Journal of Accountancy Podcast

Eileen Sherr, CPA, CGMA, MT, director of the AICPA's Tax Policy & Advocacy team in Washington, D.C., discusses recent IRS guidance regarding the tax treatment of loans under the U.S. Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). This guidance holds that the amount of a PPP loan that is forgiven under the SBA's procedures is not included in the loan recipient taxpayer's gross income, but any expenses used to qualify for the forgiveness cannot be deducted on the taxpayer's income tax return as an ordinary and necessary business expense. We also look ahead to what the change in presidential administration in 2021 might spell for a broad range of taxpayers. What you'll learn from this episode: How PPP loan forgiveness is excluded from taxpayers' gross income for income tax purposes, but the IRS regards related business expenses as nondeductible. The progress of efforts by members of Congress to clarify in new legislation that the PPP forgiveness-related expenses are intended to be deductible as ordinary and necessary expenses of loan recipients. What form advocacy on this issue by the AICPA and its members is taking. How and when tax law changes proposed by the Joe Biden–Kamala Harris presidential campaign might be reflected in a proposed budget by the Biden administration.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented hiring freezes, job losses, or furloughs in 2020. While the outlook on hiring remains somewhat unsteady, there are reasons for optimism, according to Paul McDonald, the senior executive director at staffing firm Robert Half. In this episode, McDonald discusses the roles and certifications that are in demand, how remote work's rapid rise has affected organizations' approach to recruiting and hiring, and why the broad unemployment rate is not one that McDonald pays attention to the most. McDonald is the guest on the Journal of Accountancy podcast for the first of a two-part conversation. The second part, focusing on company culture and retention concerns, will be posted in early 2021. What you'll learn from this episode: The types of jobs that continue to be in high demand in the United States. How organizations are rethinking geographic obstacles to hiring. Why McDonald says that a preliminary discussion about salary is not a negotiation. The specific unemployment statistic that McDonald tracks. The ways organizations are adapting their pursuit of talent.

Kelly Richmond Pope, CPA, CGMA, Ph.D., is an accountant and a professor. She's also a storyteller and TEDx speaker. Keeping people engaged is a better way to educate, said Pope, an associate professor at DePaul University's School of Accountancy and MIS in Chicago. In this episode, Pope discusses another way to keep learners engaged: gamification. Turning learning into a game helps with the recall and understanding of new concepts, whether in a college classroom or continuing professional education for accountants. What you'll learn from this episode: Examples of gamification that are already part of our daily lives. How learning to drive a stick-shift car applies to gamification. Why gamification is not just for younger generations. How COVID-19 has disrupted traditional CPE and how virtual meetings could be better for learning in some cases. How a speaker's style can help maximize learning through PowerPoint slide presentations. The ways organizations can gamify CPE-worthy content such as podcasts or TED Talks.

Several months into the pandemic, we take a look at how some CPA parents are faring. They talk about the struggles they've faced, how they balance parenting and working from home, what they do to recharge, and the unexpected joys they've experienced while spending more time with their families. Our guests for this episode are Lindsay Stevenson, CPA, CGMA, and Chris Hervochon, CPA. Stevenson is vice president of finance at 1st Financial Bank in North Sioux City, S.D., founder and CEO of Origin Evolution LLC, and mom to three sons: a 19-year-old college student, a 17-year-old high school student, and a 7-year-old second-grader. Hervochon is the owner of Chris Hervochon CPA, located in Hilton Head Island, S.C., and dad to a 7-year-old boy and 4-year-old twins.

In an economic downturn such as the one that resulted from the coronavirus pandemic, not-for-profit organizations can feel pinched in two ways. People who have lost jobs or fear losing them may be less likely to donate to the NFPs at a time the services offered by the organizations are needed most. Strategies and models must be changed to find new opportunities and deal with the challenges presented on multiple fronts. Amy West, CPA, CGMA, the CFO of AHRC in New York City, shares advice on how to adapt and find new paths during tough times. West also is a member of the AICPA Not-for-Profit Advisory Council.

