Journal of Accountancy articles from August 2003

Journal of Accountancy archives from August 2003

Smart stops on the web.(investment web sites)
August 1, 2003... INVESTMENT SITES Articles Aplenty www.investment-index.com. Financial planners, consultants and CPAs can read articles on investment topics--such as "Aggressive Wealth Building Strategies," "Characteristics of Successful...

Hold a memorable miniconference.(for CPAs)
August 1, 2003... CPAs can offer seminars on business topics to educate existing clients and attract new ones. Growing a practice is one of the many benefits of putting on such gatherings, but practitioners sometimes miss opportunities to boost their...

The new accounting environment: companies face a paradigm shift in how they conduct business.
August 1, 2003... EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * NEW ACCOUNTING REGULATIONS BROUGHT ABOUT by Sarbanes-Oxley and SAS no. 99 will force many companies to change how they do business. Compliance with these and other rule changes will expand the burden of corporate...

Start a BV engagement the right way: communicate with clients to identify the correct goals and benchmarks.(business valuation)
August 1, 2003... EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * EACH VALUATION ASSIGNMENT IS UNIQUE, and often there's more than one way to answer a question, interpret a fact or approach a problem. How the valuator prepares the client for the BV engagement sets its direction and...

Add a new owner to your firm: here are sensible ideas for buying or selling ownership interest in a CPA practice.
August 1, 2003... EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * MANY OWNERS OF CPA FIRMS KNOW their future retirement likely will be funded by enlarging the ownership pool. For young CPAs who can't afford to purchase a partnership interest, some firms create an interim level that...

Streamlining ethics enforcement: it's time the profession sped up the ethics enforcement process and let the public see how it works.
August 1, 2003... EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * THE AICPA'S ETHICS ENFORCEMENT PROCESS must be swift and open to outsiders' scrutiny if the profession hopes to maintain public confidence. * IF A STATE BOARD OF ACCOUNTANCY suspends, revokes, withdraws or cancels...

Turn Excel into a financial sleuth: an easy-to-use digital analysis tool can red-flag irregularities.
August 1, 2003... One of our small business clients--we'll call him Bob--recently expanded his one-store, family-run retail operation into a four-store chain. As many small business owners have to do, Bob had to relinquish some hands-on control when his business...

Investment tax planning for retirement: how to make taxes work for the client.
August 1, 2003... EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * FOR CLIENTS DREAMING OF A FINANCIALLY SECURE retirement, CPAs need to offer assistance on which savings vehicles--qualified and nonqualified--will help them reach their goal. This decision involves both tax and nontax...

Taxpayer precluded from itemizing deductions for AMT.(alternative minimum tax, Tax Court summary opinion in Marx v. Commissioner)
August 1, 2003... Congress enacted the alternative minimum tax (AMT) provisions found in IRC sections 55 to 59 to establish a floor so individuals would pay some tax regardless of the exclusions, deductions and credits otherwise available to them under the...

SCIN between family members is bona fide transaction.(self-canceling installment note)
August 1, 2003... A self-canceling installment note (SCIN) is a debt obligation that by its terms is extinguished at the death of the seller-creditor, with the remaining note balance canceled automatically. The advantage of a SCIN over an ordinary installment...

Employer benevolent funds: helping needy workers after a disaster.(from The Tax Adviser)
August 1, 2003... Recent events and legislation have sparked tremendous interest in employer benevolent funds, which help employees who are victims of natural disasters, national emergencies, financial hardships or family crises. Because the funds must adhere to...

How to tame health care costs: there's no end in sight to annual premium hikes.
August 1, 2003... It's no exaggeration to call the continuing double-digit rise in health insurance premiums a crisis. In recent years employers of all sizes have faced premium increases of 12% to 15%. Some hikes have even gone as high as 30%. In 2002 the...

The first step in uncovering fraud in the auditor's bailiwick: analyzing financial information.(Sherlock Holmes, CPA, part 1)
August 1, 2003... If Sherlock Holmes--the world's most famous fictional detective--were solving today's biggest corporate crimes, he probably would be a CPA, too. That's because it takes both accounting knowledge and the unique skills of a detective to resolve...