Accounting Today articles from February 2005

Accounting Today archives from February 2005

Social Security struggle starts.
February 7, 2005... Washington -- George W. Bush's presidency will be remembered for many things - and if the president has his way, one of those things will be an overhaul of the venerable Social Security system. As he kicks off his second term, President...

Olson: Simplify, simplify!: Taxpayer advocate calls complexity of IRC great burden.
February 7, 2005... Washington -- Just in time for consideration by President Bush's new bipartisan panel on tax reform, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson told Congress that the complexity of the Internal Revenue Code is the most serious problem facing both...

GAO says federal financials too poor to audit.(Government Accountability Office )
February 7, 2005... Washington -- What's the difference between Enron and the United States government? Enron could be audited. According to a Government Accountability Office report issued by U.S. Comptroller General David M. Walker, "As in the seven...

Buzz off, buzzwords.(surveys)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Let's get on the same page and think outside the box for a minute. Brilliantly original expression may not be your core competency, but that doesn't mean you have to fall into cliches and industry jargon. According to a national poll of...

Experts: PCAOB restraints on tax services not enough.(Public Company Accounting Oversight Board)
February 7, 2005... Washington -- The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's plan to place new restrictions on the ability of accountants to offer tax services to their audit clients doesn't go far enough to restore investor confidence in financial reporting,...

Anchin, Block & Anchin and Yohalem Gillman in merger.(Yohalem Gillman and Co.)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... New York -- Anchin, Block & Anchin, a regional CPA and management consulting firm based here, has merged with area CPA practice Yohalem Gillman & Co. Terms were not disclosed. The merger became effective Jan. 1. The union creates...

WithumSmith+Brown unveils merger.(Mendlowitz Weitsen L.L.P.)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Red Bank, N.J. -- Regional CPA and business advisory firms WithumSmith+Brown and Mendlowitz Weitsen have merged their practices, effective Jan. 1. Terms were not disclosed. The newly merged entity will now operate going forward under...

Andersen still on hook for WorldCom.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... New York -- A federal judge here denied a motion to dismiss the WorldCom class-action litigation against its auditor - former Big Five firm Andersen - charging that the plaintiffs had "identified a host of audit failures." Judge Denise...

Crowe Chizek closes PTW merger.(Pandolfi, Topolski, Weiss & Co. Ltd.)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Indianapolis -- National firm Crowe Chizek has completed its previously announced merger with Chicago-based CPA firm PTW. Going forward, PTW and its 50 staffers will now operate under the Crowe brand. Crowe merged PTW under its Public Sector...

Fiducial acquires Va. CPA firm.(Frisch Ambrosiano & Kontos PC)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Columbia, Md. -- Fiducial, a provider of business outsourcing services to small businesses and entrepreneurs, has acquired the accounting offices of Prince William County, Va., firm Frisch Ambrosiano & Kontos PC, adding nearly 1,300 tax,...

Mutual fund reforms easing concerns of advisors, clients.
February 7, 2005... For years, the $7 trillion mutual fund industry had escaped major reform. But that was then, and this is now. In response to the recent spate of mutual fund scandals, new regulations have flooded the industry over the past year. One...

H&R Block and Acorn team in tax filer education effort.(H and R Block Inc.)(Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now)
February 7, 2005... Kansas City, Mo. -- Tax prep conglomerate H&R Block and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now have teamed up in a partnership to help boost awareness of the Earned Income Tax Credit and to reduce filing costs for low-income...

Auditing and Sarbanes-Oxley.(www.404institute.com)(www.coso.org)(www.fasb.org)
February 7, 2005... * 404 Institute - www.404institute.com This Web portal established by KPMG includes best practices, discussion and research related to compliance with Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley, the portion of the reform bill mandating management's...

Footnotes.(Ken Dixon donates to University of Central Florida's School of Accounting)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... UCF SCHOOL OF ACCOUNTING TO RECEIVE $5M: Ken Dixon, a CPA and real estate developer from Kissimmee, Fla., will endow more than $2.5 million to the University of Central Florida's School of Accounting. The funds will be earmarked to support...

Oversight or overrule?(Financial Accounting Standards Board)
February 7, 2005... Absent the traditional fanfare that usually accompanies any notable change on Capitol Hill, I wonder if many folks in the profession were aware that the House Financial Services Committee has quietly assumed sole oversight of the Financial...

Institute is anything but 'transparent'.(Letter to the Editor)
February 7, 2005... I figure that I pretty much have to put up with all the lip service put forth in writings by our national trade association, the American Institute of CPAs, in its feeble attempt to clean up its act. But having to read their musings in my...

