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Is your firm fully compliant with the revised Safeguards Rule? What constitutes client/customer records is somewhat unique for every organization, and that certainly holds true for CPA firms and tax professionals.

It is no secret that the new Washington Capital Gains Excise Tax, which taxpayers have begun paying for the 2022 tax year, has been a controversial and complex tax. In feedback shared with the DOR yesterday, the WSCPA highlighted the ambiguities in the language and additional unanticipated problems which came to light during the recently-concluded tax season.

The Washington Society of CPAs is collaborating on an important research study focusing on the decision to pursue, or not pursue, the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) credential. This survey aims to gain fresh insight into the factors impacting the decision to become a CPA or to not become a CPA. The responses will be compared against previous Decoding the Decline research findings.

Over the past couple of years, many nonprofits have experienced challenges attracting and retaining talent. Nonprofit organizations can take a number of approaches to strengthen their talent management efforts, as outlined in this article.

Plaintiffs and their legal counsel often leverage noncompliance with professional standards to strengthen cases in support of allegations of harm caused by accountants. This article highlights risk management implications of recent professional standards and offers risk management tips regarding established standards governing financial statement services.

In order to succeed in an increasingly crowded marketplace, many financial professionals are leveraging the rapid growth of advisory services by choosing to offer specialized knowledge to their clients or employers.

Questioning whether you need to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) in your tax practice today is like an accountant 20 years ago deciding whether to use tax preparation software or continue to prepare paper tax returns. Putting AI tools into practice should be something that practitioners embrace.

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), enacted January 2021, mandates certain entities report “beneficial owner” information to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Here are some of the key CTA provisions and significant issues, critical unknowns, and potential risks facing accounting firms.

At the Washington Board of Accountancy (WBOA) meeting on October 20, a CPA exam credit reinstatement program was adopted and is effective immediately. As a result of this program, Washington exam candidates who lost CPA exam credits between January 30, 2020, and December 31, 2023, will have until June 30, 2025, to complete the remaining sections of the exam.

The Washington State Board of Accountancy adopted a rule change to allow CPA candidates in our state to have 36 months to complete all four sections of the CPA exam.

The Department of Revenue (DOR) recently issued interim guidance statements regarding the capital gains tax. The statements reflect DOR's current position where final guidance has not yet been published.

There are many barriers that may deter students from entering and remaining in the profession. Chair of the WSCPA Board of Directors, Andrew Brajcich shares the importance of offering potential CPAs alternative pathways into the profession by rethinking the current 150-credit hour rule.

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.

Summer’s over, and while you’ve been savoring that iced coffee, the chatter around small talk has been percolating. Want to know how casual conversations can lead you to your dream job? Let's spill the tea!

Last month the FASB issued their investor outreach report which outlines the outreach performed by the FASB to get feedback from investors as part of their due process. This week blogs takes a look at some of the statistics presented in the report.

The contingency plan calls for furloughs of two-thirds of IRS staff, which Treasury said will result in “significant harmful impacts" on taxpayers.

The AICPA submitted a letter to the Department of the Treasury, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Congressional leadership requesting the release of the IRS contingency plan that would go into effect in the event of a government shutdown on October 1, 2023. Additionally, the AICPA has urged the IRS to base any decision to furlough employees on a broader interpretation of the Office of Management and Budget guidance to include not only the government’s safety of human life and protection of property, but also for the taxpayer, thereby excepting IRS employees.

In August, the FASB issued Chapter 5 of the Conceptual Framework, Recognition and Derecognition. The chapter addresses the criteria that would be used to determine when an element should be recognized in the financial statements. As concept statements are not authoritative there is no effective date.

The FASB has issued a new Concept Statement around the Reporting Entity. While concept statements are not authoritative GAAP they are the theory that underlies GAAP used by the board to develop ASUs.

The International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) has proposed a Sustainability Disclosure Taxonomy. The proposal addresses a taxonomy for the disclosure requirements in IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 to facilitate digital reporting of sustainability-related financial information. Comments are due September 26, 2023.