Reading Time: 3 minutes

Accounting has always been a fluid profession. For this reason, I prefer to call it more of an art than an exact science. Just this Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service plans to apply new rules on the withholding of individual wages. This announcement is part of a series of updates that the regulatory body has released since the passing of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Accountant Seattle WA

We can also expect changes in how we use the Form W-4. The IRS no long requires existing employees to resubmit the form for basic changes in their information. You can learn more about these changes with this article Sally Schreiber on the Journal of Accountancy last 13th of February 2020.

IRS Proposes Rules To Update Income Tax Withholding, Revises Form W-4

The IRS proposed new regulations (REG-132741-17) for withholding on individuals’ wages to reflect the statutory changes in the law known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, P.L. 115-97, including the elimination of the personal exemption. The proposed rules and the new Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Certificate (formerly titled Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate) no longer use an employee’s marital status and withholding allowances, which were tied to the value of the personal exemption. 

According to the IRS, income tax withholding using the redesigned Form W-4 will generally be based on the employee’s expected filing status (married, single, or head of household) and standard deduction for the year. Click here to read more…

Besides regulations, our surrounding environment also affects how we do accounting. Accountants need to adapt to new technologies quickly to avoid being left behind. Here are some real stories from actual CPAs on how they had to change to improve or save their businesses. Cheryl Meyer collated these stories in her article published last January 2020 on the Journal of Accountancy.

Interesting CPA Stories Of How Tech Has Transformed Accounting

Today’s CPAs are immersed in a torrent of change so swift that it’s difficult to keep pace. Technology is drastically changing the way they crunch the numbers, analyze data, deal with clients — and spend their time. We asked some technology-savvy accounting professionals to describe both their old and new ways of doing things, and the pros and cons of those changes. Here are their replies.

Charlie Metzig, CPA, a partner at Boyum Barenscheer in Bloomington, Minn., recalls carrying heavy three-ring binders — audit cases — to meet with clients more than 15 years ago. Click here to read more…

If you have been listening to the news for the past couple of years, then you’re most likely familiar with cryptocurrencies. A type of digital assets, experts saw them changing the banking and financing sector forever. Although this idea is still up for debate, it is undeniable that cryptos have affected accounting in more ways than one.

Jeff Drew hosted a podcast last 4th of February 2020, discussing the effects of blockchain technology-based currencies to accounting. You can read the summary of his podcast in the article below.

Where Accounting Really Stands With Blockchain

Blockchain has been touted over the past few years as a potential game-changer for the accounting profession — a distributed, digitized database where transactions can be approved without the need for third-party assurance, and records are immutable because the information is stored in cryptographically sealed blocks of data.

In 2019, however, some of that hype seemed to die down. CPA.com, the AICPA’s technology and business subsidiary, put out an accounting technology version of the Gartner Hype Cycle with blockchain having nearly completed a precipitous fall from the height of inflated expectations into the trough of disillusionment. Click here to read more…

The fluidity of accounting is most dependent on the changes in the environments surrounding it. From changes to IRS regulations to new blockchain technologies, almost anything can affect how we do our accounting. We at AldarisCPA are always ready to face these changes head-on. Whenever you encounter new issues with your books, you can depend on our Seattle CPAs to iron them out for you. Click here to set an appointment with us now!