White House names tax reform panel members.
February 7, 2005... Washington -- President George W. Bush has named two former senators to lead a new nine-member bipartisan panel charged with arriving at options to reform the tax code. The president named former senators Connie Mack III, now a senior...

ReNew unveils client analysis application.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Oakland, Calif. -- ReNew Group, a consultancy specializing in high-impact sales training solutions, has unveiled Trust - a Web-based client analysis application designed specifically for the accounting profession. According to ReNew, the...

Ready for rough times: Disciplined practice growth.(Accounting firms)
February 7, 2005... In recent weeks, I've observed a sometimes subtle, but significant, shift among forward-looking CPA firms, away from filling the pipeline with leads and toward managing the leads coming in the door. In a time of plenty, as today, these...

COSO launches SOX guidance for small biz.(Committee of Sponsoring Organizations)(Sarbanes-Oxley act)
February 7, 2005... Altamonte Springs, Fla. -- In an effort to aid smaller publicly traded businesses with internal controls compliance, the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations said that it would offer online guidance for internal controls assessment by the...

Tax preparers navigating the complexities of EITC.(Earned Income Tax Credit )
February 7, 2005... Although nearly 65 percent of Earned Income Tax Credit returns are prepared by paid preparers, the error rate is roughly the same as when the return is prepared by the individual, according to Internal Revenue Service spokesperson Nancy Mathis....

Circ. 230 rules of practice: Perhaps not the last word.
February 7, 2005... Long-awaited final Circular 230 regulations, issued Dec. 17, 2004, govern the latest set of standards on attorneys, accountants and other professionals providing not only tax shelter opinions but also tax advice in general. It is how these...

Taxing Issues.(Tax policy)
February 7, 2005... IRS UPDATES SALES TAX TABLE PUBLICATION: The Internal Revenue Service has updated for three states the tables that taxpayers can use to determine whether they'll benefit from deducting sales tax rather than state and local income taxes. The...

FASB returns again to the philosophy of accounting.(Financial Accounting Standards Board)
February 7, 2005... Norwalk, Conn. -- The Financial Accounting Standards Board is going back to that deep, dark place where accounting standards come from - the conceptual framework that underlies it all. FASB isn't going alone. Holding its hand in this...

Finding reliability in financial reporting.(Column)
February 7, 2005... We have been writing on the Conceptual Framework in response to the Financial Accounting Standards Board's announced intent to strengthen it. We've discussed the objective of financial reporting, the political situation and its problems, the...

Change of Auditors.(auditing contracts)
February 7, 2005... * BEST BUY TO DISMISS E&Y: National electronics retailer Best Buy Co. said that it would dismiss its auditor, Big Four firm Ernst & Young, following the completion of the fiscal 2005 audit - which ends Feb. 26 - due to a conflict of interest...

Survey finds wealthy lax in asset protection.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... New York -- Many of the country's wealthiest people have not taken basic steps to protect their assets or mapped out an estate plan, according to a recent survey by wealth management firm PNC Advisors. The poll, which surveyed 792 affluent...

How CPAs can capitalize on the affluent opportunity.(Certified Public Accountants)
February 7, 2005... How would you like to be the primary financial coordinator for the wealthy families in your community? How would you like to be earning a healthy fee for this advice, a fee that goes far beyond completing tax returns? Does this sound too good...

Taking a deduction or credit for your education expenses.
February 7, 2005... In my last article, I discussed the above-the-line "education deduction" available for many individual taxpayers for qualified tuition and related expenses. Taxpayers eligible to take the education deduction often will also be eligible to take...

PFP Briefs.
February 7, 2005... IRS ISSUES GUIDANCE FOR AUTOMATIC ROLLOVERS: The Internal Revenue Service has issued Notice 2005-5 providing guidance on the new automatic (or default) rollover rules for qualified retirement plans. These new rules were added to the...

M'soft revamps SBM with new name, pricing promos.(Microsoft Business Solutions)
February 7, 2005... Redmond, Wash. -- Microsoft Business Solutions is giving its struggling Small Business Manager software a new name, price promotions and increased marketing to give it a better foothold in the market. Since SBM was launched more than...

Your firm's old computers: Remove, recycle - or resell.
February 7, 2005... Is your storage room rapidly filling with old computer equipment? Does your network administrator's office look like something from the 1970s sitcom Sanford and Son? According to the National Safety Council, there are 315 million...

