Best Online Colleges Announces the 2014 Best Online Accounting Degree Programs

BestOnlineColleges.org is a pioneer in online educational resources for students. We seek to help new students during their college search by providing an analysis of what degree paths are actually available to them, with an emphasis on distance learning. By combining educational data with surveys and academic resources, we evaluate and rank the best places in the U.S. for online degree programs of all subjects.

The Top Online Accounting Degree Programs

Accountants keep track of the finances of clients ranging from single people to entire corporations, and are part of a field that has experienced sustained growth in the last decade. Forbes Magazine listed accounting as number 2 on its list of top professions for 2013, and many reputable print publications like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have lauded the accounting field for its work-life balance and innate flexibility. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics projects at 16% growth in the accounting field now through 2020, so students in accounting programs will have many different places to look for jobs when they graduate.

Since accountants work with numbers and computer software to tabulate, record, and track financial data, accounting is particularly well-positioned to be studied online. The mathematics and policy of the accounting profession are very applications-oriented, so online coursework is often direct practice for what professionals do in the field day-to-day. It is often recommended by most accountants to get certified, and the best online accounting programs will prepare students to sit for a certification exam upon completion.

BestOnlineColleges.org has compiled and analyzed data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in order to create a thorough list of the 2014 Best Online Accounting Degree Programs. The list integrates detailed insight into the enrollment, retention, and graduation rates of each program in addition to special consideration into the breadth its specializations. There are 16 schools on this year’s list.

BestOnlineColleges.org’s Best Online Accounting Degree Programs of 2014 is published at:

http://www.bestonlinecolleges.org/best-online-accounting-degree-programs/. 

Schools featured include:

Alamance Community College

Bentley University

Bluefield State College

Edison State Community College

Hallmark College of Technology

Hobe Sound Bible College

Houston Community College

ICDC College

Northwest Christian University

Northwest Iowa Community College

Red Rocks Community College

Richmond Community College

Shorter University

Snead State Community College

Stetson University

Western Technical College

Severance Payments Are Taxable Wages Under FICA

Joanna R. Varon and Teresa M. Maestrelli for Duane Morris writes: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on March 25, 2014, that severance payments made to employees terminated against their will are taxable wages under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA).

In a decision with far-reaching implications, the court voted 8-0 to overturn a Sixth Circuit opinion that Quality Stores' severance payments to its former employees were not wages and, thus, were not taxable under FICA.

Quality Stores, Inc., an agricultural-specialty retailer, declared bankruptcy in 2001 and made severance payments to thousands of employees who were involuntarily terminated as part of Quality Stores' Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Quality Stores paid, and withheld, taxes required under FICA. After later coming to believe that the payments should not have been taxed as wages under FICA, Quality Stores sought a refund on behalf of itself and several former employees. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) declined to either allow or deny the refund. Quality Stores then initiated proceedings in the Bankruptcy Court, which granted summary judgment in Quality Stores' favor. The District Court and the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed.

In reversing, and concluding that the severance payments at issue are taxable wages for purposes of FICA, the high court focused on the broad definition of "wages" and the historical treatment of severance pay. The Supreme Court noted that Congress chose to define wages under FICA "broadly." Specifically, FICA defines "wages" as "all remuneration for employment, including the cash value of all remuneration (including benefits) paid in any medium other than cash." The term "employment" encompasses "any service, of whatever nature, performed ... by an employee for the person employing him." The Court explained that, under this definition, and as a matter of plain meaning, severance payments made to terminated employees are "remuneration for employment." The Court further explained that severance payments are made to employees only, and that "[i]t would be contrary to common usage to describe as a severance payment remuneration provided to someone who has not worked for the employer."

The court dismissed Quality Stores' contention that its severance payments were exempt from FICA taxation under the supplemental compensation benefits (SUBs) definition in the Internal Revenue Code. In doing so, the Court explained that the relevant chapter of the code governing income tax withholding has a broad definition of the term "wages," and that the definitional section for income-tax withholding, like the definitional section for FICA, contains a series of specific exemptions that reinforce the broad scope of its definition of wages.

The Court's ruling may be viewed as a triumph for the government, effectively rendering all existing (or contemplated) claims invalid. As noted in the petition for a writ of certiorari, the unknowns surrounding the treatment of severance payments had resulted in 11 similar cases and more than 2,400 administrative refund claims, with a total amount at stake of more than $1 billion.

Entryless eliminates manual data entry of your bills / Integrates with Quickbooks, Freshboks & Xero

Sid Maestre for Xero Blog writes:   Entryless automatically generates accounting entries from bills in any format and syncs them into Xero eliminating manual data entry of your bills.

