Accounting Today articles from December 2006

Accounting Today archives from December 2006

AMT reform from Dem Congress?
December 11, 2006... WASHINGTON -- With Democrats scheduled to take charge of both Houses of Congress in 2007, most of the Bush administration's top tax priorities figure to be shuttled to the legislative back burner for the next two years. But there is at...

Getting Pumped for Tax Season: Preparers bulk up on strategies to face filing fury.
December 11, 2006... As the year winds down and holiday anticipation builds, tax professionals are performing their annual rituals of getting ready for tax return season by checking supplies, test-driving software, training additional staff and packaging year-end...

ASB issues on reporting to corporate governors.
December 11, 2006... NEW YORK -- In an effort to foster dialogue between auditors and those who govern non-public companies - including not-for-profits and governmental entities - the Auditing Standards Board has issued a standard requiring auditors to communicate...

Cox says SOX changes are on the way.(Brief article)
December 11, 2006... WASHINGTON -- In search of a happy medium for the smaller public companies that have loudly complained about the cost of audits of their internal controls, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox said a new auditing standard...

News Briefs.
December 11, 2006... FEDS SHAVE CAUSEY'S TIME HOUSTON - Former Enron Corp. chief accounting officer Richard Causey was sentenced to serve 66 months in prison for signing off on the bookkeeping that led to the company's historic bankruptcy. Causey, 46, was...

IRS's IVES program gets positive early reviews.
December 11, 2006... Although the program is just a little over two months old, early reactions to the Internal Revenue Service's Income Verification Express Service have been positive, as users cite the program's rapid turnaround and increased opportunities for...

EU girding itself against auditor liability fallout.
December 11, 2006... BRUSSELS -- With massive auditor liability claims on the horizon - including several well over the billion-dollar threshold - a number of efforts are now underway in Europe to strengthen auditor oversight. One was the adoption of Europe's...

2006: It was all good.
December 11, 2006... Tradition dictates that my final column of the year reflect on the events that affected the accounting profession. Given what happened over the course of 2006, that would probably extend far beyond the space that I'm allotted here. But if...

Commentary: State societies make a difference.
December 11, 2006... Do you know who is responsible for initiating the effort to make CPAs licensed professionals, or for awarding over $1 million in scholarships to worthy accounting students each year? How about for providing thousands of continuing...

Letter: States have laws, too.(Letter to the editor)
December 11, 2006... Your lead article in the Nov. 6-26, 2006, Accounting Today ("Bill protects CPAs from privacy rules") leaves me with an uncomfortable feeling of your competency and calls into question your credibility to accurately report news about...

Practice Management: How leaders increase accountability and results.
December 11, 2006... Leaders are always searching for ways to increase accountability to get the results they need. My advice is to start by defining your role when it comes to delivering results. Simply put, the leader's job is to ensure every member of the...

Taxing Issues.
December 11, 2006... GAO GIVES GOOD MARKS TO IRS APPEALS OFFICE: The Government Accountability Office offered some recommendations aimed at upping efficiency, but said that the Internal Revenue Service Office of Appeals has been doing a good job handling its...

Research, recruiting focus of CCH, CSI user confabs.(Company overview)
December 11, 2006... As evidence of the recent merger mania within the tax prep arena, customers from five different vendors were represented at last month's CCH and Creative Solutions user conferences, which were held in Boca Raton and Orlando, Fla., respectively....

How the 2006 elections may affect tax planning.
December 11, 2006... The 2006 elections saw the Democrats taking control of both the House and the Senate for the first time in 12 years. The shift in the House is probably the most significant. In the House, the majority party controls the agenda: what...

Study examines tax cut distribution.(Brief article)
December 11, 2006... WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Tax Policy Center has released a series of data tables taking a look at the effect of the major tax changes enacted since 2001. For each table, the center compares the amount of tax owed under current law with the...

In Brief.
December 11, 2006... 'AUDIT PERIOD' TWEAKS RULE IMPLEMENTATION: The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will delay implementation for one part of a rule relating to professionals who provide both tax and audit services to companies. Adopted in July 2005,...