Tech Briefs.(Lorrie Norrington resigns from Intuit Inc.)
February 7, 2005... NORRINGTON EXITS INTUIT, SEEKING CEO POST: Lorrie Norrington, who served for three years as executive vice president of software provider Intuit Inc., has resigned from the company, headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., to pursue a chief...

Horne LLP expands its Tenn. presence.(Tennessee based Crain & Co. merged)(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Jackson, Miss. -- Regional powerhouse Horne LLP, a 21-partner firm based here, has bolstered its staff and expanded its Tennessee presence with the merger of Jackson, Tenn.-based Crain & Co. into its fold. The deal, effective Jan. 1, adds...

PayCycle: Continuing the technology bloodline.
February 7, 2005... Palo Alto, Calif. -- The Lacerte family has an unquestionable entrepreneurial tradition that drives them to start successful firms in the accounting industry. But it was technology, not tradition, that brought about the founding of PayCycle in...

RMES acquires HR/payroll and self-service product SourceWeb.(Brief Article)
February 7, 2005... Atlanta -- Integrated human resources and benefits services provider RSM McGladrey Employer Services Inc. has acquired SourceWeb, an HR/payroll and self-service product from Minneapolis-based Ceridian Corp. Terms of the deal were not...

Software.
February 7, 2005... Nonprofits online Nonprofit software vendor Blackbaud has launched a new version of its online community solution. Blackbaud NetCommunity lets nonprofits establish online communities where they can interact with donors, building long-term...

Books.(accounting resources)(Book Review)
February 7, 2005... The ultimate reference That would be the The Guinness Book of World Records, of course, but for the accounting profession, it might well be The Ultimate Accountants' Reference from the prolific Steven M. Bragg, who has written close to 20...

People.(appointments in accounting services)
February 7, 2005... CALIFORNIA Gale Moore has joined Singer Lewak Greenbaum & Goldstein LLP, Los Angeles, as a partner and member of the firm's SEC Practice Group. She will work out of the firm's Orange County office, and was previously with Deloitte &...

Firms.(ranking of accounting services )
February 7, 2005... ARIZONA Abalos & Associates PC, Phoenix, has been named the No. 1 accounting firm in the state with eight or less CPAs for the third consecutive year by Arizona Business Magazine. CALIFORNIA Resources Connection Inc., Costa Mesa,...

Coming Events.(conferences and meetings)(Calendar)
February 7, 2005... - FEBRUARY - 7: Federal Tax Update, New Jersey Chapter of the National Conference of CPA Practitioners. Victor's Maywood Inn, Maywood, N.J. Contact: Marc Fox (201) 967-5659. 7-8: Commodity Tax Update - West, Canadian Institute of...

Advertiser Index.
February 7, 2005... Advertiser Page Best Software 14, 15 California Society of EAs 19 CCH Tax and Accounting 7, 32 "Conscience of the Profession" 8 Creative...

Firms strive to create strong, diverse cultures.(accounting firms)
February 21, 2005... Rene Dubos in his Celebrations of Life may have said it best: "Human diversity makes tolerance more than a virtue; it makes it a requirement for survival." And that's precisely what's happening in accounting firms throughout the U.S....

IRS e-file surging toward 80% goal.(Internal Revenue Service)
February 21, 2005... The ambitious goal of having 80 percent of federal tax returns electronically filed by 2007, suggested by Congress in 1998 legislation, may not be out of reach. "We don't want to give up on that goal yet," said Bert DuMars, director of...

McDonough takes stock: 'Better than a slow build'.(William McDonough)(Interview)
February 21, 2005... In just under two years at the helm of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, Chairman William McDonough has gone from being a respected figure in banking to being the most influential - and often feared - figure in accounting. ...

Taming T&E.(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... Travel and entertainment expenses often make up a firm's second-largest expense, after salaries - particularly if they're sending staff off on a lot of out-of-town engagements, or their salespeople across the country. * Get your tax money...

AICPA reshuffles exec suite: Anderson, Davis to depart; institute elevates Coffey, Pugliese, Thomas.(American Institute of Certified Public Accountants)(Clarence Davis, Alan Anderson, Anthony Pugliese, Arleen Thomas, Susan Coffey.)
February 21, 2005... New York -- With two of its top executives departing, the American Institute of CPAs announced a series of top management changes. The AICPA said that chief operating officer Clarence Davis, who has relocated his family to Savannah, Ga.,...

Big Four auditors in Europe may be 'sitting on a volcano'.
February 21, 2005... Brussels -- European officials, concerned over the dearth of global audit firms, have compared the dwindling roster of larger practices and its implications to a pending explosion. "Already we have a time bomb," said Dr. Alexander Schaub,...

