A new fiduciary engagement lands on the desk. An executor or trustee, an entity earning income since the decedent’s death, and no Form 1041 on file. Determining whether one is required is the first task. Understanding how Form 1041 fiduciary income tax works is the second, because the rules differ from individual returns in ways that catch practitioners off […]
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Surgent CPE Launches New Health Savings Account CPE Series Taught by One of the Nation’s Foremost HSA Authorities
Three new NASBA-approved live webinar courses on Health Savings Accounts are now available from Roy Ramthun, who led the U.S. Treasury’s implementation of HSAs in 2003 DALLAS (June 4, 2026) — Surgent CPE, a UWorld company and leader in continuing professional education for accounting and finance professionals, today announced the launch of a new Health […]
CFO Leadership: Ethics, Governance, and the Human Side of the Role
CFO leadership ethics and governance are the load-bearing structure beneath every financial strategy decision, and where most CFOs who struggle in the role eventually fail. They’re about what to say, to whom, and when, under conditions where the answer isn’t obvious and the pressure to get it wrong is real. Financial strategy is the visible part of the CFO role. Ethics, governance, […]
AI Tools for CPAs: Use Cases, Risks, and Professional Responsibilities
AI tools for accountants are already embedded in workflows across public accounting and corporate finance. The question in 2026 isn’t whether to engage with it but how to do so without creating professional liability exposure. For CPAs, the stakes around AI adoption go beyond productivity. The same tools that accelerate research, document review, and client communication also […]
HSA in Retirement: Fitting the Account Into the Income Plan
Healthcare is the largest uninsured expense in retirement. Medicare covers significant costs but leaves substantial gaps: premiums, deductibles, copayments, dental, vision, hearing, and long-term care. A client who retires without a plan for funding those gaps is going to cover them from taxable retirement income, which makes the coordination question more consequential than it might […]
Estate Tax Returns After Death: A Practitioner’s Guide to Form 706
A client dies. The estate may or may not owe federal estate tax. Either way, there’s work to do, and in many cases, a return to file. Form 706, the United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, governs federal estate tax reporting for U.S. citizens and residents. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (Public […]
The CFO in 2026: What the Role Demands and How Leaders Get There
Finance leaders who came up through traditional accounting paths are entering a landscape where CFO competencies now extend well beyond technical precision. Finance leaders who came up through traditional accounting and controllership paths are entering a landscape where technical precision is the floor, not the ceiling. The CFO is now expected to sit at the […]
HSA as a Retirement Tool: How to Maximize the Triple Tax Advantage
An HSA funded consistently over a 30-year career and invested rather than spent can accumulate more tax-efficiently than almost any other account available. That’s not a hypothetical. It’s what the structure of the account makes possible. Most clients don’t use it that way. What it takes to actually maximize it starts with the contribution limits, moves through the investment question, and ends with how […]
Gift Tax Returns Explained: A Practical Guide to Form 709
A gift tax return — Form 709 — trips up more practitioners more often than expected, partly because the filing trigger isn’t just about owing tax. A client made a large gift last year. Now the question lands on the desk: does this require a return? Clients can owe nothing and still have a filing […]