Many clients have inquired about the “CGMA” designation that I earned a couple of years ago:

CGMA stands for “Chartered Global Management Accountant.” It is a proprietary designation for management accountants issued by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) and the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

Emphasis: This designation stresses management accounting services that I have provided to clients including: Product costing analysis, cash budgeting, expansion planning, overhead rate calculations, ratio analysis, and others.  Essentially, offering management accounting services to emerging businesses that large companies have in-house in their accounting departments.

Qualifications: In addition to the education, examination and internship requirements of the CPA license (often a seven year process), the CGMA certification requires an additional three years of management accounting experience.  As of 2014… I have thirty years of post-university experience. I have continually practiced in the area of management accounting in addition to my licensed areas of attestation and taxation under my CPA license.

Citation: Revenue Ruling 2014-2. 

Background: In 2012, the US government and 49 states reached a settlement with five major bank mortgage servicers to place $1.5 billion in a fund in order to pay out settlements to homeowners who had lost homes to foreclosure where improper banking practices had taken place.

Summary: The IRS has determined that the recipients of these payments should treat them as amounts received on the deemed sale of the residence.  This will require amending the return where the foreclosure was originally reported.

Note: Many times, such deemed sales result in no tax assessment due to the Code Section 121 gain exclusion on the sale of a principal residence.  If you have received such a settlement, contact us for proper reporting and possible amendment of your prior return.