December 2014 - Journal of Accountancy

Many accounting firms are facing a daunting challenge paying for partner retirements. Long-standing buyout agreements often aren’t calibrated for today’s demographic and market realities. This article shows how firms can assess and adjust the terms and types of buyout agreements to facilitate successful ownership transitions.

U.S. public accounting firms are socking away chunks of equity, according to the 2014 Management of an Accounting Practice (MAP) Survey from the AICPA Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS) and the Texas Society of CPAs (TSCPA).

New standards for accounting and review services include significant changes for accountants in public practice who prepare financial statements for clients. Find out more about the changes contained in newly issued Statement on Standards for Accounting and Review Services (SSARS) No. 21.

Some measures organizations undertake to promote fraud reporting sometimes have the opposite effect. What can management do to encourage whistleblowing? This article offers a series of suggestions.

The revised AICPA Code of Professional Conduct is accessible on a dynamic electronic platform that allows users to conduct basic and advanced searches, and boasts many other features. Get ready for the revised code’s effective date, Dec. 15, 2014, by trying to answer these questions with the new platform at pub.aicpa.org/codeofconduct.

Most people don’t see accountants as technology geeks. Then again, most people don’t see CPAs glued to their computers, tablets, cellphones, and other devices, both at work and at events such as conferences. This article reveals which tech gadgets should be high on CPAs’ shopping list this holiday season.

A monthly look at mobile apps that can make the CPA’s job and life better. This month: Clarity, QuickBooks Online, and Xero.