Earlier this year, we brought you news of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) video parodies of Star Trek and Gilligan's Island. Turns out the employees who planned the video have watched some more recent TV shows as well.
The IRS also filmed a Mad Men-themed CPE video — and you can watch this one. Actor Michael Davis, who played the Don Draper-esque main character in the video, uploaded it to his YouTube channel. Watch it below (assuming it's still up when you read this).
The video appears to have been edited to showcase Davis, who introduces the director of IRS Field Assistance. The director does not appear in this version of the video.
Newly appointed IRS acting commissioner Danny Werfel (not the Heisman Trophy winner) has promised not to spend agency money on producing such videos in the future.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Monday, June 10, 2013
The Student's Perspective: Tax, Audit...or Other?
By Samantha Burch
Social Coordinator, Beta Alpha Psi, James Madison University
Editor's note: This is part of a series of guest posts from members of the James Madison University (JMU) chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, an honors fraternity for accounting students. These posts will cover topics of interest to accounting students. If you have a question you'd like a Beta Alpha Psi member to cover, please email VSCPA Communications Specialist Chip Knighton.
“Oh, you’re an Accounting major? Are you interested in tax or audit?”
This question is one that every accounting student has encountered multiple times during his or her time in college. During the first two or three years of school, the answer is likely, “I’m not sure yet”, but by the time senior year rolls around, most of us have discovered which sector of accounting we fit into. Taking classes, participating in externships and internships, and talking with professionals in various lines of service provide valuable exposure to the sectors and can help you make the decision. However, an easy mistake for students to make is to believe that they are limited in choosing between audit and tax because these are usually the two most highlighted sectors. Students are presented with two general stereotypes: Tax professionals travel less, have less client interaction and have an intense busy season from January to April while audit professionals travel more frequently and have more extensive client interaction. Most people can easily identify with one of those descriptions over the other; but what happens if you are like me, and unable to imagine yourself in either line of service? What happens if you do not “fit”?
When someone asks me that question, I smile and reply, “Neither”. I will not yet say for certain what I am interested in, but I feel that neither tax nor audit is the right field for me. At first, this was concerning, and I wondered if I had chosen the right major at all. But with some research and the help of mentors, I discovered that there are a multitude of other opportunities to pursue, such as forensic accounting, accounting outsourcing, and consulting.
Fellow students, if you find yourself feeling less than enthusiastic about tax and audit, do not be discouraged. There are several steps you can take to conduct your own research and find your own perfect fit.
These steps may take a bit of extra effort, and additional time to explore everything that the accounting world has to offer. You may even feel downright maverick when someone asks you the dreaded audit/tax question. But it will have been worth it when you find your own personal niche.
Samantha Burch is a rising senior at JMU seeking a master's degree in forensic accounting. She is the social coordinator of the Eta Delta chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, as well as a student member of the VSCPA and a 2012 Leaders' Institute attendee. She works in JMU's financial reporting department and is currently interning with Robinson, Farmer, Cox Associates.
Social Coordinator, Beta Alpha Psi, James Madison University
Editor's note: This is part of a series of guest posts from members of the James Madison University (JMU) chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, an honors fraternity for accounting students. These posts will cover topics of interest to accounting students. If you have a question you'd like a Beta Alpha Psi member to cover, please email VSCPA Communications Specialist Chip Knighton.
“Oh, you’re an Accounting major? Are you interested in tax or audit?”
