EMPLOYEE RETENTION CREDIT SUPPORT FOR SMALL BUSINESS

LOGISTICS CONSTRUCTION AUTOMOTIVE AND, MORE!

Consultants Who Get Your Industry

• Earn a credit from wages you paid employees

• Your assessment is free

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• No Up-Front Cost

Remediation Program

The Remediation Program is a service offered through Silicon Ledger that aims to assist businesses in reviewing their supporting documents for compliance with the IRS guidelines regarding the Employee Retention Tax Credit.

Service Includes:

• Review of your underlying documentation to assess adherence to IRS guidelines

• Review of credit calculation to assess maximization

• If necessary, a consultation with an ERTC-focused tax attorney

Approximately 70% of our P&D Delivery (Logistics) clients who applied through Silicon Ledger have qualified for one or more quarters. (Note: success is heavily impacted by Industry)

Silicon Ledger is a turn-key ERTC solution: managing the process from qualification through submission.

Silicon Ledger’s qualification process is powered by Stout. Stout has an independent process to understand and analyze the challenges and impacts that each of our clients experienced during the pandemic.

Once your business qualifies, we coordinate the preparation of your 941-X with BDO, one of the nation’s leading accounting and advisory firms.

2023-24 ASCPA BOARD OF DIRECTORS

James White, Jr., Chair

Sarah Propper, Chair Elect

Mandy Barksdale

Cathy Dover

Bruce Fryer

Matthew Hilburn

Kendra James

Michael Kassouf

Jeremy Mosteller

Amanda Paul

Paul Perry

Joseph Wynn

Dennis Sherrin, AICPA Council Rep

Jamey Carroll, AICPA Council Rep

S. Jon Heath, Past Chair CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Jeannine Birmingham, CPA, CAE, CGMA

Adam Fekula

Jim Martin, CPA, CGMA streamlined process and would reduce the need for many penalty abatement requests. The third main topic we covered was The Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act. The Act would expand eligible uses of 529 savings plans to include fees and expenses required to obtain or maintain recognized postsecondary credentials such as the CPA exam. This effort is another way the profession believes we can provide accounting professionals with more flexibility as they enter the workforce and seek to further their education. Overall, we had great conversations with our members of Congress, and we mixed in a little fun hopping around the nation’s capital as well. (See below.)

Happy Summer ASCPA Members. Goodness, when Mother Nature turns up the temperature in Alabama, it becomes hot, hot, hot quickly. Of course, the hot temperatures make most think of vacation and time with family and friends. In the spirit of vacation time, ASCPA has planned two successful beach CPE events for ASCPA members. The first beach event was held the third week of June and the upcoming beach event, Summer Education Conference, is July 16-20 in Gulf Shores. I hope you take advantage of these excellent programs. They are created such that you can mix education time with familyfun time. Like with everything, if you have suggestions for our summer events, please do not hesitate to share your comments with me.

Speaking of success stories, your Alabama Federal Key Person delegates recently visited all our Congressional offices. Alabama CPAs, and CPAs from across the nation, made our way to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers on several important accounting issues. One of the top issues was establishing the accounting profession as a STEM career pathway. Once we achieve this effort, dollars for K-12 STEM programs can be dedicated to accounting classes and resources. We also discussed the simplification of the tax filing extension process (Simplify Automatic Filing Extension or SAFE Act) which would provide taxpayers, CPAs and the IRS with a

We talk a lot about change. Technology changes, Firm of the Future, Business and Industry moving to outsourced accounting work, CPA Evolution (the new CPA exam), advances in recruitment, and so much more. Have you thought about, however, how rapidly the profession had to make changes beginning March 2020? We really did not have time to think about the changes that we faced, but we very quickly pivoted and made so much happen. In the words of Barry Melancon, CEO AICPA, “CPAs have weathered some of the most challenging times in the history of tax administration and have guided individuals and businesses through significant changes.”

