Blogs

How to Make a Smart Rental Property Investment

By Carolyn Pennington posted 03-28-2021
Property ownership is one of the safest investments you can contemplate as part of your financial portfolio. Real estate prices seldom depreciate, and you are likely to get more than you paid when selling. Real estate investment can include buying rental properties and renting them out to tenants. The investor might not see immediate profit as the rental income covers the mortgage and other expenses. However, the property is theirs to sell when necessary. Here are tips to make a suitable rental property investment: Do not go it alone Renting out property is not a passive income earning source. Dealing with unruly tenants, late payments, and unscheduled ...

5 Key Components of a Loan Agreement

By Carolyn Pennington posted 12-14-2020
Borrowing or lending money is a big commitment and it can lead to many misunderstandings or even open up both parties to financial exploitation. For a commitment of this size, a legal and formal document or agreement needs to be put in place. A loan agreement is drawn up between two parties, of which one is the lender and one is the borrower. Most of the time, the document is drawn up by the lender. A well-structured agreement should protect both parties involved. The value of a loan agreement Loan agreements document the terms of a loan and it’s proof of the money, goods or services borrowed to the lender. It is of great importance ...

5 Ways to Deal with Cash Flow Problems in a Business

By Carolyn Pennington posted 12-04-2020
A good cash flow is a sign of a healthy business and poor cash flow often leads to failure. Addressing cash flow problems should be a priority for any business. It is important to identify possible problems in advance and take action quickly. Always deal with cash flow problems rather than burying your head in the sand and hoping they will go away. Create a cash flow forecast A cash flow forecast is an estimate of the cash you expect to receive and the cash you have to pay over a fixed time period, such as 30 days. This can be very helpful when it comes to the daily running of the business because you know your cash position at all points in time. ...

Self-Employment Tax Planning for 2021

By Carolyn Pennington posted 10-29-2020
Let’s start off with a bit of a basic overview of self-employment taxes. For 2020, the self-employment tax rate is 15.3 percent - 12.4 percent social security plus 2.9 percent Medicare. The 12.4 percent is twice the FICA rate of 7.6 percent. The 12.4 percent applies to a maximum of $137,700 in 2020. The 2021 maximum base for the tax is $142,800. The 2.9 percent Medicare tax applies to all self-employment income, whereas the 12.4 percent rate applies to a base with a maximum as reduced by wages. It is beyond our scope, but we note there is an additional 0.9 percent Additional Medicare tax over certain income thresholds (See Questions and Answers for ...

Disclosure of tax information

By Rick Beason posted 11-21-2013
Under Circular 230, you may not disclose income tax information to outside sources without a disclosure agreement. You should remember that this is an outside source. When asking for help concerning a tax matter, you should never disclose tax information about a client even if the disclosure does not mention the name of the individual. Disclosure of any information that you use in preparing a tax return is considered a disclosure. When asking a question, you should ask for specific tax treatments for general concepts. For instance are legal fees incurred in reducing medical bills deductible? Not I have a client who did this and did that and has incurred ...

Investigating Words: Forensic Stylometry and its Role for CFEs

By Chris Ekimoff posted 07-22-2013
**This blog is reprinted from its original posting on the ACFE Insights Blog, hosted by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. The original post can be found here: http://www.acfeinsights.com/acfe-insights/2013/7/19/investigating-words-forensic-stylometry-and-its-role-for-cfe.html Investigating Words: Forensic Stylometry and its Role for CFEs Authors throughout history have used pen names for a variety of reasons. In the 19 th century, women employed masculine names to remove any bias from publishers (see Mary Ann Evans as George Eliot, and the Bronte Sisters Charlotte, Emily and Ann as Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell). More recently, ...

Happy Birthday, Connect!

By Laura Cobb posted 07-17-2013
Connect , the VSCPA’s interactive members-only online community, recently hit its first birthday! Thanks to the over 3,800 people who have logged in and 1,017 people who have created profiles for your help in making Connect a home for the Virginia CPA community. Your smiling faces (and your insightful posts in our communities) are what keep VSCPA members coming back for more information and discussion. As part of the anniversary celebration, we’re looking at how we can make Connect an even better experience for our members. Click here to complete a short survey on your Connect experience. The survey is also posted in the Open Forum . Not a Connect user? ...

A Bit of Advice: Speak Up

By Chris Ekimoff posted 07-13-2013
**This blog is reprinted from its original posting on the ACFE Insights Blog, hosted by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. The original post can be found here: http://www.acfeinsights.com/acfe-insights/2013/5/13/a-bit-of-advice-speak-up.html As a boisterous child, I never found it hard to speak up. Whether shouting out a response without raising my hand or sharing my thoughts during lunch with a friend a few tables away, speaking up got me noticed early on (and not always positively). That characteristic has transitioned into my career as well. I’m always the first to comment on the quality of the food I’ve ordered or the potential inefficiencies ...

Accounting firms that outsource are doing it wrong

By Jonathan DeVore posted 07-09-2013
I left the Big 4 accounting world 7 months ago to work for a tech startup in Northern Virginia. Life is a little different in a small startup company, but not that different. In fact, other than being able to show up to work wearing shorts and flip flops, there isn't much of a change in workload - I still have way too much to do, and not enough time to do it. And, just like accounting firms, we outsource and out-task jobs that we can't do either because of time constraints or because we don't have the skills. But I've noticed a big difference between how we (and other small startups like us) go about outsourcing and out-tasking jobs, and how accounting ...

questions about SEC consulting and LLC opting to be taxed as an S-corp

By Donna Shomo posted 07-08-2013
I just recently started my own consulting practice with my speciality being SEC/external reporting. What are the best ways to obtain new clients that have SEC reporting needs? For a single-owner LLCs that opt to be taxed as an S-corporation (so the owner is paying himself a "reasonable wage" as opposed to all of the LLC's earnings being subject to self employment taxes), when the owner pays his/her estimated taxes, should they be filed under the owner's social security number or the LLC's EIN number? Are the remaining profits from the LLC (the ones not paid out as wages) taxed at the lower dividend income tax rate or at the owner's earned income rate? Does ...

