Firm Management

Governor Deval Patrick signed legislation to increase the minimum wage in increments to $11 per hour by 2017. The law also lowers unemployment insurance costs.

Indiana has become the first state to permit competency-based education to qualify for CPA license renewal. The Indiana Board of Accountancy and Indiana CPA Society have partnered on the new pilot program, and the change was facilitated through work of the CPA Center of Excellence. Announced last week, the CPA Center of Excellence has been established as a source for competency assessment, competency enhancement and intelligent collaboration for CPAs.

During the first decade or two of my accounting and tax life, I always felt that everyone knew more than I did. I was always a bit intimidated by the depth of knowledge other CPAs, EAs and attorneys seemed to have – and prayed that I could know just a little more of what they knew.

Boston-based JDJ Family Office Services, which provides administrative multi-family office and personal CFO services to high net worth individuals and families, will retain its entire 21-person staff and continue to deliver the same suite of customized services to its existing and expanding client base.

Cloud accounting and payroll software maker AccountantsWorld is partnering with HBK CPAs & Consultants (HBK), a Top 100 accounting and wealth management services firm based in Youngstown, Ohio.

On Tuesday, July 15, CPA Practice Advisor is hosting a free webcast titled, "Electronic Signatures and the IRS ... Everything You Need to Know." Sponsored by Wolters Kluwer CCH, the CPE-eligible webcast will cover the latest changes to electronic filing, including topics that are especially important for tax professionals and their clients.

Cloud accounting company Xero and cloud CRM maker Constant Contact are hoping to make the process easier and more productive.

The Internal Revenue Service’s proposed voluntary certification program for tax return preparers “would cause significant legal problems that may ultimately frustrate the IRS’s goals, confuse the public, and lead to litigation,” according to the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA).