client service opportunities

fired from my first job

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what i learned the hard way. so you don’t have to.

by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting

my first job was with a sole practitioner friend of my father’s and lasted seven weeks.

more: employees have better memories than bosses | working for a jerk | the ‘wrong’ cpe | be a sounding board to your clients | make obsessed leadership work for you | client checklist: top 10 issues for real estate investors | working hard? or hardly working?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

i was fired because i was terrible. i couldn’t do anything right!

here’s what i’ve learned.
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6 key facts about excise taxes

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unexpected reasons the government wants more money.

by barry j. friedman, cpa
industrynewsletters

everyone knows about income taxes and sales taxes, but we tend to forget about excise taxes, because they’re not obvious.

more: how clients should gather their papers for taxes | charitable giving under tcja | why padding tax deductions is a risky proposition | portability: sharing the estate tax exemption | tariffs: what clients need to know now
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

excise taxes are paid when purchases are made on specific goods or activities, such as wagering or highway usage by trucks. the producers or merchants pay the tax and typically include the additional tax in the price to the end consumer.
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shutdown: what to tell tax clients during “the lapse”

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how's busy season so far? join the survey. get the results.
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government shutdown scrambles busy season.

next question: how’s it affecting accountants and clients?
join the survey. get the answers.

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

the internal revenue service is struggling to continue operations as the nation heads into tax season during the “appropriations lapse,” a.k.a the government shutdown.

some 16,000 irs employees are exempt from the shutdown, and another 30,000 are being called in to work without pay—a total of 57.4 percent of the 80,265 employed before the shutdown.

nevertheless, with four desks out of ten empty, the irs is holding back on most services that require human involvement.

tax practitioners would do well to advise their clients of the following:

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how clients should gather their papers for taxes

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woman holding paper at deskthey don’t have to eat the rhino all in one bite.

by barry j. friedman, cpa
industrynewsletters

don’t let your clients find themselves frantically searching for information they need to file their tax returns at the last minute. help them reduce filing difficulties and possibly their tax bills by knowing what documents to have at your fingertips.

more: charitable giving under tcja | gifts to charity: 6 facts about written acknowledgments | yes, home equity loans may still be deductible | how to talk to clients about ‘basis’
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

most of the papers they need to document the income, interest and withheld taxes they report arrive in your mailbox in january, with investment-related 1099s often coming in february. they can get ready for that arrival by creating print and online folders. it’s a good idea to create a paper and an email tax folder for messages relating directly to tax information.
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working for a jerk

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invisible businessman saying "blah blah blah blah blah"what is more important to you, how you look or how good the work is?

by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting

early on in my career, i was assigned to work with a manager on a half-dozen monthly clients.

more: staffers need to speak up with clients | when writeups went extinct | kennedy’s acceptance speech
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

he went with me and worked on the main company while i worked alongside him on the baby company. the baby company was much smaller and usually was for a second line the client had. i did the writeup and prepared the financial and other statements for the current month and year to date.
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charitable giving under tcja

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donor-advised funds can be a simpler option.

by barry j. friedman, cpa
industrynewsletters

the new tax law nearly doubles the standard deduction for individuals and families, simplifying the filing process for millions of americans, but complicating giving strategies for many who have made a habit of deducting their charitable contributions.

more: the latest fraud problem: synthetic identities | why padding tax deductions is a risky proposition | portability: sharing the estate tax exemption | tariffs: what clients need to know now
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

indeed, an estimate from the washington, d.c., tax policy center is that the number of itemizers will drop from 46 million to 13 million. that means most taxpayers will have little tax incentive to donate cash or stock to charity, reducing giving by $13 billion to $20 billion a year.
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staffers need to speak up with clients

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two women talking5 takeaways.

by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting

i started my third job one year and seven months after i graduated college. i was hired as a “junior” but felt i was more experienced because i was doing “higher level” work at my previous job.

