In July, a few staff members from Red Wing Software participated in two different conferences discussing current accounting and technology issues. The first event was a meeting of Certified Public Accountants that takes place every other year. I was fortunate enough to be a presenter on two different panels during this conference, talking about current technologies specifically related to accounting. The other conference was a meeting of professionals dealing with standards for gathering and reporting financial data for specific vertical markets. Dick Moore, Development Manager, and Julie Strain, Sales Engineer, presented information on management accounting implementation and challenges.

At both meetings, one of the major topics of discussion was the effects and consequences of the new tax laws on businesses. These discussions ranged from new depreciation rules, to the issues on the effect of taxes owed by a C Corporation, S Corporation, and Sole Proprietor. It was clear that there are still many questions about some of these new rules, and how they will be interpreted. We are still waiting for some guidelines from the IRS on how some of these changes should be handled.

I’m no tax expert, but one thing is clear: it will be more important than ever to be working with people that are experts on the subject. The best thing that each of us can do in our business is to keep the most accurate records possible, so when we work with our accountants and consultants to calculate taxes owed at year-end, we can provide the level of detail these experts need to accurately help us complete our tax forms.