As a CPA who has watched the industry change over the years, I am excited to see the continual merge of technology with accounting.  As a result, there are many programs on the market to help non-CPAs help keep the books in order.  One of the most popular is QuickBooks.

I have spoken with many clients who view their colleagues as very benevolent and ethical individuals. They are in business to reach the greater goals and our not-for-profit clients and their employees are passionate about their mission. 

I have found that at times, their trusting nature of the noble people in their organization has caused them to lower their guard to some common fraud threats within their business or organization.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has begun issuing Identity Protection PINs (IP PINs). The IP PIN is a unique, six-digit number that is assigned annually to victims of identity theft (whose cases have been resolved) for use when filing their federal tax return. An IP PIN helps the IRS verify a taxpayer’s identity and accept their electronic or paper tax return.

When a taxpayer has an IP PIN, it prevents someone else from filing a tax return with their social security number (SSN) as the primary or secondary taxpayer (spouse).