Block Launches New Firm Using CPAs.(H and R Block Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... Kansas City, Mo. -- Tax prep giant H&R Block has launched a new business employing CPAs to serve the needs of small business owners. After a test of the small business services concept in the Tampa, Phoenix and Atlanta markets, the company,...

2006 Budget Won't Address AMT.(alternative minimum tax)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... Washington -- The 2006 budget reportedly will not address the hot-button issue of revamping or eliminating the controversial alternative minimum tax or other tax reforms, but will allow President George W. Bush's recently appointed tax reform...

NAACP Refuses IRS Doc Request.(National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)(Internal Revenue Service)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... Washington -- The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People said that it is refusing to comply with an Internal Revenue Service request for documents that came as part of the agency's investigation into alleged improper...

Joint committee hopes to close tax gap.
February 21, 2005... Washington -- The Joint Committee on Taxation has suggested over 60 options to close the $311 billion gap between taxes owed and collected. The report, requested by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Committee on Finance, and ranking...

The CPA's best-kept secret: Payroll takes center stage.(Certified public accountants)
February 21, 2005... Once viewed as an unwanted stepchild within the CPA profession, now specialists claim that payroll services offer a veritable lode of profitability for those willing to wade into this segment of client services. Armed with reliable...

Payroll service providers.(Brief Article)(Directory)
February 21, 2005... * AccountantsWorld Hauppauge, N.Y. www.accountantsworld.com * ADP Roseland, N.J. www.adp.com/ * Intuit/QuickBooks Mountain View, Calif. www.intuit.com * Paychex Rochester, N.Y. www.paychex.com/ * PayCycle...

AEI fellow calls on Congress to fold PCAOB in five years.(American Enterprise Institute)(Public Company Accounting Oversight Board)
February 21, 2005... Washington -- A critic from Washington-based think tank the American Enterprise Institute has called on Congress to terminate the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board within five years and fold the oversight body into the Securities and...

Government Resources.(Brief Article)(Directory)
February 21, 2005... * FRED - http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/ That's Federal Reserve Economic Data, to you. If you're looking for consumer price indexes, producer price indexes, exchange rates, or any of dozens of other sets of data, you can get them...

Footnotes.(CPA firms launch tsunami relief effort)
February 21, 2005... CPA FIRMS LAUNCH TSUNAMI RELIEF EFFORT: Joining KPMG, Grant Thornton and Liberty Tax Services in relief efforts for the victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami disaster, national CPA and business consulting services firm Crowe Chizek and regional New...

Prescription for trouble.
February 21, 2005... As I do with frequent - some say annoying - regularity in this space, I have made my position quite clear on my confidence level about the government being able to run anything efficiently, let alone without an accompanying sea of red ink. If...

An open letter to AICPA chair Bob Bunting.
February 21, 2005... Dear Mr. Bunting: I read Scott Voynich's first big speech to CPAs after his becoming chairman [of the American Institute of CPAs] last year, and noted that the main emphasis of the speech was on integrity and ethics. I agreed with every...

An agent of Bush?(Editorial)
February 21, 2005... I was very disappointed to read Bill Carlino's opinion article on Social Security reform ("Social Security reform: An oxymoron?" Accounting Today, Jan. 24-Feb. 6, 2005, p. 6). It seems he has been seriously misled. His article states, "I don't...

Supporting Boomer.(Letter to the Editor)
February 21, 2005... I disagree with Fred Boehm's letter in the Jan. 24-Feb. 6, 2005, issue ("Outsourcing Boomer," p. 6). I find Mr. Boomer's articles helpful and interesting. Boomer's articles are the main reason that I read Accounting Today. Thomas H....

Recent changes to tax laws complicate business returns.
February 21, 2005... Tax practitioners preparing 2004 client business and self-employed returns are confronted with a bewildering maze of tax law changes, which in some cases can lead to mistakes. Significant changes affecting 2004 returns include multiple...

Initial IRS guidance on new deduction is encouraging.
February 21, 2005... On Jan. 19, 2005, the Internal Revenue Service released some initial guidance to taxpayers for claiming the new manufacturing deduction available for the first time in 2005 with respect to qualified domestic manufacturing, production, growing...

Taxing Issues.
February 21, 2005... IRS, TREASURY ISSUE GUIDANCE ON NEW PENALTIES ON POTENTIALLY ABUSIVE TRANSACTIONS: The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service issued interim guidance on two new penalty provisions enacted as part of the American Jobs Creation Act...

