COVID-19 news and information for CPAs

TOPICS

June 11, 2020

Take care of your staff’s mental health during COVID-19

Isolation, boredom, uncertainty, stress, and anxiety can all take a toll on staff’s mental health during the pandemic. Try these tactics to support staff and boost their spirits during difficult times.

June 10, 2020

AICPA issues guidance on accounting for forgivable PPP loans

Nongovernmental entities have some options for accounting for forgivable loans under the Paycheck Protection Program, according to the AICPA’s new Technical Question and Answer guidance for borrowers.

June 8, 2020

Fed expands Main Street Lending Program to more businesses

The Federal Reserve Board announced revisions to the Main Street Lending Program that make it possible for more small and midsize businesses to receive financial support.

June 8, 2020

Partial PPP loan forgiveness remains if 60% threshold not met

Paycheck Protection Program loan recipients can receive partial loan forgiveness even if they don’t spend at least 60% of their PPP funds on payroll, Treasury and the US Small Business Administration said.

June 8, 2020

How large firms manage staff during the pandemic

Experts share the steps their firms have implemented to manage their workforces remotely as they ride out the crisis.

June 5, 2020

PPP forgiveness changes coming as Senate passes House bill

The Senate passed a House bill that gives small businesses and other entities that received loans from the Paycheck Protection Program 16 additional weeks to spend the funds and qualify for full forgiveness of the loans.

June 5, 2020

4 key COVID-19 audit risks for 2020 year ends

The coronavirus pandemic has created special challenges for practitioners to consider related to internal control, fraud, legal compliance, and accounting estimates. Here’s how auditors can address these risks.

June 5, 2020

Qualified opportunity zone rules are relaxed

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IRS further postponed the 180-day deadline to invest in a qualified opportunity fund from July 15, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2020, extended other deadlines, and relaxed some qualified investment rules.

June 4, 2020

Falling demand, safety concerns fuel finance leaders’ pessimism

Optimism reigned for years in a quarterly survey of finance decision-makers, but the COVID-19 pandemic changed everything.

June 3, 2020

IRS permits remote signatures for plan loan consents

In another response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the IRS is allowing retirement plan participants who want to take coronavirus-related distributions from their retirement plans to provide remote signatures, even for spousal consents.

FROM THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

Build reusable Skills in Anthropic’s Claude AI

Instead of rewriting prompts each time, CPAs can turn routine tasks into reusable AI Skills. This Technology Q&A walks through how to build Claude Skills that process files, ask setup questions, and export clean Excel outputs.