Accounting Today articles from January 2006

Accounting Today archives from January 2006

Auditors, issuers struggle with 404.
January 9, 2006... Washington -- If you've had problems applying Auditing Standard No. 2, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board says you're not alone. The board has known of widespread difficulties applying the new standard, "An Audit of Internal...

Variety is Key in CPE!(continuing professional education )
January 9, 2006... The usual suspects - including ethics offerings, legislative developments and accounting/auditing course staples - are expected to be the drivers of continuing professional education in 2006. The major players in a fairly mature industry...

CPAs link tax prep, financial planning.(certified public accountants)
January 9, 2006... Practitioners who have been adding tax planning services to their basic preparation are taking an additional step to extend their practice into year-round financial planning. "There's a natural progression from tax preparation into...

Clear the desks!
January 9, 2006... Tax season is already here - are you ready? Once things get really hairy, you won't have a chance for any kind of office maintenance, so take care of it now: * Clear off the top of your desk and wipe it clean. * Replace only the...

SEC proposes easier foreign delisting.
January 9, 2006... Washington -- The Securities and Exchange Commission unanimously voted to propose rules to make it easier for foreign companies to stop listing their securities for trading in the country in order to avoid the expense of complying with U.S....

Lay begins making case before trial.
January 9, 2006... Houston -- Speaking before a Houston business group and professing his innocence in mid-December, former Enron Corp. chief executive Kenneth Lay blamed the energy company's chief financial officer for its infamous 2001 collapse. Lay...

Panel: Don't hold small cos. to SOX.(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... Washington -- An advisory panel to the Securities and Exchange Commission may officially ask the agency to exempt businesses with less than $125 million in revenues from the internal control provisions laid out in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. ...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
January 9, 2006... In our feature on Women in Technology (Dec. 19, 2005-Jan. 8, 2006), we said that Jill Ward leads the vertical solutions business at Intuit. In fact, that was a position she held in the past. (c) 2006 Accounting Today and SourceMedia, Inc....

New Circular 230 rules affect all tax practitioners.(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... "Any tax advice included in this written or electronic communication was not intended or written to be used, and it cannot be used by the taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding any penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer by any...

Bumpy ride expected over convergence of GAAP, IFRS.(International Financial Reporting Standards)(generally accepted accounting principles)
January 9, 2006... Brussels -- The ambitious road map to give the world a single accountancy standard - by converging U.S. generally accepted accounting principles with International Financial Reporting Standards by 2008 - may be fraught with bumps, potholes and...

Paper: States' fiscal condition weaker than in 2000.(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... Washington -- A new study out of think tank the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says that, despite recent revenue growth and budget surpluses in some states, most states continue to feel the after-effects of a recession that hit in 2000....

Planners' options abound in push for college funding.
January 9, 2006... Planning for college expenses is becoming a central focus for families as the costs of higher education continue to skyrocket. Exorbitant price tags that may approach $50,000 per year are making headlines, as parents and their financial...

Tax cuts take shape on Hill.(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... Washington -- The House of Representatives passed the final piece of $95 billion in tax cuts in early December, in a vote split mostly along party lines. The most recent bill approved $56 billion in tax cuts over the next five years,...

Tax resources, Part II.(www.taxhistory.org)(www.taxmama.com)(www.taxpenalty.com)
January 9, 2006... * Tax and Accounting Sites - www.taxsites.com Surfing accountants owe Professor Dennis Schmidt of the University of Northern Iowa a big "Thank you" for compiling this collection of tax and accounting links. * Tax Analysts' Tax History...

Footnotes.
January 9, 2006... TAX SEMINAR RAISES FUNDS FOR SPINAL CORD RESEARCH: Proceeds from the 18th annual year-end tax seminar hosted by Westwood, Mass.-based accounting firm Gray, Gray & Gray LLP raised $5,000 for the National Transplant Assistance Fund's Northeast...

Wanted: CPAs of all sizes.(certified public accountants)
January 9, 2006... Rumor has it that legendary saloonkeeper Bernard "Toots" Shor - whose establishment in New York was a nocturnal haven for athletes, politicians and entertainment celebrities alike - once was engaged in a barstool conversation with Dr. Alexander...

