Journal of Accountancy articles from January 2007

Journal of Accountancy archives from January 2007

Worldwide: looters have a foothold: accounting fraud is the corporate criminals' weapon of choice.
January 1, 2007... CPAs are very aware of the rise in global securities fraud and are working hard to combat it. Terrorists and insurgents frequently use fraud to finance their operations and launder their funds. When fraud becomes endemic in a nation, it can...

Business leaders' take on fraud: corrosive.(Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. president and CEO Michael G. Cherkasky)(Interview)
January 1, 2007... U.S. giant responds quickly to bid-rigging charges. Michael G. Cherkasky, president and CEO of Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. (MMC), has had a distinguished career as a manager, prosecutor, investigator and trial attorney and spent 16 years in...

Home free: through-the-roof home prices threaten even moderate-income taxpayers with taxable gains - unless they plan ahead.
January 1, 2007... EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * Many home sellers have seen rapid appreciation of their home's value in recent years, leaving them vulnerable to capital gains beyond the principal-residence exclusion under IRC section 121 of $250,000 for an individual...

TIPS and CIPS: inflation-protected securities can help manage risk in your clients' portfolios.(treasury inflation-protected securities, corporate inflation-protected securities)
January 1, 2007... EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * TIPS are a relatively new form of bond from the federal government that offer protection against the risk of inflation. They combine a high degree of safety of the principal with a hedge against inflation, *...

Sell financial products wisely: manage your risk in this new niche.
January 1, 2007... EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * Many CPA firms now provide insurance and investment services to their clients in addition to core services. This can be an attractive avenue to growth that increases client retention and firm revenues, but it carries...

Navigate speedily in excel data: click on a button to get to target information.
January 1, 2007... If you're like most financial professionals, some of your large spreadsheets contain many worksheets with a wide assortment of data. Locating information or identifying just the right worksheet or cell to input new data is like searching for...

Guidance for audit standards for nonissuers that took effect on or after December 15, 2006.(Assessing and Responding to Risks a Financial Statement Audit, part 2)
January 1, 2007... EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * The Auditing Standards Board issued eight standards with new guidance for auditors assessing risks and controls in financial statement audits. Auditors must consider risk and also determine a materiality level for the...

Improving CEO-speak: the CPA as communications adviser.
January 1, 2007... A CEO's words are powerful storytelling tools, fashioning opinions and offering an important point of view. In an era of heightened corporate accountability, when companies and their CEOs are subject to ever increasing scrutiny by audit...

Denial of contingent liability loss deduction.
January 1, 2007... Although in the past the government won a number of important victories in its ongoing attempt to stop abusive tax transactions, it has continued to lose on contingent liability transactions. Recently, however, the Court of Appeals for the...

Value-added payment receipt not deferral.
January 1, 2007... The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the Tax Court's decision that when a cooperative makes "value-added" payments to its members and allows them to defer the cash receipts, such payments do not constitute a deferral for tax purposes....

Offers in compromise are reviewable.
January 1, 2007... The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held that courts can review an IR5 decision to reject a taxpayer's offer in compromise. Ronald Speltz exercised incentive stock options to buy shares of McLeod Network Service worth $745,372 for $34,254....

Kiddie tax changes result in financial aid traps: new law affects planning strategies.(from The Tax Adviser)
January 1, 2007... In the past, wealthy parents could significantly lower the family tax bill by transferring investment assets to minor children, resulting in investment income taxed at the kids' (presumably lower) rates. To curtail this, Congress enacted the...

Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation for Non-Experts, 2d ed.(Book review)
January 1, 2007... Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation for Non-Experts (2nd ed.) by Howard Silverstone and Michael Sheetz 294 pages; hardcover; $50 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Hoboken, N.J., 2007 Even experienced financial fraud examiners will find this...