Journal of Accountancy articles from June 2003

Journal of Accountancy archives from June 2003

Smart stops on the Web.(personal financial planning sites)
June 1, 2003... PERSONAL FINANCIAL PLANNING SITES Spend Time to Save Money financialplan.about.com Financial planners, CPAS and their clients will want to visit this Web site for money-saving tips on, for example, college, divorce, real estate and...

Investing after 50: keep the "gold" in your golden years.
June 1, 2003... Wondering what's next for the market? Join the club. Most raging bulls think stocks will go up, up and away. The bears, on the other hand, cite a deadly combination of overvalued equities, moribund earnings growth and the possible onset of...

Data menus at your fingertips: how to make a challenging information application easy to use.
June 1, 2003... If you wish to follow along with the step-by-step instructions in this article using the database created in the earlier articles, download it from http://ftp.aicpa.org/public/download/pubs/jofa/Cust_Track_2002.mdb. And if you want to download...

Practitioners as mentors: influencing students to study accounting.
June 1, 2003... Enrollment in accounting programs is falling. The percentage of college students majoring in accounting dropped to 2% in 2000 from 4% in 1990. Several recent studies report that high school and college students generally view accountants' work...

Dear Mr. Chairman: the new SEC chief must take steps to restore investor confidence.(Editorial)
June 1, 2003... William Donaldson was sworn in as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission in February. He comes to this position at a particularly important and challenging time. Restoring public confidence in our capital markets--essential to the...

Money laundering: ring around the white collar: how hide-and-seek becomes a game for auditors.
June 1, 2003... Money laundering is so widespread CPAs are likely to encounter it at some point in their work. It is an essential element of the "underground economy" which, worldwide, amounts to trillions of dollars. An independent auditor's responsibilities...

Regulation FD: coping in the trenches: CFOs tell how the SEC's stricter disclosure rules have changed the way they release financial information about their companies.
June 1, 2003... No one knew how stringently the SEC would apply regulation FD, which requires public companies to share earnings data and related information equally with all interested parties. But last November the commission instituted its first enforcement...

Accountability by numbers: how the Lone Star State's auditor introduced a balanced scorecard management system.(Texas State auditor Lawrence F. Alwin)
June 1, 2003... Everywhere you look, good business management seems to be in short supply. Recent examples abound of poorly run companies such as Qwest, Sunbeam, Andersen, Tyco, WorldCom, Enron and most of the late dot-coms. So what causes such conspicuous...

The auditor's approach to fair value: SAS no. 101 expands auditors' role in assessing fair value measurements.
June 1, 2003... The auditing standards board (ASB) issued Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) no. 101, Auditing Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures, in January. The standard, which is effective for audits of financial statements for periods beginning on...

Tax research study: sponsored by RIA: CPAs rate "reliability" and "up-to-date information" as top priorities in buying tax research products.
June 1, 2003... A new study by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants indicates that CPAs value "reliability" and "up-to-date information" most highly among all comparable criteria in purchasing tax research products and services. Seven in...

More clarification on 1031 exchanges.(tax-deferred exchanges)
June 1, 2003... Many tax professionals misunderstood the rules governing IRC section 1031 tax-deferred exchange transactions between related parties. This is not surprising since the IRS's intentions had been unclear. However, in December 2002 the service...

Partnership items.(tax allocation for partnerships in Tax Court memo Grigoraci v. Commissioner)
June 1, 2003... The courts recently faced a series of cases involving the classification of partnership items. IRC section 6255(a) (2) defines a partnership item as something a partnership must take into account during the tax year that is more appropriately...

Asbestos removal costs deductible.
June 1, 2003... Businesses may deduct environmental remediation costs currently as repairs if the expenditures keep property in an ordinarily efficient operating condition but don't materially increase its value or useful life. If the expenditures stop...

When are advance payments includible in income? Proposed revenue procedure clears up ambiguities.(from The Tax Adviser)
June 1, 2003... An IRS proposed revenue procedure will allow certain taxpayers using the accrual method of accounting to defer inclusion of specified advance payments in gross income. CPAs should examine notice 2002-79 in case the rules become final so as to...

Split-dollar redux: CPAs may find the benefits a thing of the past.
June 1, 2003... The tax treatment of split-dollar insurance plans continues to evolve. Previously, companies used split-dollar life insurance to help employees defer taxation on the yearly accumulation of the policy's cash surrender value as well as to provide...