This question is one that every accounting student has encountered multiple times during his or her time in college. During the first two or three years of school, the answer is likely, “I’m not sure yet”, but by the time senior year rolls around, most of us have discovered which sector of accounting we fit into. Taking classes, participating in externships and internships, and talking with professionals in various lines of service provide valuable exposure to the sectors and can help you make the decision. However, an easy mistake for students to make is to believe that they are limited in choosing between audit and tax because these are usually the two most highlighted sectors. Students are presented with two general stereotypes: Tax professionals travel less, have less client interaction and have an intense busy season from January to April while audit professionals travel more frequently and have more extensive client interaction. Most people can easily identify with one of those descriptions over the other; but what happens if you are like me, and unable to imagine yourself in either line of service? What happens if you do not “fit”?When someone asks me that question, I smile and reply, “Neither”. I will not yet say for certain what I am interested in, but I feel that neither tax nor audit is the right field for me. At first, this was concerning, and I wondered if I had chosen the right major at all. But with some research and the help of mentors, I discovered that there are a multitude of other opportunities to pursue, such as forensic accounting, accounting outsourcing, and consulting.
Fellow students, if you find yourself feeling less than enthusiastic about tax and audit, do not be discouraged. There are several steps you can take to conduct your own research and find your own perfect fit.
- Talk to your professors. They are knowledgeable about different careers that you can access with an accounting degree. They also have contacts that can give you more information about areas that interest you.
- Know what concentrations or upper level classes universities offer before you choose which to attend for a graduate degree. Look for a place that offers a variety of courses unrelated to tax or audit so that you can sample them before you decide.
- Research accounting firms in your area that have service lines other than tax and audit. Apply for an externship program if they have one; chances are they will spend a portion of that time introducing you to the service lines you may not be familiar with. I recently participated in such an externship, where I discovered that accounting outsourcing greatly appeals to me.
- Look for firms that do rotational internships. This means that you will get to work in each of their lines of service during your internship. Real world experience is the best way for you to know whether you enjoy something or not because you will be doing it all day long, five days per week. Even if you do not fall in love with any particular service line, you may be able to rule one out.
These steps may take a bit of extra effort, and additional time to explore everything that the accounting world has to offer. You may even feel downright maverick when someone asks you the dreaded audit/tax question. But it will have been worth it when you find your own personal niche.
Samantha Burch is a rising senior at JMU seeking a master's degree in forensic accounting. She is the social coordinator of the Eta Delta chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, as well as a student member of the VSCPA and a 2012 Leaders' Institute attendee. She works in JMU's financial reporting department and is currently interning with Robinson, Farmer, Cox Associates.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Young Professionals Corner: Work-Life Balance and My Experience as a Working Mother
By Marian Millikan, CPA
Senior Tax Accountant, Cherry Bekaert LLP
Editor's note: This is the first in a series of guest posts from young VSCPA members dealing with topics of interest to young professionals. If you have a topic you'd like a future blogger to cover, please email VSCPA Academic & Career Development Coordinator Tracey Zink.
At the start of my public accountant career, I remember learning in an orientation class how important a “work-life balance” was in allowing an individual to experience perfect harmony between their work and home lives. This lasting impression left me eager to figure out the secret formula so I could obtain the perfect balance of happiness.
Two years later, I was happy with my job and home life, but moments that I felt completely balanced were rare. I had considered giving up on my search for the secret formula, but then I realized how you interpret “balance” is essential. There doesn’t have to be a 50/50 split all the time. Sometimes work can take priority (tax season comes to mind), and other times, like vacations, family and friends should be your main focus. The perfect work-life formula is never constant, and will almost never be balanced 50/50.
Although balance can be different for each individual, the key to my work-life “balance” formula is two things: organization and prioritization. For instance, I need a calendar to track my work projects, social events, family appointments, and everything else. Once everything is on the calendar, I prioritize conflicting tasks to determine which is most important and must be accomplished at the expense of the other. Proactively making this choice helps me avoid making last-minute decisions that cause tons of stress, regardless of whether or not the “correct” choice was made. Any working parent can relate to a time when they found out about a party at their child’s school (or God forbid an early release from school) the day before, and had already scheduled an important client meeting for that afternoon. Whenever double bookings occur, it always seems Murphy’s Law is in full effect, and your spouse is out of town or the babysitter is sick. It only took a few instances for me to learn to put my child’s monthly “schedule of events” on the calendar as soon as I got it. Prioritizing these events has saved countless hours of guilt and apologies.
