Create STRONG passwords that you won’t forget!

Monday, June 11th, 2012

Too often we are expected to create random, complicated passwords with special characters and lots of restrictions. Especially now, with all the security breaches, we recommend the following method to help you develop passwords that are strong and easy to create and remember:

For website passwords, use the first four or five letters of the website to start the password. For example: 

For added security, add the @ symbol and a number (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0) to the first letters of the website. For example:

Pick a phrase that is easy for you to remember, but that no one else will be able to attribute to you. For example:

Passphrase: “My Wife’s Birthday Is April Twenty-Fifth Nineteen Sixty Six”

Use the first letter of each phrase to form an abbreviation. For example:

m – My
w – Wife’s
b – Birthday
i – Is
a – April
t – Twenty-
f – Fifth
n – Nineteen
s – Sixty
s – Six

Abbreviated pass phrase: mwbiatfnss

Add the passphrase to the first letters of the website, the @ symbol and number. For example:

Following this pattern will help you develop strong passwords that are easy to create and remember. Remember that at a minimum the passwords must:

• contain at least 1 letter
• contain at least 1 number or punctuation mark
• be at least 8 characters long

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Jorge Rey, CISA, CISM, CGEIT is an associate principal and the director of information security & compliance for Kaufman, Rossin & Co. Kaufman, Rossin is one of the top CPA firms in Florida. Jorge can be reached at jrey@kaufmanrossin.com.

Using payroll service for QuickBooks 2009? It’s time to upgrade!

Friday, June 8th, 2012

Payroll service for QuickBooks 2009 will be discontinued on June 30, 2012, and all payroll subscriptions for customers with QuickBooks 2009 will be inactivated.

On July 1, 2012, QuickBooks 2009 will no longer automatically calculate correct payroll taxes or provide payroll tax forms. Live technical support and add-on business services such as payroll, credit card processing, QuickBooks Email, and online banking will also be discontinued.

However, if you don’t use live technical support or any of the add-on services, and are happy with your current version of QuickBooks, you can continue to use it.

Products for which services will be discontinued are:

• QuickBooks Pro, Premier and Simple Start 2009
• QuickBooks for Mac 2009
• QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 9
• QuickBooks Premier Accountant Edition 2009
• Credit Card Processing Kit 2009
• Invoice Manager 2009

We encourage you to upgrade your QuickBooks software as soon as possible to minimize disruption to your business. If you have any concerns, please contact your Kaufman, Rossin professional or one of our QuickBooks ProAdvisors.

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Lisa K. Grossman is an associate principal at Kaufman, Rossin & Co., and a leader in the Firm’s QuickBooks consulting practice. Lisa is a Certified Public Accountant in the state of Florida and a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country. She can be reached a lgrossman@kaufmanrossin.com.

Top 10 reasons you should update your estate plan before the end of 2012!

