Hot Off the Press

Pender Newkirk & Company is pleased to share with you our newest advertisement in the Tampa Bay Business Journal. This new ad appears in the Friday, May 18 edition of the Journal. We’re doubly excited because 1.) we are so proud to do business with a wonderful client like Banko Overhead Doors and 2.) this ad offers a sneak peek at our updated brand image. Stay tuned for more on this in the weeks to come!

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Nonprofit Industry Special Events

The Nonprofit Industry Service Team at Pender Newkirk & Company is pleased to share two very special upcoming events:

May 4, 2012 - The Nonprofit Leadership Center of Tampa Bay presents the 2012 Leadership Conference. The focus for this year’s program is “Breakthrough to Leadership Excellence: Developing Leadership Excellence through Self Awareness and Action”. Pender Newkirk & Company is a proud supporting sponsor of this event. We look forward to attending and participating in this exciting program. Click on the above link for registration details.

May 15, 2012 – Pender Newkirk & Company along with the Commercial Nonprofit Advisors of SunTrust Bank and Bouchard Insurance will be hosting an Exclusive & Private Presentation “2012 Audit and Accounting Update” featuring Lee Klumpp, Assurance Director, National Nonprofit Industry Group and the BDO USA Institute for Nonprofit Excellence.

To register for this event, please RSVP by May 10, 2012 to Amy Costigan at 813.224.2642 or amy.costigan@suntrust.com.

We hope to see you at these upcoming events!

Sincerely,

The Pender Newkirk Nonprofit Industry Services Team

State of Florida Begins Using Collection Analytics

State Agencies Now Sharing Information

The State of Florida Department of Revenue has revealed that beginning in January 2012, they will use “collection analytics” to collect delinquent taxes due through the sharing of information among and between various State agencies.
 
Much information is collected from taxpayers by the State, but it has not been regularly and systematically compared and shared from one agency to another. Starting in January, this will change. 

For cash-based businesses, the State of Florida is attempting to crack down, on what they believe are unreported taxable sales. A cash based business (such as a bar) will be subject to detailed analysis. 
 
Hypothetical Case Study – A bar would be registered for State Unemployment Tax. Through this registration and payment of tax, the State has the name and routing number of the bank and the checking account number. Purchases are made from suppliers of alcohol, beer and cigarettes and re-sold to customers. The bar is registered for, collects and remits Florida sales tax on its sales.

In the past, when the State did not receive a return or payment as expected, a notice would automatically be mailed by the State’s computer system.  In fact, several notices would be sent, each with progressively stronger language requesting the return or payment. 

The change, beginning immediately, is that after a few notices have been sent and remain unanswered, the State will estimate the amount due, based on prior filings, and file a lien or freeze the bank account. The IRS used this tactic successfully to get the attention of many taxpayers and now, the Florida Department of Revenue will start to follow these procedures.

For example, Starting July 1, 2011, annual sales of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products were required to be reported to the Department of Revenue by suppliers.  See Florida Department of Revenue TIP # 11A01-04 issued June 27, 2011, at http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/tips/tip11a01-04.html.

The Florida Department of Revenue will begin now to use this and information from other agencies to compare sales reported for sales tax and audit selection purposes. Underreported sales will be calculated and tax will be assessed against taxpayers with interest and penalty added to the tax.

The Good News – Through a Voluntary Disclosure Agreement (VDA), Pender Newkirk & Company can anonymously report and file prior unreported tax liabilities on behalf of taxpayers. If you would like more information about this program or other matter, please do not hesitate to contact your PNC partner or a member of our State and Local Tax Services Department at (813) 229-2321.

 

 

 

 

Lila Robbins

Tax Manager, State and Local Tax Services Team

Pender Newkirk & Company

Benefit Plans: Untimely Remittance of Employee Contributions

The Department of Labor (DOL) regulations require employers who sponsor pension plans to remit employee contributions as soon as such contributions can reasonably be segregated from the employer’s general assets, but in no event more than fifteen business days after the month in which the participant contribution was withheld or received by the employer.

In recent years, the DOL has become strict on the remittances and when they consider them timely.  The fifteen business day after the month in which the participant contributions are withheld is generally not timely enough.  The DOL auditors review the payroll process within the company and look at timeline for all remittances during the year noting the earliest remittance.  This earliest remittance will typically be considered the standard to which the company will be held in depositing contributions during any given year.  For example, if a plan was able to remit payments within two days of being withheld from the employees one time during the year, then the expectation is that the company has the ability to remit the contributions in this same timeframe throughout the year.

Failure to remit or untimely remittance of participant contributions constitutes a prohibited transaction, regardless of materiality and is considered a breach of fiduciary duty. Plan sponsors faced with remitting delinquent participant contributions should consider utilizing the DOL’s Voluntary Fiduciary Correction (VFC) Program.

Contact me at (813) 229-2321 to talk more about this or any other Benefit Plan matter. To receive other helpful articles, click here to sign up for Pender Newkirk’s Employee Benefit Plan quarterly newsletter.