If you have a smartphone, a great resource is using a calendar app that allows you to share calendar updates with family members the instant they’re added. I can see all of my husband’s events, and he can see mine. This has proven to be a great tool for my family, as everyone knows when events are planned, when critical personnel are out of town, and who has been assigned to pick up which kid at what time. I use Cozi (www.cozi.com), but there other great tools out there, too.
Another valuable lesson I learned about prioritizing work and life tasks happened in my first few months as a working mother. I had just committed to completing a tax research and analysis project by the week’s end when I got the dreaded call from daycare: my daughter had a fever. Not only did she need to come home immediately, but my daughter wasn’t allowed back at school for a minimum of 24 hours! Even though this meant two work days turned into two unexpected days out of the office, I was determined to complete that project as promised. I worked through the night and every second she napped. Despite feeling exhausted, I turned the project in on Friday, and was proud of myself for doing it all! I felt like super woman, super employee, and super mom all wrapped up into one. When I gloated about my time management skills to my manager and how I accomplished this herculean task despite the odds. He looked at me a little puzzled and simply replied that I could have had another week to complete the project without a problem. Apparently, all I had to do was ask. So I learned another important work-life balance lesson: if you feel overwhelmed with either work or family, get yourself out of the “I can do it all” mindset and ask for help. More often than not, work and life can be flexible!
There will be times where you have to increase your effort towards family, and there are times that extra effort goes towards your job. It isn’t sacrificing one for the other, but managing the priorities of everything simultaneously. This approach makes me happy, fulfilled, and most importantly, keeps me sane. I feel like a better employee, coworker, wife, and mom. Work-life balance can’t get any better than that.
Senior Tax Accountant, Cherry Bekaert LLP
Editor's note: This is the first in a series of guest posts from young VSCPA members dealing with topics of interest to young professionals. If you have a topic you'd like a future blogger to cover, please email VSCPA Academic & Career Development Coordinator Tracey Zink.
At the start of my public accountant career, I remember learning in an orientation class how important a “work-life balance” was in allowing an individual to experience perfect harmony between their work and home lives. This lasting impression left me eager to figure out the secret formula so I could obtain the perfect balance of happiness.Two years later, I was happy with my job and home life, but moments that I felt completely balanced were rare. I had considered giving up on my search for the secret formula, but then I realized how you interpret “balance” is essential. There doesn’t have to be a 50/50 split all the time. Sometimes work can take priority (tax season comes to mind), and other times, like vacations, family and friends should be your main focus. The perfect work-life formula is never constant, and will almost never be balanced 50/50.
Although balance can be different for each individual, the key to my work-life “balance” formula is two things: organization and prioritization. For instance, I need a calendar to track my work projects, social events, family appointments, and everything else. Once everything is on the calendar, I prioritize conflicting tasks to determine which is most important and must be accomplished at the expense of the other. Proactively making this choice helps me avoid making last-minute decisions that cause tons of stress, regardless of whether or not the “correct” choice was made. Any working parent can relate to a time when they found out about a party at their child’s school (or God forbid an early release from school) the day before, and had already scheduled an important client meeting for that afternoon. Whenever double bookings occur, it always seems Murphy’s Law is in full effect, and your spouse is out of town or the babysitter is sick. It only took a few instances for me to learn to put my child’s monthly “schedule of events” on the calendar as soon as I got it. Prioritizing these events has saved countless hours of guilt and apologies.
If you have a smartphone, a great resource is using a calendar app that allows you to share calendar updates with family members the instant they’re added. I can see all of my husband’s events, and he can see mine. This has proven to be a great tool for my family, as everyone knows when events are planned, when critical personnel are out of town, and who has been assigned to pick up which kid at what time. I use Cozi (www.cozi.com), but there other great tools out there, too.
