Essential insights into Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), financial statement preparation, and professional bookkeeping. Discover guides for maintaining financial transparency and business health.
Which FASB standards take effect in 2026? The largest calendar-year first-effective ASUs are 2023-09 (income tax disclosures, private companies), 2024-04 (induced conversions of convertible debt, all entities), 2025-05 (AR credit losses practical expedient, PCC), and 2024-01 (profits interest awards, private companies). This post is a plain-English guide to the FASB effective dates 2026 that will…
What is SEC Regulation Crypto Assets, and does it change how I raise capital or report digital assets? The SEC proposed a new exempt-offering framework for crypto asset investment contracts on August 12, 2026, and FASB the same day proposed clarifying when certain digital assets — including some stablecoins — count as cash equivalents. Both…
Bookkeeping records the past and tax work reports it. CFO work changes what happens next, and complexity, not revenue, is what makes it worth paying for.
What did the OBBBA actually change for my nonprofit? Quite a lot. The OBBBA nonprofit tax rules created a new charitable deduction for non-itemizers, added floors that shrink deductions for high-income and corporate donors, expanded the §4960 excise on high pay, and set a tiered endowment tax for large private colleges. The One Big Beautiful…
Which new IFRS standards must I apply for a 30 June 2026 reporting date? Several amendments are mandatory now — including the IAS 21 lack-of-exchangeability rules, the IFRS 9 & IFRS 7 classification and measurement amendments, and Annual Improvements Volume 11 — while IFRS 18, IFRS 19, and IFRS 20 remain optional until 2027. Applying…
What changed for California employers on July 1, 2026? A stack of rules landed on the same day. California minimum wage 2026 updates cover healthcare workers, San Diego hospitality staff, and more than a dozen city and county rates — plus new California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) rules that will bite by 2027. If you…
Who can still elect the IAS 28 fair value option after the IASB’s 2026 amendments? The updated IAS 28 fair value option extends the FVTPL election beyond classic investment funds to any entity whose main business is investing in associates, joint ventures, unconsolidated subsidiaries, cash and cash equivalents, or other independently-returning assets — aligned to…
Who can measure associates and joint ventures at fair value under IFRS? The IAS 28 fair value option is an exemption from the equity method — and on 26 June 2026 the IASB issued narrow amendments that finally pin down which entities qualify, using the ‘specified main business activities’ concept from IFRS 18. If your…
What is the FASB changing about hedge accounting in 2026? On June 17, 2026, the FASB issued a proposed hedge accounting update to Topic 815 with three targeted changes: hedging interest rate risk on held-to-maturity securities, using any tenor of SOFR, and expanding eligible net investment hedging instruments. Comments are due August 17, 2026. If…
Do private companies have to change their income tax disclosures? Yes — in part. FASB ASU 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures, requires all entities to disclose income taxes paid (net of refunds) by federal, state, and foreign jurisdiction — and by any individual jurisdiction equal to or greater than 5%…
What is the SEC’s proposed filer status overhaul? On May 19, 2026, the SEC proposed collapsing public-company reporting into two categories — large accelerated filers (LAFs) and nonaccelerated filers (NAFs) — raising the LAF public float threshold to $2 billion and exempting NAFs from ICFR auditor attestation. If you advise public companies, the SEC filer…
How does FASB ASU 2025-06 change accounting for internal-use software? The FASB issued ASU 2025-06, Intangibles—Goodwill and Other—Internal-Use Software (Subtopic 350-40): Targeted Improvements, to modernize software cost guidance written in 1998 for today’s agile development. The biggest change: it ELIMINATES the old project-stage (waterfall) model for deciding when to start capitalizing costs. Instead, capitalization begins…
Is Congress about to change how crypto is taxed? Not yet — but it’s actively working on it. In June 2026, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on a slate of digital-asset tax bills aimed at fixing gaps in how cryptocurrency is taxed. The proposals include: a de minimis exception so small…
What were the key international tax developments in early-to-mid June 2026? The OECD pushed forward on the global minimum tax (Pillar Two) — releasing practical fixes to the GloBE Information Return (GIR) XML schema for first filings, an updated 2026 consolidated commentary, and new transfer-pricing guidance on intragroup services. In the EU, the Court of…
What changed in state and local tax in early-to-mid June 2026? A busy stretch: the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Florida’s challenge to California’s single-sales-factor apportionment; New York enacted a budget that extends its top corporate rate, decouples from some OBBBA provisions, and adds a “pied-à-terre” surcharge; Texas adopted cost-of-goods-sold rule changes for franchise…
