AT Think

This time of year it’s hard to be proactive with your clients. With deadlines looming, you are pushed into “critical needs” mode. However, because you are interacting with so many clients and pouring over details of their financial and business situation, the opportunities for being proactive are virtually endless. Faced with a bounty of opportunities and limited time what should you do?

The Internal Revenue Service will be making some changes in the due dates next year for several types of business tax returns, which should give accountants a little extra breathing room.

RSM US – provider of audit, tax and consulting services focused on the middle market – recently awarded nine of their professionals across the nation with $10,000 each and nine additional paid-time-off days to “pursue their passions” through the firm’s 90-90-9 program.

Audit committee oversight, mergers and acquisitions, currency risk, cybersecurity, foreign currency risk and executive compensation are among the big topics likely to dominate annual shareholder meetings this spring, according to BDO USA.

Thumbtack, an online professional services marketplace, today released a new original report: “Beyond the Gig Economy: How New Technologies are Reshaping the Future of Work.” The report investigates the current "gig economy" - a market built on many short-term positions and employees - as well as examining the workforce of the future.

As March 8th marks International Women’s Day, a new report, titled Women in Business 2016: Turning promise into practice (based on the annual Grant Thornton survey of 5,520 businesses in 36 economies) reveals a slight increase of women in senior management positions, from 22% to 24%. Yet approximately one-third of businesses still do not have women in leadership positions.

The finance and accounting function can play a critical role in helping organizations navigate through a crisis.

In a March 4 letter, the AICPA urged the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the IRS to delay the estate basis reporting due date from March 31, 2016 until May 31 due to proposed regulations covering the new reporting requirements not issued until March 2, 2016.

The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) announced their 2016 Call for Proposals last week for its Accounting Education Research Grants Program. Since its inception in 2011, the program looks to further research on educational issues impacting CPAs and the public accounting profession at large.

Helen Brand, chief executive of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, is on a mission to expand accounting education across the world.