The #1 Risk Factor Organizations Ignore When it Comes to Employee Turnover

By Jonathan DeVore posted 06-05-2013
Many folks misunderstand the risk their teams and organizations face when it comes to employee turnover. I've spoken to some business owners who have the idea that they can "get by without so and so" and that "everybody is replaceable." While it's true that your employees are replaceable, your team will still incur a cost as a result of somebody's departure. Even when organizations understand the negative consequences of employee turnover, they tend to focus more of their attention on preventing employees from leaving instead of preparing for their departure. Whether you ignore the risk, or misunderstand it, it is the same - you're living with more risk than ...

Productivity enhancing I-Pad apps that you should consider

By Adam Chaikin posted 05-31-2013
The taxi came late, the security line was 100 people deep, your belt, shoes, laptop, and loose change are now staring up at you from a putty color container and it hits you- you have a four hour flight and breakfast was six hours ago. In your mad dash to the gate you need to get some food before you pass out. But where? A bag of trail mix and a water from the Hudson News? Need something more? Gate Guru can help. You open the app and it recognizes through location services where you are. You select the airport terminal you are in and get a listing of all dining options on a gate by gate basis, including reviews. You pass up the three-hour-old hot dog spinning ...

The CITP Credential

By Adam Chaikin posted 05-31-2013
The Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP) Credential is granted exclusively to CPAs who demonstrate considerable expertise in information management and technology assurance through their knowledge, skills and experience. CITP Credential holders exhibit unique abilities in providing risk assessment, fraud, internal control, audit and/or information management services within their firm or for their employers. Build your credibility and distinguish yourself from other professionals in the marketplace. Become a CITP and a trusted business advisor! Find out more

Velocity of Big Data- Infographic

By Adam Chaikin posted 05-28-2013
Infographic

Productivity enhancing I-Pad apps that you should consider

By Adam Chaikin posted 05-28-2013
I recently was part of a real estate transaction that used the DocuSign application to solicit the signatures and initials from all involved parties. It was a great tool for the process. Each individual received a PDF document marked where an initial or a signature needed to appear. This was set up by my real estate agent. The viewing quality was immaculate. I was able to completely sign and initial the document in a number of screen swipes and affirmations for placement of my details. In fact, i saw the same details from those that signed before me. Once the document was completely signed, I received a copy in my cabinet. I was really impressed by the ...

Big Data... A Follow up tot he leadership conference

By Adam Chaikin posted 05-28-2013
You can imagine the smile on my face when the latest ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association) journal appeared at my house after the Leadership summit in Richmond. I was smiling at the fact that the journal was dedicated to the two key portions of my presentation in Richmond- Big Data and Cloud Security. And while no journal is as good as the Disclosures journal produced by the VSCPA <wink>, this one is a close second. I encourage each of you that want to know more about the benefits and hazards of big data to view the latest white paper (registration is required). Please feel free to share your comments here.

A fun app for Friday before the Memorial Day weekend.

By Adam Chaikin posted 05-24-2013
The manufacturers of Charmin toilet paper has created an app to help you find clean, public restroom based on your current location. The iPhone app allows you to rate the restrooms cleanliness and inform those around you of the ratings. So go, enjoy the parade, however if you find your self in need of a clean restroom, look no further than this app to find a clean one. happy memorial Day Weekend Everyone.

Seeking Project Success in your organization

By Adam Chaikin posted 05-24-2013
I recently completed this book and found it to be a fast and enjoyable read. I suggest this book for anyone that has a role in managing projects of any type whether they be finance projects or IT projects. The key principles exposed in this project are: By reducing the number of projects you have going on at any one time, what the book refers to as WIP, you can increase the likelihood of success on the projects that you decide to proceed with. Identifying where bottlenecks exist in your organization is not particularly hard. There are recommendations of how to deal with them successfully. Try to reduce the number of projects that ...

Disaster Recovery in response to Oklahoma Devastation

By Adam Chaikin posted 05-21-2013
We seemingly have an annual reminder to consider whether our business continuity plans and disaster recovery plans are adequate, in place and tested. The human tragedy in Oklahoma is significant and our prayers are with those dealing with this devastation. We would be remiss not to see how we can learn from this and better serve our clients: Key Client Reminders: Have an emergency plan. Have one established for your family members that includes where to go in case of sever weather. Also have an established escape route. You should test this at least annually. Ensure that you have duplicates of key documents like wills, estates, trusts kept off premise. ...

Productivity enhancing I-Pad apps that you should consider

By Adam Chaikin posted 05-20-2013
One of the most under utilized programs in the MS office suite of programs is One Note. The reason it is under utilized boggles my mind because it addresses a very important issue for many of us that are trying to consolidate file types of all kinds into a single place. In my opinion, the best aspect of this program is its ability to store e-mails in the same place that you store WORD, EXCEL and PDF files. Now that One Note has an I-pad app, it makes the productivity of this application sky rocket. One Note has been very useful in my efforts to go almost entirely paperless. It allows me to take notes at meetings and then synchronize them to my desktop automatically. ...