I believe we are really good at change. In fact, if we are not changing, we are not growing, serving, or protecting the public. ASCPA is constantly changing. In April, we conducted our annual strategic meeting to establish priorities for the 2023-24 year, now being led by James White, Jr. Speaking of, I hope everyone has the chance to meet with or talk to James during his year as ASCPA Chairman. Like all ASCPA leaders, James brings a different background and perspective to ASCPA matters, and he is so funny! A deep thinker with a quick wit. It is going to be another fast-paced year at the ASCPA house. With James’s leadership, our current year priorities include developing resources for salary transparency, creating membership testimonials, assisting members in altering the challenging perceptions of workload compression, image, and valued employees, communicate career pathways, explore associate membership opportunities, and continue our work on high school strategies. The Board’s hope is that you will always see, and receive, the way we work to deliver value to ASCPA members.

Lastly, and before I encourage you to take a few CPE classes offered by ASCPA, I want to recognize one of ASCPA’s team members, Kristi Gates. Kristi began her journey with ASCPA one year ago and works tirelessly to manage our CPE programs well. In late June, Kristi was recognized by a group of her peers, the Public Relations Council of Alabama, with the Phillip R. Forrest, Jr. Professional Achievement Award. This statewide recognition honors a Public Relations professional who is outstanding in their field. Kristi is dedicated, hard-working, and innovative when it comes to building and promoting ASCPA education. The award is well deserved by Kristi, and I am, the entire ASCPA team is, so very proud of her. Well done Kristi Gates!

As we wind down summer, I hope you will review the offerings available to you for earning your annual CPE credits. We have built a strong program of options and will continue to do so throughout the year. Thank you for supporting ASCPA.

I want to thank each one of our members for the opportunity to serve as your 2023-2024 chair. I look forward to meeting several of you at ASCPA events across the state this year. Before I get into talking about the upcoming year, I wanted to thank our outgoing chair Jon Heath for his leadership this past year. He set a great example for me of what this role requires to continue to push this organization to the next level. I also want to give a nod to the Board. I think we have a talented and diverse group of individuals that will foster an environment of dedication and teamwork as we head into the coming year.

The theme of this issue of Connections is professional education. As you all know there’s been a tremendous amount of discussion around the profession and how it can, and will most of all, meet the needs of the future. One thing I can be certain of is that the profession’s requirement for continuing professional education will stand as a bedrock as we strive to meet the challenges of the future.

This summer and fall ASCPA is continuing to provide a variety of web-based, livestreamed, and in-person CPE options. You can find all that within the pages of this magazine and on the website by visiting alabama.cpa. Whatever your preference, ASCPA is bringing you exceptional learning opportunities you can use to stay up to date on ever-changing standards and regulations, and tackle new challenges every day. The team is dedicated to positioning you and your firm, business, or organization for excellence in the future. The organization has gone through several changes internally and we have worked feverishly to set the organization up for success in the coming years. Our primary focus has been to provide as much value to you as members to assist in your efforts to serve the public and your clients. I am very excited about the number of initiatives that we have been working on behind the scenes that we will roll out to the membership over the coming months. I want you all to take great comfort in the team that we have working passionately and tirelessly to serve you – our members. It is a tremendous honor for me to serve alongside them to assist you in serving the public interest and your clients.

There’s been a tremendous amount of change that’s occurred in everyone’s life as we are now two years removed from the pandemic. The profession is facing many challenges as many of you are aware. As I have been attending AICPA meetings, the pipeline, or lack of individuals entering the profession, is the paramount issue we are facing. We will continue to stay close to the initiatives being considered to address this problem. I implore you all to reach out to ASCPA with your ideas so we can spread the word and work to implement a broad-scale solution for our great state and professionto ensure a future that is never-ending with talent excited and passionate about the work we do.

Let me end this first of many messages to you by saying, “Thank You.” Thank you in advance for your support and feedback on how we can be the best organization to support you.