ASB proposes expanding rules on risk assessment.(Auditing Standards Board)
February 21, 2005... New York -- The American Institute of CPAs' Auditing Standards Board is poised to issue an exposure draft of five proposed statements and amendments to statements relating to auditors' risk assessment. If adopted, the changes will result in...

FASB on options: Good news - and bad news.(Financial Accounting Standards Board)
February 21, 2005... We have written so many times about options since 1996 that we've lost count, but we do know that we have regularly criticized the existing rules with the hope that the Financial Accounting Standards Board would produce something better when it...

Change Of Auditors.(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... INTERNET COMMERCE ENGAGES TAUBER & BALSER: Internet Commerce Corp., a business-to-business online concern, has dismissed Big Four firm Deloitte and named Tauber & Balser as its successor. According to a federal filing, the New York-based...

Alvarez & Marsal grows tax unit.(appointments)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... Washington -- Turnaround specialist Alvarez & Marsal has expanded its tax advisory unit, adding eight managing directors in several regional locations, and unveiling an office here. Thomas Aiello, a 30-year veteran of Andersen, and James...

AARP poll shows very little support for private accounts.
February 21, 2005... Washington -- AARP, the high-profile lobbying group for the roughly 36 million Americans over 50, has come out swinging in the fight over Social Security reform with the release of a poll showing a lack of support for President Bush's plan to...

Traditional and Roth IRA contributions for '04 and '05.
February 21, 2005... Some of your clients may not yet have made their contributions to traditional or Roth IRAs for 2004, but plan to make them before filing their 2004 income tax returns. Others may be planning to contribute the maximum amount possible to their...

PFP Briefs.
February 21, 2005... FPA AWARDED FOUNDATION GRANT: The Financial Planning Association has received a $252,468 grant from the Foundation for Financial Planning - the largest grant ever given by the foundation. The grant will help sustain the FPA's National...

Planning for e-businesses: Don't forget the financials!
February 21, 2005... As most everyone knows, e-business is the act of conducting business on the Internet. Not only is there a steady stream of new businesses that exist completely in cyberspace, but most traditional brick-and-mortar businesses are branching...

Best launches new ad blitz.(Best Software Inc.)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... Irvine, Calif. -- Business and financial software conglomerate Best has launched a comprehensive advertising campaign targeting its client base of roughly 2.3 million small and midsized businesses. The effort, which is slated to appear in...

Tech Briefs.
February 21, 2005... KINTERA NAMES SCHENCK TO ACCELERATE ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT: Kintera Inc., the company that bought Fundware from Intuit, has named Jim Schenck as vice president of accounting and membership to direct the development of the company's...

Study: SOX may improve earnings projections.(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)(Brief Article)
February 21, 2005... Chicago -- The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, along with the Securities and Exchange Commission's accelerated reporting guidelines, appear to be improving the accuracy of companies' earnings forecasts, according to a report by management consultancy...

Computer Security: The unwitting enemy within: Your own staff.
February 21, 2005... Many accounting firms funnel time, energy and money into products to maintain network security. However, despite the continued efforts to secure their networks, the biggest threat to these organizations frequently comes in the form of the...

Is it time to rethink your firm's IT commitment?
February 21, 2005... CPAs become creative when pushed to solve problems without their traditional resources, and their primary resource has been an abundant supply of affordable labor. That has changed, and firms must look at ways to do more with less, while...

Software.
February 21, 2005... MAS 90/200 4.05 Three key areas - job costing, payroll and accounts payable - have been significantly strengthened in the latest release of Best Software's MAS 90 and MAS 200. Version 4.05 of the accounting and business management software...

Books.(Book Review)
February 21, 2005... SOX and night terrors We don't know what monster used to dominate the nightmares of corporate governance professionals, but since 2002, it has definitely been the Sarbanes-Oxley Act - a slavering, two-headed beast that enmeshes its...

Coming Events.(Calendar)
February 21, 2005... - FEBRUARY - 21-22: Commodity Tax Update - East, Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants, with PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Bennett Jones and Felesky Flynn. Toronto. Contact: www.cica.ca/calendar. 26-March 2: Discover 2005...

People.(appointments)
February 21, 2005... CALIFORNIA Tom O'Rourke has joined Haskell & White LLP, Irvine, as a partner in the Tax Department. He spent the last six years at Ernst & Young, where he specialized in the real estate, construction and hospitality industries.... BDO...

Firms.(Brief Article)(Directory)
February 21, 2005... CALIFORNIA Windes & McClaughry Accountancy Corp. has expanded into Orange County, with a new office in the Von Karman Towers in Irvine. GERMANY RGL - Forensic Accountants & Consultants has opened an office in Cologne, bringing its...