FASB proposal has new M&A rules for nonprofits: 'It's time to be moving away from the pooling-of-interest method.'.
December 11, 2006... NORWALK, CONN. -- In a long-awaited move, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has proposed new accounting for mergers and acquisitions by not-for-profit organizations. Reflecting a proposed standard on for-profit business combinations,...

A new framework: Relevance equals reformation.(Company overview)
December 11, 2006... Ever since the Financial Accounting Standards Board's original Conceptual Framework was established in the early 1980s, we have embraced relevance as a major goal, if not the goal, in bringing meaningful reform to financial reporting. ...

PFP Briefs.
December 11, 2006... PWC SURVEY FINDS BOARD MEMBERS CONCERNED ABOUT FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS: Nearly 75 percent of board members at U.S. financial services firms said that the increasing use of sophisticated financial instruments such as derivatives will be the next...

Asset Allocation Software: Software to keep clients' investments hard at work: There are no real standards when it comes to asset allocation software.
December 11, 2006... Depending upon the practice, financial planners can be very directed, specializing in one form of investment vehicle, or more broadly based, either recommending or with access to multiple types of investments. The one truism in the...

Make charitable donations direct from a client's IRA: In effect, part of the taxes paid in 2006 would be recovered in 2007.
December 11, 2006... If an individual taxpayer receives a distribution from an IRA, and then contributes all or part of the amount distributed to a charity, that individual must include the taxable part of that distribution in her gross income. While the...

Tech Briefs.
December 11, 2006... MICROSOFT OFFERS OFFICE ACCOUNTING EXPRESS FOR FREE: In its latest attempt to become a player in the accounting software space, Microsoft had released a free, stripped-down version of its software, targeting small businesses that are late...

Data mining is crucial for detecting fraud in audits.
December 11, 2006... The auditor can no longer assume that no fraud exists unless it smacks them between the eyes. Statement on Auditing Standards 99, issued in 2002, requires auditors to exercise professional skepticism about the possibility of a material...

Manage what you measure.
December 11, 2006... The processes, technologies and people that helped you get to the level you're at may not be able to ensure that your firm is competitive and able to retain and attract quality people in the future. The ratio of information technology...

Books.(Book review)
December 11, 2006... Our story thus far... In math, two plus two is always four. In accounting, according to both an old joke and many recent indictments, two plus two is whatever a company wants it to be. How this came to be is the subject of More Than a...

Tax season supplies.
December 11, 2006... Information You've done this before, so you don't need us to tell you about the supplies you need to get in before tax season - forms, toner cartridges, coal for the engines - but we will mention that there are two crucial categories that...

LBMC passes $200M in AUM.(LBMC Investment Advisors LLC)(Brief article)
December 11, 2006... KNOXVILLE, TENN. -- LBMC Investment Advisors LLC said that it recently surpassed the $200 million mark of assets under advisement. Formed in 1998 as an affiliate of Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain PC - Tennessee's largest regional accounting and...

Spotlighting the Top 100.
December 11, 2006... With previous editions of Accounting Today's annual Top 100 Products feature, our editorial staff traditionally thought long and hard in an effort to pull together a theme that would, in essence, provide a cohesive blanket for the myriad...

Ones to Watch: Contenders for 2007.
December 11, 2006... In addition to those products that made it onto Accounting Today's Top 100 Products list, our editors have chosen a strong crop of contenders that bear consideration. Here are some of the products to watch in 2007. * Accounting Policy...

2006 Top 100 Products.
December 11, 2006... HIGH-END/MID-MARKET ACCOUNTING ACCOUNTMATE 7 FOR SQL AccountMate Software Corp. This accounting and business management software provides a stable and modifiable accounting solution for the mid-market. It is sold by the module,...

Category to Watch: Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance.
December 11, 2006... The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is now four years old, and companies, accountants and agencies are still arguing about who should have to comply and how those who are subject to the act can meet the compliance regulations. Smaller public...

