Accounting

How financial planners can legally provide tax guidance

Published

9 months ago

October 14, 2025

Certified financial planners command a lot of knowledge about taxes, but many of them could be afraid of crossing into professional areas that are outside of their field of qualified expertise.

Planning and direct needs like return preparation and advice with precise calculations must remain detached for advisors who are not also certified public accountants, enrolled agents or other tax professionals. But planners can, nonetheless, guide clients on a lot of strategies to lower payments to Uncle Sam, according to a presentation by Megan Brinsfield, president of Motley Fool Wealth Management, the registered investment advisory arm of investing website The Motley Fool, at the CFP Board Connections Conference in Chicago.

She began her tutorial on legally integrating tax education into advisory practices with lines of verse based on the prologue of “Romeo and Juliet” about the “pair of star-crossed lovers” from two rival families.

“Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair finance, where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge twixt tax and planning arts were separate paths to keep them long apart, but, joined together, make clients’ fortunes whole,” Brinsfield said. “But what if these two arts could join as one? What wealth preserved, what peace of mind begot for clients’ joy and planners’ practice strong when tax and planning dance their destined song? The wisest fool knows this eternal truth: that plans unwed from tax are plans forsooth, that leave upon the table gold untold.”

Translating from her riffing on the classic lines of Shakespeare, Brinsfield said she would provide the planners in attendance with “background about knowing the boundaries, what’s advice, what’s guidance, what’s inbounds or out of bounds” and six ways to “become a tax superhero” without breaching those lines. Despite the lines of professional demarcation between financial advisors and CPAs or EAs, any CFP has obtained and maintained a designation with an exam that devotes 14% of its material to tax planning, which is one of the eight principal topics of the test. Some CFPs also have tax credentials as well.

“Clearly, we need to know about taxes to be effective in our role as advisors and planners,” Brinsfield said. “But how do we differentiate between the things that are guidance or the things that can get us, maybe, into a little deep water with advice?”

The simplicity of the distinctions that she explained belied some recent findings from studies by research and consulting firm Cerulli Associates that only 47% of advisors say they do tax planning, and wealth and asset management firms are bulking up their tax-focused capabilities. Some advisors may be performing aspects of tax planning without knowing it or avoiding the topic entirely without reason.

Permissible and impermissible tax advice

Topics of discussion accessible to any CFP include scenario analysis from planning tools forecasting the impact of a Roth conversion, a qualified charitable deduction or a retirement withdrawal strategy, the tax status of various account types and the consolidation of them and education of a client about loss harvesting or charitable donations.

“All the lawyers love to see us use qualifying language around anything related to tax,” Brinsfield said. “We often have in the disclosure of our emails that, ‘This is not tax advice. Consult your tax preparer, tax advisor for pretty much everything we say,’ and we often like to include words like ‘generally,’ and, ‘This is an estimate,’ and ‘approximate results.’ Using rounded figures always helps. If you are presenting a figure that’s down to the dollar or starts including cents, it gives the air of precision. And that starts, kind of, crossing over that line into advice.”

In that regard, words like “I recommend” or “let’s move forward” attached to specific numbers or assurances of particular outcomes about, say, the level of a refund or an interest calculation could also fall on the wrong side of that line, she said. And preparing IRS forms or “signing tax returns without the appropriate credentialing” usually end up there as well, she added. Then she invited the audience to participate in a few examples of “impermissible tax advice” versus “permissible tax guidance.”

The calculation of a required minimum distribution and federal and state withholding percentages was out of bounds, but helping a client carry out a backdoor Roth conversion and reminding them to file Form 8606 was within the boundary line. Fielding a question on investing the profit from the sale of a home by instructing the client to confirm with their tax professional how much to keep for future taxes was kosher as well.

But promising a client they won’t be subject to a penalty for failing to take a required minimum distribution would likely prove problematic. And the same is true for answering a query about a $10,000 charitable donation “with certainty that something will be a deduction, whereas it could be a deduction,” she said. That doesn’t mean that planners must respond without any numbers at all, though. They might suggest to the client that there could be savings between $3,000 to $4,000, if they itemize.

