October, 2024

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How to Turn a Shortage of Accountants Into an Opportunity for Businesses

CPA Practice

By Mike Varney, Vice President, Finance and Operations at Extend. The alarm bells in accounting have been ringing for years: fewer people want to join – or stay – in the profession. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) said in its “2023 Trends” report that the percentage of accounting graduates fell 7.8% between 2021 and 2022, after steady decreases of 1-3% since 2015-16.

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Young accountants: Choose your own adventure

Accounting Today

New entrants to the profession face more decisions more often than ever in building their accounting careers. Expert weigh in with their best career advice.

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Are you a specialist or a generalist accountant? Should You Stick or Switch?

Mark Lee

Most general practitioner accountants I talk with (and I talk with a lot of them) are, obviously, generalists rather than specialists. They typically started out as general practitioners and often stay that way as their client base has always been quite disparate. Many accountants who develop a specialisation do so only because they originally trained in firms that encouraged them to specialise – often quite early in their career.

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CPAs race to prepare clients for end of universal wallet accounting

Accounting Today

Starting in January, cryptocurrency will need to be reported to the IRS on an account-by-account basis versus the "universal wallet" approach most had been using.

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AI In Accounting: A Practical Roadmap For Smarter AP

Speaker: Gerald Ratigan

The accounts payable (AP) function is evolving and AI is leading the charge. As finance teams face rising invoice volumes and expectations for speed and accuracy, AI-powered automation has shifted from a futuristic concept to the most practical solution. But for finance leaders, success isn’t just about selecting the right tools, it’s about implementing the right strategy.

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Finance Leaders Want Their Organization’s Audit Firm to Use AI—Immediately

CPA Practice

According to a new report from top six accounting firm BDO USA, company finance leaders are expecting technology like artificial intelligence to be used by their external auditors now to enhance their audit engagement and consider it the second-most important factor when choosing an audit firm. In fact, according to the inaugural 2024 BDO Audit Innovation Survey , released on Oct. 7, the ability to leverage new technologies was a slightly more important factor that influences audit firm selecti

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Internal auditors less confident on AI versus other threats

Accounting Today

A survey of internal audit and IT leaders found that while they identity AI as a growing technology risk, they have the least confidence in their ability to evaluate and handle its risks versus other technologies.

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Why accountants make me laugh (without meaning to): multiple profits

Accounting Insight

The three profits included in accounting textbooks: gross profit, operating profit and net profit are a good start for accountancy students. Limiting them to just three types of profit is intended to avoid overburdening young accountants at the beginning of their studies. If they told them up front that more than 15 different types of profit exist, our poor accounting students would all abandon their studies and probably open trendy wine bars instead.

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Why Your Business Needs to Protect Against Executive Fraud

RogerRossmeisl

You may trust your executive management team implicitly. But the research is clear: In organizations where executives turn to fraud, the results are very costly. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners’ (ACFE’s) Occupational Fraud 2024: A Report to the Nations, owner/executive fraud makes up only 19% of all cases but has a median loss of $459,000 per incident.

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SMBs are Driving Growth in AI Adoption

CPA Practice

Despite soaring concerns about their business’ financial security and personal job security, the survey found that small to midsize businesses across the country are investing in technology more now than the past three years, both foundational and emerging. This is according to the fifth annual Verizon State of Small Business survey. In the past year, the number of SMBs using AI has more than doubled (39% of SMBs are using AI in 2024 compared to 14% in 2023), in large part due to the growing fam

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How to write an advisory services proposal

ThomsonReuters

← Blog home Jump to ↓ How to communicate with clients effectively What should an advisory consulting proposal include? Writing an advisory services proposal with a template An easier way to write advisory proposals The shift toward providing more higher-value advisory services continues to gain momentum as accounting firms increasingly look for ways to better serve clients, sharpen their competitive edge, and drive greater profitability.

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Stop Budget Burnout: A Better Way to Grow Your Nonprofit in 2026

Speaker: Sean Yoder

Nonprofits are under more pressure than ever to demonstrate financial accountability while continuing to expand their impact. Traditional budgeting models often fall short, reinforcing silos, limiting flexibility, and stalling growth. Enter collaborative budgeting: a dynamic, team-driven process that enables smarter resource allocation and builds financial resilience at scale.

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Capital Expenditure vs. Operational Expenditure: Key Differences for CEOs

GrowthForceBlog

7 min read October 15th, 2024 All business expenses represent money out the door, but the way you categorize these expenses has greater implications than reduced net income. Key Takeaways How to Calculate and Identify a Capital Expenditure: CapEx = (Prior Period PP&E - Current Period PP&E) + Current Period Depreciation. The Key Differences Between CapEx and OpEx: For most businesses, both capital expenditures and operational expenditures are necessary for success, and finding the right b

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Should Tax Planners Work with Family Offices? Tax Benefits of Establishing a Family Office

CTP

Established, wealthy families have long leveraged the concept of a “family office” to preserve their wealth, ensure business succession, establish governance and control, and foster their family legacy. This type of specialized company has been gaining popularity—and many of them have been on the lookout for a tax planner to complete their financial advisory teams.