Wednesday, June 6th, 2012

1. Tax exemption is higher now than ever, but not for long.
   The current estate, gift and generation skipping tax exemption is currently $5,120,000 ($10,240,000) per couple. This is higher than it has ever been and is scheduled to drop to only $1,000,000 (only $2,000,000 per couple) in 2013 unless Congress and the President can reach an agreement. This may be a use it or lose it!
2. Your plan may disinherit your spouse!
   Do your current estate planning documents include a formula for determining the amounts passing to heirs or trusts for heirs based upon the exemption? With the currently high exemptions, your plan may disinherit your spouse!
3. Is your business safe from creditors or predators?
   Do you have a succession plan for your business? Does your plan include the use of asset protection trusts funded up to the amount of your exemption to safeguard your business from your heirs’ creditors, spouses and predators?
4. Interest rates are historically low!
   The interest rate that the IRS requires to be used for interfamily loans, sales to family trusts, and other planning techniques is at historical lows. The current required interest rate for a 9 year loan made in June 2012 is only 1.07%.
5. Discounting the value of assets is still available.
   Discounted values for lack of control and lack of marketability for interests in Corporations, Partnerships and LLCs are still available for interfamily transactions. There has been much talk about limiting such discounts, but currently, discounting is still available for planning purposes.  When discounting the value of assets by 33%, the effective interest rate on a note as mentioned in item four above drops to only 0.7%!
6. If you’re feeling generous – there’s no estate or gift tax!
   If you are currently giving or planning to give significant sums of money or assets to your favorite charity, the current low interest rates allow you to help your charity and transfer assets to your heirs with no estate or gift tax. Ask about the use of a charitable lead trust.
7. Consider a Roth IRA conversion for estate tax savings.
   If you have a large IRA or retirement plan as part of your taxable estate, which is in excess of the exemption, you should consider a Roth IRA conversion. This will reduce your taxable estate and provide years of tax free cash flow to heirs.
8. Avoid aggressive taxation on your vacation home.
   Do you have a vacation home outside Florida that will be subject to state estate tax and the costs of an ancillary probate administration in that state? Simple steps can avoid the often very aggressive taxation of these homes.
9. Is your life insurance subject to estate taxes?
   An irrevocable life insurance trust can avoid the estate tax and provide asset protection for your heirs.
10. Do you have a family member who has special health needs?
    You may want to consider unique provisions in your estate planning documents.

Don’t wait until the end of the year to get started.  Do it now!

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John R. Anzivino, CPA is in charge of Kaufman, Rossin’s estate, trust and exempt organization practice. Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the state and offers a wide variety of services for high-net worth individuals. John can be reached at janzivino@kaufmanrossin.com

Another IRS email scam

Tuesday, June 5th, 2012

The IRS will never initiate contact via email. If you receive an email claiming to be from the IRS, it is a SCAM!

Below is a screenshot of one of the scam emails being sent.

If you have any concerns or questions, feel free to contact your Kaufman, Rossin professional.

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Scott F. Berger is a tax and accounting services principal at Kaufman, Rossin’s Boca Raton office.  Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country.  He can be reached at sberger@kaufmanrossin.com.

QuickBooks – There’s an app for that too!

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

Are you an app lover? Do you use apps for more than just games?

If so, you’ll appreciate that QuickBooks has the capability to integrate with numerous applications to simplify billing, invoicing, customer management, financial management, and mobile accounting. One of our favorite apps is Bill.com.

Bill.com is a paperless bill pay service that integrates with both desktop QuickBooks and QuickBooks Online. If you’re trying to organize payables, gain greater control over cash flow, and gain access to bill pay functions on your smart phone, then this app may be great for you.  Even if your accounting firm pays your bills for you, this app will help you get clear, instant access to your records.

How it works:

• You get a dedicated email address or fax number to send in copies of your invoices. They’re all archived in a secure, web-based portal.
• You can maintain proper internal controls by having separate staff upload, approve, and pay bills.
• Payments are sent via ACH, if accepted by your vendor, or via paper checks.
• If a paper check is required, funds are first transferred to Bill.com.  Then, a check is cut from Bill.com’s account. This lessens your exposure to check fraud.
• Users have access to a cash flow calendar allowing them to easily schedule, postpone, and project expenses.
• All accounting information exports to QuickBooks, eliminating the need for duplicate data entry.
• It works with any computer or mobile device. This provides a great solution for owners who travel frequently and want to stay on top of their expenses or retain the authority to pay bills themselves.

This is a trusted service, recommended by the AICPA’s CPA2BIZ division.  It’s gotten very strong reviews from the QuickBooks community for both its functionality and user support.  A package for up to 5 users is $49.00 per month plus $0.99 for each paper check required.

App savvy professionals can get more information at http://www.bill.com/.

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Meredith Tucker is an accounting services manager at  Kaufman, Rossin’s Boca Raton office, and a QuickBooks ProAdvisor. Kaufman, Rossin & Co., one of the top CPA firms in the country, offers  QuickBooks training and consulting services. She can be reached at mtucker@kaufmanrossin.com.

