About

About CPA Hall Talk

Is CPA Hall Talk for you?

If you work for a small- to medium-sized public accounting firm, yes. 

If you feel like you’re suffocating from too much work and not enough organization, yes. 

If you desire accounting and auditing guidance, yes. 

If you need assistance with risk assessment, yes. 

If you wonder how to perform compilations or review engagements, yes.

If you need fraud detection and prevention assistance, yes.

If you’re looking for practical technology tips, yes. 

So who is Charles Hall, the blogger behind CPA Hall Talk?

Who is Charles Hall?

I graduated from the University of Georgia in 1984 and have worked in public accounting for my entire career, mainly as an accounting and auditing guy. In 1987, I became a Certified Public Accountant, and in 2004 I became a Certified Fraud Examiner. 

I have worked for firms with as few as three people and now work for a firm with over one hundred and twenty. In the early 2000s I had my own firm (along with a partner) for six years. So I’ve worked in several different public accounting environments. 

Along the way, I began to see CPA’s pain points. As a response, I started to teaching continuing education classes in 1989 and have done so ever since. People kept saying to me, “you know how to make the complicated simple,” which always made me smile. This led to a greater desire for me to share what I know with others. 

In 2014, I started CPA Hall Talk as a way to give back to my community of public accounting friends. The blog started out small with just a few folks checking in each month, mainly from the United States.

Now, over 40,000 people visit monthly to see what they can learn. And the visitors are not only from the U.S., but Africa, England, Philippines, India, Australia, Canada—really everywhere. This excites me. I love to see my fellow public accounting mates learn!

CPA Hall Talk Books

As a part of my sharing knowledge, I have published four books on Amazon: Preparation of Financial Statements and Compilation Engagements, The Why and How of Auditing, The Little Book of Local Government Fraud Preventionand Audit Risk Assessment Made Easy

Contributing Editor for PPC

I am also a contributing editor to PPC’s Guide to Audits of Local Governments,  PPC’s Guide to Cash, Tax, and Other Bases of Accounting, and PPC’s Guide to Quality Control

Speaker at Conferences

I have taught continuing education classes for over thirty-five years to national and local groups including the American Institute of CPAs, The Institute of Internal Auditors, the Georgia Governments Finance Officer’s Association, and the Georgia Society of CPAs.

YouTube Videos

I also provide several free accounting and auditing YouTube videos, including a series of audit risk assessment videos that complement my book. 

McNair, McLemore, Middlebrooks & Co., LLC

I served as the Quality Control partner at McNair, McLemore, Middlebrooks & Co., LLC for fifteen years (now retired). There I had the privilege of serving over twenty partners and over one hundred professionals. 

Subscribe Now

You can subscribe to CPAHallTalk below. That way you’ll receive my periodic newsletters by email. And if you decide you don’t desire to continue, you can unsubscribe at any time. But if you like what you see, invite your friends to join us here. (Over 3,000 people have already done so.)

Best of all, it’s free. 

God bless you and yours. I wish you the best in your accounting career. 

Check out my most popular posts: The Why and How of Auditing

  • Charles Hall says:

    Marilyn, sorry, but I don’t know of a “practice audit set.” There is a risk assessment tool at https://www.aicpa-cima.com/resources/download/aicpa-audit-risk-assessment-tool.

  • Marilyn Censullo says:

    Hi Charles, you mentioned in a previous communication that AICPA has a practice audit set. I’ve looked everywhere and can not find it. Could you point me in the right direction?
    Thank you for your insight and guidance. It’s been extremely helpful to me and the staff.

    Marilyn

  • Charles Hall says:

    The second edition of the book is now available on Amazon. Click here https://amzn.to/45Jr78B

  • Charles Hall says:

    Tim, thanks so much for your kind comments. And I am glad you found the book helpful. Best wishes in the days ahead.

  • Tim says:

    Thanks for all your content Charles. Its been really useful in helping me understand certain topics. I recently read your risk assessment book and its like a breathe of fresh air someone explaining, what can be quite nuanced topics, so clearly and well. All the very best and I look forward to reading more of your material

  • Charles Hall says:

    Nolan, there’s really not much that you can do. They should provide access as a professional courtesy, but they are not required to do so. Sorry I can’t help you any more than this.

  • Nolan R. says:

    Hi Charles,
    How do you handle a disgruntled predecessor auditor not providing prior year workpapers to review? Thanks!!

  • Charles Hall says:

    Marcel, sorry but I don’t do any audits related to ISA or PCAOB, so I can’t address your question.

