Other stuff

Relocation to North Dakota.

by Jim Ulvog
Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.

In June of this year, I moved my accounting firm to Williston, North Dakota. 

My wife and I have been wanting to be near our son and his family. So the simple reason for the move is “chasing the grandkids.” It is also good to be out of California, with increasing congestion, skyrocketing cost of living, and deteriorating economy.

With the wonders of technology, I will be able to serve my clients just as easily from Williston, North Dakota as from Alta Loma, California. Only visible change on the website will be the mailing address.

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Feature length Cartoons, Internal control

Index of cartoons.

by Jim Ulvog

Two cartoons provide visual explanations of how to structure internal controls at a local church.  Each of them consist of two shorter clips with an intro and extro. Here is an index of how the cartoons are organized with links to each one.   This gives a picture of how the individual cartoons are structured:

 

Internal control

“4 Tips to Prevent Fraud at Faith-Based Organizations”…

by Jim Ulvog

Photo courtesy of DollarPhotoClub.com
Photo courtesy of DollarPhotoClub.com

… is the title of a great article by James B. Jordan to help churches and other faith-based charities protect their contributions from theft and protect volunteers from temptation.

Setting up internal controls is difficult in small organizations, even more so for local churches. The place churches routinely have the most difficulty is keeping control over contributions between the time gifts go into the collection plate until a deposit is ready for the bank.

Mr. Jordan’s tips:

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Internal control

Looking for ways to beef up internal controls in a small organization?

by Jim Ulvog

Image courtesy of DollarPhotoClub.com
Image courtesy of DollarPhotoClub.com

Small charities usually cannot afford enough staff to put in place great internal controls. If you want a few ideas on how to make modest improvements at low cost, Charles Hall suggests How to Lessen Segregation of Duties Problems in Two Easy Steps.

(Cross post from my other blog, Nonprofit Update.)

Second set of eyes on bank statements

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Other stuff

“Top 10 questions that Ministers, Missionaries, and Church Treasurers Ask Tax Preparers”

by Jim Ulvog

Following discussion is cross-posted from my other blog, Nonprofit Update. This may be helpful for CPAs serving the NPO community. You can point your clients to the linked article as a way to address common basic questions.

Corey Pfaffe, CPA, provides answers to those top questions at MinistryCPA.

The questions, with links to each answer, can be found here.

You can download a superb 12 page PDF of the full set of answers here.

If you are a pastor, missionary, church treasurer, or on the finance staff of a charity, I recommend you check out Prof. Pfaffe’s superb explanations. Get professional advice to apply the information to your situation or if you need to go beyond the very straightforward answers.

There is a bonus question: (more…)

Other stuff

Tragedy of Fraud series now available in print as well as e-book formats

by Jim Ulvog

tragedy-cover   tragedy-cover

 

Both books in my Tragedy of Fraud series are now available in print format from Amazon.

The newest book:

tragedy-cover

Tragedy of Fraud – Insider Trading Edition describes – Scott London’s long fall from Big 4 audit partner to prison inmate.

Click the link for your reading preference:

First book in the series:

tragedy-cover

Tragedy of Fraud – The Ripple Effects from Fraud and the Wages Earned – Consequences of fraud spread far. There is a long list of well-earned wages from fraud that will be paid in full.

Available in your preferred format:

Other stuff

Tragedy of Fraud – Insider Trading Edition available at Amazon

by Jim Ulvog

Now available at Amazon:

tragedy-cover

Tragedy of Fraud – Insider Trading Edition: The fall from Big 4 audit partner to prison inmate.

Until April 2013, former KPMG audit partner Scott London was in charge of the audit practice for the southwest region. He was responsible for the audit work of 500 accountants and had the paycheck to go with those duties.

Today he is a prison inmate residing at the federal penitentiary in Lompoc, California serving a 14 month sentence.

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Other stuff

Newest book on differences between audits, reviews, and compilations now available in print and for Nook

by Jim Ulvog

Print copy and Nook e-book are in addition to availability for the Kindle and another half-dozen formats.

audit review compilation cover for wordpress croped

The book is an intentionally short read at about 30 pages. The print copy has 20 pages of text.  Focus is to quickly describe the differences between those levels of services using three illustrations:

  • A football game – How does advancing to the 10-yard line compare to an audit?
  • What would a review look like in a football game?
  • Buying a used car – How does taking the car for a test drive compare to a review?
  • Filling a bucket – How filling it up with water to different levels illustrates the differences between the levels of service.

It also explains the differences in plain language. Well, at least using less accountantese than you would usually get from an accountant.

This is a compilation of posts previously appearing on my blogs, with slight editing.

Where can you find the book?

Print book at Amazon here.

Nook e-book at Barnes and Noble here.

Kindle e-book at Amazon here.

Also available here in other formats:

  • ePub format for your iDevices
  • PDF
  • text
  • Mobi for your Kindle device