Responses to the FairTax.(Letter to the Editor)
January 9, 2006... I just read Mike Dickson's letter (Accounting Today, Nov. 28-Dec. 18, 2005, page 7). My concerns are three-fold. First, making the poor pay the tax up front and then at a later date refunding their money: Some of these poor don't even file...

A Top 10 checklist to retain and recruit staff.
January 9, 2006... Today's accounting profession is challenged by the classic high demand/low supply of experienced professionals. In this competitive arena, CPA firms should arm themselves with the following arsenal of 10 ways to recruit and retain qualified...

Taxing Issues.(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... TAX OVERHAUL MAY BE ANOTHER YEAR AWAY: Reports from inside the White House are that President Bush's administration may wait until 2007 to begin pushing a proposal to overhaul the tax code. A proposal was originally planned as a key part of...

IRS sharpening its focus on e-filing of corporate returns.
January 9, 2006... As the Internal Revenue Service moves towards its goal of 80 percent e-filing for individuals, it is placing more emphasis on the e-filing of corporate returns. In 2005, over 200,000 corporations voluntarily e-filed, and beginning in 2006,...

Watch for the impact of the Top 10 2005 tax events.
January 9, 2006... The start of a New Year is a traditional time to take stock of the events of the past year to better prepare for what's coming. Taking inventory as it relates to tax law can produce many dividends. 2005 proved to be no exception in getting...

Change of Auditors.(Bank of South Carolina )(Ernst & Young )(PricewaterhouseCoopers)(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... BANK OF SOUTH CAROLINA JETTISONS KPMG: The Bank of South Carolina has dismissed its auditor - Big Four firm KPMG - and hired Elliot Davis as its new independent accountant. In a federal filing, the company said that it made the decision to...

Knauf assumes TIC chair at AICPA and gets to work.(American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Technical Issues Committee)(Edward Knauf)
January 9, 2006... Rochester, N.Y. -- Edward Knauf didn't take long to get to work after rising to the chairmanship of the American Institute of CPAs' Technical Issues Committee. Within a month of his appointment, he met with the three organizations of most...

The users aren't asking for more of the same.
January 9, 2006... More times than we can count, we have written that the preferable resolution of most financial accounting issues involves reporting values of assets and liabilities on the balance sheet and changes in those values on the income statement when...

PwC survey finds economic crime rising.(PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. (New York, New York))(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... New York and London -- Nearly half of all business organizations worldwide have been victims of fraud in the past two years, according to the 2005 PricewaterhouseCoopers' Global Economic Crime Survey released in late November. The survey...

PFP Briefs.(personal financial planner )
January 9, 2006... AMERIPRISE TO SETTLE TRADING CHARGES: Ameriprise Financial - the entity spun off by former parent American Express - and its broker/dealer arm agreed to pay $57.3 million to settle charges of illegal trading and brokerage misconduct. The...

Advisors, fund managers benefit from open dialogue.
January 9, 2006... Mutual fund portfolio managers used to be as inaccessible as the Wizard of Oz. Fund companies for the most part hid their ideas and activities behind a wall of wholesalers and scripted messages on brochures. When Morningstar began trying...

Global PFP standard passed.
January 9, 2006... New York -- ISO 22222, the Standard on Personal Financial Planning, has been approved as an international standard. All ISO members (standardization institutes in approximately 150 countries around the world) can now adopt ISO 22222 as a...

Tech Briefs.
January 9, 2006... MYOB ANNOUNCES BUYOUT OF U.S. ARM: MYOB Ltd., a developer of small business accounting and management software and services, has sold its U.S. operations to Acclivity LLC, an entity owned by members of the MYOB U.S. Inc. management team....

Beyond barcodes: RFID is gaining traction in market.(Radio frequency identification equipment)
January 9, 2006... In the last six years as director of accounting, Jeff Thompson has seen huge changes in the warehouse management technology at Woodland Scenics, a Linn Creek, Mo.-based model railroad scenery manufacturer and supplier. Thompson worked with...

