Hello MSCPA Members,

If you are like me, you are working from home while trying to make sure your kids are learning something and wondering if you have enough toilet paper to last a month.  You are also questioning decisions you made last week and wondering if we all waited too long to sequester ourselves.

The truth is we don’t know, and hopefully we never will.  If we bunker down and nothing happens it will be easy to think that we overreacted, and this was just a hyped up story.  BUT the alternative is we act like nothing is happening and we turn into Italy.  As CPAs, you all understand risk management, if there is a risk that can be mitigated with relatively simple action you would take that action.  This is the situation we are in right now.

As you are involved in making these decisions for your organizations do so with an open mind.  In many situations it is important to be decisive and to make a decision and stick to it.  This is not one of those times, this is a time for keeping an open mind and being willing to adapt as the facts change.  Your organization needs your skills now more than ever.  Being able to provide realistic estimates of the financial impact of decisions is critical.

Most important of all, be safe and try your best to relax.  Health officials tell us that stress harms our immune system, stressing over this doesn’t help.  Learn what you can and take care of yourself.  We expect to hear later today that the IRS will extend the federal tax deadline up to 90 days and Montana already has an automatic extension.  That said if you enjoy tax work this would be a great time to dig in and complete a bunch of returns, so you don’t have to think about all the other craziness going on in the world.

As always if you need anything please do not hesitate to ask.  The MSCPA staff and other members are here to help!

Allen Lloyd

MSCPA Executive Director