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CATCHING TAX CRIMINALS >>
IRS had 93 percent conviction rate in 2013
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Despite significant staffing declines,
the Criminal Investigation division of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) managed to convict more than 93 percent of their targets for tax fraud last year. 2013 was a busy year; the division started 5,314 cases and recommended 4,364 for prosecution, which was an increase of almost 18 percent over 2012.
The IRS went after a wide variety of offenders, from nonfilers to promoters of abusive tax schemes. Here are the Criminal Investigation division’s top priorities from 2013:
1. Identity theft fraud 2. Return preparer and questionable refund fraud 3. International tax fraud 4. Fraud referral program 5. Political/public corruption 6. Organized crime drug enforcement 7. Bank Secrecy Act and Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) review 8. Asset forfeiture 9. Voluntary disclosure program 10. Counterterrorism and the Sovereign Citizens group
In an interesting case, the IRS nabbed a former employee who blackmailed taxpayers into paying her a $400 fee to keep her from interfering with their refunds. The IRS was also responsible for the public corruption case involving former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), who was sentenced to 30 months in prison for conspiring to defraud his re-election campaign. n
>> EXCELLENT EXCEL: SEPARATING INFORMATION
In prior Disclosures issues, we covered how to use the CONCATENATE function to combine information from multiple cells into a single cell. This month we will discuss three options for separating information within a single cell into different cells using the functions of LEFT, RIGHT and MID. These functions return a specified number of characters from a string of text.
For example, if the cell A1 contained a six-digit account code followed by an account name “123456Cash” and you wanted this information split into different cells, you could write “=LEFT(A1,6)” in one cell to get “123456” and “=RIGHT(A1,4)” in another cell to get “Cash.” On the other hand, let’s say you have a long list of account codes and names that you want to separate. If all of your account codes are the same length and on the left-hand side, you are in luck. You can use the MID function to grab just the account name. In the example above, you could use “=MID(A1,7,100)” to get “Cash.” The MID function goes to the cell you want the text from (A1) and starts counting each character from left to right. Once it gets to the start position (7), it will start returning the string of text, again moving left to right, until it reaches the number of characters you specify in the formula (100).
I specified returning 100 characters when Cash is only 4 because if I had a long list of account codes and names I am sure that Cash, although very important, would be one of the shorter names and I could use the same formula all the way down the list. 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
DISCLOSURES • MAY/JUNE 2014 • HTTP://DISCLOSURES.VSCPA.COM 5
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So you want to be a CFO…
If you have career aspirations to become a Chief Financial Offi cer (CFO), you would be wise to focus on 10 key skills and traits identifi ed in the “Future Pathways to Financial Leadership” report from the Association of Chartered Certifi ed Accountants (ACCA) and Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). Current fi nancial leaders see these traits as imperative for future CFOs.
1. Know your fundamentals — Have experience in the core fi nance areas of fi nancial and management accounting.
2. See strategy and business experience as the new baseline — Deep business experience will be highly valuable.
3. Get knowledge in insight and analytics — Data will become imperative to fi nance teams.
4. Get risk experience — Businesses will face even more traditional and emerging risks.
5. Become a deal maker — Experience in mergers and acquisitions as well as change management will be important.
6. Become customer-focused — Engage with stakeholders and cultivate relationships.
7. Focus on the management skills that matter — Th ese are leadership, communication, strategic thinking and change management.
8. Prepare for more regulation — Future CFOs must be comfortable operating in a regulated environment with broad reporting requirements.
9. Get connected — Th e infl uence of social, mobile and cloud technologies will only increase.
10. Expand your footprint — Future leaders must be adept working in global environments and leading diverse teams across mature and emerging markets.
Find the ACCA / IMA report at http://tinyurl.com/ p2f9jzx or scan the QR code with your smartphone. n
CPAs HELPING CPAs
Do you know a CPA
in need? Th e American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) Benevolent Fund may be able to help. Th e Benevolent Fund, established in 1933, assists AICPA members through temporary periods of fi nancial diffi culty and provides subsistence aid to members and their families in cases of serious illness, accident or death of the primary source of family income. For example, the Fund helped several members with temporary assistance aft er Hurricane Katrina.
Types of assistance include temporary monthly living expenses; temporary monthly medical, mental and prescription expense payments that exceed insurance coverage; Medicare or other health insurance premiums; most medically necessary services for dependent children (under age 21); one-time emergency grants; and other assistance as deemed appropriate by the AICPA Board of Trustees.
As an Alabama recipient said, “Th e AICPA Benevolent Fund was truly an answer to my prayers when things were very dark. My famliy would not have been able to survive further devastation without the Fund.”
You can help, too. Th e AICPA takes contributions directly to the Benevolent Fund at http://tinyurl.com/BenevolentFund. n
Ethical rules to become more intuitive
Later this year, you’ll have a new, easier-to-understand Code of Professional Conduct from the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA). In January, the Professional Ethics Executive Committee approved revisions, which will become effective Dec. 15, 2014 (with delayed implementation for two conceptual frameworks). The AICPA delayed the effective date of the new Code so users can become familiar with the new frameworks and update their internal policies and procedures, and the AICPA Professional Ethics Division will be releasing a toolkit for assistance.
The most significant additions are two conceptual frameworks: one for CPAs in public practice and one for members working in business and industry. These will discuss issues that are not otherwise addressed in the Code. Using the frameworks, users can identify threats to compliance with the rules, evaluate the significance of those threats and then apply the appropriate safeguards.
The new Code will also be intutitively organized. Rather than organized by rule and then interpretive guidance, the reformatted Code separates guidance by lines of business and then topic. Topics then may be further broken down. The change should help CPAs quickly navigate the document and find pertinent content.
The document will be available electronically and contain basic and advanced search tools, the ability to email links or embed them in documents, hyperlinks to references and more. Users will be able to set up free accounts so they can save searches, notes and bookmarks, personalizing their experiences. n
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Don’t miss out on fun membership events, like the CPA Day of Service. Here,VSCPA members volunteered for the 2012 Day of Service.
IT’S OFFICIALLY TIME TO RENEW!
Make sure you lock in your benefits for the 2014–2015 VSCPA membership year and renew today at www.vscpa.com/Renew! You’ll get the same great benefits, from discounts on CPE opportunities and affinity partners to access to information in Disclosures and Connect, the VSCPA’s interactive, membersonly online directory — where everyone is talking. n
>> YOU’VE GOT NEW LICENSE STATUSES
In response to the VSCPA’s request to create a formal CPA licensure status for those CPAs who are inactive in the profession, the Virginia Board of Accountancy (VBOA) has implemented two new license statuses for active CPAs.
Effective now and deals with the renewal status for late licensees. Under current statute, individuals holding a CPA license have an additional 12 months after their license expiration date to renew the license. During that grace period, their licensee status will be “Active — Renewal Fee Delinquent,” but they would still be considered to hold a Virginia license. Previously, this status was known as “Expired — Late Renewal.” Licenses not renewed by the end of the 12-month period would be considered “Expired” and the licensee would have to reapply for licensure.
Target effective date is July 1, 2014, and affects CPAs who want to maintain their licenses but are not providing services to an employer or the public and don’t expect to for a period of time. CPAs who qualify for this status will be allowed to renew their licenses annually and pay the renewal fee, but will not have to fulfill CPE requirements. CPAs under this status who begin providing services to an employer or to the public would need to reactivate their “Active” status and meet CPE requirements before initiating services. n