Entryless is an Accounts Payable as a Service that frees up staff resources, by crunching and syncing all accounts payable data into Xero, allowing companies to manage their accounts payable data online.

Who is it for?

Entryless helps accountants and bookkeepers to scale their practice by automating a key back office function. It enables business owners to make better decisions by obtaining faster financial statements.

How Entryless works with Xero

Entryless allows you to email or upload your bills through the drag and drop interface, and will automagically interpret the bills, and create an accounting entry. A simple workflow for approving, rejecting or disputing bills is provided. Once you connect with Xero, Entryless retrieves your suppliers and chart of accounts. You can view individual bills imported into Entryless and select the appropriate supplier and assign account codes to individual line items. It keeps track of tax rates, tracking categories, and syncs with Xero files, and when you are ready, choose the bills you want to sync to Xero. Supported formats for your invoices include PDF, JPG and PNG —Scans/Photos— .

Where you can use Entryless

Entryless is built for a global customer base including NZ, AU, US and UK. Pricing starts at $14.99/month for up to 300 bills per month. Accountants & Bookkeepers receive a free account with up to 150 bills per month.

Trial Entryless for free

You can try out Entryless for free. Training on-demand is available.  The first 10 automated bills are always free.

XU Magazine / For Xero Users, by Xero Users. Delivered Worldwide (click to view)

For Xero Users, by Xero Users.
Delivered Worldwide.

Xero is an accounting system hosted entirely in the cloud for small businesses and their advisors. This means that wherever you have an internet connection, you and your advisor has access to your accounts. There's no ball and chain quite like having to only work from your desk. With Xero however, it doesn't matter if you want to access your accounts from the office or from home in your pyjamas. You can work on your accounts at a time that suits you!







Xero's popularity is increasing daily. So is the momentum of the hundreds of thousands of small business owners across the globe that are using Xero in their businesses. With in excess of 250,000 paying users and over 9,000 partners (accountants, bookkeepers, advisors, add-ons) it is clear that Xero is rapidly gaining market share and a radical following.









There’s a wealth of information out there, including hundreds of blogs, forums and also the recently launched Xero TV and Xero University. But we realised as Xero users that we haven’t always got the time to go and search and look at all of those resources.
What we want to do, is to bring together the very best information and articles into one magazine, along with exclusive articles, to save Xero users hours of time from searching on the internet.

XU Magazine is the independent magazine run by Xero users, for Xero users. The magazine is aimed at the ever growing 250,000+ strong community of Xero users and will be delivered worldwide in print.

There's something for everyone:





Its quality glossy format will captivate readers and keep them turning the page. Initially, XU Magazine will be printed quarterly and delivered straight to the office or homes of its readers. The magazine will initially have 52 full colour A4 (21 x 29.7cm / 8.3 x 11.7 inches) pages and will be perfect bound.




Do more than you thought possible
Useful content you can expect from the magazine includes:

• Feature Articles. XU Magazine's feature length articles are thoughtful, insightful, educational and informative. They will cover a wide range of topics that will provoke readers to explore the Xero accounting system and add-ons in greater depth.
• Tutorials. Exploring not only the basics but also advanced subjects. We focus on not only what can be done, but also how it's done. Tutorials are written in simple to follow steps and in plain English to appeal to all Xero users. 
• Letters/Emails to the Editor. Something to say? Something to share? Then we actively encourage you to get in touch.
• Reviews. Independently reviewing Xero approved add-ons and other 3rd party software applications.
• Interviews. Each issue we will feature an in depth interview with a senior figure from one of the Xero approved add-ons or 3rd party applications. We will explore their vision, how their software assists Xero users and what their strategies are for the coming year.
• Short news. Our short news section is intended to bring attention to interesting developments that are of interest to the Xero user community and to connect people to interesting new resources, information and insight that may not warrant an entire regular article.
• Sounding board. We pick a topic and invite both Xero users and industry experts to share what they have they say.
• One for the Devs. Code snippets, tips, tricks and how-tos.
• Diary/What's on. Seminars, webinars, Xero events and much more.
• Case Studies. A chance for add-on partners to submit how they've assisted a Xero user's business after they've implemented/integrated their software. We also seek out unique and unusual case-studies where the Xero accounting system has been adopted.
• Add-ons. What's new? What's popular? 
• Add-ons in Beta. Be one of the first to know and get exclusive invites to new add-ons still in private beta.
• Mystery 'shopper'. We will pick up to three add-ons in the market, subscribe to their service, implement their offering and request support and advice. Each recipient of our mystery 'shop' will be marked on a series of criteria and given a score. We will be looking at friendliness as well as technical knowledge and suitability to our imaginary business.
• Gadgets/Accessories. We all love gadgets! What better than to discover the latest and greatest gadgets out there that will not only keep you connected with colleagues and friends but aid you in the workplace too!

