
4 minute read
LINE ITEMS
New accounting association could be on the way
The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) have a recent history of working together. In January 2012, the two organizations launched the Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) designation. Now, they have their sights on a new goal: integrate their operations, strategy and management through a newly formed association.
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While the AICPA would still serve its members and protect, promote and grow the CPA profession, and the CIMA would still serve management accountants in 179 countries, the new association would provide a broader platform for further enhancing advocacy, promoting public and management accounting on campuses and with employers and clients, and developing new research and educational offerings.
The AICPA believes the proposal would bring together the entire accounting profession and extend the influence of a CPA-led accounting profession in the United States. Strengthening the bond between the two organizations would streamline resources and create efficiencies to help both organizations move faster to market. The proposal needs a bylaws change to move forward, which requires an AICPA member ballot with approval from two-thirds of those voting.
The AICPA wants member input. Visit www.aicpa.org/horizons for more info and to offer your feedback. n
CPA ASSEMBLY DAY COMING FAST
We’d love to have you on board for the 2016 edition of CPA Assembly Day, the annual event where VSCPA members visit their elected representatives at the Virginia General Assembly. It’s scheduled for TUESDAY, JAN. 19, 2016.
Your presence shows Virginia legislators that CPAs are committed to being an integral, active part of the legislative process. If you can’t attend in person, sign up for Virtual Participation and send a letter or email to your legislators. Visit www.vscpa.com/CPAAssemblyDay for more details. n
>> COOL NEW TAX SEASON TOOLS
Annual uncertainty
about the renewal of expiring tax provisions and how they’ll affect your tax season complicates your work.
Want to reduce your workload and educate your clients? Check out the Tax Practitioner’s Toolkit from the American Society of CPAs (AICPA), a suite of easy-to-use resources:
READY-MADE TWEETS More than 100 ready-to-go tweets can be used on Twitter or for LinkedIn and Facebook posts. See www.vscpa.com/TaxSeasonTweets.
YEAR-END POWERPOINT Clients or community groups may want year-end tax planning help. This PowerPoint will bring them up to speed on tax changes, and you can modify it with local or statespecific info.
INFO ON TAX CONCERNS Your clients may have questions about tax issues — especially around insurance and the Affordable Care Act. The toolkit has seven resources to conquer these concerns, with summaries and detailed FAQs.
You’ll find the Tax Practitioner’s Toolkit, chock full of these and other resources, at http://tinyurl. com/2015TaxToolkit. n
LINE items
EXCELLENT EXCEL >>
Using carriage returns to aid in formatting
Have you ever placed text on more than one row so that it would line up correctly and look pretty? For example, let’s say you want to title a column “Year End 2015,” and you want the “Year End” part to be directly above “2015.” However, the column is so wide that applying wrap text formatting will not work. To fix your conundrum, you may have placed “Year End” in one row with “2015” in the cell directly below.

But you can keep all your information in a single cell. Just place a carriage return (old term — Google it if you are young and have never used a typewriter) after “Year End” so that Excel places “2015” on a new line within the same cell.
To do this, after “Year End” hit Alt+Enter to place your carriage return within the cell, start typing “2015” and then exit the cell as you normally would. Tip: You may need to adjust the height of your row so that it all shows. n
GEORGE D. STRUDGEON, CPA, CGFM, is an audit director at the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts in Richmond. Email him if you have Excel topics you want him to cover. * george.strudgeon@gmail.com connect.vscpa.com/GeorgeStrudgeon
Retired CPA status a possibility
There is currently no unified approach
among states on how to deal with retired CPAs. Some states, like Virginia, have an inactive CPA status; others have a separate retired status. A lack of guidance in the Uniform Accountancy Act (UAA) has led to a wide range of differing state policies.
Now, the National Association of State Board of Accountancy (NASBA) and American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) are addressing the issue. The UAA Committee is proposing a uniform Retired-CPA status, and would like to allow those retired CPAs to offer a limited array of volunteer, uncompensated services to the public.
The committee recommends that inactive CPAs ages 55 and older should be allowed to use a Retired-CPA status upon appropriate registration with their state boards of accountancy. If competent, they could then offer volunteer tax prep services, participate in governmentsponsored business mentoring programs and/or serve on nonprofit boards. They would not, however, be allowed to provide services that require signature and use of the CPA title.
Comments are due by Feb. 2, 2016. Check out the draft at http://tinyurl.com/RetiredCPADraft. n
>> INSIDE THE NEW VSCPA WEBSITE
The VSCPA flipped the switch, so to speak, on its website redesign on Oct. 1, 2015. We undertook the site’s first major revamp since 2010 to transition to a cleaner look and make the site more usable for mobile visitors.
Another major reason for the redesign? To incorporate elements from the VSCPA’s 2014 brand refresh. This effort resulted in changes to the VSCPA’s logo, corporate colors and font usage.
As for the mobile portion, nearly 15 PERCENT of 2015 visitors accessed the site using a mobile device (smartphone or tablet). For the first time, VSCPA.com is designed responsively to provide an optimal viewing experience on all devices.
We hope you like the new look! Visit www.vscpa.com/Redesign for more information. n