First-time Plan Audits: What to Expect

  |  September 18, 2018

Growing beyond 100 employees is an important landmark in a company’s history. While companies may view crossing this threshold as cause for celebration, the Department of Labor (DOL) may view it as a trigger for increased scrutiny of your employee-benefit plan. Certain employee benefit plans with 100 or more eligible participants may be required to engage an independent auditor (referred to as an Independent Qualified Public Accountant or IQPA) to audit the plan’s financial records.

Going through an audit for the first time can be a daunting task. Read more. Read More

Microsoft Office 365 Credential Theft

  |  August 29, 2018

Be on the lookout for a current cyberattack that tries to trick you into giving up your Microsoft Office 365 (O365) username and password.

This attack tries to steal your Microsoft® Office 365® (O365) login credentials so that criminals can access anything you have stored in O365. This could include your email, OneDrive files, and anything you’ve put in the cloud. An attacker sends a fraudulent email that contains links to an authentic-looking (but fake) O365 login page designed to steal your credentials.

Read more to access a training and inforgraphic on how to spot fraudulent emails seeking your O365 credentials. Read More

Independent Contractor or Employee? California Supreme Court Creates New Test

  |  August 20, 2018

On April 30, 2018, the California Supreme Court announced a decision in the case of Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles, creating a new test that could make it much harder for companies to claim that a worker is an independent contractor and not an employee. As a result, as many as 300,000 California workers could be newly considered employees rather than independent contractors. Read more. Read More

How Deal Insurance Improves M&A Transaction Execution

  |  August 2, 2018

The use of representations and warranties (R&W) insurance in mergers and acquisitions has grown significantly over the past several years and has become an increasingly integral component of the transaction process. This article focuses on how buyers and sellers use R&W insurance for both strategic and risk management purposes to improve deal execution by accelerating the parties’ ability to reach agreement, thereby expediting the close of a transaction. Read more. Read More

South Dakota Wins in Supreme Court Decision on South Dakota v. Wayfair

  |  June 21, 2018

The U.S. Supreme Court today handed down a decision on the highly anticipated South Dakota v. Wayfair case, which challenged South Dakota’s collection of sales tax from out-of-state businesses that do not have physical presence in the state but that sell and deliver into South Dakota tangible personal property, products transferred electronically, or services.

South Dakota passed a law in 2016 that set off a dramatic and market-altering shift in taxation of online sales, one that concluded with today’s Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision... read more. Read More

An Entrepreneurial Conundrum – Building Retirement Wealth While Building a Business

  |  May 17, 2018

Entrepreneurship is alive and well in America. Nearly 15 million people in the U.S. are self-employed, approximately 10% of the working population according to the Pew Research Center.  These entrepreneurs have an additional 29.4 million people working for them and together they account for approximately 44 million jobs, which is 30% of the national workforce.

For many of these self-employed business owners, much, if not all, of their net worth is tied up in their businesses. Adequate cash flow to cover operating expenses and managing through times when business lags or client payments are slow is a key concern, as is putting aside money for reinvestment in the business. Read more. Read More

Oral Argument Held in the Supreme Court of the United States in South Dakota v. Wayfair

  |  May 1, 2018

On April 17, 2018, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in South Dakota v. Wayfair, et al. South Dakota is challenging, and attempting to have overturned, the physical presence nexus standard for the collection of sales and use taxes that was re-affirmed 26 years ago in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota. While many believed the Court would never have accepted South Dakota v. Wayfair if it didn’t intend to overrule Quill, the questions from the highly engaged Justices could suggest a different outcome (one that will be anxiously anticipated, and possibly issued this summer). Read more. Read More

Tax Reform and Choice of Entity Considerations

  |  April 2, 2018

All pass-through entities, including partnerships and S corporations, should evaluate their choice of entity as a result of tax reform and the new reduced corporate tax rate of 21 percent (previously 35 percent). Converting from a pass-through entity to a C corporation requires thoughtful consideration, analysis, and planning. Read more. Read More

Connecting Risk and Strategy: How Are U.S. Organizations Handling ERM Today?

  |  March 21, 2018

A just-released survey from the Pool College of Management at NC State University reveals that about one-third (32%) of organizations in the U.S. survey group do minimal to no formal assessments of strategic, market, or industry risks.

The survey has been conducted each year since 2009, providing an opportunity to observe shifts in trends. It covers a broad range of industries and provides some useful insights about the level of sophistication in risk oversight, highlighting many of the challenges associated with strengthening it. An increasing number of U.S. organizations embrace the concept of enterprise risk management (ERM), but there is noticeable room for improvement in how they are managing the process.

Read more about the changes in the marketplace that are likely influencing this trend at the Journal of Accountancy. Read More