The first half of 2024 is over, and here is an overview of the training topics we have covered so far this year. As you know, we cover such topics that are of importance to our clients and also maintain and improve our Murdock Martell team members’ ability to continue to provide the excellent service and support our clients expect.
Here is the list of the topics covered in the last six months followed by a summary of highlights of each:
401K Plan challenges
Federal tax update
International operations update
Excel and other software training
Accounting for Investments
- Challenges and Fears Facing 401K Plan Sponsors
Compliance/Plan Governance – The fiduciary’s duty to act prudently is central to responsibilities under ERISA, requiring the fiduciary to have expertise in a variety of areas, such as investments and regulations, or to hire someone with that professional knowledge.
Cybersecurity – as in almost every other aspect of life in this complex and ever-expanding world of technology, cybersecurity, and privacy protection must be a top priority.
Participant Engagement/Education – many tools are available both online and in-person to achieve desired levels of education and participation.
Investment Services – establish and follow a policy, analyze investment suitability, and provide employees with enough information to make informed decisions about the investment options offered under the Plan.
- Federal tax update
The primary focus in this update was recent changes around the R&D credit but also the required documentation supporting the accounting for R&D activities that are the basis for claiming the related credits. In order to claim the credit, taxpayers need to:
- Determine Qualified Projects and Qualified R&D Expenditures
- Maintain documentation to support conclusions to be prepared in the event of an IRS audit.
In addition, we discussed the potential impact of recent rules that require capitalization and the 5 to 15-year amortization of R&D expenditures. These rules might cause an early-stage start-up company to realize Federal taxable income much sooner than might otherwise be anticipated. An issue to be aware of.
In tax, issue awareness is always key!
- International operations update
Across our client base, there are often opportunities in client business models to benefit from international operations. These benefits may include:
- Access to key technical talent
- Favorable environments for clinical trials and other life science activities
- Revenue opportunities for certain life science products and services
- Ability to provide 24/7 customer support
We continually update our knowledge in the areas in which our clients may have questions or encounter challenges regarding international operations such as choice of establishment and nexus, HR matters and compliance with local regulations, banking activities, foreign exchange concerns, accounting and financial reporting process and compliance.
- Excel and other software training
We have internal resources dedicated to evaluating and testing new software products that can improve efficiencies in various accounting processes, enhance real-time reporting, and create very professional financial reports and graphs for management and Board meetings.
In addition, in our continuing focus to better utilize Excel in our activities, we recently trained all of our team members in the use of the following Excel functions:
VLOOKUP
XLOOKUP
IF, IF + AND, IF + OR
SUMIF and other useful logic and formatting functions
- Accounting for Investments
Our clients can finally earn a decent return on cash balances in excess of their current operating cash needs within prudent tolerance for risk. We revisited the guidance on accounting for such investments to refresh our understanding of the difference between accounting for debt securities and equity securities, the three different methods of accounting for debt securities, and the financial statement impact and presentation for each of the three methods.
Stay tuned for future updates! In particular watch for our next update which will discuss our recent training in the area of Sales and Use taxes!