How to choose the right Service Organization Controls report

Thursday, March 8th, 2012

If you provide outsourced services to your clients, an excellent tool to create trust and confidence is the service organization controls (SOC) reports. These reports can boost growth, win and retain clients and open new markets. 

But which one is right for your organization?

 The SOC reports replace and expand the previous standard, SAS 70.  We have seen a seamless transition from the old standard to its replacement, the SOC 1 report (or SSAE 16). This report examines internal controls at a service organization that impact a user entity’s controls over financial reporting.

However, we are still seeing some confusion with the new reports (SOC 2 and SOC 3). The new reports are designed to examine operational issues, such as security, availability, integrity, confidentiality or privacy. And, since both reports examine the same areas, many of our clients are asking us why they should get a SOC 2, SOC 3 or both.

To assess what report is right for you, ask:

• Do your customers have the need for/ability to understand the details of processing and controls at a service organization, the tests performed by the service auditor and results of those tests?  If the answer is yes, a SOC 2 report will be right for you.
• Do you plan to use the report to market your services?  Do you need to make the report readily available?  Does a certification seal add value? If the answer is yes, a SOC 3 report will be the right choice and not a SOC 2.

 Should you get both?

From the auditors’ perspective, the work we do to issue the SOC 2 and SOC 3 report is the same.  It’s the actual report and opinion that are different.  We are recommending our clients get a SOC 2 report and, since the work has been done, also issue a SOC 3 report. This way you will get the best of both worlds.

For more information on SOC reports, please refer our white paper New Tools Help Service Organizations Win Clients’ Trust.

Jorge Rey is Director of Information Security for Kaufman, Rossin & Co., one of the top CPA firms in the country. He can be reached at jrey@kaufmanrossin.com.

ALERT: You may have paid too much sales tax!

Wednesday, March 7th, 2012

Sales and use tax rules are complex and can be confusing.  It’s surprising how often entrepreneurs pay more taxes than they’re required.  Many never even know they overpaid thousands!

If your business is in the manufacturing, hospitality, or healthcare industry then you may qualify!

Our experts find overpayments and recover them.

Our State & Local Tax professionals will analyze your payments and see whether you have a refund due.  We look at your fixed asset and consumable purchases over the past three years, and often find vendor overcharges of sales tax, or sales/use tax paid on nontaxable transactions. Then we file a refund claim with the State to recover the overpaid tax, or we prepare a report so you can recover the overpayments by taking credits against future sales tax payments.

It works.  We’ve found significant refunds for many clients.

For example:

• We recovered approximately $130,000 in overcharged sales tax for a South Florida resort hotel.
• We recovered approximately $250,000 in overpaid sales/use tax for a Central Florida manufacturing company.

Here’s the best part: it costs nothing unless we succeed.

The work is performed on a contingency fee basis. There is no cost to you unless we find an overpayment and get your money back.  Our fee is paid out of the cash we recover.  There is zero impact on your budget.

Clients find our experience invaluable.

This time-consuming work requires a significant base of knowledge about the rules and how they may be applied.  It takes detail orientation and patient attention.  Kaufman, Rossin has built a team of professionals whose technical skills and abilities in this area are unmatched.

• We have 15 years of FL Dept. of Revenue (“FDOR”) experience
• We have extensive contacts within the FDOR.
• We started doing this at the Big Four, but chose to bring this real value to entrepreneurs at Kaufman, Rossin a dozen years ago.

Want to know if you overpaid – and get it back?

For additional information on our State & Local Tax (SALT) Practice, please contact:

• Dan Wagner – 561.620.1718 – dwagner@kaufmanrossin.com
• Or your Kaufman, Rossin account professional.

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Dan Wagner is an associate tax principal in Kaufman, Rossin’s SALT practice.  Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country. He can be reached at dwagner@kaufmanrossin.com.

#ILoveAccountants

Tuesday, March 6th, 2012

Why Do You Love Accountants?

