March 9, 2026

Richard J. “Rich” Benda 1964-2025Nebraska Certificate #6137Society Certificate #444028-Year Member Fred A. Lockwood 1940-2026Nebraska Certificate #0627Society Certificate #042963-Year MemberFormer member of the Society Board of Directors & Public Service Award Recipient Dwight L. Petersen 1956-2025Nebraska Certificate #3640Society Certificate #271140-Year Member The Society has made a donation to The Foundation of the Nebraska Society of Certified Public Accountants […]

Membership in the Nebraska Society of CPAs signifies your commitment to the accounting profession and the belief that much can be accomplished by working together. Welcome to the premier organization for CPAs and accounting professionals in Nebraska. CPA Membership Mark DeDiana, Core CPAs, HastingsJamie Martindale, 21st Century Equipment, ScottsbluffAllyn Miller, Lutz, OmahaGarrett VanSkiver, Core CPAs,

Working with a defense contractor in February, I was talking with one of their senior operations leaders—smart, practical, running a tight organization with thin margins and a proud reputation. He leaned in and said, “Chuck, I’m not trying to become a tech company. I’m trying to stop my team from making a bad decision with a tool they don’t fully understand.”

The American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) recently celebrated its 50th annual National Tax Conference in Washington, D.C., bringing together tax professionals from across the country. The event featured expert guidance on the latest tax topics, including the implementation of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) and resulting implications for tax practitioners. Notably, artificial intelligence (AI) emerged as a focal point, reflecting its expanding role in the tax profession. This development has prompted mixed reactions among tax professionals, including excitement, doubt, and uncertainty about their future roles.

In the purchase of any business, rarely is there any guarantee that the customers or clients will continue to come. If you buy a McDonald’s franchise today, you will not get a warranty from McDonald’s that customers will be there eating hamburgers tomorrow. So why then does anyone buy a business knowing the risk that exists in keeping the customers?

Starting out in any industry comes with challenges, and agriculture is no exception. Rising input costs, limited access to equipment, land, and capital, and difficulty securing long-term leases make it especially hard for new farmers to get established. Land access remains one of the biggest barriers.

In a memorandum decision1 released on Dec. 30, 2025, the Tax Court addressed a number of issues related to a late-filed federal estate tax return. Among the issues addressed by the court is the liability of an estate residue transferee for the estate’s unpaid estate tax deficiency, failure to file penalty, and accuracy-related penalty.

Simplification. It’s something that many of us strive for in our lives, families, and businesses, and strangely enough, it often requires several components working together seamlessly to achieve.

In the context of mergers and acquisitions, the buyer can engage in either a stock purchase or an asset purchase. While a stock purchase is typically simpler, the buyer generally assumes the seller’s tax liabilities, although the buyer is typically indemnified for those liabilities. For this reason, many business owners prefer to structure their acquisitions as an asset purchase. However, unless the buyer takes precautionary measures, the buyer can also be liable for certain taxes in an asset purchase, typically referred to as “successor liabilities” because they are liabilities of the successor company (i.e., the buyer).

In our first article on LB644, published in Issue 4, 2025, of the Nebraska CPA journal, we discussed how Section 31 of that law, now codified at Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-3,114, was impacting Nebraska’s existing incentive contracts as well as posing a threat to Nebraska’s economic development. LB644 became operative on Oct. 1, 2025. Given the importance of this topic to so many Nebraskans and Nebraska companies, and the impact this is also having on potential new expansion projects in Nebraska, we are providing updates that have arisen on this topic since our first article was published.

In this issue, we celebrate members who have maintained 50 or more years of consecutive membership in the Nebraska Society of CPAs. This milestone represents far more than longevity, however. It reflects a lifetime commitment to the integrity, leadership, and advancement of the accounting profession in Nebraska.

Valuations play a critical role in business, tax, and wealth transfer planning, and are often the culmination of work from several of the client’s professional advisors. With the results of a professional valuation being subject to outside scrutiny, practitioners should understand the limits of attorney-client privilege and work-product protection in this context and structure engagements to preserve confidentiality where it genuinely advances legal advice. For CPAs partnering with counsel, the practical question is when valuation work is truly in service of legal advice and when it constitutes ordinary-course business analysis.