Weinstein Spira’s blog, The Balancing Act, provides helpful information on technical accounting and CPA firm culture.
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Are you facing another round of CPA exams? Don’t know where to begin? Having personally gone through the process multiple times, I know it can seem like an uphill battle, and feel as if you are alone on the field. But there are strategies, resources and other people...
On December 29, 2022, Congress passed the long-awaited SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0 or the Act). While SECURE 2.0 aims to make it easier for Americans to save and encourages small businesses to adopt retirement plans, it will also require plan sponsors to take...
Weinstein Spira, the mid-market public accounting firm for Houston’s top high net worth individuals and privately held businesses, is proud to announce the promotion of two leaders within the firm. Elizabeth Harkness is now a Human Resources Director. Harkness joined...
A holiday shutdown is when a business closes shop during a holiday and for a specified period—employees do not work, and business operations cease. Holiday closures during the last week of the year, a time where many businesses close for Christmas and the New Year,...
Traditionally, starting a new job has never been an easy undertaking. After COVID-19, many companies have transitioned to a hybrid working schedule, where employees are working both remotely and in-person. This change in dynamics makes it more difficult for new...
Studying for the CPA exam at any point in your career is not an easy task to accomplish. Whether you just graduated college or have been working in the corporate world for years, it can be tough to manage and find the time to effectively prepare for the exam. As a mom...
Let's start with a sobering statistic: The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) estimates that organizations lose 5% of their revenue to fraud annually. What could you do if that 5% wasn’t missing? Whistleblowers Have an Impact on Detecting Fraud The ACFE...
Many companies invest a substantial amount of time and money in their office space to make it welcoming, comfortable and productive for both employees and clients. Ideally, a corporate office is a place where employees can work and relax, where clients can interact...
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) became law on August 16, 2022. There are wide-ranging provisions that are intended to reduce the budget deficit, address climate change and clean energy, lower the cost of health insurance and prescription drugs and reform parts of...
Accountants primary focus is often numbers, of course, but strong writing skills are critical to your advancement. Here’s why: 1. Basic communication calls for clear writing Most accountants dedicate a significant amount of time to writing emails and other...
Do you have debt or other agreements that utilize the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) as the benchmark reference rate? If so, are you prepared for reference rate reform? Over the past years, there has been an effort to move away from the LIBOR and other...
If you are one of the many businesses that have taken advantage of the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) or plan to, you may be wondering about the impact the ERC refund has on your income tax return. In this blog post, we review the ERC and discuss the income tax...
Weinstein Spira, the mid-market public accounting firm for Houston’s top high net worth individuals and privately held businesses, is proud to announce the promotion of three leaders within the firm. Heather Branham promoted to Senior Audit Manager. As a Senior...
Since I joined Weinstein Spira in November 2020, I have had several colleagues ask how my work at our firm compares to my experience at a Big 4 public accounting firm. In this blog, I will share what I believe are the seven primary differences between working in audit...
You have heard it a thousand times— “communication is important.” But communication styles, like pant styles, vary among generations, genders, and level of authority. Most people think they are expressing their thoughts in a way that everyone understands,...
Deciding which QuickBooks version is a best fit for your business can be a challenge. There are quite a few offerings to meet the needs of a variety of business models and industries. This articleprovides a brief description of each QuickBooks version highlighting...
Almost every accounting professional has considered taking the CPA exam, but the time, energy and stress that comes with passing all four sections can make it easy to push aside. Studying for the exam is a challenge but it’s also a marker of your competence, work...
When you invest in financial instruments, such as stocks, mutual funds, IRAs/401ks, commodities, and even cryptocurrency, the main goal is to grow your wealth. In many cases, once that initial investment decision is made, people tend to leave it there and go about...
Working on the audit side of public accounting for 10+ years, I have performed audits of countless sets of financial statements. There are various reasons that a client may need this service, ranging from fulfilling a periodic requirement in their debt agreements to...
After almost a decade of pressure from the Department of Labor (DOL) requesting more transparent reporting and improved quality for ERISA plan audits, the Auditing Standards Board issued Statement on Auditing Standards No. 136, Forming an Opinion and Reporting on...
In the accounting world, spring internships are typically what you hear about the most. However, I did my internship in the summer of my junior year of college and found it to be very advantageous for several reasons. In this blog post, I will share that less-traveled...
U.S. Internal Revenue Code Section 1031 allows real estate investors to swap one property for another and defer recognizing some or all the gain and the related tax liability from the sale of the first property—assuming some very specific rules are met. Over the...
What is the typical day like for a staff accountant at Weinstein Spira? I am glad you asked! As a staff accountant who rotates between tax and audit, I can speak about my typical day, noting that things vary depending on the season and whether I am working from home...
Did you know? The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) issued several new auditing standards a few years ago, which are effective for the December 31, 2021 audits. Many of the standards affect what auditors do and how we document our work, so you...