Most consumers to not realize or care that whenever they use their Visa branded payment cards, the merchant has to absorb fees of 2% to sometimes 10% or more. Grocery stores like Kroger typically have high overhead and low profit margins. Having to shell out even 2% of sales can have a dramatic effect on profitability. As this chart indicates, their margins percentages have declined by 11% over the last 10 years. How can retailers compete? They are looking into lower cost alternative payment methods such as cryptocurrency merchant platforms. Some platforms include CoinPayments, which offers crypto merchant settlement for…

This weeks’ financial condition index report from the Chicago Fed indicates a continuing trend of loosening financial conditions. This environment can stimulate labor markets by encouraging employers to consider spending more money to hire new employees. https://www.chicagofed.org/research/data/nfci/background

Large established organizations are scrambling to catch up with blockchain technology – so they are buying up pieces of the puzzle as they try to figure out their place in the growing digital asset economy.  Accounting Today reports E&Y has acquired a startup in San Francisco with some cryptocurrency patents.  Among these is a tool to track digital asset transactions and inventory while better preparing asset holders for tax preparation.  For the Accounting Today article click here. Torrey & Gray is a staffing and recruiting firm that places both temporary and full time accounting and finance professionals in the Chicago…

In a move we have advocated since 2009, the University of Illinois (and Ohio State, among others) recently had their Masters’ in Accountancy program added to the qualifying list of STEM majors.  This is significant because the designation allows foreign nationals an extended work visa timeframe post graduation without requiring an H1B visa sponsorship.  Normally, a foreign student will be allowed up to 18 months to work in the US without work visa sponsorship.  However, STEM degrees enjoy up to a 24 month extension.  A major consideration is the level of mathematics included in the degree, and each program is…

A recent article from CNN suggests Amazon and Apple are venturing further into payment systems, credit cards and even cryptocurrency.  They see current financial systems “ripe for disruption” and hope to expand services and products offered to their already massive and loyal customer bases. Other emerging services are existing cryptocurrencies venturing into banking and merchant services.  It is already possible to easily accept crypto using platforms such as Token Pay (www.tokenpay.com), which recently announced the acquisition of a 10% stake in a German bank and is reportedly in talks with a South American sports betting company.  They are in the…

A recent article in The Journal of Accountancy highlighted the demand for education and training in the field of cryptocurrencies.   Still far from mass adoption, crypto and the related blockchain based technologies springing up constantly are going to forever change the world we live in.  There is so much happening right now in regards to blockchain, privacy, immutability of records placed into blockchains, it really is an exciting time for some, and a terrifying time for others. In order to remain relevant in the education marketplace, schools must begin introducing these concepts if they have not already begun doing so.…

Torrey & Gray attended the 11th Annual Risk Conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago this week.  Charles Evans, the President and CEO of the Chicago Fed had a candid open conversation about the relative strength of the economy, predicted near term regulatory relief for mid-tier and community banks as well as opining on interest rate policy. On the topic of interest rate risk, Doreen Eberly, a Director in the Division of Risk Management Supervision for the FDIC, pointed out that in the low interest rate environment there have been very few de novo (new bank charters).  In a…

In a recent report from payment processor Square, Inc. they asserted that a lack of guidance in the largely untested waters of accounting for cryptocurrency transactions may affect how their financial performance is reported.  Citing the possibility of having to restate financials later, if future guidance is contradictory to their current approach. Also at issue is the mechanisms for which payment processors exchange currency pairings.  The possible risk is that regulatory pressure could be applied if their operations are determined to be brokering or advising – services that could possibly open the doors to state or federal regulator scrutiny.  For…

It can go both ways.  Sometime you find you have overestimated your reasonably collectible accounts receivable, and sometimes you can find you have been grossly under estimating the value of your service contracts.  Unfortunately for this hospital group based in Naperville, a huge error was discovered after realizing the reimbursement schedules in their accounting systems were not updated with accurate information.  So, shortly after cutting $50 Million off their operating budget (including employee layoffs), they soon discovered the need for a massive writeoff to their aging.  For the full article, Click Here. Torrey & Gray has staffed service contract audit…

Talent Management is among top risks to banking institutions.  The American Banking Journal report also includes Cyber Security, Third-party and Regulatory Risks as well as Lend Risks round out the list.  Training and other talent management issues are particularly important for community banks, where fewer employees mean each rogue actor could wreak exponentially larger havoc.  For the full article click here and go to page 20. Identifying the best talent to complement your teams can be challenging.  Torrey & Gray has been a leading recruiting and staffing firm that helps banks identify and recruit the best talent for accounting, finance,…