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Dear Colleague
I had a very interesting conversation yesterday with a
professor who was in the process of putting together
the curriculum for a program that included a section
on accounts payable. From time to time I'm asked
about accounts payable classes in colleges or
community colleges.. If any readers know of any such
courses I would love to hear from you. And if any of the
accounting professors reading this have such a
program or are considering one in their organization, I
would love to hear from you also. Please drop me a
note at marys@ap-now.com
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What's Important to You? |
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As I was putting the final touches on the articles for
our March Madness issue-which focuses on paper
checks-it occurred to me that it has been a while
since we polled our readers about what is important
to them. While I have my own ideas about what topics
are important, we believe that's only half the equation.
The other part is you, our readers and Webinar and
seminar participants. It is crucial that we know what
your biggest problems are, what issues cause you the
most grief, and where you think the accounts payable
function is going.
This information is critical in helping us craft the best
programs to meet your needs. To help us won't you
please take our Reader Planning survey by clicking
the link below? We thank everyone who provides
input.
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ake our 2008 Reader Planning survey |
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T&E Fraud Detection and Prevention |
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Are you bothered by those reimbursement requests
right below the $25 receipt requirement level? If so,
you are not alone. This issue annoys the living
daylights out of many of our readers. In fact, quite a
few believe some of their travelers are fraudulently
requesting reimbursements. To combat this issue
you can lower the receipt level to $5 or require the use
of credit cards for everything. As one of our readers
pointed out, "even McDonalds takes credit
cards!"
This is just one of the many issues we'll discuss at
our T&E Fraud Detection and Prevention Webinar on
Feb. 26. I'll be joined by InterplX's Chuck Bruckner,
who will focus on the use of automation in the battle
against fraud, and Rohm and Haas' Craig Stuart. He'll
share his best practice experience talking about his
organization's T&E process with a special focus on
fraud detection and prevention.
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Register for the T&E Fraud Detection and Prevention webinar |
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Exceptions from Unclaimed Property Rules |
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I recently got a call from a reader inquiring about
organizations exempt from unclaimed property
reporting. She, hopefully, asked if not-for-profits were
exempt from the law. I said I didn't think so but would
double check. Here's what Tracey Reid, one of the
experts joining us in April for our unclaimed property
seminar had to say on this issue.
"Not-for-profits, colleges, universities, etc. are
generally all required to comply. Some states do
exempt state and local "government" entities, which
can mean school districts, but this exemption is not
available in all states and colleges and universities
rarely meet the requirements for exemption." So,
sadly, I was not able to give the caller the news she
had been hoping for.
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For Information or to Register for the Unclaimed Property Seminar |
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Alert from our Newsletter |
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Alert: Misclassified Workers Can File New Social
Security Tax Form to Convert from Independent
Contractor to Employee Status
The employee or independent contractor question has
once again reared its ugly head. The Internal Revenue
Service has developed a new form for employees who
have been misclassified as independent contractors
by an employer. The form, Form 8919, Uncollected
Social Security and Medicare Tax on Wages, will now
be used to figure and report the employee's share of
uncollected social security and Medicare taxes due on
their compensation. While this may appear at first
glance to be an individual issue and not a business
problem, there are implications for your organization if
one of your independent contractors files a Form
8919.
The rest of this article is in the February issue of
Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow.
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Subscribe to Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow |
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Bottomline Webinar: No Cost for Our Readers |
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Organizations of all sizes are frequently advised that a
leading AP best practice is to move away from paper
checks and use electronic means to make payments,
including ACH, wire transfers, and p-cards. Although
checks are still the dominant method for business-to-
business payments, companies are gradually
overcoming the behavioral and technical challenges
to increase their use of e-payments. This is supported
by the 2007 AFP Electronic Payments Survey, just
released by the Association for Financial
Professionals. The typical company now makes 74%
of its B2B payments by check, down from 81% in
2004.
But why is the adoption curve not growing more
quickly, and what can your organization do to increase
its own use of e-payments and reap all the associated
benefits? Click on the link below to sign up for this
special Bottomline webinar, "Making the Move to
Electronic Payments" on February 27 free to our
readers.
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Register for the Making the Move to e-Payments webinar |
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In Closing, |
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I just got off the phone with Cyrus Daftary, our speaker
for this week's 1042-S Webinar. He shared some very
interesting insights about where 1099 and 1042-S
reporting is going. I'll compile my thoughts and notes
and share some of that with you next week. Until
then
Thanks for listening
Mary Schaeffer
Editorial Director
Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow
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