News from Your Accounting Association
CPAmerica Advantage Future-Ready Firms:
September 2019
CPAmerica Audit Technology Resources Available to Members The notion of artificial intelligence (AI) and how it will affect accounting and the audit is at the forefront of items of concern for firms. CPAmerica would like to highlight member offerings in audit services, and in particular, audit technology resources firms have through their access to preferred providers and experts. We recently spoke to Art Winstead, director of A&A at CPAmerica and partner at DMJ & Co., PLLC, to discuss some of the avenues members have to both learn about and use these applications to become a future-ready firm.
Winstead started by saying, “Members can email or call me to ask where they can find preferred provider audit technology information. I usually direct them to Wolters Kluwer CCH Audit Automation, Thomson Reuters-PPC, MindBridge Analytics Inc, or the AICPA and talk to them about the audit technology resources that they could consider using. Another source that we should direct our member firms to is Randy Johnston of Network Management Group, Inc. (NMGI). He’s a great resource on technology, and he and I talk a lot about this topic. The Innovative Technology Committee that CPAmerica President Alan Deichler has put together is a good resource, too.” Preferred provider Wolters Kluwer has experts that can help your firm improve quality and efficiency when you move your audit workflow to the cloud with
Aldrich Wealth recognized P. 2
Member News P. 3 their platform of integrated audit solutions. Wolters Kluwer’s Cathy Member Services - Grace Horvath P. 4 Rowe, CPA, CA and Director of Accounting and Audit Product Management, explained further, “During a recent twoday “Audit Talks - LIVE” virtual conference, experts from the Tax & Accounting division of Wolters Kluwer were joined by speakers from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants International (AICPA) and CPA practitioners from several Group firms to offer candid insights and share Meeting best practices to help firms better navigate the rapidly changing audit landscape and successfully transform their practices to better serve clients today and in the CPAmerica's 2019 International Meeting is set for Fort future. For anyone who missed the virtual Group Lauderdale, Florida. The luxurious conference, the session presentations and Ritz-Carlton, Fort Lauderdale will recordings are now available for download host the event on Dec. 2-5. free of charge on the Audit Talks – LIVE The meeting will help expand your webpage (https://engagetax.wolterskluwer. resources to identify and capture international markets. For more com).” info on the CPAmerica website, visit and sign in at: http://tinyurl.
Thomson Reuters is a preferred provider com/y26j8b56 that offers members progressive audit technology for growth-minded firms and said that their cloud audit suite “helps firms future-proof their audit capabilities through real-time digital collaboration, engaging employees See Future-Ready Firms, continued on page 2
The Intercompany Price Is Right: HPG’s Michael Arena talks about transfer pricing The area of transfer pricing continues to be a hot topic for clients and firms conducting international business. We recently spoke to Michael Arena, leader of Hughes Pittman & Gupton, LLP’s (HPG) transfer pricing practice about this topic. He will also be a speaker at CPAmerica’s International Group Meeting being held in Fort Lauderdale this Dec. 2-5. We asked Arena when transfer pricing applies to clients. He said, “A client may have transfer pricing issues to address if they have or are planning on having transactions or dealings between related parties in different tax jurisdictions. Transfer pricing is relevant whether the company is inbound, outbound, looking to expand so they will have future intercompany transactions, or if a company is operating solely in the U.S. but has entities in
multiple states. As you can tell, it applies to many companies.” In situations where transfer pricing comes up, Arena said “we try to be proactive and discuss transfer pricing in advance of relatedparty transactions occurring. That's the best time to talk about it. That way, we can help our clients plan accordingly, but that's not always the case. Often, our clients already have intercompany transactions taking place, and then it's a matter of gathering the right data and asking the right questions to determine how we can help. Before preparing a client's tax return, we have an obligation, as the return preparer, to ensure that the company’s transfer pricing meets a certain standard before we sign and file the return. The same goes for audit clients. Under ASC 740, there are requirements
that reserves be created for uncertain tax positions -- companies want to avoid this. So we work with our audit clients to ensure they have appropriate transfer pricing so we can complete the audit.” “Other situations in which transfer pricing issues arise include when a tax authority is auditing a client. In many countries, including the U.S., transfer pricing documentation is an automatic request from multinational companies during an audit. Also, M&A-type activity is a common time for transfer pricing to be scrutinized. The acquiring company will investigate the target’s transfer pricing as part
Transfer Pricing, continued on page 2