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ESG Reporting Tools: A Unified Approach

Acterys

As ESG considerations become more integral to business strategy, companies face significant challenges in collecting, managing, and reporting ESG data. That’s why ESG reporting tools are becoming an increasingly important piece of the enterprise tech stack. Fragmented data sources, evolving regulatory requirements, and rising stakeholder expectations are just a few of the obstacles that can make ESG reporting a complex endeavor — and one that many executives don’t feel prepared for.

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Chaser celebrates a decade of revolutionizing accounts receivables with AI and automation

Accounting Insight

Chaser , the leading accounts receivable platform, is proud to mark its 10-year anniversary. What began in 2014 as a tool to automate overdue invoice reminders has evolved into a globally recognized platform, and has empowered over 7,000 businesses to manage credit control efficiently. In the past decade, Chaser has helped businesses recover £30 billion in late payments and saved more than 6 million hours of manual work by continuously advancing the field of credit management with AI and automa

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Why Tech-Forward Tax and Accounting Firms Have the Inside Track to the Future

Speaker: Joe Wroblewski, Sales Engineer Manager

Automating time-consuming manual tasks can save your firm hundreds of hours–and thousands of dollars. But it can also have longer-lasting benefits, like helping you attract and retain the next generation of CPAs, and we don’t need to tell you how important that is amid the current generational staffing crisis in the tax and accounting profession. You'll want to save your seat for this new webinar with industry expert Joe Wroblewski, where we'll explore how to: Maximize ROI with Cost-Effective Te

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Financial Cents Launches Free Community-Driven Template Library to Help Accounting Professionals Streamline and Standardize Workflows

CPA Practice

Financial Cents, a provider of practice management solutions for accounting firms, has launched a new Community-Driven Template Library. In this collaborative space, accounting professionals can share, discover, and adopt workflow templates designed to increase efficiency and simplify firm operations. This new library offers access to a diverse range of templates curated by industry experts and tailored to the unique needs of accounting and bookkeeping professionals.

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Are you ready? Prepare for tax season with these essential resources for accountants

ThomsonReuters

Jump to ↓ Why tax season resources matter How to make the most of these resources Tax season success starts here Tax season is here, and with it comes the familiar rush of deadlines, complex returns, and endless questions from clients. You know the drill all too well. But what if you had a comprehensive place with tools, guides, and expertise to help you navigate the chaos and stay ahead of the curve?

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Autumn Budget 2024 Commentary: Retail

Menzies

Menzies LLP - A leading chartered accountancy firm. The recent budget has imposed significant challenges on businesses across the board, with the retail sector being particularly affected. The Chancellor has announced several policy changes and tax increases that will impact retail. 1.2% increase in Employers National Insurance Rates A 1.2% increase in Employers National Insurance rates will be a substantial burden on profitability, especially when combined with the reduction in the threshold fo

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Five Reasons Why Your Firm Is Getting Terrible Applicants

Going Concern

This post is for the employers. If you’re a job seeker you can ignore this. With many of the big firms having called their people back to the office three or more days a week, more professionals than ever are on the hunt for remote work. Adding to this flood of jobseekers in the accounting space is the worrying trend of layoffs which you’d think would make things great for hiring managers.

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Live Demo - Supercharge your Month End Close

Automation generally supercharges any process and brings its value to the forefront. See how infusing automation such as ART (our month-end close solution), into your close can get you to the next level of closing. We will share a live demo of SkyStem's solution, ART and share the key elements of month-end close automation. Through ART, we'll take a look at: What month-end close automation entails Which process steps can and should be automated Benefits of achieving process automation, and Why i

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Acterys Recognized as a Champion in SoftwareReviews’ 2024 EPM Quadrant Award

Acterys

Acterys has been named a Champion in the 2024 Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) Quadrant by SoftwareReviews. For the second consecutive year, Acterys has been voted into the top spot by its customers. Each year, SoftwareReviews presents the Data Quadrant Awards to top-performing software products based solely on authentic user reviews, without any paid placements or analyst opinions.

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Taking on an Equity Investor Is a Great Growth Strategy for Some Dealers

Withum

Buying a dealership requires much more capital than many dealers have access to through traditional channels. A growing number are partnering with investment firms that provide that capital to grow. Those firms often take an equity stake in the growing dealership group. “We have seen a surge of interest in an equity investor,” says Stuart McCallum, Partner and Dealership Services and Practice Leader.

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Acumatica Launches Cloud ERP Solution for Professional Services Firms

CPA Practice

Acumatica has launched its new Professional Services Edition , built to enable small and midsized professional services firms to increase efficiency and accelerate growth. This new solution marks an important expansion of the company’s industry-specific product line, delivering tailored features and capabilities designed to enhance collaboration and boost operational efficiency for firms in architecture, engineering, IT and beyond.