Corporate board work may have changed forever as a result of COVID-19. The lessons corporate directors take away from the pandemic will be critical to company survival and success beyond 2020. Paula Loop, CPA, the leader of PwC's Governance Insights Center, explains in this podcast episode how boards have been changed and what they're thinking about as they navigate the pandemic's effect on business. What you'll learn from this podcast episode: - Why Loop says now is the time to learn lessons and be better prepared for the next crisis. - Why there seems to be a disconnect between board members and corporate crisis management plans. - The lessons boards have learned about digital transformation, customer habits, and corporate real estate needs. - The board topics on which male and female directors differ.

Cannabis for medicinal or recreational use is a fast-growing business, and the advisory opportunities for accountants in the industry are also growing. Along with those opportunities are emerging issues on the regulatory and risk fronts. Ron Seigneur, CPA/ABV, the managing partner of Colorado firm Seigneur Gustafson LLP, shares more on the topic, including what to look for in proposed federal legislation. What you'll learn from this episode: - An explanation of the difference between cannabis, hemp, and marijuana. - More on the cannabis-specific guidance for accountants offered by the AICPA and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy. - The professional risks to consider before adding clients from cannabis-related industries. - The COVID-19 pandemic's effect on cannabis businesses. - Why legalization in some states does not mean those states become cannabis epicenters. - How legislation could change the landscape for cannabis businesses.

This podcast episode follows up one posted on Aug. 20 about President Donald Trump's memorandum directing Treasury to defer the withholding, deposit, and payment of workers' 6.2% Social Security or Railroad Retirement tax for the last four months of 2020. Since then, Treasury and the IRS have issued much-anticipated guidance on just how the deferral applies and how the taxes are likely to have to be repaid. Ed Karl, the AICPA's vice president–Tax Policy & Advocacy, described the memorandum in the first podcast episode. Now he returns to describe what the guidance in Notice 2020-65 provides — and what it still leaves unclear. He has also written a post on the AICPA Insights blog titled "Employee Payroll Tax Deferral — Is It Workable?" that outlines what CPA advisers can tell their business clients with employees about the deferral. What you'll learn from this episode: -The notice puts the responsibility for deferring — and repaying — the taxes squarely on employers. -Although the notice doesn't say so directly, it is clear that employers do not have to participate in the deferral. -The deferred taxes must be ratably repaid in the first four months of 2021 from wages and compensation of an employee whose payroll taxes were deferred. But what about an employee who leaves the job before that happens or a business that goes under? Employers "may make arrangements to otherwise collect" the taxes from the employee. The notice doesn't elaborate on how they might do that, so we hypothesize. -We assess efforts that are afoot in Congress on the one hand to forgive the deferred taxes entirely and to overturn the president's memorandum on the other.

Finance executives in the United States are more confident about their own businesses than about the overall economy. Why is that? And what is the hiring outlook for companies for the next 12 months? Ken Witt, CPA, CGMA, a senior manager for management accounting and member engagement at the AICPA, provides further detail and analysis on the quarterly Business and Industry Economic Outlook Survey, the last before the Nov. 3 presidential election. What you'll learn from this episode: - How finance leaders view the domestic economy and their own businesses. - Why election season brought about a change to the list of top challenges this quarter. - The component in the CPA Outlook Index that ranks higher than others by a wide margin. - The business sectors showing improvement and the ones that continue to struggle. - How the pandemic may be changing the real estate needs of businesses.

This episode explores the huge implications for state and local taxes raised by workers more often untethered from the employer's physical location, sometimes in another state. And now, during the COVID-19 pandemic, remote teleworking has become the rule for many professions. Eileen Sherr, CPA, MT, and Mo Bell-Jacobs, J.D., bring us up to speed. Sherr is a senior manager with the AICPA's Tax Advocacy team in charge of the AICPA State and Local Tax Technical Resource Panel, or SALT TRP, and Bell-Jacobs is a senior manager at RSM National Tax in Washington and a member of the SALT TRP.