News

Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a final rule (RIN 1506-AB49) regarding when a reporting company may use an entity's FinCEN identifier instead of identifying information about an individual beneficial owner when supplying beneficial ownership information (BOI) to FinCEN.

Networking can spark dread in even the most savvy and extroverted professionals. That’s why many individuals seem to skip it unless they’re in the first years of their career or in the midst of a career change. The truth is networking proves valuable at all stages of your career—even if you’re not looking for a new job. Here’s why.

One of the perks of a career as a CPA is that it doesn’t have to be traditional. In fact, CPAs can hold many unexpected roles across diverse industries. If you’re wondering what some of your options are outside of working at a firm or in corporate finance, we rounded up five personas CPAs can adopt and the job roles they fill every day.

CTCPA has joined AICPA and dozens of other state CPA societies to ask the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to extend and expand the deadline for beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements, specifically for Reporting Companies Created or Registered in 2024.

CLA (CliftonLarsonAllen LLP) announced a number of career advancements, including several members in Connecticut.

The AICPA and over 50 affiliated organizations recommended in a letter to Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) that the agency extend the effective date for the beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirement by one year to give the millions of affected businesses time to learn about the new and complex rules. The letter asked that the scope of the one-year deadline delay include not only new entities created in 2024, but all entities created thereafter and all entities making updates or corrections to their original filings.

Connecticut has passed four directives regarding CPA Exam credit retention.

CTCPA Past President Greg Lainas and his wife MaryAnn were mentioned as characters in the new fiction book Rumor of Evil: A Novel by Gary Braver. Maryann appears with her maiden name of Liczek. There will be a book signing at the Southington Public Library on Thursday, December 7 at 6:00 p.m.

In shareholder litigation, a frequent issue is whether, under state law, valuation discounts are permissible in determining the value of a minority shareholder’s interest. This article discusses a 2022 Connecticut court case dealing with this subject. It also examines and compares recent disputes in other jurisdictions where valuation discounts became an issue in calculating the appropriate value of minority shares under a fair value standard.

CTCPA Past President Larry Gramling passed away on October 17. Larry was an extremely active member of the CTCPA, an enthusiastic champion of the profession, and an integral part of preparing the next generation of CPAs and accounting professionals in our state.

John Raspante, risk management director at McGowan Pro, was featured in the Accounting Today podcast "Emerging risks for accountants." John and McGowan Pro Senior Vice President Stephen Vono spoke with Dan Hood on the new areas that are sparking claims against firms — and the tools they can use to protect themselves.

The Internal Revenue Service announced tax relief for individuals and businesses affected by the terrorist attacks in the State of Israel. These taxpayers now have until Oct. 7, 2024, to file various federal returns, make tax payments and perform other time-sensitive tax-related actions. In Notice 2023-71PDF, the IRS provided relief to certain taxpayers who, due to the terrorist attacks, may be unable to meet a tax-filing or tax-payment obligation, or may be unable to perform other time-sensitive tax-related actions. The IRS will continue to monitor events and may provide additional relief.

Mfon Akpan, CGMA, DBA, an assistant professor of accounting at Methodist University, and Scott Dell, CPA, DBA, an assistant professor of accounting at Francis Marion University, explain why CPAs and other professionals can be left behind professionally if they don't spend time learning about tools such as ChatGPT. They talk about productivity gains, the competitive divide that could develop, and how, in the short term, more training is needed to fully harness generative AI.

The number of students earning U.S. postsecondary accounting degrees fell sharply in the 2021-22 academic year, according to a biennial American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) report on trends related to accounting graduation rates, the CPA Exam and hiring demand by accounting firms. Some 47,067 students earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in the 2021-22 school year, down 7.8% from the previous year, according to 2023 Trends: A Report on Accounting Education, the CPA Exam and Public Accounting Firms’ Hiring of Recent Graduates. The number of students who earned a master’s degree in accounting, meanwhile, fell 6.4% to 18,238. In the previous Trends report, the comparative rates of decline were 2.8% and 8.4%, respectively.

David Goldfarb has been a volunteer at Saint Francis Hospital, part of Trinity Health of New England, for more than ten years. David is one of the hospital’s volunteer patient care representatives, visiting with patients on a cardiac unit. He seeks to ensure patients are satisfied with the care they are receiving during their stay at Saint Francis. “I want to make sure that the patients I visit are having as good a day as possible,” said David. “During the early times of the pandemic, when volunteers were not allowed in the hospital, I missed this work so much and I was so happy when I was finally able to return. I like meeting the patients. If I can make a patient feel a little better, it makes me feel good.”

Mark Boughton, commissioner of the state Department of Revenue Services, described a new effort to formulate CT's first-ever long-term tax strategy recently at a forum in Hartford sponsored by the Yankee Institute.

Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Wednesday that would extend the deadline for companies created or registered in 2024 to file their first beneficial ownership information (BOI) reports. The NPRM (RIN 1506-AB62) would provide 90 days for those companies to file initial reports rather than the original deadline of 30 days from the earlier of the date on which the company receives actual notice that its creation or registration has become effective or the date on which the secretary of state first provides public notice that the company has been created or registered.

Cybercriminals love to exploit a crisis – and unfortunately during a time of turmoil like we’ve seen in recent years, data incidents are more prevalent now than ever before. Infiltration can happen anywhere and with an even greater frequency considering the dependence on technology by industries worldwide.

Practitioners preparing for the new AICPA quality management (QM) standards now have access to a practice aid designed to help their cause. The free practice aid, Establishing and Maintaining a System of Quality Management for a CPA Firm's Accounting and Auditing Practice, is available in versions for sole practitioners and for small- and medium-sized firms.

In response to significant health, economic, education, and travel disruptions resulting in CPA Examination candidate hardships, the Connecticut Board of Accountancy will extend credit periods through June 30, 2025, for CPA Examination credits that expired from January 30, 2020(1) through May 11, 2023(2), which have not been subsequently replaced by new credits for the same sections. (1) The United States Department of Health and Human Services declared a national Public Health Emergency. (2) The United States Department of Health and Human Services announced the expiration of the national Public Health Emergency.