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UHY LLP Michigan Practice
AUGUST 2016
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ARCHIVE
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FED SIGNALS RATE INCREASE?
When the skies are blue and the mercury tops 90, many of us turn to America's pastime, baseball, to distract us from our daily travails. But in recent years, America has developed a new pastime, watching and predicting what the Fed will do with interest rates. At the end of July, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting provided a couple of innings of data on what might be happening down the stretch of 2016.
In their press release from July 27, the FOMC indicated that "near-term risks to the economic outlook have diminished." Watchers believe that this indicates the FOMC will consider raising federal funds rate at their next meeting in September for the first time since December of last year. Of course, the FOMC also indicated that "inflation is expected to remain low in the near term," which may indicate that the jury is still out on interest rates since low inflation will decrease the FOMC's sense of urgency, but a rise in energy prices would quickly erase that margin of error.
What should clients be doing in the face of a potential rise in September? The first thing is to understand that the time to begin acting is now. The markets are already anticipating a rise in rates and pricing it into various products and services. Increasing rates will affect everything from mortgages and commercial leases to working capital costs and labor wages. The economy - now in its seventh year of expansion - will react to rising rates.
Whether it is strategic planning for potential upcoming exit strategies, tax planning, or review of your accounting procedures, August is the time to review your bullpen and start warming up your closer.
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WHEN YOUR ANTI-MALWARE PROTECTION IS YOUR SECURITY PROBLEM
By David King, CISA, QSA
You've spent time and money configuring your enterprise security software and have assured your stakeholders that this investment will help keep your data safe. What happens when the software that is supposed to protect your data winds up exposing it instead? This nightmare scenario is a reality for many businesses; possibly yours. Several versions of Symantec antivirus software were recently found to have multiple critical vulnerabilities that can expose all of your sensitive information to unknown third parties.
These vulnerabilities are so dangerous that they do not require user interaction. In other words, your users do not have to click a link or open an email. The vulnerabilities affect the default configurations of the software and threaten your enterprise by exposing the software's proactive efforts to scan unknown files and filter them for threats. Therefore, just an unopened email in to a victim is enough to trigger network penetration.
What can you do about it?
Symantec has released a patch for all of the products affected by the vulnerability. Your first response should be to download and install the vendor patch. The patch is available on the Symantec website.Symantec is not the first and only vendor to have vulnerabilities. Cybersecurity companies such as McAfee, Trend Micro, Comodo, ESET and Kaspersky have had similar instances that continually arise with the everyday development of technology. The key to addressing these and other vulnerabilities is to develop a comprehensive cybersecurity program that will allow you to address the specific needs of your organization and provide assurance for your stakeholders.
Getting started
A wise sage once said "If you don't know where you are, a map does you no good." To begin to understand where you are ask yourself the following questions:
- Do we have a cybersecurity program?
- Does it cover all the pertinent risks for our business?
- Are we truly managing risk?
- Do we have adequate resources?
- Are we training, testing and monitoring?
- Do we have a response strategy and plan?
If you don't know the answer to these and other questions about your current state of cybersecurity, UHY Advisors can help by providing your organization with a cybersecurity program assessment. Using the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) framework, we will examine your current program and provide you with meaningful information on your current and recommended state on 16 key elements of an effective cybersecurity program. We will also provide meaningful and focused recommendations specific to your organization. Please contact your professional at UHY Advisors in Detroit 313 964 1040, Farmington Hills 248 355 0280 or Sterling Heights 586 254 8141, or visit us online at www.uhy-us.com.
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UHY STUDY FINDS US AMONG LOWEST PROPERTY PURCHASE TAXES ON PRIME REAL ESTATE IN THE WORLD According to the findings of a recent global study conducted by UHYI, the US levies one of the lowest property purchase taxes on prime real estate at 0.6 percent or $6,000 on a purchase of $1 million. This is much lower than the global average of 3.3 percent ($33,038) for properties worth $1 million. Click here for the full press release, which includes the results of all 26 countries involved.
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FEDERAL CREDIT FOR FIRST TIME MICHIGAN HOMEBUYERS
By Steve Megahan
The Mortgage Credit Certificate program has issued a federal tax credit to first time homebuyers statewide. The homebuyer can credit 20 percent of their annual mortgage interest paid against their federal tax liability. This credit is good for the life of the mortgage. There are only certain mortgage companies that are participating in this program. To be eligible for the credit, the home purchase price must be below $224,000, and your income must be below certain limits set by the state which are dependent on the county you are living in. Those that are not first-time homebuyers may be eligible for the credit if the new home is located in what the state considers a "Target Area". Click here to visit MSHDA's website for more information. |
EVENTS CALENDAR
SAVE THE DATE! MORE UHY EVENTS ARE JUST AROUND THE CORNER...
10/20 UHY LLP Annual Manufacturing Outlook
11/3 UHY LLP Annual Construction Outlook
11/10 UHY LLP Annual Not-For-Profit Update
12/8 UHY LLP Annual Accounting & Business Conference
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Published by UHY LLP News.
Copyright � 2013 UHY LLP. All rights reserved.
Our firm provides the information in this newsletter as tax information and general business or economic information or analysis for educational purposes, and none of the information contained herein is intended to serve as a solicitation of any service or product. This information does not constitute the provision of legal advice, tax advice, accounting services, investment advice, or professional consulting of any kind. The information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional tax, accounting, legal, or other competent advisors. Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult a professional advisor who has been provided with all pertinent facts relevant to your particular situation. Tax articles in this newsletter are not intended to be used, and cannot be used by any taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding accuracy-related penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer. The information is provided "as is," with no assurance or guarantee of completeness, accuracy, or timeliness of the information, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of performance, merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose.
UHY Advisors, Inc. provides tax and business consulting services through wholly owned subsidiary entities that operate under the name of "UHY Advisors." UHY Advisors, Inc. and its subsidiary entities are not licensed CPA firms. UHY LLP is a licensed independent CPA firm that performs attest services in an alternative practice structure with UHY Advisors, Inc. and its subsidiary entities. UHY Advisors, Inc. and UHY LLP are U.S. members of Urbach Hacker Young International Limited, a UK company, and form part of the international UHY network of legally independent accounting and consulting firms. "UHY" is the brand name for the UHY international network. Any services described herein are provided by UHY Advisors and/or UHY LLP (as the case may be) and not by UHY or any other member firm of UHY. Neither UHY nor any member of UHY has any liability for services provided by other members.
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