Another valuable lesson I learned about prioritizing work and life tasks happened in my first few months as a working mother. I had just committed to completing a tax research and analysis project by the week’s end when I got the dreaded call from daycare: my daughter had a fever. Not only did she need to come home immediately, but my daughter wasn’t allowed back at school for a minimum of 24 hours! Even though this meant two work days turned into two unexpected days out of the office, I was determined to complete that project as promised. I worked through the night and every second she napped. Despite feeling exhausted, I turned the project in on Friday, and was proud of myself for doing it all! I felt like super woman, super employee, and super mom all wrapped up into one. When I gloated about my time management skills to my manager and how I accomplished this herculean task despite the odds. He looked at me a little puzzled and simply replied that I could have had another week to complete the project without a problem. Apparently, all I had to do was ask. So I learned another important work-life balance lesson: if you feel overwhelmed with either work or family, get yourself out of the “I can do it all” mindset and ask for help. More often than not, work and life can be flexible!
There will be times where you have to increase your effort towards family, and there are times that extra effort goes towards your job. It isn’t sacrificing one for the other, but managing the priorities of everything simultaneously. This approach makes me happy, fulfilled, and most importantly, keeps me sane. I feel like a better employee, coworker, wife, and mom. Work-life balance can’t get any better than that.
Monday, May 20, 2013
The Economics of Ice and Fire
Any CPAs out there who are also fans of the HBO series "Game of Thrones" will want to read a recent series from Slate financial reporter Matt Yglesias. In a pair of blog posts, he posits that due to its natural resources, House Tyrell is, in fact, richer than House Lannister, the generally accepted richest house in Westeros.
* Now that I've started the name-dropping, I'll go ahead and get this out of the way to encapsulate what a lot of our readers must be thinking:
Yglesias also makes the point that much of a good bit of House Lannister's wealth comes in the form of debts incurred by the Iron Throne. The point is that House Tyrell is much more liquid than House Lannister, although the Joffrey-Margaery wedding may render that point moot.
What do you think? Should Tyrion, the master of coin in King's Landing, be worried about his family's financial stability? Let's keep things spoiler-free, people.
* Now that I've started the name-dropping, I'll go ahead and get this out of the way to encapsulate what a lot of our readers must be thinking:
Yglesias also makes the point that much of a good bit of House Lannister's wealth comes in the form of debts incurred by the Iron Throne. The point is that House Tyrell is much more liquid than House Lannister, although the Joffrey-Margaery wedding may render that point moot.
What do you think? Should Tyrion, the master of coin in King's Landing, be worried about his family's financial stability? Let's keep things spoiler-free, people.
Friday, May 10, 2013
The Student's Perspective: Landing the All-Important Internship
By Michael Gears
Vice President of Communications, Beta Alpha Psi, James Madison University
Editor's note: This is part of a series of guest posts from members of the James Madison University (JMU) chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, an honors fraternity for accounting students. These posts will cover topics of interest to accounting students. If you have a question you'd like a Beta Alpha Psi member to cover, please email VSCPA Communications Specialist Chip Knighton.
Vice President of Communications, Beta Alpha Psi, James Madison University
Editor's note: This is part of a series of guest posts from members of the James Madison University (JMU) chapter of Beta Alpha Psi, an honors fraternity for accounting students. These posts will cover topics of interest to accounting students. If you have a question you'd like a Beta Alpha Psi member to cover, please email VSCPA Communications Specialist Chip Knighton.
Graduating college is scary. Not only are my friends and I
about to finish their college career with
huge amounts of student loans, but
half of them are unable to find a job to start earning income and paying it
back. Luckily for us future CPAs, we often find ourselves deciding between job
offers, instead of hoping to receive one.
However, the recruiting process for accounting students still takes a
lot of effort, and I’d like to share with you a few things I’ve learned along
the way.