Category to Watch: Document Management and Workflow.
December 11, 2006... Like office co-workers whose friendship ultimately evolves into something more permanent, document management and workflow have become inextricably linked because, like a couple, one influences the other. Ergo, we have hastily jumped on the...

Category to Watch: Internet Suites.
December 11, 2006... It's been a sweet year for accounting software (pun intended) in terms of both new and established Internet solutions. But for users, it's akin to deciding which end of a buffet to begin at. Is it best to implement an Internet suite from one...

Vendor Directory.(Directory)
December 11, 2006... Contact information for the vendors of the Accounting Today 2006 Top 100 Products and Ones to Watch. AccountantsWorld Payroll Relief AC, PFP Relief Hauppauge, N.Y. (888) 999-1366 www.accountantsoffice.com AccountMate...

People.(appointments and resignations)
December 11, 2006... CALIFORNIA Robert J. Johnson has joined RSM McGladrey Inc., Pasadena, as a managing director in the state and local tax practice.... Mark Werling and Craig Schmitt have joined Burr, Pilger & Mayer LLP, San Francisco, as a manager in the...

Firms.(acquisitions)
December 11, 2006... CALIFORNIA Collins, Mason & Cote LLP, Oakland, has acquired Benson & Yahng CPAs, Oakland. Teresa Mason will continue as managing partner, while John Benson and Christopher Yahng will become directors of CMC's Tax Department. MINNESOTA...

Scott re-elected as NCCPAP president.(National Conference of Certified Public Accountants Practitioners)(Brief article)
December 11, 2006... MINEOLA, N.Y. -- CPA Dennis Scott was elected to a second term as president of the National Conference of CPA Practitioners during the organization's 28th annual conference, held in Philadelphia in mid-October. New members of the board of...

Coming Events.(Calendar)
December 11, 2006... DECEMBER 11: Compilation and Review: A Practical Approach, PPC-Bell Learning. Charlotte, N.C. Contact: (800) 548-1551 or www.bellcpe.com. 11: Federal Tax Update, PPC-Bell Learning. The Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables, Fla. Contact: (800)...

CBiz/MHM acquires firm to expand nonprofit practice.(Brief article)
December 11, 2006... CLEVELAND -- CBiz and Mayer Hoffman McCann PC announced the expansion of its not-for-profit practice through the acquisition of CPA David Brown Jr.'s Minneapolis-area practice. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Brown and...

Advertiser Index.
December 11, 2006... Advertiser Page 1st Global 19 AccuFund 12 ADP Small Business Services 11 ATX/Kleinrock 23 Blackbaud 16 BNA...

Editor's Note: Striking the Right Balance.
December 11, 2006... "I hand him a lyric and get out of his way." This was the modus operandi Oscar Hammerstein described in his relationship with Richard Rodgers. It was perhaps the perfect partnership. Like the artwork on the cover, it was just the right...

What are the Signs of a Genuine Partnership?
December 11, 2006... We believe that the most important indicator of a genuine partnership is that the partner in the position of strength puts the interest of the other partner ahead of its own. The mission of AccountantsWorld is to help accountants advance...

Commitment To Investment And Innovation.
December 11, 2006... "With the backing of Wolters Kluwer, CCH is investing more today in our software and research technology than at any other time in our history," said Kevin Robert, President and CEO of CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business, in his keynote address to...

Intuit Reinvents QuickBooks ProAdvisor.
December 11, 2006... Many accountants strive to expand their services and increase their revenue but they don't have the proper tools to market themselves and spur their growth. Professional associations such as Intuit's QuickBooks(r) ProAdvisor(r) program are...

OnLine Payroll: A Win-Win Partnership.(Product/service evaluation)
December 11, 2006... At PayCycle, we are dedicated to creating winning outcomes for accountants and their clients. Our leadership in the on-demand payroll market and rapid adoption by thousands of satisfied professionals across the country speaks to our commitment....