If you’re age 65 and older, and you have basic Medicare insurance, you may need to pay additional premiums to get the level of coverage you want. The premiums can be costly, especially if you’re married and both you and your spouse are paying them. But there may be a silver lining: You may qualify […]
Many companies struggle to close the books at the end of the month. The month-end close requires accounting personnel to round up data from across the organization. Under normal conditions, this process can strain internal resources. However, in recent years the accounting and tax rules have undergone major changes — many of which your personnel and software […]
It’s often difficult for married couples to save as much as they need for retirement when one spouse doesn’t work outside the home — perhaps so that spouse can take care of children or elderly parents. In general, an IRA contribution is allowed only if a taxpayer has compensation. However, an exception involves a “spousal” […]
For business owners, succession planning is ideally a long-term project. You want to begin laying out a smooth ownership transition, and perhaps grooming a successor, years in advance. And you shouldn’t officially hand over the reins until many minute details have been checked and rechecked. But it doesn’t always work out this way. As the coronavirus (COVID-19) […]
Private companies and most nonprofits were supposed to implement updated revenue recognition guidance in fiscal year 2019 and updated lease guidance in fiscal year 2021. In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has decided to give certain entities an extra year to make the changes, if they need it. […]
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 […]