October 2016 - CPA Practice Advisor

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In this issue

Payroll

New Filing Deadline for Forms W-2 and 1099-MISC

The new deadlines are being imposed by the IRS in an effort to make tax documents more readily available to taxpayers prior to April 15, reducing the need for taxpayers to request automatic extensions while they wait for some of their tax documents.

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Payroll

5 Tips to Prepare Small Businesses for New Overtime and Classification Rules

The new overtime regulations will have a significant impact on some businesses, while others may find that their increases in productivity over the past decade have been coming not only from technology, but also at the expense of overworked staff. The arg

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Firm Management

Specialized Services for Accountants Serving Retail Businesses

Each month we explore the advantages and intricacies of developing and growing a niche practice. This month we're examining what it takes to serve the niche of retail sellers.

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Accounting

CPA Nancy Ekrem Shares How Her Firm Saved $40,000 a Year with CCH Axcess

When accounting and bookkeeping firm Dewar Meeks + Ekrem decided it was ready to upgrade its tax and accounting software, the choice was an easy one. “Our server was in a server farm where we maintained all of our software ourselves – the CCH ...

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Accounting

The Many Lessons That Mentoring Can Teach

Mentors can fill a variety of roles, all of them beneficial to the organization and the mentees with whom they work. According to the AICPA Women’s Initiatives Executive Committee’s Mentoring Guidelines, a mentoring relationship can ...

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Payroll

2016 Review of Professional Payroll Systems

Whether you’re looking to bring payroll back in-house for your own firm, or are looking to add payroll services to your firm’s menu offerings, spend some time looking at the products included in this review, download a software trial or view a demo, an

Income Tax

2016 Reviews of W-2 and 1099 Preparation Systems

For businesses of any type that may hire a contractor, it’s imperative that a system be in place to ensure that 1099’s are processed on a timely basis. Late or missing filings run the risk of both IRS and other state or local taxing organizations for ...

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Streamlined Sales Tax: What Small Businesses Need to Know

If your small business clients are trying to figure out how to deal with sales tax, there is a lot of alphabet soup to learn. Here’s one more: SST, which stands for Streamlined Sales Tax. This program can offer valuable sales-tax collection resources ...

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Firm Management

Is Your Technology Planning Process in Alignment?

The fact that technology is part of everything we do to run our firms and serve clients is why your Chief Information Officer (CIO) or technology leader should have a seat at the management table. To truly align the technology plan, the leader ...

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Advisory

How Accounting Firms Benefit From Moving to Client Portals

As more people of all ages rely on mobile apps and devices to manage their daily tasks, online portals are becoming an effective method of sharing and exchanging files and information. They support two-way communications in a simple, secure format ...

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Accounting

Awards in the Accounting Profession

Recognition should not be taken lightly. Those who have been recognized by our magazine and other publications in the accounting arena stand out, but not just because they do their jobs well. They are recognized for expertise, dedication ...

Advisory

Meet Rich Preece, Leader of Intuit’s Accountant Segment, Small Business Group

As the leader of Intuit’s Accountant Segment in the Small Business Group, Preece will focus on championing the initiatives that support accounting professionals worldwide, and continuing Intuit’s mission to help accountants save time, grow their ...

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Firm Management

Is the Cloud Still Hazy for Accounting Firms?

What works best in the cloud? Some would simply say everything. During August at multiple conferences I heard presenters make claims that if you weren’t completely in the cloud, you were “missing out” and “foolish”. While listening to the presenters ...

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Technology

Building Her Business Her Way… With Experience, Empathy and Understanding

Like many firm owners, Karla Dennis, EA and owner of Karla Dennis and Associates, Inc., started her career in corporate America. She was a tax supervisor overseeing a team of eight employees and clocking major hours. When she decided to start a family ...

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Firm Management

How to Prepare Millennials for Leadership Positions

While all generations share some characteristics and goals, millennials self-report specific values, ambitions, experiences and motivators. If you want to develop your millennial staff into finance leaders — or even to recruit and retain the best and ...

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Accounting

Apps We Love: Retail

Who doesn't want to be better organized? With today's apps, there are lots of opportunities available to organize various aspects of your business and personal life. We asked members of the CPA Practice Advisor audience and family to share some of ...

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Cloud Technology

Putting the Cloud at the Heart of Your Accounting Practice

The cloud’s popularity derives largely from two factors – the ability to “pay as you go” for software and infrastructure, and the ability to rapidly deploy and scale technology by leveraging vendor infrastructure. In so doing, firms are able to focus ...

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Firm Management

Is Your Audit Practice Ready to be Uberized?

More than two decades ago, industry auditing staples such as GoSystem Audit, Fast-Governmental, and Accountant’s Trial Balance were quickly replaced by a new generation of more robust audit engagement binders including CaseWare and CCH Engagement ...

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Advisory

How to Make Payroll Profitable

John Magaletti found a better way to do payroll: Better for small businesses, and for his own firm’s profits. As the owner of an investment and retirement planning business, he has been offering advisory and 401(k) services for many years. But after seein

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Firm Management

Eight Must-Have Items on Your Website’s Home Page

Here’s a quick checklist to make sure your website’s homepage is working hard for you. These eight items should be on your home page for best results:

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Payroll

Voting and the Workplace — How to Stay in Compliance with State and Federal Laws

Elections often stir up passionate feelings—and that seems to be particularly true this year. As politicians and voters gear up for Tuesday, November 8, employers may not know that their workers have certain rights when it comes to elections, and ...

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The Top 5 Sales Tax Mistakes

Collecting sales tax can be complicated, no doubt about it. For small businesses, sales tax can be even more of a challenge because they probably have limited time and resources to devote to it, but they also can’t afford to make mistakes.

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Tips for Handling October Tax Clients

Chances are they’ve waited until the last minute because they are reluctant to face the possibility of a large tax bill, and/or the paper work involved is just too unpleasant for them to deal with, so the task has been pushed to the bottom of their ...

Accounting

Women Accounting Professionals: Should You Go It Alone Or Work Your Way Up?

When women graduate from college and start their careers, they generally have a lot of time to pursue career progression. But then our personal lives tend to become more demanding, whether that be starting a family or otherwise. How do women ensure ...

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Accounting

What the Future Holds for Accountancy

Everyday, across continents, time and money is being squandered on old accounting practices. Of the United States’ 29 million SMBs (Small and Medium sized Businesses), just five million use dedicated accountancy software. This leaves some 24 million ...