With so many questions arising about Paycheck Protection Program loans, we thought this was the right time for a special edition of our "Future-Proof" podcast.

The PPP — a provision of the CARES Act, the massive coronavirus relief bill that was signed into law on March 27 — is designed to be an incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll. The SBA says it "will forgive loans if all employees are kept on the payroll for eight weeks and the money is used for payroll, rent, mortgage interest, or utilities.”

Lenders began processing loan applications on April 3, and questions and concerns started to arise almost immediately, and I know many of you have questions as well.

 So I sat down for a conversation recently with two people who can help put this all into proper context.

Erik Asgeirsson is the president and CEO of CPA.com, the technology arm of the American Institute of CPAs, and he gave us some perspective on the massive and almost unprecedented legislative undertaking it took to get this bill passed, as well as recommendations for the types of documents that lenders are looking for under various circumstances during the loan application process.

And Tom Hood, the president and CEO of the Maryland Institute of CPAs and the Business Learning Institute, talked a bit about the role that CPAs can play in this process and gave us some guidance of his own for people in the profession as the rest of this crisis plays out.

In this conversation, we cover:

• How everything came together.
• Avoiding misinformation during the application process.
• Looking at your options, executing, and complying.
• The opportunities for CPAs right now.
• Staying positive.

Listen to our conversation here: More resources:

• SBA Paycheck Protection Program resources for CPAs
• The MACPA's COVID-19 resource center
• AICPA recommends lender documents and key calculations to use in PPP applications