  • Charles Hall says:

    Steven,

    I would consider using Box; it’s cloud-based electronic storage. The security is very good (although nothing is ever full-proof). I would also purchase one or two scanners. It’s good to get into the habit of producing and maintaining electronic files. For example, if your tax software allows, I’d create a PDF and store each return electronically. This is much better (and I think safer) than retaining paper files that can be destroyed in a fire. I’d also create a storage filing system: for instance, do you want to file and store based on client name or client number? Hope that helps. Charles

  • Steven Harmon, CPA says:

    Mr. Hall,

    I was curious if you had any recommendations of a document management system for a small firm (3 person) that does mainly tax returns and compilations. Our office has a portal for clients to share documents, but our document storage is still paper storage for our client and firm documents.

    Thank you for your website, it has been very helpful to me.

  • Charles Hall says:

    Thanks, Mwesigwa.

  • Mwesigwa Gerald says:

    I really love your accounting content

  • Charles Hall says:

    Sorry, Teddy. I’m just seeing this. Yes, you can provide a compilation report with the tax basis of accounting. All financial statements should be labeled as tax basis and the compilation report should also identify each statement as tax basis. You’ll also need the following additional paragraph:

    We draw attention to Note X in the financial statements, which describes the basis of accounting. The financial statements are prepared in accordance with the tax-basis of accounting, which is a basis of accounting other than accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

  • Teddy Woods says:

    Charles,
    If I am doing a presentation on tax basis of accounting and the client asks me to do a compilation can I do that compilation on the tax basis?

  • Charles Hall says:

    You should see a subscription box at the top of any page in my blog. Just key in your email address there and you’ll be subscribed. Thanks.

  • Terri Holley says:

    Subscribe please! Thanks!

  • Charles Hall says:

    Juan, can you email me about this at at chall@mmmcpa.com? Thanks. Charles

  • JUAN B RUEDA says:

    Hello Mr. Hall

    I had your book Preparation of Financial Statements but somebody doing clean up work throw it away by mistake. Do you still have it for sale? I had purchased on amazon but it no longer there. Thank you so much.

  • Charles Hall says:

    Dario, I suggest purchasing the AICPA’s audit guide for nonprofits: https://www.amazon.com/Audit-Accounting-Guide-Not-Profit-ebook/dp/B07CQVYLSG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1533689318&sr=8-1&keywords=Not+profit+audits

    They do a great job of providing audit guides by industry. Hope this helps you.

  • Dario Ramirez says:

    Mr. Hall, I found your material very interesting. I am a Colombian born with a Massachusetts CPA license. I work for another CPA and I am in charge of the 990’s, reviews and audits of non-for-profits. Unfortunately, in this small practice, I don’t have other professionals around me to seek their guidance. Even my employer is not Knowledgeable with reviews and audits. So, I am totally alone in this office.

    If you can recommend one of your books to help me with the reviews and audits of non-for-profits, it will appreciated.
    Thanks,
    Dario Ramirez

  • Charles Hall says:

    Trey, I would definitely take a prep course. Something I did not do myself, but wish I had before I took the exam the first time. I’d use Becker.

  • trey barber says:

    Enjoy the site. Very insightful for newcomer to the field. I’m studying for CPA exam and was wondering if you had any input on certain classes, websites or if you had any material that would be useful. thanks, trey

  • Charles Hall says:

    Robb, thanks for purchasing my book and I am glad you are finding it useful.

    Interesting question. It is permissible to use a modified cash basis of accounting. If this basis is used, you may want to provide a selected note disclosure explaining the details of the modified cash basis (accruing receivables and payables). If the cash basis is used for your tax return, then the change to a modified cash basis should be easy.

  • Robb Hurst says:

    Charles,

    Love the new book. Very simple and gets right to the meat of the SSARS 21 issues. We have been doing tax basis financials for our monthly bookkeeping clients. Question has arisen with client that wants to show his accounts receivable and accounts payable on the financials. Technically he is on cash basis for tax return reporting so I am thinking we can no longer issue “tax basis” financials; however we are definitely not issuing GAAP basis.

    Hoping you have seen this issue and can help with presentation.
    Thanks for your hard work!

    Robb Hurst

  • Charles Hall says:

    Robb, yes the LLC’s equity is presented like a partnership’s. I am not a tax guy at all, but you want to disclose the LLC equity using the categories in the tax return. GAAP calls for disclosure of the various types of LLC interest (if owners have different rights and privileges). GAAP also calls for the disclosure of the components of equity (e.g., undistributed earnings)–either on the face of the statements or in a note. Tax-basis statements should provide disclosures similar to those in GAAP. The LLC equity section starts with the title “Members equity.”

  • Robb says:

    Mr. Charles:

    I love your blog. It is always relevant. I wanted to see what your opinion was of proper way to format the equity section of LLC OCBOA statements when entity election was Corporation? We have generally used a partnership style equity section but I became concerned as I prepare for peer review on my ocboa compilations.

    Thanks for any input!

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