February 2018

New CPE requirement in California for CPAs who only perform preparation engagements

Leave a Comment / Compilations & reviews /
Image courtesy of dollarphotoclub before merger with Adobe Stock.

Big news from CBA if the highest level of service you provide clients is a preparation engagement.

First, if you don’t perform compilations, reviews, audits, or other services covered by peer review, you don’t need to get a peer review.

Second, there is a specific CPE requirement:  4 hours in fraud education and 8 hours in prep or A&A.

The following article from the California Board of Accountancy, quoted with permission, provides more detailed explanation.  Since it is quoted verbatim, I won’t put quotes around the entire article.

 

NEW CONTINUING EDUCATION REQUIREMENT FOR PREPARATION ENGAGEMENTS

CPAs who perform preparation engagements as their highest level of service are subject to a new continuing education (CE) requirement.

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New CPE requirement in California for CPAs who only perform preparation engagementsRead More »

New CPE requirement in California for CPAs who only perform preparation engagements Read More »

How to stay away from the most popular ways to get in trouble with the California Board of Accountancy.

Leave a Comment / Other stuff /
Don’t send one of these to CBA unnecessarily. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

These must be the preferred ways CPAs pick to get in trouble with the regulators because the board of accountancy says these are the three most common reasons they issue monetary penalties.

What are the three most popular ways to draw a fine from CBA?

  • Don’t get minimum of 20 hours each year of your license term or don’t get 12 of those hours in technical topics.
  • Ignore a formal inquiry from CBA.
  • Don’t submit that Peer Review Reporting Form with your license renewal.

For more detail, check out the following article, quoted with permission, from the California Board of Accountancy.  Since it is quoted verbatim, I won’t put quotes around the entire article.

 

IT’S EASY TO AVOID CBA CITATIONS

To help increase awareness of CBA requirements and prevent licensees from receiving a citation, below are the top three violations that led to a citation in the previous fiscal year. Citations are posted on the CBA website and may include an administrative fine of $100 to $5,000.

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How to stay away from the most popular ways to get in trouble with the California Board of Accountancy.Read More »

How to stay away from the most popular ways to get in trouble with the California Board of Accountancy. Read More »

Another round of disciplinary actions from California Board of Accountancy

Leave a Comment / Audits, Compilations & reviews /
The firms that make up the following list were not traveling on the above highway. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

Starting with the newest Update report for Fall 2017 (#85), the California Board of Accountancy has stopped listing the underlying problem leading to disciplinary action. This means it only took 16 pages to list the 44 actions reported currently. It also seems the CBA is listing actions against firms and the practitioner together.

This means the cringe inducing details are not immediately visible, even though the full disciplinary reports are public records and publicly available. I didn’t bother to take the time to research the reports.

I have tallied the current batch of discipline cases. Underlying problem is inferred by me based on the comments in the newsletter. I haven’t looked up any of the cases or looked up the reg sections cited for discipline. So, with those caveats, here are my inferences of the current disciplinary actions:

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Another round of disciplinary actions from California Board of Accountancy Read More »

Fed imposes stiff sanctions on Wells Fargo

Leave a Comment / Other stuff /
Photo at Wells Fargo San Diego museum in January 2018 by James Ulvog.

The Federal Reserve will prohibit Wells Fargo from growing in size past its $1.95 trillion asset base in place as of 12/31/17. That means any gains from new deposits must be offset by selling off other assets and liquidating some liabilities.

In addition, the bank will be replacing three directors by April who previously announced their retirement and replacing another director by December 2018.

Article at Wall Street Journal by Ryan Tracy and Emily Glazer, Wells Fargo’s Growth Will Be Limited, Directors to Be Replaced After Fed Cites “Abuses”, provides more details.

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Fed imposes stiff sanctions on Wells FargoRead More »

Fed imposes stiff sanctions on Wells Fargo Read More »