The quick onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic has resulted in organizations trying to react quickly to government and legislative mandates for all aspects of operations. This reaction has caused many complications and logistical issues in many areas including adequate preparation and management of payroll. Personnel and payroll are critical to all businesses. The payroll process includes a multitude of factors including pay rates, employee classification, sick leave, paid time off, withholdings, taxing, benefit plans and other elements that impact workers.
On March 18, 2020, President Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act into law, authorizing certain relief to employees and small and midsize businesses pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 27, the CARES Act was signed in to law providing a 2 trillion dollar relief package.
The March 18 Act is intended to help the U.S. supply businesses and tax-exempt organizations with less than 500 employees with sufficient funds to provide employees with paid leave mandated taken in connection with the pandemic related to employees’ health condition or to provide care for family members. The funds are taken through tax credits.
In addition to legislative issues, companies must pro-actively manage all aspects of their payroll process from managing exempt and non-exempt personnel, to layoffs and furloughs, to paid benefits and taxing issues. The payroll process is one considered “inherently” at high risk for fraud. In this time of crisis, companies will need to be pro-active with their internal controls surrounding this process.
Publication Date: April 2020
Designed For
Tax practitioners, Payroll personnel, Small business owners, CFO’s and controllers.
Topics Covered
- Payroll Fraud
- COVID Payroll Fraud Risks
- Internal Controls
- Payroll Tax Background
- Emergency Aid Package
- Payroll Process
Learning Objectives
- Identify areas of the payroll process that should be closely managed and monitored while being able to effectively continue to execute the process with minimal impact and an eye towards strong internal controls and preventative fraud measures
- Recognize how to examine areas to instill strong internal controls and preventative fraud measures
- Describe background of FICA, Medicare and unemployment taxes
- Identify federal aid programs
- Recognize how to outline conditions for loan forgiveness under the PPP
Level
Basic
Instructional Method
Self-Study
NASBA Field of Study
Accounting (1 hour)
Program Prerequisites
None
Advance Preparation
None
Instructor
Lynn Fountain
Lynn Fountain has over 38 years of experience spanning public accounting, corporate accounting and consulting. 20 years of her experience has been working in the areas of internal and external auditing and risk management. She is a subject matter expert in multiple fields including internal audit, ethics, fraud evaluations, Sarbanes-Oxley, enterprise risk management, governance, financial management and compliance. Lynn has held two Chief Audit Executive (CAE) positions for international companies. In one of her roles as CAE, she assisted in the investigation of a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme perpetrated by a vendor that spanned 7 years and implicated 20 employees. The fraud was formally investigation by the FBI and resulted in 5 indictments estimating a $13M fraud loss.
Ms. Fountain is currently engaged in her own consulting and training practice. She is a highly sought-after trainer and international speaker. In addition, Ms. Fountain has assisted numerous companies with enterprise risk management frameworks, internal audit processes and financial accounting. She also serves as a discussion leader for the AICPA for numerous classes finance, accounting and risk management topics.
Ms. Fountain is the author of three separate technical books. Her first book released in 2015 by the Institute of Internal Auditors Foundation is entitled “Raise the Red Flag – The Internal Auditors Guide to Fraud Evaluations”. Her second book “Leading the Internal Audit Function” was released in October 2015 by Taylor & Francis Publications. This book serves as the initial launch for a series of leading practice internal audit and information technology publications. Her third book “Ethics and the Internal Auditor’s Dilemma” was released in December 2016.
Ms. Fountain obtained her BSBA from Pittsburg State University and her MBA from Washburn University in Kansas. She has her CPA, CGMA, CRMA credentials.