The rapid pace of mergers and acquisitions today is an outgrowth of unique economic and social factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the wave of retirements of the Baby Boom generation. As a result, the buyers of small and medium-sized businesses can range from large institutions to retired individuals.

On March 15, Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman, head of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), directed the Agency to provide additional deferment of principal and interest payments for existing COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program Borrowers for a total of 30 months deferment from inception on all approved COVID EIDL loans. The extended deferment period will provide additional flexibility to small business owners impacted by the pandemic, especially those in hard-hit sectors managing disruption with recent variants, as well as recent supply chain and inflation challenges amid a growing economic recovery.

Business transactions with related parties — such as friends, relatives, parent companies, subsidiaries and affiliated entities — may sometimes happen at above- or below-market rates. This can be misleading to people who rely on your company’s financial statements, because undisclosed related-party transactions may skew the company’s true financial results.

Tax rates are historically low, but how long will they stay that way?

If your business doesn’t already have a retirement plan, now might be a good time to take the plunge. Current retirement plan rules allow for significant tax-deductible contributions.

Executives often receive lucrative compensation packages. But for some, it isn’t enough and they engage in illegal activities to line their own pockets. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) has found that owners and executives commit 20% of occupational fraud. However, they’re responsible for the largest median loss of $600,000. (In comparison, rank-and-file employees who steal are responsible for a median loss of just $60,000.)

Recently, the news media has given a lot of attention to initial public offerings using special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). But there’s another major transaction that’s gaining momentum amid the economic chaos caused by the COVID-19 pandemic: privatizations. Going private (also known as delisting) has many benefits, including:

Are you looking for different ways to give your business an edge with its finances? Do you find yourself overwhelmed whenever you have to think about accounting? If so, then you need to invest in outsourced accounting for your business.

The IRS intends to use an expedited hiring process to hire about 10,000 workers for processing tax returns and managing taxpayers' accounts, according to a union that represents employees in the Service and other federal agencies.