challenges. You should enter a virtual interview with the same mentality as you would for an in-person interview

With inflation at nearly a 40-year high, the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday that interest rates will increase for the calendar quarter starting Jan. 1, 2023.

Many initiatives have tried to solve the perennial problem of attracting more students to become CPAs. The author believes more innovative approaches are required, such as the creation of “step” certifications that one could complete on the path to full CPA licensure. The proposal is for creation of two new “pre-CPA” accounting licenses candidates could earn during their college studies. These new licenses would enable candidates to earn formal credentials and work as professionals in CPA firms and elsewhere while completing the requisite 150 college credit hours for full CPA licensure.

Imagine the myriad of financial and accounting positions and within each function a steward of funds exists supporting operations in the background. Regardless of title or job function, stewards of funds create an internal foundation by which all departments interact to form a story in numbers. They contribute to the customer experience through direct interaction or intercompany/interagency exchanges. The government sector is no different.

In recent years, declining enrollment in accounting programs has made attracting more high-achieving students into the major and then into the professional pipeline a matter of critical importance. To that end, the authors have developed a project to bring practitioners into the classroom where students can get to know them, understand their skills and experiences, and be inspired by all that an accounting career offers. The authors’ experience has indicated that these encounters with practitioners leave a lasting impression on students and can lead more young people into the accounting major and profession.