CB&H’s own Bruce Yasukochi will be speaking at the Virginia Association of Community Banks (VACB) Spring Internal Audit Seminar on Thursday, May 2, 2012 in Short Pump, Virginia.

Bruce will discuss the complexities of tracking fraud from detection to final charges. Community bank professionals in attendance will learn what red flags to look for and how to address fraud allegations through both internal audit and the management team.

The VACB seminar presents an excellent opportunity for any professionals serving community banks to familiarize themselves with this critical issue. Click here for more information or to register for the VACB conference.

Cherry, Bekaert & Holland, L.L.P. (CB&H), one of the largest regional public accounting and consulting firms, is pleased to announce the addition of Todd Batchelor as a Partner with the Firm. The latest addition to CB&H’s growing Financial Services Group, Todd has served clients ranging in size from de novo start-ups to holding companies with assets in excess of $30 billion.

A Certified Public Accountant with more than 17 years of experience, Todd will assist clients in all phases of accounting and financial reporting. He has served a wide range of community banks, including some of the largest community banks in North Carolina and California. He has also served numerous financial institutions that are SEC registrants ranging in size from $2 billion to $45 billion in revenues. Todd has assisted and advised clients through all stages of mergers, acquisitions and FDIC-assisted transactions.

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Join Cherry, Bekaert & Holland and the Virginia Bankers Association for a free webinar on Year-End Disclosures and SEC Comment Letters. Cid Hickman, Industry Leader of CB&H’s Financial Institutions Group, will lead the presentation, which will be followed by an open Q&A session.

Date & Time:
December 1, 2011
10 a.m. – 12 p.m. EST

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/170316072

This webinar is approved for 2.0 CPE credit hours and is sponsored by the VBA’s CFO Committee.

CB&H’s Anita Pittman takes a look at the abundance of distressed real estate assets currently on balance sheets and asks a simple question: “Why then, when there is sufficient supply and adequate demand, have bankers, developers, and investors not partnered to profit from anticipated longer-term economic recovery of real estate markets?”

Regardless of their relative strength or weakness, banks have focused primarily on managing risk and maintaining or increasing capital. Many have invested significantly in the enhancement of their internal processes and procedures to minimize risk and satisfy regulators.

 

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Cherry, Bekaert & Holland, L.L.P. (CB&H), one of the largest regional public accounting and consulting firms headquartered in the Southeast, is pleased to announce the addition of Cid Hickman as a Partner with the Firm.

Hickman is a Certified Public Accountant with more than 21 years of experience serving the financial institutions industry and will serve as Industry Leader for CB&H’s Financial Institutions Group. Hickman has served clients ranging in size from de novo start-ups to bank holding companies exceeding $2 billion in assets.

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The IRS has released the 2011 standard mileage rates for business use of an automobile. Taxpayers driving a car, van, pickup or panel truck can use these rates to determine the deductible costs of that vehicle’s operation.

• 51 cents per mile for business miles driven
• 19 cents per mile as part of moving expenses
• 16.5 cents for medical purposes
• 14 cents per mile driven in service of charitable organizations

Both the business and moving rates are up relative to last year from 50 and 16.5 cents, respectively. The rates for medical and charitable purposes are unchanged from 2010.

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On December 17, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010, or H.R. 4853 (hereafter, “the Act”). The bipartisan legislation extends for two additional years many of the so-called “Bush-era tax cuts” originally enacted under the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA).

Key provisions of the new law extend the individual and capital gains/dividend tax cuts for all taxpayers through 2012, enact a payroll tax cut for 2011, provide a two-year AMT patch, establish a top estate tax rate of 35 percent with an exclusion of $5 million, create 100-percent bonus depreciation through 2011 and 50-percent bonus depreciation through 2012, and expand Code Sec. 179 expensing and investment limits for 2012.

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As you may know, the AICPA’s Auditing Standards Board has issued the Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) No. 16, Reporting on Controls at a Service Organization.

This new standard, which was designed to enhance transparency and consistency, will replace the previous Statement on Auditing Standards No. 70, Service Organizations (SAS 70) for all service auditors’ reports for periods ending on or after June 15, 2011, with earlier implementation permitted and encouraged.

To help you prepare for compliance with the new standard, the Risk Management Group at Cherry, Bekaert & Holland has prepared a regulatory bulletin (click here to download the pdf) that summarizes some of the notable similarities and differences between SAS 70 and SSAE 16. The bulletin also includes a breakdown of the key changes that Management will need to consider.

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The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently took action on two issues of particular importance to the financial sector.

Asset-Backed Securities

In response to Sec. 943 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the SEC has issued a proposed rule on the disclosure for asset-backed securities. The rule would require additional disclosures by those who deal in asset-backed securities on both fulfilled and unfulfilled repurchase requests. The rule would also require national ratings organizations to include additional information in any credit rating report given to investors. For other related reports, including preliminary ratings, agencies must include information on representations, warranties and enforcement mechanisms. Comments on this proposal are due Monday, November 15, 2010.

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Signed into law this summer, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (hereafter referred to as Dodd-Frank or the Act) promises to bring massive change to financial regulatory agencies.

In response to the economic recession, lawmakers sought to increase consumer protection, prevent a similar crisis in the future, and generally strengthen the national financial industry. The Act addresses these issues by making changes to both existing regulations and to the regulatory agencies that oversee and enforce them.

While much of the regulatory heft of Dodd-Frank bears toward the nation’s largest financial institutions, the Act will ultimately have a significant impact on the way community banks do business.

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