more: the vanishing writeup | the ‘wrong’ cpe | be a sounding board to your clients | make obsessed leadership work for you | client checklist: top 10 issues for real estate investors | a cpa looks back across the generations
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

the first week at my new job, i was sitting at a long table in the staff room with two other junior accountants, footing 50-page, 10-column schedules and similar work. i mean footing. this was january 1965 and we did not have calculators or adding machines. there was one monroe calculator in the office, and if you wanted percentages you literally had to wait on line to get a turn using it.
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gifts to charity: 6 facts about written acknowledgments

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and of course, make sure the deduction is qualified.

by barry j. friedman, cpa
industrynewsletters

if your clients offer gifts or money to qualified organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions, they must do two things:

more: the latest fraud problem: synthetic identities | why padding tax deductions is a risky proposition | portability: sharing the estate tax exemption | tariffs: what clients need to know now | basis: turning a common client question into new business | the w-4 time-bomb and what to do about it
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

  1. have a bank record or written communication from the charity for any monetary contributions.
  2. get a written acknowledgment from the charity for any single donation of $250 or more.

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when writeups went extinct

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older man and younger man in meetingwhy it was so valuable and how to gain that knowledge now.

by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting

writeups are extinct. when i started in 1963, most small cpa firms primarily did writeups. after i started my practice in 1969, it became an embarrassment to say i did writeups. it connoted something beneath my “professional” status.

more: the ‘wrong’ cpe | bored by cpe? you’re missing out! | clients buy solutions, not hours | roger is my only client | top 10 issues for real estate investors | working hard? or hardly working? | it’s not always about the money | the value in value consulting | a cpa looks back across the generations
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

i think a problem today is that writeups no longer exist for younger staff.
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the latest fraud problem: synthetic identities

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bonus: 5 steps for prevention.

by barry j. friedman, cpa
industrynewsletters

by combining some factual stolen information with completely fake information, thieves convince banks and credit monitoring companies that a fake identity is real. the “bad guy” is not pretending to be the person whose information was stolen or acquired; rather, the data is being used to create a brand-new identity. thus, the phrase “synthetic identity theft” is born.

more: why padding tax deductions is a risky proposition | yes, home equity loans may still be deductible | social security hike the largest in 7 years
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but how do these scams work?

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the ‘wrong’ cpe

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businessman looking up answers in a bookdo you have 10 hours available this year?

by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting

in my previous article, i discussed mandatory cpe. today i am writing about non-mandatory courses: those covering practice management.

more: bored by cpe? you’re missing out! | kennedy’s acceptance speech | what consulting is | mendlowitz: why my firm merged with ws+b | a long time ago, at a cpa firm far, far away … | when discounts don’t work
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

i have a friend who sells trophies and goes to a trophy convention in las vegas each year. while there, she takes courses on how to make more money selling trophies, and each time she comes home with a couple of ideas that help her run her business better and make more money. yet, cpas do not do take these types of courses because they do not get cpe credit for them. stupid! stupid! stupid!
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bored by cpe? you’re missing out!

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make the requirement work for you.

by ed mendlowitz
call me before you do anything: the art of accounting

cpas are required to take continuing professional education courses each year. the amount varies by state, but every state has mandatory requirements.

more: clients buy solutions, not hours | what consulting is | mendlowitz: why my firm merged with ws+b | a long time ago, at a cpa firm far, far away … | when discounts don’t work | call me before you do anything | learning to delegate: slow is faster
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

some cpas, like me, take courses and look for ideas to be able to serve clients better.
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yes, home equity loans may still be deductible

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but watch out for the lower dollar limit.

by barry j. friedman, cpa
industrynewsletters

contrary to early reports, the tax cuts and jobs act allows taxpayers who buy, build or substantially improve their homes using either a home equity loan, home equity lines of credit (heloc) or second mortgages to deduct interest on the loans.

more: how to challenge property taxes | portability: sharing the estate tax exemption | tariffs: what clients need to know now | new salt deduction limit: what clients need to know | passwords: how to beat the hackers
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

that’s the good news. but if clients take out the loan to pay for personal living expenses – credit card debt, for instance – they can’t deduct the interest from their taxes.
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