Reminder - Municipal Auditing Request

Thank you to all the firms who have signed up!

IF YOU HAVEN’T, we are working with the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts and the Alabama League of Municipalities to compile a list of firms willing to help bring municipalities into compliance with Act 2022-345. CPAs, the State of Alabama needs you.

To accomplish this, we are asking for assistance from firm audit/assurance leads. If you are in public accounting, have experience with municipal attest services and are willing to take on new clients, please see the following link and fill out a 4-minute questionnaire.

Municipal Audit / Attest Engagement Interest Inventory – Fill out form

 

Pennies Are Worthless?

Outside of a wishing-well, they pretty much are.

I hadn’t paid much attention to the fact that the US Treasury stopped minting new pennies back in November. It was a wise fiscal move since they cost more to mint than their underlying value. So how are our businesses supposed to account for pennies? The answer (of course) is rounding, but not without legislation that allows it. On the state level, legislation has been introduced to do just that. HB545 (HB545-int.pdf) introduced by Rep. Norman Crow allows for a business to round up or down to the nearest nickel. We learned this stuff in elementary school: 1s, 2s, 6s and 7s get rounded down, 3s, 4s, 8s and 9s get rounded up. Every transaction would end in a 0 or 5. Calculation of sales taxes are not affected by the rounding.

 

And now, quick updates:

1. Rep. Kerry Underwood, CPA, has introduced legislation (HB559) that would create a fund to assist elderly and disadvantaged victims of financial fraud. It’s worth a follow.
2. A bill by Rep. Jim Carns (HB561) would require a municipality to provide at least a 30-day notice and a public hearing before imposing a new or increased tax or fee.
3. Sen. Greg Albritton is recommending a slight change to the SSUT allocation calculation. SB347 would keep everything the same but would allow for a new population count every FIVE years instead of the TEN years now in effect. Fast-growing counties and cities would benefit from that change.
4. HB250 (Garrett) and its companion bill SB79 (Roberts), intended to clear the way for Trump accounts in Alabama and to provide an indefinite extension to a provision allowing employers to pay employee student loans as a tax-free benefit, both await final passage. We thought maybe last week, but that didn’t happen. We still think they’ll get there soon.
5. Education Budget bills are set to move this week in the House.
6. We expect another three-session week again this week. The pace has certainly quickened. Spring break will be the week of March 23rd, but it’ll be a sprint to the end every other week.
7. The Watchlist on our Advocacy web page is being constantly updated. Check in often.

CLICK HERE FOR THE WATCHLIST

There have been 933 bills filed so far. If we’ve missed something or you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at rpearson@alabama.cpa.