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Strategic tax tech trends: Insights from the Tax Firm Technology Report

ThomsonReuters

Jump to ↓ The strategic role of tax technology Budget disparities and satisfaction levels The rise of Generative AI (GenAI) Key findings at a glance The future trends of tax technology Strategic takeaways and future directions The tax and accounting landscape is undergoing a seismic shift, driven by rapid technological advancements. The inaugural Tax Firm Technology Report by the Thomson Reuters Institute sheds light on the current state of technology adoption, challenges, and future expectation

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Mid-Year Review: How to Ignite Employee Potential Through Meaningful Feedback

Mid-year performance reviews aren’t just boxes for HR to check. Paycor’s toolkit empowers leaders to: Identify high-potential team members. Boost engagement with meaningful feedback. Support struggling employees. Nurture top talent to drive results. Learn how to ignite employee potential through meaningful feedback. When you nurture top talent, everybody wins.

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Should Tax Planners Work with Family Offices? How Family Offices Work

CTP

In recent years, tax planners have increasingly been recruited to work alongside family offices. If you’ve heard about this trend or received an invitation yourself, you may be wondering what exactly working with a family office would entail. First, let’s start with a simple definition of a family office: A family office is a specialized company that is focused on managing the wealth and the personal affairs of a family.

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Autumn Budget 2024 Commentary: Manufacturing

Menzies

Menzies LLP - A leading chartered accountancy firm. A key theme of today’s budget was “Invest, Invest, Invest!” with the intention of driving economic growth. The chancellor has pledged over £100 billion of additional capital investment over the next five years which will be welcomed by this capital intensive sector. Sector representatives Make UK were specifically mentioned in the Chancellor’s speech, signalling the extent to which the budget intends to promote UK production and innovation. 7 K

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FP&A Reports Every Organization Needs to Succeed

Acterys

Reliable financial data is the compass that guides strategic decisions. But what happens when that compass is inaccurate? Errors in financial planning and analysis (FP&A) reports can set entire departments, or even the whole company, off course. More than half (59%) of accountants admit to making several errors per month, Gartner research found.

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Monday Morning Accounting News Brief: PwC Consolation Prizes; Al Pacino’s Accountant Ripped Him Off | 10.21.24

Going Concern

Hi. Monday again. Oh joy. Without any further filler text, let’s get this over with. Yesterday Financial Times published a story about PwC UK’s top consolation prize : Senior PwC staff in the UK who will never be partners are to be offered a new “managing director” title as the Big Four firm seeks to keep top employees whom it is unwilling to admit to its £1mn-a-year partnership.

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Your Accounting Expertise Will Only Get You So Far: What Really Matters

Speaker: Victor C. Barnes, CPA, MBA

In the climb from contributor to leader, the rules quietly change. If you’re aiming for the summit, the air gets thinner—and what got you here won’t be enough to get you to the top (a concept first popularized by Marshall Goldsmith in his book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There ). What made you successful early in your finance career—technical accuracy, sharp analysis, flawless execution—won’t be what carries you to the next level.

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Making Accounting Work: The Balance of Technology and Teamwork

CPA Practice

By Ting Song. Accounting is often one of the last areas a company invests in because it’s traditionally seen as a cost center rather than a revenue generator. As teams grow, the straightforward solution might seem to be adding more staff. But do companies typically increase headcount in proportion to revenue growth? This tends to be the case in departments like sales or marketing, but not in areas like accounting, HR, or operations.

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Statutory reporting: An overview

ThomsonReuters

← Blog home In the industries of business and finance, statutory reporting is a cornerstone of transparency and compliance. Statutory reporting is a critical process for multinational corporations, involving the preparation and submission of financial statements to comply with legal obligations across various jurisdictions. By engaging in statutory reporting, corporations avoid significant fines, maintain their financial accuracy, and ensure timely submissions that meet all local compliance stan

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Strategic Outsourced Accounting for Uncontrollable Real Estate Costs

Withum

Managing a real estate portfolio involves a plethora of expenses, some of which are uncontrollable. These costs—such as property taxes, insurance premiums, utilities and debt—are essential for conducting business but are beyond the direct control of property owners or managers. While these costs cannot be directly controlled, there are strategic ways to manage their financial impact.

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Financial Roadmap for Employees Transitioning to Self-Employment

Ronika Khanna CPA,CA

Deciding to transition from being an employee to self-employed business owner/freelancer/independent contractor. can be a significant life event. It can certainly be exciting as you relish the thought of greater freedom, flexibility and the ability to exercise your creativity in ways that you cannot when you are an employee. However, there is also a great deal of uncertainty, both professionally and financially.

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How To Overcome Change Fatigue In Finance With Neuroscience-Backed Strategies

Speaker: Kim Beynon, CPA, CGMA, PMP

The most overlooked, yet most critical, element of transformation is preparing people for change. Automation and AI aren't just technical upgrades, they’re cultural shifts which can challenge identities. That’s why change management isn’t a side project—it’s the foundation. In finance, where precision and process rule, navigating change can feel especially disruptive.