#compliance
Navigate regulatory compliance and maintain audit-ready financial records
How environmental remediation contractors should structure job costing when a state UST cleanup fund — not the property owner — is the real payer. Covers the five remediation phases as cost codes, ASC 606 collectibility with fund caps and deductibles, tracking 6-to-8-week reimbursement aging separately from ordinary AR, and the documentation that survives a fund audit.
FASB's ASU 2025-12 (Issue 10) codifies a third method for retiring repurchased shares — charging the full excess over par value to additional paid-in capital, as long as APIC stays non-negative. Here is how the APIC-only, retained-earnings-only, and allocation methods change the balance-sheet impact of a co-founder buyout, and why the choice matters for loan covenants and dividend capacity before the December 15, 2026 effective date.
FASB's ASU 2026-01 requires PIK dividends on equity-classified preferred stock to be measured at the stated contractual rate — not fair value — effective for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2026, with early adoption permitted. Here's what venture-backed startups with PIK preferred provisions should do before their next audit.
A Nature Human Behaviour trial of 2,896 employees at 141 companies found the four-day workweek cut burnout, held productivity steady, and convinced 90% of firms to keep it. Here's how small businesses handle the payroll side: the 100-80-100 model vs. compressed 4/10 schedules, FLSA overtime rules, California's daily-overtime election process, and the metrics to track in a pilot.
New Jersey's A5324, effective July 1, 2026, bills employers $325–$725 per year for each Medicaid-enrolled employee or dependent once 50 or more are enrolled — matched by the state, not self-reported. Here is how the tiered fees work, which workers are exempt now and in 2027, and how to prepare your books for a bill you didn't calculate.
On April 1, 2026, Visa's VAMP program cut the merchant fraud-and-dispute threshold from 2.2% to 1.5% in the US, Canada, EU, and Asia-Pacific. Here's how the (TC40 + TC15) ÷ settled transactions ratio works, the 1,500-event monthly floor, the $8-per-transaction penalty, and six concrete steps to stay under the line.
Alaska's minimum wage rose to $14 an hour on July 1, 2026 under Ballot Measure 1, with no tip credit allowed and a jump to $15 in 2027 followed by permanent CPI-indexed increases starting 2028.
California's CPRA now covers employee, applicant, and contractor data, and regulations effective January 1, 2026 require risk assessments before high-risk HR uses like biometric time clocks and AI resume screening, with automated-decision-making notice and opt-out rules phasing in by 2027.
California's SB 440, effective January 1, 2026, gives private-project owners 30 days to respond to a change order claim and 60 days to pay the undisputed portion — or owe 2% monthly interest (24% a year). Here's how the law works, how it compares to other states, and how contractors should track the deadlines in their books.
As of January 1, 2026, CMS-0057-F requires Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, CHIP, and ACA marketplace payers to decide prior authorization requests within 72 hours (expedited) or 7 calendar days (standard) and to give specific denial reasons — with FHIR-based prior auth APIs mandated by January 1, 2027. Here's what small medical and dental practices should do now.
Colorado's FAMLI program now offers up to 12 weeks of paid Neonatal Care Leave for NICU stays, separate from the existing 12 weeks of bonding leave, funded by a 2026 payroll premium of 0.88% of wages split between employer and employee for businesses with 10 or more workers.
Texas federal courts vacated the DOL's Retirement Security Rule in March 2026, reverting fiduciary status for retirement advice to the 1975 five-part test — the second such rule struck down since 2018. Here's what 401(k) plan sponsors should check now: advisor fiduciary status in writing, compensation disclosures, and a documentation checklist, plus what the DOL's new alternative-assets safe harbor proposal means for small plans.
