Practice management

The formula for profitability has been established for ages. Every business owner, CEO, freelancer and entrepreneur knows it. It is even supported—scratch that, mandated—by GAAP, which is enforced by the SEC in the United States.

The Association for Accounting Marketing and Hinge Research Institute have released a study that examines overall marketing spending at accounting firms, including compensation for marketing staff, the top five spending categories, and detailed budget breakdowns by firm size and market location.

The IRS is offering tax relief to victims of severe storm, winds and flooding that affected parts of Florida in late April.

A couple of our favorite recent tax fraud cases.

A client wanted to buy a business in Birmingham, Ala., and I went there with the company’s CFO to review the books, do some due diligence, kick the tires and negotiate a deal.

Accountants should take the lead in assessing the impact on their companies of the depletion of natural resources, recommends a new report.

Credit Suisse Group AG is close to reaching an agreement to plead guilty and pay about $2.5 billion to the U.S. Justice Department and regulators to resolve investigations into whether it helped Americans evade taxes, three people familiar with the matter said.

Senate Republicans blocked a package of more than $80 billion in tax cuts, killing for now a measure that would provide incentives for corporate research and wind energy.

Highlights of some of our favorite tax-related blogs from the past week.

CPA2Biz president and CEO Erik Asgeirsson talks about how accounting firms are adapting to revolutionary changes in digital technology, collaborating, and providing specialized services to clients, in an interview with Accounting Today editor-in-chief Dan Hood.

The summer months are typically the time that CPAs fall out of touch with their clients. Some may send out or email one or two newsletters, but most taxpayers and preparers have thoughts that are far from next year’s taxes.

The Internal Revenue Service has begun accepting applications once again for its Low Income Taxpayer Clinic grants.

Nearly half the tax returns on which individuals claimed tax deductions for alimony payments did not match up with their former spouse’s tax returns, showing a total “alimony gap” of over $2.3 billion in 2010, according to a new government report.

Real estate investment trusts were originally created to permit tax-efficient public investment in real estate, but REITs have also found wide use as private vehicles.

The Internal Revenue Service has published final regulations to provide guidance on which costs incurred by estates or trusts other than grantor trusts are subject to a 2 percent floor for miscellaneous itemized deductions.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued final regulations clarifying the rules regarding the tax treatment of payments by qualified retirement plans for accident or health insurance.

Republicans trying to end a U.S. excise tax on medical devices see a chance to capitalize on fractures among Democrats and score a long-sought victory.

For the first time in 15 years, cost segregation services have made Accounting Today’s list of Top Niche services for increasing business, putting engineering studies at the top of the charts in terms of important consulting services for 2014. So what’s driving this sudden attention and popularity?

Ninety percent of tax and finance executives of companies headquartered in the United States anticipate already heightened tax risks to accelerate in the next two years, compared to executives with 81 percent of companies globally who anticipate increased risk, according to a new survey by Ernst & Young.

The Internal Revenue Service allowed an estimated $13.3 billion to $15.6 billion to be paid in improper claims for the Earned Income Tax Credit last fiscal year, or about 22 to 26 percent of all EITC payments, according to a new government report, which found the IRS continuing to be noncompliant with a 2010 law that sought to limit improper payments.