Journal of Accountancy articles from July 2003

Journal of Accountancy archives from July 2003

Career advice for young CPAs - success is more art than science.
July 1, 2003... Many of the young men and women completing accounting programs today have excellent training. They possess strong interpersonal and communication skills, have outstanding technical knowledge and often have practical experience prior to...

Help middle-market companies get funding.
July 1, 2003... Lenders continue to tighten the requirements for making loans to businesses with annual sales of $50 million to $500 million. CPAs should advise such middle-market clients or employers to take a two-pronged approach in their search for credit:...

Real estate is hot ... don't get burned: how CPAs can help clients survive a tough market.
July 1, 2003... If the 1990s were noted for irrational exuberance in the stock market, certainly the early 2000s will be remembered for hysteria in real estate. How hot is it? Sales of existing homes in the western United States rose 5.1% to a record-breaking...

Tell us more: customer case research can teach you about your clients and improve business.
July 1, 2003... Remember the dating joke that went "Now let's talk about you--what do you think of me?" Customer case research (CCR) asks clients, one by one, to describe in detail why, when and how their company decided to ask your firm out (that is, chose...

Meyners pays for performance: changing a compensation system is a sensitive undertaking. Here's how one firm handled it.
July 1, 2003... It was no small feat for Meyners and Co.'s leadership to offer employees nonstop support and guidance while both management and staff refined the firm's core values and worked out what behaviors demonstrating them would consist of at different...

Mom-and-pop shops: here are 15 tips on how CPAs can best serve and engage small business clients.
July 1, 2003... America's mom-and-pop shop owners form the core of U.S. enterprise--70% of all U.S. businesses, according to the Census Bureau--and the backbone of the small and local CPA firm market. Stresses caused by the rapidity and degree of change in the...

Deductibility of business aircraft: private planes no longer are a luxury.
July 1, 2003... The concept of business travel changed forever on September 11, 2001. The inconveniences and risks businesspeople now experience with commercial air travel have resulted in the increasing popularity of company-owned aircraft. With this shift...

Online CPE - getting easier all the time: web-based study finally is living up to its potential.(continuing practice education)
July 1, 2003... Did you have to rush to meet your last CPE reporting deadline? Do you repeatedly face such pressure because traveling to "classroom" sessions and working on paper-based correspondence courses isn't the best use of your time? Does your firm want...

Do you know where your staffers are? 1 in 3 CPAs is looking for a better job.
July 1, 2003... A new study by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants reveals that a significant number of CPAs are actively seeking to advance themselves within the profession, driven by desires for fresh professional challenges, additional...

Make Excel a little smarter: teach your spreadsheets some useful tricks.
July 1, 2003... Key to Instructions To help readers follow the instructions in this article, we use two different typefaces. Boldface type is used to identify the names of icons, agendas, URLs and application commands. Sans serif type indicates...

Divorce decree no substitute for Form 8332.(tax form)
July 1, 2003... Generally, IRC section 151(c)(1) allows taxpayers an exemption for dependent children. In the case of divorced parents, the custodial parent gets the exemption. That parent, however, may release his or her claim to the exemption, allowing the...

Taxing the sale of a business.(Cortland Langdon v. Commissioner)
July 1, 2003... A taxpayer interested in selling a business must consider both the value of the business and the tax treatment of the sale. The tax rules will cover not only the sale of the assets but all additional agreements between the parties. Recently the...

Deductions for bonus plans: attempting to ensure an accelerated deduction.(from The Tax Adviser)
July 1, 2003... Many annual bonus and long-term incentive plans provide for payments to participants within 2 1/2 months of the end of the employer's tax year, so the employer can deduct the payments in the prior tax year (for example, for a calendar-year...