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VSCPA ECONOMIC OUTLOOK SURVEY >>

CPAs show increased optimism for Virginia’s economy

AP ACCOUNTING >>

HIGH SCHOOLS NEED HIGH-LEVEL ACCOUNTING CLASSES

Th e city of Roanoke lights up at night.

Virginia is a pretty good place to be aft er all. Eighty-fi ve percent of CPA respondents to the 2014 Virginia Economic Outlook Survey said they felt excellent or good about the Commonwealth’s economy relative to neighboring states — up 9 percent from 2012.

And while Virginia CPAs are increasingly more optimistic that the United States has begun a sustainable economic recovery, health care concerns and the impact of sequestration weigh heavily on their minds, survey results revealed.

A slight 51 percent majority said they were optimistic for economic recovery, although 37 percent believed the recovery will take more than four more years. In addition, a majority of CPAs think budget sequestration will have a marginal eff ect on the national economy but a major eff ect in Virginia.

Despite the economic optimism for Virginia, results reveal health care costs as the state’s top overall problem as well as the top problem for Virginia businesses. Th ese results mirror the survey from two years ago. Th e negative outlook can more than likely be attributed to implementation of the Patient Protection and Aff ordable Care Act.

Th e Virginia Economic Outlook Survey did reveal some regional diff erences in responses. For example, 50 percent of respondents in southwest Virginia thought the economic recovery will take more than four more years, compared with 37 percent statewide. CPAs from southwest Virginia were overall “somewhat pessimistic about the state of the national economy versus the “somewhat optimistic” result statewide. Southeast Virginia was similarly pessimistic, with workers’ compensation costs and the tax climate more oft en cited as factors in the costs of doing business as compared to Northern Virginia. n

Check out a PDF of the full survey results by scanning the QR code with your smartphone.

Calculus, American history, English … Accounting? If the accounting profession has its way, an Advanced Placement (AP) course in accounting will join the repertoire of classes available to high school students. AP courses are academically rigorous and designed to be equivalent to college courses; colleges and universities oft en off er credit for incoming students who achieve certain scores on AP exams.

In December 2013, the VSCPA joined an initiative by the Pathways Commission, the American Accounting Association and American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) to encourage Th e College Board to implement an AP accounting course. If approved, the course would become the fi rst high school business class to receive AP credit.

In a Dec. 13, 2013, letter to Th e College Board President & CEO David Coleman, the VSCPA stated, “Accounting education not only ensures our students gain valuable skills to help them navigate our challenging economy, but it also provides a gateway to a thriving career path that will only strengthen Virginia’s business community.” n

DISCLOSURES • MARCH/APRIL 2014 • HTTP://DISCLOSURES.VSCPA.COM 5

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Top: VSCPA members, leaders and staff gathered in Richmond on a cold day in January to meet with legislators. Bottom: Andrew Martin, CPA, met with a staffer of Del. Ron Villanueva (R-Va. Beach).

A successful CPA Assembly Day

On Tuesday, Jan. 21, VSCPA members and staff braved a frigid morning and snowy afternoon to visit the Virginia General Assembly for CPA Assembly Day. Attendees met with Virginia legislators to discuss issues important for CPAs, including:

>> Tax conformity, particularly related to the Earned Income Tax

Credit

>> IC-DISC export incentives

>> Patent infringement

>> The CPA exemption from private investigator licensure requirements

Attendees also fielded questions from legislators on tax-related legislation and other financial bills. The VSCPA contingent also attended the legislative session, where they were recognized on the House and Senate floors.

Thanks to everyone who attended and participated virtually! n

>> TAKING ACTION ON THE FEDERAL FRONT

The VSCPA has responded to the following federal legislative proposals. Visit the “Advocacy” section of www.vscpa.com to read position letters in full.

“COST RECOVERY AND ACCOUNTING DISCUSSION DRAFT” — On Dec. 19, 2013, the VSCPA sent a letter to Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) expressing “deep concern” over the limitation on the use of cash accounting proposed by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, in his “Cost Recovery and Accounting Discussion Draft” proposed in last November. Baucus’s proposal would eliminate exceptions for numerous professions that currently allow the use of cost accounting, forcing them to switch to the accrual method of accounting if their gross receipts exceed $10 million. “AUDIT INTEGRITY AND JOB PROTECTION ACT” — On Jan. 2, 2014, the VSCPA sent a letter to Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) to strongly support this act and encourage him to cosponsor. The bill would limit the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) from requiring mandatory audit firm rotation for public companies. The PCAOB issued a concept release on audit firm rotation in 2011; the VSCPA noted that 91 percent of commenters on that release opposed mandatory rotation because of “costs, negative impacts on audit quality, enhanced fraud risks and uncertain benefits.” n

New clients wanted!

What keeps CPA firm partners and owners up at night? Well, it all depends on how big the firm is. The 2013 PCPS CPA Firm Top Issues Diagnostic Report details the top issues affecting firms by size, gleaned from responses to the 2013 PCPS CPA Firm Top Issues Survey. While smaller firms are busy keeping up with tax law complexity, larger firms have staffing and succession planning concerns. All segments, however, have bringing in new clients as one of their top five issues. Here are the top three issues in each firm size:

SOLE PRACTITIONERS

1. Keeping up with changes and complexity of the tax laws 2. Bringing in new clients 3. Seasonality/workload compression

FIRMS WITH 2–5 WORKERS

1. Keeping up with changes and complexity of the tax laws 2. Succession planning 3. Finding qualified staff

FIRMS WITH 6–10 WORKERS

1. Succession planning 2. Finding qualified staff 3. Bringing in new clients

FIRMS WITH 11–20 WORKERS

1. Bringing in new clients 2. Finding qualified staff 3. Succession planning

FIRMS WITH 21+ WORKERS

1. Owner/partner accountability and unity 2. Bringing in new clients 3. Retaining qualified staff n

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>> EXCELLENT EXCEL

An even faster way to clean an ugly report

To follow up on my last tip in Disclosures on how to copy down data that is not repeated on each line to create a continuous block of data, which can be used as the foundation for pivot tables, a co-worker and a VSCPA member both informed me of a much faster and simpler way to achieve the same results.

1. Highlight column with blank cells between the data you want repeated on each line.

2. In the Home Ribbon, click on “Find & Select” (looks like a pair of binoculars), then click on “Go To Special” (or just hit F5 on the top of your keyboard to pull up the same dialog box).

3. Select “Blanks” using the radial button, then click OK.

4. Go into the formula bar and write a formula to make the first cell selected equal to the cell just above it.

5. After you write the formula, here is the tricky part! Hit Ctrl +

Enter to leave the formula bar. If your formula is only in one cell, Excel did not register that you hit Ctrl + Enter, which should enter the same formula into all highlighted cells using relative cell referencing.

While it may sound complicated, it is actually very simple. Give it a quick try and see how it works. n

GEORGE D. STRUDGEON, CPA, CGFM, is an audit director at the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts in Richmond. He is a member of the VSCPA Editorial Task Force. Email him if you have Excel topics you want him to cover. * george.strudgeon@gmail.com. connect.vscpa.com/GeorgeStrudgeon