The COVID-19 pandemic has caused some people to contemplate their own mortality or that of a family member. For those whose life expectancies are short — because of COVID-19 or for other reasons — estate planning can be difficult. But while money matters may be the last thing you want to think about when time […]
by Alex Chernyak, CPA and Catalina Kirby, CPA Earlier this year, Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) issued a final rule on a Form T-1 Trust Annual Report that requires annual reporting by certain Form LM-2 filing labor organizations on financial information pertinent to “trusts in which a labor organization is interested.” In general Form […]
One of the strongest predictors of a not-for-profit’s long-term survival is multiple revenue streams. Many organizations with only one or two found that out that the hard way when they failed during the 2008 recession. The same is likely to be true for nonprofits that do — or don’t — survive the COVID-19 crisis. Road […]
Economists will look back on 2020 as a year with a distinct before and after. In early March, most companies’ sales projections looked a certain way. Just a few weeks later, those projections had changed significantly — and not for the better. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses across a variety of industries are revising […]
Thanks to affordable technology, more and more companies have been allowing employees to work remotely in recent years. It’s become feasible to procure laptops, set up security protocols, use cloud servers and rely on employees’ home Wi-Fi connections to create functional virtual workspaces. In turn, many of these businesses have lowered overhead costs such as […]
Even before the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic struck, Americans received a lot of packages. About 18 billion parcels were shipped in the United States in 2018, according to Pitney Bowes, and the parcel delivery industry has been growing at an average 4.7% each year. But given the recent “shelter in place” orders, 2020 may break […]
Many people are currently working from home to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Your external auditors are no exception. Fortunately, in recent years, most audit firms have been investing in technology and training to facilitate remote audit procedures. These efforts have helped lower audit costs, enhance flexibility and minimize disruptions to business operations. But […]
There are several tools you can use to build flexibility into your estate plan. Flexibility is especially important now because of an uncertain estate planning environment. The federal gift and estate tax exemption currently is an inflation-adjusted $11.58 million (the highest it’s ever been) but it’s scheduled to drop to its pre-2018 level of $5 million (indexed […]
By David Lam, CISSP, CPP; Kim Pease, CISSP; and Stan Stahl, Ph.D. With more people working from home, more cybercriminals seeking to take advantage of the new normal, and IT departments stretched thin, the risk of cyberattacks and security incidents has been magnified considerably. Here are some practical tips and best practices for protecting […]
Not all companies follow U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). Many smaller businesses, for example, have adopted the AICPA’s Financial Reporting Framework for Small and Medium-Sized Entities because it’s easier to follow. Other businesses may use non-GAAP measures because they don’t believe GAAP provides readers of financial reports with enough information to make informed decisions. […]
The economic impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is unprecedented and many taxpayers with student loans have been hard hit. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act contains some assistance to borrowers with federal student loans. Notably, federal loans were automatically placed in an administrative forbearance, which allows borrowers to temporarily stop making […]
Some of the most effective estate planning strategies involve setting up irrevocable trusts. For a trust to be deemed irrevocable, you, the grantor, lose all incidents of ownership of the trust’s assets. In other words, you’re effectively removing those assets from your taxable estate. But what if you’re uncomfortable placing your assets beyond your control? […]