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The global health and economic crisis triggered by coronavirus is a heavy burden for businesses. Even those for whom remote working is possible had to solve the problem of accessing the data they need in order to stay operational.

Traditional bookkeeping software is typically installed on a dedicated computer drive, only accessible by a licensed user through a desktop application on their machine.

Now take your bookkeeper out of the office, and ask them to work from home.

Fortunately, fintech has evolved to a point that cloud accounting software resolves many of these accessibility issues. Bookkeeping software has, in most instances, been moved to the cloud, and what a relief that is in unprecedented times like these.

Ransomware attacks have overtaken credit card theft as the top form of cybercrime according to new data.

Ransomware attacks have become more commonplace than payment card theft incidents for the first time, as cyber criminals alter how they go about their malicious operations in an effort to gain the biggest financial reward for the least amount of effort.

Analysis of more than a trillion security events over the past year and hundreds of breach investigations by researchers at cybersecurity company Trustwave found that ransomware attacks have become the most common security incident.

It wasn’t that long ago that people drove their cars holding a large unfolded map in one hand, glancing at it now and then to determine when to make the next turn. Today, we look back and marvel at how antiquated this everyday practice has become.

Technology has a way of doing that to us, turning the conventional into the old-fashioned. Traditional accounting is a case in point. What once was considered the optimal means of processing financial data manually using spreadsheets now seems as archaic and risky as driving with a map in one’s hand.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board issued a proposed accounting standards update that would delay the effective date for one year for some private companies and nonprofits in applying its leases standard, and for franchisor businesses in applying the revenue recognition standard, because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Earlier this month, the FASB board members voted remotely to propose the delay to help businesses and nonprofits trying to cope with the far-reaching impact of the pandemic.

In March, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act to help stabilize the U.S. economy in the wake of COVID-19. Included in the Act, and little noticed by the general public, are provisions that exempt companies from complying with two accounting standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. One provides “temporary relief” from required disclosures on troubled debt restructuring, while the other allows certain financial institutions to delay compliance with a new standard that improves the accounting for credit losses.

Moving to remote work in a crisis mode oftentimes is a quick Band-Aid or bootstrap — but these basics will most likely serve as a solid foundation for the long-term evolution for firms to incorporate more of a remote-workforce business model. We’ve all just gotten a very big nudge to do it sooner. 

It may not feel like it now, but your future firm will reap the benefits of allowing more flexibility to staff — newer hires in a tight talent market demand flexibility. You’ll also lay the groundwork to augment your staff either with off-premise permanent hires or even short-term gig players during busy season or to add a task-specific set of skills. 

In addition to causing enormous disruption to health, safety, and the economy across the globe, the coronavirus pandemic has significantly altered the landscape for CPAs related to the lease accounting standard. 

The changes include a potential effective date delay of FASB’s new lease accounting standard for certain entities, including private companies; a monumental increase in the number of lease modifications requested by lessees and granted by lessors; and the need for disclosures related to a company’s lease accounting decisions in the new environment. 

The coronavirus pandemic is upending the ability to collect and pay rents or other lease obligations, as well as hampering lease accounting and compliance with ASC 842. Without the right accounting tools to handle the various changes, companies may spend hours or days creating tedious workarounds to make adjustments for compliance requirements. Here are the significant areas of lease accounting that will be affected by Coronavirus or COVID-19. 

Rent Concessions

Many lessees, besieged by the economic impact of COVID-19, have requested rent concessions. Some lease contracts contain clauses regarding unforeseeable circumstances like pandemics, but many don’t. If a contractual or regulatory requirement – such as a force majeure clause – provides an enforceable right to rent relief, the lessee may record the favorable impact as a variable lease payment. If no such enforceable right exists, a rent concession may need to be accounted for as a lease modification. A lease modification will result in the re-measurement of lease accounting calculations. However, a variable impact will not require re-measurement of the ROU asset and lease liability. Lease accounting software should provide different tracks to record variable lease payments vs. lease payments associated with a modification, and provide automatic re-measurement. 

A package of coronavirus relief legislation that was signed into law Wednesday includes provisions for paid sick leave, family leave and medical leave, along with tax credits to help employers and the self-employed pay for them. 

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act also includes provisions for free coronavirus testing, enhanced unemployment insurance, expanded food security initiatives and increased Medicaid funding from the federal government. 

The law requires employers with under 500 employees to give paid sick leave and paid family and medical leave to eligible employees who have worked at least 30 days before the impact of novel coronavirus. Businesses need to provide up to 10 business days (or two weeks) of paid sick leave and as many as 10 weeks of protected paid family and medical leave for eligible employees impacted by the disease. 

The Internal Revenue Service has stopped processing paper tax returns, with much of its staff now working remotely because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, and is encouraging taxpayers to file their taxes electronically during the three-month extension period for this year’s tax season. 

The IRS said that to protect the public and its own employees, and in compliance with orders of local health authorities across the U.S., some IRS services such as live assistance on telephones, processing paper tax returns and responding to correspondence are extremely limited or suspended until further notice. All of the IRS’s in-person Taxpayer Assistance Centers are temporarily closed along with many volunteer tax preparation sites until further notice. However, that won’t affect the IRS's ability to deliver “economic impact payments,” the stimulus payments of at least $1,2000 that it began directly depositing Saturday in some taxpayers’ bank accounts.