I have started a series of posts on my other blog discussing the documentation requirements under SSARS 19 for compilations and reviews. I won’t be cross-posting those discussions on this blog. The first item is here.
Update – Discussions of reviews start here.
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
Corey Pfaffe writes at the MinistryCPA blog. He has a lot of good comments. Suggest you visit his site once in a while. Two posts I wanted to mention specifically:
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
After the Cooks Source fiasco discussed here and other posts, it is delightful to see a company that knows how to apologize and takes clear ownership of their problem.
37signals provides a number of collaborative software products. I don’t use their services, but I thoroughly enjoyed a book they wrote on the lessons they have learned in their business. Enjoyed it so much I wrote an Amazon review, which I discussed here. I read their blog everyday. I heartily recommend it.
Anyway, last November and December their flagship program had a lot of intermittent outages.
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
Great summary of the rules for personal use of a ministry vehicle here, written by Kathy Hostetler, CPA, on the Nonprofit GPS blog.
This most often becomes an issue when the ministry buys a car and lets a senior person use it as their personal vehicle. Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
No surprise there.
The Wall Street Journal reports here the volume of churches going through distressed sale of their property has increased rapidly over the last couple of years. In addition to a good background article, which I think you should read, there is a great pair of charts that gives good info.
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
Welcome to the CPAs arriving here from an internet search. This post is just for the CPAs in my audience.
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
For concise news on the changed social security tax rates for 2011, see New Changes in Payroll Taxes, a post by Autum Awalt at the Faith-Based Accounting blog.
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
You’ve played the word game — if California was a separate country, it would be the Xth largest economy in the world.
The Economist magazine has revised the game with a graph that matches the GDP of each state with another country with the closest GDP. Map is here. The ‘population’ button at the top changes the map to match each state with a country with the closest population size.
A few fun observations:
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
The cut off for organizations being able to file a 199N with the California Franchise Tax Board instead of the longer 199 is gross revenue normally $25,000 or less. The cut off to file a 990-N instead of the longer 990-EZ with the IRS is $50,000.
What to do if your income is between 25,000 and 50,000?
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
I have a post up on my other blog addressing this question. You can find it here, since I won’t be cross posting the entry.
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
Starting January 1, 2011, very small tax-exempt organizations in California must file an e postcard with the state Franchise Tax Board. This is very similar to the federal e-postcard. Form FTB 199N is used for the FTB while Form 990-N is used with the IRS.
Key things you need to know:
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
Previous posts here and here for background.
There are a few comments worth repeating from the the ECFA’s webinar on the formation of their Commission on Accountability and Policy for Religious Organizations. The Commission will provide input to the Senate Finance Committee. A few of my thoughts as well.
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
Sen. Charles Grassley has asked ECFA to lead an independent, private sector commission to provide input on some of the major accountability and policy issues affecting the religious nonprofit community, particularly churches. Previous post here. ECFA’s press release here.
Dan Williams, of PSK, an accounting firm in Arlington, Texas, has some comments at Faith-Based Accounting.
In a webinar on January 14, Michael Batts, CPA and Dan Busby, CPA and President of ECFA, gave background on the Commission and what it will be addressing.
Here are a few of the issues on the commission’s plate:
1 Comment | Non-profit Tax | Tagged: Commission on Accountabilty | Permalink
Posted by Jim Ulvog
Yesterday I listened to the ECFA webinar on the new commission they have formed to provide input to the US Senate on accountability and policy issues affecting churches. Press release is here.
I will have several posts on the issue. First some background.
2 Comments | Non-profit Tax | Tagged: Commission on Accountabilty | Permalink
Posted by Jim Ulvog
I have discussed the differences between audits, reviews, and compilations here and here. Even developed a visual illustration here. Ask any CPA and you can get a long explanation of the distinctions.
For something shorter, consult this article by Angus Loten in the Wall Street Journal, which said:
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Posted by Jim Ulvog
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