Consulting

Saving a business creates one of the greatest highs you can have in accounting.

The comedy team of Bob and Ray used to do a hilarious routine where a member of a group known as the Slow Talkers of America was interviewed by an impatient reporter, but being part of a slow-growing industry is no joke.

Marcum LLP has embarked on a joint venture with motivational speaker Tony Robbins to offer CFO-like services to small and midsize businesses.

One time I was asked to audit a hotel in Florida that was going to be foreclosed on by the mortgagor and for which I was paid in advance. The audit was planned and scheduled, and it looked like we had everything under control from our end as much as we could.

Nonprofit and for-profit corporations that borrow through the issuance of taxable or tax exempt municipal debt have a new rule about who can give them financial advice.

U.S. Wealth Management president and CEO John Napolitano discusses how accountants can help clients find opportunities for financial planning when preparing their clients' taxes, in an interview with Accounting Today managing editor Tamika Cody.

A recent call on a CPA client firm in the Midwest led to this exchange with the managing partner of the firm: “Greg….we just don’t have time to plan strategically, primarily because our clients are starting to feel the start of the boom and we are running like crazy to keep up with them.”

One time I got a client who was on the verge of going out of business and he asked if there was anything we could do to stop it from happening.

One of the best tools to evaluate a business and get a quick handle on the knowledge of the owner or manager is the break-even analysis.

In addition to overseeing the daily operation of their business, small business owners rely on accountants to provide guidance on how to comply with changing rules, regulations and laws on the state and federal level.

H&R Block has created a new program to draw CPAs and other accountants who are interested in selling their practices or becoming H&R Block franchises, with the new service spearheaded by accounting industry consultant Jennifer Katrulya.

One time I was working for about a month at a client that was a stock broker. Throughout the office were signs that said P&S with arrows.

Delivering services that clients will really appreciate

The Big Four accounting firms are reportedly rebuilding their legal service practices, after abandoning much of that area over a decade ago in response to Sarbanes-Oxley restrictions.

Corporate America is at a tipping point. According to an IDC report, the digital universe is doubling in size every two years and will reach 44 trillion gigabytes by 2020. Simultaneously, according to the Information Economics Assessment Kit published by CGOC (Compliance, Governance and Oversight Council), while the value of aging data decreases rapidly over time, the cost to manage it remains constant, creating an ever-increasing expense.

In my previous column, I described how I received a Mercedes as a fee to help a pair of businessmen resolve their tax withholding problems with the Internal Revenue Service, and I soon became an expert in IRS collection matters.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has released a new paper on how companies can get ready for the newly converged revenue recognition accounting standard.

CPAs working in the forensic and valuation areas listed “big data” as the top issue facing them in the next two to five years, according to a new survey from the American Institute of CPAs.

Employers say the Affordable Care Act is driving the costs of their medical plans higher, according to a new survey by accounting firm Cherry Bekaert’s benefits consulting unit.

Professional services organizations confronted declining revenues and other challenges last year, according to a new report.