Real Estate Conference 2022 Wrap up
On Thursday, June 16th, 2022, GSCPA held its annual Real Estate Conference. This year attendees had the option to attend the event in person or virtually.
The conference was kicked off by Keynote speaker Kenisha Robnett, from the Georgia CCIM Chapter. The topic she spoke on was How to Become True Leaders in Diversity Initiatives. She gave attendees insight on how diversity brings a broader perspective, fresh ideas, and paves the way for greater access to communities, resources, support, exposure to hidden underlying issues. Kenisha was named one of the 2020 Women of Influence and she discussed her tremendous job leading diversity efforts in the real estate industry.
Our second session of the day was led by Ian Wyatt from the Metro Atlanta Chamber. He gave an economic and market outlook for 2022. He discussed the most affected themes that are being felt in the real estate industry and capital markets such as job growth rates in Atlanta, tight labor markets, inflation, residential affordability challenges, energy, and port and supply chain issues.
After a short networking break, a panel of speakers; Michael Bull, Will Young, Darrell Chapman, and Jesse Whalen from Bull Realty Inc., gave attendees a Commercial Real Estate Sectors update. They provided an inside look at the direction of major CRE sectors and a gave a forecast for 2022.
The last session of the morning consisted of breakout sessions that offered attendees session choices based on their interests.
The first option was covered by Jesse Speltz from Cabretta Capital. He spoke on Environmental, Social, and Governance Standards (ESG). The topics he spoke on covered why businesses, owners, and investors should pay attention to ESG; factors that may have driven the increase in interest in recent years; myths or common misconceptions about ESG; how reporting around ESG is developed, and what businesses should know; tips for those looking at implementing an ESG program and predictions regarding ESG for 2022.
The second option was led by Adam Rimes and Justin Elanjian from Aprio. They spoke on the Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERTC): Understanding Eligibility and Maximizing Benefits. The key takeaways from their session included enhancements to the credit and strategies to maximize benefits, claiming a PPP loan, and easier ways to understand your eligibility and claim hassle-free and audit readiness.
There was an hour break for lunch and then the afternoon breakout sessions began.
The first option was led by Thomas Newell from Newell & Newell PC. He gave an A&A update: Emphasis on Matters Related to Real Estate. The topics he covered ranged from ASU Topic 606 Revenue from Contracts with Customers and ASU topic 842 leases; FASB topic 970 Real Estate and other topics that can impact financial instruments, income taxes and consolidation. He also discussed other alternatives to GAAP and the implications for auditors.
The second session option was led by Nick Rider from Mauldin & Jenkins, and he gave attendees a Real Estate Tax update. He informed attendees on what has happened since the TCJA legislation. Examples included 163(j) - options, exceptions, aggregation, tax shelters; centralized partnership audit regime; K-1, K-2 and K-3; tax basis, 704(b) basis, 704(c), inside basis, and outside basis.
There was one final networking break of the day, and the last set of breakout session began.
The first session option was an Economic Developmental Panel led by Cedric Matheny from T. Dallas Smith & Company, Barton Lowrey from Georgia Department of Economic Development, and Gregg Simon from the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. The panel highlighted Georgia’s foundation of strong assets, including the existing logistics infrastructure and strong partnerships with other agencies, companies, and communities. Attendees then learned how Georgia entered 2022 with a great deal of promise for generating new jobs, economic development projects and increased investments.
The second option was led by Jeff Kramer from Aprio, and Kevin Walsh from Secureworks; and they spoke on Evolving Cybersecurity Threats. They covered how the threat landscape is continually evolving as attackers adapt their tactics and strategies, to how businesses change. As organizations transform how they work, security and risk management leaders learned about familiar evolving threats, best practice myth busters, and how our changing world influences threat exposure.
All of the above sessions will be available soon on-demand at www.gscpa.org.
The Georgia Society of CPAs thanks all the Real Estate Conference attendees, both in-person and online. We hope you will plan to join us next year for the 2023 GSCPA Real Estate Conference!
For more information on the many CPE options that The Georgia Society of CPAs offers, visit the Continuing Education area of the GSCPA website, www.gscpa.org, or call the CPE Department at 800-330-8889.