LEACIF

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Specializing in accounting and advisory services with a strategic and partnership driven focus. Please visit leacif.com and follow our page to learn more.

LEACIF offers leading edge professional services for businesses and entrepreneurs who know there is a better way forward in managing their organization's objectives and sustainably adding to its value. With a strategic and partnership driven focus, we specialize in both traditional accounting and advisory services, as well as services addressing the forefront of emerging issues that matter to our clients.

11/02/2026

Exploring the Employee Procedure for AFS Reports 📋🔍

The last procedure reported on an AFS report is the Employee procedure. For this, licensees with W-2 employees must provide a payroll journal detailing all amounts paid to each employee during the reporting period.

The licensee must also confirm and respond to the following questions:
➡️ Has the licensee provided any employee(s) with compensation based on a share or percentage of the licensee’s gross profits for the reporting period, aside from their regular salary?
➡️ Does the licensee have any employee(s) that received bonuses during the reporting period?
➡️ Does the licensee offer employee stock options?

If the answer to all of these questions are 'No,' then the procedure is complete.

However, if employees received bonuses during the reporting period, they are identified and reported whether they are on a fixed hourly or salary wage. Then calculations are performed to determine whether any of the identified employees received a bonus exceeding 25% of their pre-bonus annual compensation for the reporting period.

If the licensee offers employee stock options, then it needs to be reported if any employee stock options were executed during the reporting period that resulted in any employee having more than a 10% direct or indirect ownership interest in the licensee. Any employee having more than 10% must be identified by name, total percentage ownership in the licensee, and date the option was exercised.

Do you have an AFS report due soon? Reach out to us on our website at leacif.com/afs to see if we can help complete the procedures for your AFS report.

11/02/2026

"There’s no one-size-fits-all solution to leadership, but there is one thing that every leader needs – accountability." - John C. Maxwell

10/30/2026

🌳 Firm Fact Friday 🌳

We recognize 3 types of incidents that may occur, either involving our Team or Clients:
🖥️ Data Security and Privacy Incident - Occurs when sensitive information, accounts, or devices are compromised, either through hacking, malware, not following our Data security protocols, etc.
🌿 Ethics / Firm Policy Incident - Occurs when a Team Member's actions go against our Firm Ethics Policy or the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct.
🔍 Independence Incident - As a CPA firm that performs Attestation engagements, we must be 100% independent from our attest clients. When there are concerns or actions done that breach our independence with an attest client, we must take action and document the details.

When these breaches happen, management is notified, and we document all the details using a thorough and comprehensive organizer in our portal. The general details we document are as follows:
📋 Position of the person filling out the organizer (either a Firm Team Member or Client),
📋 Type of incident that has occurred,
📋 Date and time the incident was observed or discovered,
📋 Where the incident occurred, either a physical location or an online platform,
📋 All members involved in the incident,
📋 Root cause of the incident.

From there, specific details based on the type of incident are documented, and then ultimately, what lessons were learned from observing the incident and how to move forward.

10/29/2026

Cybersecurity Awareness Month 🔒🌐

How does your business approach its data and policies and controls?

Here are a few to consider including in your policies:

🟦 All information files stored in your electronic data storage system require labels to indicate the privacy or confidentiality of the information.

🟦 Similarly, all information files stored require labels to indicate whether the information is customer/client information or internal business information.

🟦 All software and applications used are required to be reviewed for data security best practices. For example, you may want to know if your vendors undergo third-party assurance of their data security and privacy controls.

🟦 Team members perform weekly security checks, which include steps like ensuring their browser is up-to-date and that MFA is in use across all applications.

What other controls does your business have in place to support the protection of information security and privacy? We are here to help! Please reach out if your business is interested in learning how we can help with formal documentation regarding data security and privacy.

10/28/2026

Do your books and records look scary? 😱 Finding a CPA that does it right the first time shouldn't be too scary, and we're here to help! Here are a few quick tips to help keep your accounting from becoming a frightful scare:

👻 Check for data entry errors
Regularly check your books for any data entry errors. You can find these types of inconsistencies by double-checking your books and reviewing transaction items at the end of every reporting period.

📚 Reconcile your accounts
To reconcile your accounts, compare what you record in your accounting books to transactions on the bank or credit card statement used for the payment or receipt line item in your books. The line item in your books and statement should match, and if they don’t, adjust your records to match the bank or card statement to your accounting entries, or look into the error further if it still does not seem correct after the adjustment. This is something that can be implemented monthly to keep books tidy.

