data draft

CheCKinG Our PuLse >>

Virginia’s health is middle of the road

In the “America’s Health Rankings Annual Report” from the United Health Foundation, Virginia comes in at No. 21 — not too bad, but with room for improvement. Highlights include:

Low incidence of infectious disease, low violent crime rate and low percentage of children in poverty.

In the past 20 years, cancer deaths decreased 11 percent.

Large disparity in health by education level, high smoking levels and low public health spending per capita.

In the past two years, smoking has actually increased 3 percent, from 19 percent to 19.5 percent of adults.

see how Virginia stacks up against the rest at americashealthrankings. org. n

whERE’S ThE (maRkETINg) moNEy?

Professional services firms really don’t spend much on their marketing efforts, according to marketing consultancy Hollinden in its “Professional Services Marketing Survey” of more than 550 professionals including accounting, finance, engineering, law and others. More than 80 PerCent allocate less than 5 percent of gross revenues to marketing. Nearly 31 percent spend less than 1 percent. Marketing isn’t a dirty word. Check out David Peters’s column on page 10 for a primer on this month’s topic, inbound marketing. n

hot national issues in 2016

Sales tax on professional services, conformity with the Uniform Accountancy Act (UAA) and providing services to marijuana-related businesses are hot national issues, according to the American Institute of CPAs’ (AICPA) State Regulation and Legislation Team. Here’s how the issues stack up around the United States:

• 13 stAtes will likely consider a sales tax on services, which could include CPA services. State policymakers are examining state tax structures to generate new revenue and offset lower personal income taxes.

• neArLY 12 stAtes will look at adopting the comprehensive definition of attest found in the seventh edition of the UAA. Virginia is already in conformity with the current version of the UAA.

• 6 stAtes’ boards of accountancy have issued guidance for CPAs wishing to engage with marijuana-related businesses in need of accounting and attestation services. Currently, 25 jurisdictions allow marijuana for medicinal purposes and four states allow it for recreation, but federally it remains a Schedule I illegal substance.

For more information and stats on AiCPA legislative efforts, visit aicpa.org/advocacy. n

bY THE NUmbERS

$97.7 billion

The amount of 2015 profits given by the U.S. Federal Reserve to the U.S. Treasury — a new record. The previous year’s profits totaled $96.9 billion. The Fed attributes the increase to mortgage-backed securities and Treasury bonds. n