“In this case, you are in good graces because you have used the words, ‘could provide’ instead of ‘will provide,'” Brinsfield said. “You’ve provided an estimate, and you’ve included assumptions that qualify your statement as well.”

The tax planning opportunity for financial advisors

If planners stick to those general boundary lines, they can assist clients who would value their guidance or education through at least a half dozen important methods. Those cited by Brinsfield were: collaboration with a tax pro, offering clarity in basic English for often complex topics, exploring how to cut their payments to Uncle Sam or maximize their federal refunds, thinking through the impact of state-level duties and giving insights into the many strategies involving spouses.

For any advisors wondering how clients might greet those topics and tools, Brinsfield shared some anonymous quotes from clients and prospects of her firm who were asked how they like their tax preparers. They responded by saying things like, “‘does not know anything, does not provide advice, doesn’t do much planning, does not strategize, not very happy with him. I’ve been ghosted for months. Never been particularly helpful, and getting worse,'” she said.

“‘Yeah, I’ve got a tax person. But, I mean, how smart is he? I don’t know. I trust the guy to an extent, but I would never say that he is the smartest tax person,'” Brinsfield added, to laughter. “So, as CFP professionals, I think we should all say to tax preparers, ‘Thank you for setting the bar so low. You have made it easy for us to add value.'”

Accounting

Continuous Auditing Transforms Corporate ERPs

Published

4 days ago

July 21, 2026

Business Finance News

continuous auditing transforms corporate erps

As corporate accounting departments cross the threshold into late July 2026, the adoption of continuous, automated auditing systems has reached a definitive turning point. Driven by advances in artificial intelligence and deep integration with modern Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms, leading finance organizations are moving away from traditional, periodic post-hoc audits in favor of real-time, 100% transactional verification. This technological transition is redefining internal control environments, reducing compliance costs, and eliminating the structural delays inherent in legacy quarterly closing processes.

Unlike traditional auditing frameworks that rely on statistical sampling—a process that inevitably leaves operational blind spots—continuous auditing software monitors operational data feeds continuously. Every purchase order, electronic invoice, payroll disbursement, and cross-border wire transfer is automatically cross-referenced against established corporate governance parameters, regulatory tax schedules, and anti-fraud algorithms in real time. Anomalies or unauthorized ledger entries are flagged instantly, allowing internal audit teams to investigate and remediate compliance gaps immediately rather than months after the close of a financial period.

The implications for executive financial management are far-reaching. By embedding continuous verification directly into daily transaction workflows, chief financial officers gain uninterrupted visibility into the organization’s true financial standing. Real-time balance sheet auditing eliminates the severe operational bottlenecks associated with month-end and quarter-end financial reconciliations, freeing accounting professionals to focus on strategic financial modeling, tax planning, and capital allocation rather than manual data entry and spreadsheet consolidation.

However, implementing continuous auditing requires accounting leadership to invest heavily in data governance and technical upskilling. Internal audit teams must evolve from manual ledger reviewers into system architects capable of auditing complex algorithms and validating automated data pipelines. Accounting firms and corporate controllers that master continuous auditing will establish a resilient compliance framework capable of meeting stringent international regulatory standards with total transparency.

Accounting

U.S. Imposes New 50% Tariffs on Canadian Imports Under Rare Legal Provision

Published

4 days ago

July 20, 2026

Business Finance News

U.S. Imposes New 50% Tariffs on Canadian Imports Under Rare Legal Provision

WASHINGTON — In a major escalation of cross-border trade friction, U.S. President Donald Trump has signed executive orders imposing new 50% tariffs on a wide selection of Canadian exports, citing discriminatory practices by Ottawa targeting American auto, dairy, and beverage industries.

The new duties, announced Monday, will take effect in 30 days. They target a broad spectrum of consumer and industrial goods—ranging from wine, liquor, and milk products to commercial cement, furniture, clothing, and hockey equipment.