There are endless possibilities as to why you may love accountants. They save you money, they help you avoid an audit, they help you make sense of that shoe box full of receipts… Whatever the reason may be, we want to know (in 140 characters or less)!

In just two days, I will be traveling to Austin, Texas for my second annual South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive conference – the largest social media, tech, web, and start-up event in the world. Besides engaging in six speaker sessions from 9:30am till 6:00pm for five days straight, meeting hundreds of new people, and attending countless events, I’ll be encouraging complete strangers to tweet why they love accountants with the #ILoveAccountants hashtag!

Why?

1. SXSW is a social media hub. So why not conduct a fun Twitter campaign?

2. Although SXSW attracts the most social media-friendly people in the world, it’s still a rarity to see professional services, especially accountants, in the mix of it all. We want to make a CPA presence in Austin!

3. I’ll be wearing a different, brightly-colored shirt each day with the caption, “ASK ME WHY,” on the front and “#ILoveAccountants” on the back – it’s bound to be a conversation starter!

4. We really want to know your answer.

So why do you love accountants? Tweet us at @KaufmanRossin with #ILoveAccountants!

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Aubrey Swanson is the social media coordinator at Kaufman, Rossin’s Miami office. Kaufman, Rossin & Co.is one of the top CPA firms in the country. She can be reached at aswanson@kaufmanrossin.com. Connect with Aubrey on Linkedin. Follow Aubrey on Twitter.

Why Should You Attend SXSW?

Friday, March 2nd, 2012

It’s that time of the year again… Time for 30,000 web, tech, and marketing enthusiasts to gather together for five days of non-stop panels, events, networking, and learning.  I’m talking about South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Conference – the “it” conference among social media, tech, start-up, and innovative companies around the world!  The opportunities at SXSW are endless, which is why it’s incredibly valuable for Kaufman, Rossin & Co. and me to attend.

SXSW is the world’s technology hub.  All the latest and greatest in tech, innovation, and social media are there offering an invaluable, one-of-a-kind experience.  My world of social media evolves and changes every single day, and SXSW exposes me to the forefront of social media and technology – preparing me for what’s to come. The sessions held at SXSW help confirm my current strategies and ideas, teach and prepare me for what the future holds, and inspire me with creative new ideas to implement once I return to Miami.

As for the SXSW crowd – imagine thousands of the most brilliant, creative, inspiring minds in one city.  Authors, professional speakers, CEOs, representatives from Fortune 500 companies to the innovative start-ups – you can’t beat it! Not to mention the networking opportunities at SXSW are priceless.  Interactive attendees come together for the love of technology. You never know who you’ll meet, what you’ll learn from them, and what you could offer them.

Still not convinced?  Hear first-hand from last year’s SXSW speakers, attendees, and exhibitors.

If you’re planning on attending SXSW this year, be sure to read Christine de la Huerta‘s, VP of rbb Public Relations‘ Digital Park, article in The Miami Herald for tips on making the most of your SXSW experience.

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Aubrey Swanson is the social media coordinator at Kaufman, Rossin’s Miami office.  Kaufman, Rossin & Co.is one of the top CPA firms in the country.  She can be reached at aswanson@kaufmanrossin.com.  Connect with Aubrey on Linkedin.  Follow Aubrey on Twitter.

How to Survive Tax Season

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

Tax season is in full swing, and for accountants, that means long work days, extra workloads, and heightened stress between January and April 17.  So how do CPAs cope with busy season? We asked our professionals at Kaufman, Rossin to shed some light on how they relax, revive, de-stress, and maintain productivity…

And we got a lot of fun, interesting, and even some quirky responses!

So tell us, how do you survive tax season? Leave a comment below, or tell us on Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter with the #SurvivingTaxSeason hash tag!

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Aubrey Swanson is the social media coordinator at Kaufman, Rossin’s Miami office.  Kaufman, Rossin & Co. is one of the top CPA firms in the country.  She can be reached at aswanson@kaufmanrossin.com.  Connect with Aubrey on Linkedin.  Follow Aubrey on Twitter.