Many firms will host informational and casual meetings at a
local restaurant the night before they come for interviews. It’s very important
that candidates getting interviewed go to these. The most important thing at
these is that you make an effort to meet both the recruiter, and the person who
will be conducting the interview. If you are able to chat with them for a short
while, they will usually have a positive impression of you before you even sit
down for the interview. It will also separate you from other candidates who
didn’t show up, by proving that you are dedicated to the application process
and truly do want the position. Other key points for these events are to not
overstay your welcome, don’t bring up controversial topics, and don’t just go
with a friend and stick with them the whole time. This event is about meeting
the office employees on a personal level, so keep the conversation casual, but
keep in mind that this is still a very important part of the interview process,
and you will be judged on how you handle yourself.
Externships were a real eye-opening experience for my
recruiting process. These are short programs with firms that educate the
candidate more about the firm they might be interested in. I got a much better
feeling for the firms by doing these and seeing the working environment I would
be in. The recruiter describing the firm to you only can do so until you see
the actual office. Another benefit of these externships too is that you will
often get interviewed for internships with the firms, before any other
applicants do. The key on these externships is to really try and get a sense of
the culture of the firm, talk to as many employees as you’re able to meet. Just
like you had to picture yourself in the colleges you were applying for, you
have to see yourself fitting into the culture of the office. Externships are
the best place to do this.
If you’re lucky, your school might have mock interviews.
These are where actual recruiters will come in and interview you as if you were
applying for a job. The great benefit here though is they will critique you
afterwards and tell you where you need improvements, and review and edit your
resume that you bring in. Mock interview are great for sophomores to get out
some of the first interview jitters, or juniors and seniors to perhaps knock
some rust off. Professors and advisors can be great to get advice from, but the
ability to be critiqued by a recruiter actually in the current field provides a
whole different benefit.
As students, we are reinforced with the same tips constantly
for recruiting; introduce yourself, make sure to smile, a firm handshake.
However, there are a few pieces of original advice that I’ve learned along the
way through the recruiting process:
-
When wearing a name tag, make sure to wear it high on the right side of your chest. When you’re shaking somebody’s hand, it will be easier for them to maintain eye contact.
- If you choose to eat appetizers while meeting with firm personnel, always keep your shaking hand free. Keep a napkin under the plate you’re eating on to make cleaning your hands before shaking easier.
- Ask a few quality questions at the end of an interview. Some of my favorites are, why did you choose to work at this firm. What would be expected of me on my first year of working?
- The easiest and safest small talk conversations are usually over sports, family, hobbies, college experiences, and certainly the firm itself.
Don’t be afraid of what lies ahead. You chose a very
employable major and just need to polish yourself up a bit before hitting the
recruiting field. Follow these tips, get those A’s and you’ll be starting your
internship before you know it.
Michael Gears is an
accounting graduate student, concentrating in tax, at James
Madison University. He is the Vice President of Communications of the Eta
Delta chapter of Beta Alpha Psi and a student member of the VSCPA. He will be
interning at Veris Consulting this summer in Reston, VA.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
It’s Time to Renew Your VSCPA Membership
Our
2013–2014 membership year is here and promises to be one of our best yet, with
a variety of new benefits!
We
hope you’ll continue your commitment to the VSCPA and the CPA profession by
renewing your benefits and membership today. You can renew by using the invoice
we sent you via email, renew online at www.vscpa.com/Renew or call us at (800) 733-8272.
For a list of our 2013–2014 membership dues rates, click here.
--------------------------------------
Brenda L. FoggMember Relations Director
Virginia Society of CPAs
(804) 612-9409
www.vscpa.com │Connect
bfogg@vscpa.com │LinkedIn │ Twitter
Connect with the VSCPA’s interactive members-only community. Complete your profile now.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
VSCPA Membership on the Go!
The VSCPA is going mobile! Our communications channels — VSCPA.com, Connect, Disclosures, e-newsletters — have been redesigned, tweaked and streamlined to render more quickly on mobile devices. Read this article on vscpa.com or watch the video below to learn more, and visit www.vscpa.com on your smartphone or tablet to connect with your association community on the go!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)