You bet! We have some fantastic stretch goals in mind, including doubling the page count andincreasing the publication to bi-monthly. When announced, any existing supporters backing us on a subscription level pledge will automatically have their subscription increased to 6 issues per year instead of 4 - FREE of charge.
But that's not all! We'd also like to create a fully interactive iPad version with bonus content including great videos, audio snippets, podcasts and live link-ups with the authors so you can ask away with questions and get additional support and advice.

The Indiegogo community meets the Xero community
We recognise that Indiegogo hosts an important community: innovators, early adopters and the intellectually curious. The thriving, 250,000+ strong Xero community are likeminded.
If you share the same passion and believe we're onto something, then please get involved...

We're reaching out to fellow Xero Users. We have a lot of planning and ideas in place but need the support of the Xero user community to make this a reality.
We need your pledges, but as importantly, we need your support in many different areas...

Our ambassadors play a vital role. They're our eyes and ears in their respective countries and offer a convenient way for readers to get in touch.




Heather Smith, Ambassador for Australia
Recently, we were extremely fortunate to meet-up with Heather Smith whilst she was here in the UK on holiday. With only a matter of 24 hours to go before she had to catch her flight back to Australia, we were able to share this project with her over coffee. Heather is a writer, speaker, Xero Certified Advisor and author of Xero for Dummies (amongst other titles in the Xero for Dummies series of books). Heather is extremely passionate about Xero and helps small businesses in a wide range of industries with Xero set-up, migration, training and on-going support. We're pleased to announce that Heather is XU Magazine's first Representative and Country Ambassador for Australia.
Gayle Buchanan, Ambassador for New Zealand
For many Xero users, Gayle requires very little by way of an introduction as she is very active in the Xero Community Forums. Gayle is the founder of Number Nurses. Number Nurses are cloud integrators, who specialise in helping business owners and accountants master cloud applications like Xero, Xero Add-ons and the Google suite.
**UPDATE** Kirsten Barrie joins XU Magazine as the Ambassador for the USA

Kirsten is a Xero Certified Financial Advisor with over 10 years experience (CFO, Accounting Manager). Certified in a dozen+ of Xero's add-ons, she and her team are expertly able to integrate them with Xero. She lives in San Francisco with her extra-large husky, Bella, and is the Chief Cloud Integrator & Owner of Verte Consulting.

We're on the lookout for an Ambassador for the UK
We currently have an opening for a Country Ambassador in the United Kingdom. Please do get in touch if you're interested in learning more about this opportunity - hello@xumagazine.com. Alternatively, if you know someone who would suit this position, is as passionate about Xero as much as we are, then please let them know.

We're listening and open to suggestions - If you'd like to contribute or have a particular skill-set (writer, journalist, photographer, graphic designer, illustrator, ninja programmer, expert developer) that may be of interest to XU Magazine, then please do not hesitate to get in touch.
TOGETHER we can make this magazine a reality. Please could YOU:

• Share the campaign website: www.xumagazine.com
• Tweet your support on Twitter, post your support on Facebook, use Instagram, Google Plus, Reddit or even carrier pigeon! Don't know what to say? Please feel free to use the campaign teaser graphics (keep scrolling - you'll find them at the bottom of this page or by clicking on the gallery tab above).
• Follow @xumagazine for updates.
• Always use the #xumagazine hashtag in your tweets to create awareness and to generate buzz around the campaign.
• Please tell your colleagues and friends who want to get involved and support the magazine. 
• Please use all the Indiegogo sharing options (under the video at the top of this page).

Thank you!

Please feel free to share on Twitter, Facebook, your website, wherever! (Right-click on the graphics, then choose "Save image as...") Remember to add our shortlink URL so people can get to us!http://igg.me/at/xumagazine

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Please feel free to share on Twitter, Facebook, your website, wherever! (Right-click on the graphics, then choose "Save image as...") Remember to add our shortlink URL so people can get to us!http://igg.me/at/xumagazine

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Please feel free to share on Twitter, Facebook, your website, wherever! (Right-click on the graphics, then choose "Save image as...") Remember to add our shortlink URL so people can get to us!http://igg.me/at/xumagazine

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Please feel free to share on Twitter, Facebook, your website, wherever! (Right-click on the graphics, then choose "Save image as...") Remember to add our shortlink URL so people can get to us! http://igg.me/at/xumagazine

