A Payroll Auditor’s Guide to Preparing for a Deposition: Part 1 of 2

Posting by Travis Ketterman

Depositions are not routine conversations or idle chit chat; they lock a witness into a story and allow the opposing side insight into the litigation strategy.  As such, when a dispute is taken to court, as a payroll auditor, you must prepare – and be prepared – for a deposition.

This two-part post will cover five effective strategies for successfully giving a deposition, including:

Review the Deposition Process
Discuss the Purpose for the Specific Deposition
Review Necessary […]

May 21, 2012 Payroll Audit Read more...

Gretzky’s Puck and the Commitments that Drive Family Business Success

Posting by Geoffrey D. Brown, CPA

Wayne Gretzky once said that good hockey players play where the puck is, but great players play where the puck will be. That statement was certainly true for Gretzky’s career, but I was again inspired when it was referenced by an industry icon as one of the fundamental reasons his family business has survived for 212 years.

Charles Kittredge is the Chairman and former Chief Executive Officer (as of this year) of Crane & Co., […]

May 21, 2012 Family Owned Businesses, Human Resources Read more...

Detecting Financial Statement Fraud: Part 2

Alex Helfand, ENCE, Computer Forensic Specialist

In the previous post , I reviewed common motivations for committing financial statement fraud, as well as several common ways that financial statements can be manipulated.  This post covers additional misrepresentations and how forensic accountants identify them.
Concealed Liabilities and Expenses: Concealed liabilities can include warranties attached to sales, underreported Incurred-but-not-Reported (IBNR) health benefits, or simple omission of liabilities.  Expenses can be concealed by capitalization that spreads the expense out over a number of years […]

May 21, 2012 Accounting, Audit, Forensic Accounting Read more...

Using a Dashboard to Help Operate Your Benefit Plan

Larry Beebe, CPA

What is a dashboard and why should you be using one to improve operations for your employee benefit plan?  A dashboard is a digital display of key performance indicators relevant to your plan.  Like the dashboard of your car, this display can, at a glance, provide the status of key information from many different systems.

Dashboards are a business management tool that can be used to determine the status of a plan, usually on a monthly basis.  […]

May 21, 2012 Accounting, Audit, Benefit Plan Accounting Read more...

TAX INCREASES FOR SOME MARYLAND RESIDENTS

The Maryland Senate (on Tuesday) and the House (on Wednesday) passed a tax increase on individuals reporting income of more than $100,000 and joint filers reporting income of more than $150,000 in Maryland.  The Governor is expected to sign the bill into law soon.

The increase is retroactive to January 1, 2012, and Maryland will issue new withholding tables in the coming weeks.  The increase is a quarter of a percentage point (.25%) in tax on those higher-income earners.  The […]

May 18, 2012 Accounting, Tax Read more...

WILL 2013 BRING TAX CHANGES?

Daniel Bottner, CPA

Next year has the potential to bring big changes for taxpayers.

The Bush-era tax cuts are scheduled to expire on December 31, 2012 and a new Medicare tax will be established.  However, there is great uncertainty as to what will actually happen because of the election in November and (in some economists’ views) the potential adverse economic impact of large tax increases.

Expiring Bush-Era Cuts

The Bush cuts were the product of the Economic and Tax Reconciliation Act of […]

May 18, 2012 Accounting, Tax Read more...

Benefit Plan Fraud Prevention: Developing Operational Controls for Payroll Audits

Alex Helfand, ENCE, Computer Forensic Specialist

There are several fraud risks inherent in the payroll audit process for multiemployer employee benefit plans, as well as risk that the revenue will be lost from inefficient operations.  When was the last time you analyzed your payroll audit process to see if it complies with your internal control policies?  How efficient are your payroll audits?

Payroll audits should be scheduled in a timely manner (especially when they are project-related) and completed as efficiently as […]

May 16, 2012 Uncategorized Read more...

Hiring a Payroll Audit Firm, Question 4: What is the Relationship Between Your Audit Findings and Your Audit Costs?

Posting by Larry Beebe, CPA

As part of this series, I am providing Plan Trustees with a list of questions they should ask when requesting proposals from payroll auditing firms.  Click here to view the full list of questions.

Question 4: What is the relationship between your audit findings and your audit costs?

One of the most important tasks annually performed by Plan Trustees with regards to the payroll audit program is to measure the amounts recovered as a result of the […]

May 8, 2012 Payroll Audit Read more...

Bond Beebe Principal John Merchant Participates in eDiscovery Panel

Natalie Burchfiel, CPA

BETHESDA, Maryland (May 4, 2012) – Bond Beebe, a certified public accounting and advisory firm with offices in Bethesda, Maryland and Alexandria, Virginia, announced that Principal John A. Merchant was a panelist for “Digital Hide and Seek,” a Forensic Symposium hosted by Stevenson University on April 26, 2012.  Merchant, a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner, spoke on the role of eDiscovery as it relates to the field of accounting. Other panelists included Michael Berman, counsel […]

May 4, 2012 Accounting, Human Resources Read more...

Bond Beebe Principal John Merchant Participates in eDiscovery Panel

Bond Beebe, a certified public accounting and advisory firm with offices in Bethesda, Maryland and Alexandria, Virginia, announced that Principal John A. Merchant was a panelist for “Digital Hide and Seek,” a Forensic Symposium hosted by Stevenson University on April 26, 2012.  Merchant, a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner, spoke on the role of eDiscovery as it relates to the field of accounting. Other panelists included Michael Berman, counsel to Rifkin, Livingston, Levitan & Silver, LLC and […]

May 4, 2012 Firm News & Events, Forensic Accounting Read more...