Untested Legal Mechanism

To enact the sweeping measures, the administration invoked Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930—a rarely used legal provision allowing the executive branch to levy additional tariffs of up to 50% on foreign nations deemed to discriminate against U.S. commerce.

White House officials noted that Section 338 addresses trade discrimination rather than national security or economic emergencies. The move comes months after prior global emergency tariffs faced legal challenges in domestic courts, signaling Washington’s pivot toward alternate statutory authorities to maintain import duties.

Senior administration officials briefed reporters that the measure directly responds to Canadian provincial bans on U.S. alcohol, restrictions on American vehicle exports, and import quota disparities affecting U.S. dairy and cheese producers relative to third-party trading partners.

“While the administration continues to secure reciprocal trade agreements globally, Canada retaliated against efforts to protect domestic industry,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer stated.

USMCA Impact and Carve-Outs

Significantly, the newly ordered 50% duties will apply to designated items even if they otherwise comply with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

However, the administration confirmed key targeted exemptions:

Energy products (including oil and natural gas)
Potash and critical minerals
Fish and seafood
Goods already governed by sector-specific duties (such as existing steel and aluminum tariffs)

Administration representatives emphasized that the tariffs do not stem from recent disputes concerning drifting Canadian wildfire smoke, noting that policy options regarding environmental spillover remain under separate review.

Canadian Response and Market Reaction

Following the White House announcement, the Canadian dollar experienced a sharp decline against the U.S. dollar, falling approximately 0.4% during evening trading.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney issued a statement emphasizing that Canada’s earlier counter-duties had merely matched previous U.S. trade actions. “Canada stands ready to engage intensively to address outstanding issues with the U.S. to the mutual benefit of our citizens,” Carney stated, pointing to detailed proposals Ottawa submitted to modernize the USMCA framework.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford took a firmer stance, urging a “dollar-for-dollar” reciprocal response if the measures go into effect on August 19.

With a 30-day implementation window before the duties officially lock in, industry associations and trade groups on both sides of the border are calling for urgent bilateral negotiations to avert further supply chain disruption across North America.

Accounting

Automated Continuous Auditing: Transforming Compliance and Real-Time Financial Oversight

Published

5 days ago

July 20, 2026

Business Finance News

Transforming Compliance and Real-Time Financial Oversight

The traditional accounting paradigm—defined by periodic monthly closures and post-hoc annual audits—is rapidly giving way to continuous, automated financial oversight. As of July 2026, forward-thinking accounting practices and multinational corporate finance departments are leveraging continuous auditing systems powered by advanced machine learning models. These systems monitor operational transactions in real time, shifting audit methodologies from sample-based post-analysis to absolute, 100% transaction-level verification.

The operational advantages of continuous auditing are transformative. Standard auditing procedures historically relied on statistical sampling, which, despite rigorous methodology, inherently left gaps where anomalies or fraudulent transactions could go undetected for months. Modern continuous auditing platforms integrate directly with enterprise resource planning (ERP) databases, instantly cross-referencing purchase orders, invoices, bank feeds, and tax records. Any deviation from established control parameters or unusual transaction behavior triggers immediate flags for internal audit teams, dramatically reducing detection lag from quarters to seconds.

Beyond fraud prevention, continuous auditing fundamentally alters internal reporting and decision-making. Executive leadership no longer has to wait weeks after the close of a quarter to evaluate precise financial standing; real-time verified ledger data provides an uninterrupted view of operating margins, tax liabilities, and cash flow dynamics. This real-time visibility enables corporate controllers to adjust capital allocation strategies dynamically, mitigating liquidity constraints and capitalizing on emerging commercial opportunities far more efficiently than competitors bound to legacy reporting cycles.

However, implementing continuous auditing requires accounting professionals to acquire new analytical capabilities. The role of the auditor is evolving from manual data reconciliation toward system validation, algorithmic model governance, and strategic risk interpretation. Accounting firms and corporate finance departments must invest in continuous technical education, ensuring that audit staff possess the data engineering skills necessary to design, maintain, and evaluate complex automated compliance systems.