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Please feel free to share on Twitter, Facebook, your website, wherever! (Right-click on the graphics, then choose "Save image as...") Remember to add our shortlink URL so people can get to us!http://igg.me/at/xumagazine

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Please feel free to share on Twitter, Facebook, your website, wherever! (Right-click on the graphics, then choose "Save image as...") Remember to add our shortlink URL so people can get to us!http://igg.me/at/xumagazine

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Please feel free to share on Twitter, Facebook, your website, wherever! (Right-click on the graphics, then choose "Save image as...") Remember to add our shortlink URL so people can get to us!http://igg.me/at/xumagazine

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Please feel free to share on Twitter, Facebook, your website, wherever! (Right-click on the graphics, then choose "Save image as...") Remember to add our shortlink URL so people can get to us!http://igg.me/at/xumagazine

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Please do leave a comment here on Indiegogo. We would love to hear from fellow Xero users from across the globe. You can also follow us on Twitter @xumagazine

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Please note: We are happy to provide any business supporter with a complete invoice upon request, in order to claim against your expenses. Please contact us after the campaign end date.

Also Find This Campaign On:

Crowdfunding Campaign Hits Halfway Mark for XU Magazine: For Xero Users, by Xero Users

XU Magazine, run by Xero users - for Xero users, is the independent magazine being made possible only by the generous pledges from Xero fans. The magazine, to be delivered worldwide, is aimed at the ever growing 250,000+ community of the online accounting software provider Xero (XRO).

In only one week, XU Magazine's campaign raised just over 50% of the funding goal required to bring the magazine to life and make it a reality. This is being achieved by the incredible support that is being given to the magazine through the newly launched campaign (http://igg.me/at/xumagazine) on the Indiegogo crowdfunding platform.

"By no stretch of imagination is the US$13,913 raised so far remotely near the grandeur of the announcement that Xero made in October last year after raising US$150 million in new capital! However, what this clearly demonstrates is the passion towards the Xero accounting system and the sense of community shared amongst us fellow Xero users" said David Hassall, CEO of XU Magazine.

There's something for all Xero users in the magazine, whether they're an owner of a small business, an accountant/bookkeeper, an advisor or even a developer working within the Xero add-on ecosystem.

XU Magazine has already appointed representatives from two different countries. They offer a convenient way for readers to get in touch, but also operate as the magazine's eyes and ears within their respective territories. XU Magazine's Australian Ambassador, Heather Smith, is a writer, speaker, Xero Certified Advisor and author of Xero for Dummies. Gayle Buchanan, the founder of Number Nurses, has also joined the team as the magazine's Ambassador for New Zealand.

When summing up, David Hassall said, "If we meet our original funding goal early then we'd like to further announce some pretty exciting stretch goals, including an interactive iPad edition on the Apple App Store. With less than two weeks to go, it's a sprint to the end. Together we're making this happen - every contribution received is another step towards the finish line."

For further information: 

Crowdfunding campaign URL: http://igg.me/at/xumagazine

Energy-Efficient Home Improvements Can Lower Your Taxes

You may be able to reduce your taxes if you made certain energy-efficient home improvements last year. Here are some key facts that you should know about home energy tax credits.

Non-Business Energy Property Credit 

• This credit is worth 10 percent of the cost of certain qualified energy-saving items you added to your main home last year. This includes items such as insulation, windows, doors and roofs.
• You may also be able to claim the credit for the actual cost of certain property. This may include items such as water heaters and heating and air conditioning systems. Each type of property has a different dollar limit.
• This credit has a maximum lifetime limit of $500. You may only use $200 of this limit for windows.
• Your main home must be located in the U.S. to qualify for the credit.
• Be sure you have the written certification from the manufacturer that their product qualifies for this tax credit. They usually post it on their website or include it with the product’s packaging. You can rely on it to claim the credit, but do not attach it to your return. Keep it with your tax records.
• This credit expired at the end of 2013. You may still claim the credit on your 2013 tax return if you didn’t reach the lifetime limit in prior years.

Residential Energy Efficient Property Credit

• This tax credit is 30 percent of the cost of alternative energy equipment installed on or in your home.
• Qualified equipment includes solar hot water heaters, solar electric equipment and wind turbines.
• There is no dollar limit on the credit for most types of property. If your credit is more than the tax you owe, you can carry forward the unused portion of this credit to next year’s tax return.
• The home must be in the U.S. It does not have to be your main home.
• This credit is available through 2016.

Use Form 5695, Residential Energy Credits, to claim these credits. For more on this topic refer to the form’s instructions. You can get it on IRS.gov or order it by mail by calling 800-TAX-FORM (800-829-3676).

Additional IRS Resources:

• Publication 17, Your Federal Income Tax