🍁 Reporting Period Adjusting Entries
When you adjust an entry, you may need to ensure that the recorded transaction is placed in the right accounting period. Here are three adjusting entry categories that might be applicable:
🕸 Accruals: Revenues or expenses incurred that have not been recorded, received or paid
🕸 Deferrals: Revenues or expenses that have been recorded but not yet earned or used
🕸 Estimates: Non-cash items, like an allowance for doubtful accounts or depreciation

🍂 Look for duplicates
During a reconciliation of your books, duplicate items can make themselves known, and getting rid of any unnecessary line items can keep your accounting books clean and accurate.

🌐 If you are in need of assistance with keeping your books on track. Check us out on our website to see how we can help fulfill your business needs.

10/27/2026

In a tax partnership, the determination of whether an allocation of income, gain, loss, or deduction (or item thereof) to a partner has substantial economic effect involves a two-part analysis that is made as of the end of the partnership taxable year to which the allocation relates. (See Treasury Regulation Section 1.704-1)

🧮 First, the allocation must have economic effect.

🧮 In order for an allocation to have economic effect, it must be consistent with the underlying economic arrangement of the partners. This means that in the event there is an economic benefit or economic burden that corresponds to an allocation, the partner to whom the allocation is made must receive such economic benefit or bear such economic burden.

🧮 There are three requirements that, must be included in the partnership’s operating agreement, throughout the full term of the partnership. Generally, these requirements address the determination and maintenance of capital accounts, treatment of liquidating distributions, and obligation to restore capital account deficit balances.

🧮 What about part two of the analysis? The rules for accounting for partnership capital accounts and the concept of economic effect are lengthy and complex! Consult with your for more information or visit us at leacif.com.

10/26/2026

Reporting Ownership on an AFS Report 📋🔍

When reporting ownership structure on an AFS report, it is broken down by individuals with at least 2.5% ownership.
➡️ If a direct owner is an LLC/Partnership entity, all of the owners with at least 2.5% or greater are also reported below the entity, with ownership percentage broken down even further.
➡️ Corporations with ownership in the Licensee must also have shareholders with at least 5% ownership included in the AFS report.
➡️ Any trusts with ownership. Include beneficiaries receiving more than 10% of the trust's gross or net profit.
➡️ The total percentage of the Licensee's ownership must equal 100%

It's also important to check whether the correct ownership breakdown and operating agreement are reported to the CRA, or it may result in a fine. If ownership changes occurred during the reporting period, these changes must also be reported. These changes include:
🔁 Changes in owners, officers, members, or managers. Additions, removals, percentage changes, etc.
🔁 Change in entity name
🔁 Any transfer or sale of a license interest

Do you have an AFS report due soon? Reach out to us on our website at leacif.com/afs to see if we can help complete the procedures for your AFS report.

10/26/2026

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” - Carl Bard

10/23/2026

🌳 Firm Fact Friday 🌳

We have various firm-wide training sessions that our Team Members participate in once a year. These trainings consist of a slideshow deck with all relevant links to our systems and policies, as well as virtual walkthrough meetings that go through the training and are recorded and later posted for new Team Members to review during onboarding.

The types of training we do each year are:
🌳 About the Firm - General Firm Training, walking through and explaining the current systems put in place, and policies and procedures outlined in our Handbook.
🌳 Firm Ethics - Overview of key information specific to the Firm's Ethics Policy, and relevant information from the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct.
🌳 Data Privacy and Security - Overview of our policies, procedures, and safeguards around data privacy and security, as well as general security tips and information.
🌳 Quality Management - Overview of our System of Quality Management, and how all of our systems and documentation tie back to the associated components.

These trainings are thorough and updated as needed. It's important to ensure that all Team Members, both new and current, are on the same page regarding our policies and systems.

10/22/2026

Cybersecurity Awareness Month 🔒🌐

When considering actions to take for a data breach, what steps does your business take?

Here, we maintain a Data Privacy and Security Breach Management Plan. The actions we take in the event of an are organized under the following sections:

🔒 Preparation
🔒 Detection
🔒 Analysis
🔒 Containment
🔒 Eradication
🔒 Recovery
🔒 Lessons Learned

Does your business maintain a formal policy or action plan in the event of a data or cybersecurity breach incident?

We are here to help! Please reach out if your business is interested in learning how we can help with formal documentation and planning in the event of an incident.

Address

Essexville, MI
48732

Website

http://leacif.com/

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