When you first hear the term “lean accounting,” it wouldn’t be unusual to think it is primarily a cost-reduction tool. But this system of accounting offers more benefits than simply cost savings. It can result it much timelier reporting and streamlined, understandable data as well. In a preview of their fall 2017 Pennsylvania CPA Journal feature on the topic, RKL LLP’s Bob Pozesky and John Stoner took some time to give us the skinny on lean accounting.

CPAs working for, or with, financial institutions are well aware of regulations and the implementation challenges that often accompany them. Barbara Stofflet, inspections leader with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), briefly discusses what CPAs working in this area need to key in on. Those topics, and more, will be discussed at PICPA’s 2017 Financial Institutions Conference on Sept. 25.

Is every nonprofit program going to be a major revenue generator? No. But that doesn’t mean some of those programs don’t hold immense value for an organization. In a CPA Conversation related to his fall 2017 Pennsylvania CPA Journal Government/Not-for-Profit column, Michael Cade shares with us how you can estimate the value contribution of a program and what steps you should take (if any) when a program is found to have a negative monetary value.

Bob Kafafian, president and CEO of The Kafafian Group Inc., stops by to explain what the concept of using management information to make informed decisions really means for CPAs working in the financial institutions industry. He also discusses how measurement trends and statistics support these decisions. Listen in, and also note that Bob will speak in greater depth on this issue at PICPA’s 2017 Financial Institutions Conference on Sept. 25. Register to attend in person or via webcast at www.picpa.org/fic.

Lauren Zaccarelli, chair of the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue’s Board of Appeals, discusses changes to the appeal schedule and petition form. She also provides some best practices for CPAs when working with the board on behalf of clients or themselves.

It’s one thing to have a dissenting opinion toward ideas put forth by the Government Accounting Standards Board. It’s quite another to tell them about your opinion to their collective face and then have them ask you why you feel this way. Pamela Baker, a partner with Barbacane Thornton & Company LLP, got to experience this and lived to tell the tale. Today, she shares her insights with CPA Conversations.

Social media can be a powerful tool for CPAs. LinkedIn, for example, has the potential to showcase CPAs as trusted professionals in their field. Therefore, you shouldn’t limit it to being a digital representation of a résumé. Optimize its use to help you gain connections and draw business. CPA Conversations recently spoke with Donna Serdula, founder and president of Vision Board Media and author of LinkedIn Profile Optimization for Dummies, about how to make LinkedIn work for CPAs.

Act 32 of 2008 helped fix the local tax collection system in Pennsylvania, but some unintended consequences arose from the law. David Caplan, CPA, is a sole practitioner in Lafayette Hill, Pa., and a PICPA member who has advocated passionately for corrections to be made to ensure greater efficiency. He explains what’s needed in this episode. Learn more about Act 32 and its potential amendments at www.picpa.org/act32.

Earlier this year, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf called for legislation that would institute mandatory unitary combined reporting. Vito Cosmo, CPA, managing director of state and local taxes at Grant Thornton in Philadelphia and a member of PICPA’s State Taxation Committee, explains what this means for Pennsylvania businesses and CPAs.

Michael Decker, AICPA vice president of examinations, and James Suh, director of continuous improvement and analytics with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA), highlight the major changes made to the CPA Exam and why those changes were necessary. While these alterations are still new, Decker and Suh explain some of the trends they are seeing among recent test takers. For more information on the new CPA Exam, visit www.picpa.org/cpaexam.