What is IFRS 20, and who does it affect? The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) issued IFRS 20, Regulatory Assets and Regulatory Liabilities — a new IFRS Accounting Standard for companies subject to a specific type of rate regulation (utilities that supply electricity, water, and gas, where a regulator controls how much they can charge…
How do you account for carbon credits and emission allowances under U.S. GAAP now? On May 19, 2026, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) 2026-02, creating a brand-new Codification Topic — ASC 818, Environmental Credits and Environmental Credit Obligations. Until now, U.S. GAAP had no specific guidance for carbon offsets, renewable energy certificates (RECs),…
When does an SEC registrant have to file financial statements for a business it acquired? Under SEC Regulation S-X Rule 3-05, a registrant (including a company doing an IPO) must file separate pre-acquisition financial statements of a “significant” acquired or to-be-acquired business — with a parallel rule (3-14) for significant real estate operations. Significance is…
How can summer activities affect your next tax return? Several common summer events have tax consequences worth handling now, per the IRS: (1) summer DAY CAMP costs may count toward the Child and Dependent Care Credit; (2) getting MARRIED means reporting any name change to the Social Security Administration and any address change to USPS,…
What did the SEC propose to make going public easier? The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a set of proposed rule changes intended to encourage IPOs. The headline item: raise the threshold to be a “large accelerated filer” from $700 million to $2 billion in public float (the higher status would have to be…
What is the FASB hearing from investors right now? At its May 28, 2026 meeting, the FASB’s Investor Advisory Committee (IAC) flagged where today’s financial statements fall short for investors — and where new disclosure may be coming. Top themes: (1) data center financing and private credit are growing complex and opaque; (2) whether certain…
You got a letter from the IRS — what should you do? Open it and read it carefully; don’t toss it or panic. Most IRS letters and notices concern a specific issue on your federal tax return or account — a correction, a balance due, a request for more information, or a credit question —…
What is the 4% rule, and how do taxes change the picture? The 4% rule is a widely cited retirement rule of thumb: withdraw 4% of your savings in your first year of retirement, then adjust that dollar amount for inflation each year, aiming to make a portfolio last about 30 years. It’s popular because…
Is the Social Security Direct Express card changing — and do you need to do anything? Yes, for one group. The Social Security Administration (SSA) is switching the financial agent that runs its Direct Express prepaid debit card program from Comerica Bank to Fifth Third Bank, following a merger of the two institutions. This affects…
How is income from the 2026 FIFA World Cup taxed across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico? The 2026 FIFA World Cup is co-hosted by three countries, which raises a thorny question: when a national team earns prize money and other compensation, how is that income sourced among the United States, Canada, and Mexico? To avoid…
What federal tax developments landed in early June 2026? Three Treasury/IRS regulatory proposals and a busy week on Capitol Hill. On the regulatory side: (1) proposed regulations under §892 (CC-00349656-26, IR-2026-69) giving sovereign investors transition relief and new applicability dates tied to the December 2025 proposed rules; (2) proposed regulations (REG-103193-26) raising the estate tax…
What is California’s PTE elective tax, and what changed for 2026? The pass-through entity (PTE) elective tax lets a qualifying partnership or S corporation elect to pay a 9.3% entity-level California tax on its owners’ shares of income — and the owners then claim a personal income tax credit for the tax paid on their…
Can you use 401(k) money to pay long-term care insurance premiums without the 10% penalty? Yes — within limits. Under SECURE 2.0 Act §334 (effective for distributions after December 29, 2025), a defined contribution plan may permit “qualified long-term care distributions” under new IRC §401(a)(39). The annual cap is the LEAST of: (1) the amount…
How does FASB ASU 2026-01 change the accounting for PIK dividends on preferred stock? In April 2026, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2026-01, Equity (Topic 505): Initial Measurement of Paid-in-Kind Dividends on Equity-Classified Preferred Stock. It fills a gap in U.S. GAAP that had produced diversity in practice. The new rule: an issuer…
What is the California LLC fee, and how do you avoid the 10% penalty? Separate from the $800 annual minimum franchise tax, California imposes a second, income-based “LLC fee” (Revenue & Taxation Code §17942) on every LLC organized, doing business, or registered in California with total California-source income of at least $250,000. The fee is…