 

 

 

 

Cindy Burbine

Audit Manager, Employee Benefit Plan Service Team

Pender Newkirk & Company

New Perspectives on Business Valuations

The Business Valuation Department at Pender Newkirk is pleased to announce that we now publish a monthly email newsletter on Business Valuation topics. Each month, we’ll be featuring articles that address a wide variety of valuation matters including estate & gift, litigation, divorce, M&A, damages and more. If you’d like to subscribe, follow this link to update your email preferences.

In recent months we’ve seen an increase in activity of owners taking advantage of the significant opportunities with regard to estate planning and also noticing an uptick in the amount of M&A transactions. If you would like to discuss how our valuation services can position your business for future success, call me at (813) 229-2321.

 

 

 

 

Will Rodriguez, CPA/ABV, CVA
Valuation and Tax Senior Manager
Pender Newkirk & Company

Bridging the Gap: New exchange expected to add benefits to smaller reporting companies

The NASDAQ OMX Group has received approval from the SEC to launch its new listing market, the BX Venture Market.

The BX Venture Market is intended to serve as a new listing alternative for early stage and smaller companies that do not qualify for a NASDAQ Capital Market listing, bridging the gap between the over-the-counter markets and NASDAQ’s existing listing venues.

Companies will be able to list common and preferred stock, ordinary shares and ADRs, trust and limited partnership interests, units, rights and warrants. NASDAQ expects to begin accepting listing applications during the third quarter of this year and launch the BX Venture Market later this year.

Candidate companies for listing on the BX Venture Market include those presently trading on an over-the-counter market, companies that have been or will be delisted by another market for failure to meet that market’s quantitative listing standards and smaller, less-liquid companies seeking to expand capital financing opportunities and also provide an exit opportunity for initial investors. The BX Venture Market is expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2011.

What are the benefits?

• National securities exchange
• Added liquidity
• Transparent, well regulated marketplace
• Greater stability to your company’s shareholder base
• Attractive alternative for companies facing delisting

If you’d like to talk more about this exciting new opportunity for smaller reporting companies, call me at (813) 229-2321.

 

Eric Johanson – Senior Audit Manager

Pender Newkirk & Company’s SEC Practice Group

Ch-ch-changes in accounting…especially for private companies

With apologies to David Bowie, the accounting profession is abuzz with talk of change, change and more change.  Much has been discussed about the march of the United States to converge with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).  There has also been a certain amount of buzz about the recodification of accounting standards.

Now we hear excited chatter about the latest signs of possible changes…a much anticipated report from the Blue Ribbon Panel on Private Company Financial Reporting making striking recommendation about U.S. GAAP. Words like “historic” and “significant” attach to the recommendations of the Panel like flies to honey. Just recently the Panel has recommended that changes and modifications be made to existing U.S. GAAP for private companies. Just as important, the Panel is recommending a creation of a new and separate board, to be overseen by the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), with standard-setting authority.

The Panel does not call for a separate and distinct set of GAAP for private companies but instead modifications, changes and exceptions would be made to existing U.S. GAAP for private companies. All such changes would reside in the FASB Accounting Standards Codification.

The recommendations are not a done deal just yet. This issue has been debated for as long as I have been in the profession. There are many supporters and some opposition – however the possibility for real change is closer than any time in the past.

The cry for reporting standards more in line with the needs of private companies have become louder and more persistent. As a CPA it is frustrating meeting with private companies to discuss financial reporting requirements that add complexity, are not relevant to the company or the users of the financial statements and are costly to implement.  It is becoming more common for private companies to take GAAP exceptions. Advocates of the change are comparing our current GAAP situation to the tail wagging the dog. U.S. GAAP is currently driven by public company issues,  however there are 15,000 public company issuers versus 28.5 million private companies.

Much more to come, stay tuned. Or give me a call at (813) 229-2321 to talk more.

Ralph Garcia, Managing Partner

Economic Recovery for Small Businesses

Earlier this week, WFLA News Channel 8 reported on the Debt Deal and its impact on economic recovery for small businesses. Pender Newkirk & Company shared our viewpoint in this report. Click on this link for the full story: http://t.co/nmjhdjM

Will non-GAAP metrics mislead investors?

The recent increase in IPO activity related to technology offerings has refueled the SEC’s scrutiny of non-GAAP financial and accounting metrics used by companies to market themselves to potential investors. 

Groupon, for example, has been questioned about its use of a newly created measure – “adjusted consolidated segment operating income” or adjusted COSI.  The intent appears to be to draw attention away from significant advertising and marketing costs the company has incurred in its historical financial statements. 

This is just one example of several new nonstandard growth metrics being used by new Internet companies going to market.  Zynga refers to “bookings” in its July IPO filing as a representation of what revenue would have been if it had all been recognized (rather than deferred) at the time of sale. Facebook occasionally discloses monthly active users (MAU) as performance metric. Pandora’s recent IPO filing included total listener hours and total registered users as “key indicators of growth”. 

It remains to be seen how the SEC will ultimately rule on these new metrics, but it will be interesting to watch, stay tuned…

Pender Newkirk & Company’s SEC Practice Group

Welcome to our blog!

Welcome! We’ll be featuring great success stories, industy viewpoints, practical ideas and many other resources for your business and personal needs. We hope you’ll visit us often and share your thoughts in the comment sections.

Thank you!

Pender Newkirk & Company