Epicor acquires CRS Retail Systems.(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... Irvine, Calif. -- Enterprise software provider Epicor has acquired privately held CRS Retail Systems of Newburgh, N.Y., in an all-cash transaction valued at roughly $121 million. The acquisition of CRS, a provider of merchandising and...

Software Review: Mid-range accounting - when clients move up.
January 9, 2006... Entry-level accounting packages are terrific. They provide excellent features, and are frequently a good value. However, regardless of how good or cost-effective they are, they don't serve your clients' needs if the client has 25 or 30 users...

Vendor information.
January 9, 2006... * Cougar Mountain Accounting 10 Cougar Mountain Software Boise, Idaho (800) 388-3038 www.cougarmtn.com Price: Single user - $1,599; unlimited multi-user licenses - from $3,999. * Cyma IV Financial Management System...

People.(appointments)
January 9, 2006... California David Thaw has been named a shareholder of Gumbiner Savett Inc., Santa Monica, where he specializes in tax consulting and compliance. Colorado David Gross has been named chief financial and administrative officer at RGL...

Firms.(Carter, Belcourt and Atkinson)(Theobald, Donohue and Thompson P.C.)(Schneider Downs and Co)(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... California Haskell & White LLP, Irvine, has received a Distinguished Achievement Award at the 24th Annual Business in the Arts Awards, hosted by the Orange County Business Committee for the Arts. In addition, the firm has leased an...

Coming Events.(Calendar)
January 9, 2006... - January - 9: Fraud Detection, Gear Up. Riverside, Calif. Contact: (800) 231-1860 or www.gearup.com. 9: Federal Tax Update, PPC-Bell Learning. Holiday Inn Express, Scottsdale, Ariz. Contact: www.bellcpe.com or (800) 548-1551. ...

What do 'covered opinions' cover?(Brief Article)
January 9, 2006... Definitions of covered opinions whose significant purpose is to avoid or evade taxation: * Reliance opinion: Advice that concludes with more than 50 percent likelihood that one or more significant federal tax issue(s) will be resolved in...

Advertiser Index.
January 9, 2006... Advertiser Page 1st Global 19 ADP 9 California Society of CPAs 20 CCH Tax and Accounting 7, 12, 32 Creative...

Tax Season Preview: Electronic filing, tax law changes headline 2006 tax filing season.
January 30, 2006... Tax law changes, a surge in business e-filing, and a move by practitioners toward greater use of the Internet will impact the type of filing season that tax preparers have this year. "It will be typical year in terms of filing," observed...

PhD Project working to diversify the profession.
January 30, 2006... Accountants have long wondered why their professional sector has remained, so, well, white. After all, in an industry where job market demands exceed the supply of professionals, just about anybody who can count the beans is welcome to...

There's Still Time!: Now may be the best time to sell - but it won't always be a seller's market.(Certified Public Accounting Firms)
January 30, 2006... Larger CPA firms have traditionally been interested in acquiring smaller firms, creating what might be termed a seller's market, and that situation still exists today. But, according to Marc Rosenberg, CPA and president of the Rosenberg...

Big bottom lines.
January 30, 2006... As you bring in another box of dougnuts to keep your staff happy during tax season, be aware that you may be storing up expensive troubles for later. Obesity can lower productivity and increase health care costs. So why not help your...

SEC appoints top legal officer.(Securities and Exchange Commission)(Brief Article)
January 30, 2006... Washington -- Brian Cartwright, a law school and, later, law firm colleague of Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox, was named general counsel at the regulator. Cartwright, 58, a partner at Latham & Watkins, was due...

Firms settle federal travel charge.
January 30, 2006... Los Angeles -- Big Four firms Ernst & Young and KPMG, along with consulting concerns BearingPoint and Booz Allen Hamilton, agreed to pay $25.6 million to settle claims that they had overcharged the government for travel expenses. According to...

BMC merges in McDade Abbott.(McDade Abbott)(Brief Article)
January 30, 2006... Reading, Pa. -- Bolstering its presence in the Philadelphia market, BMC, a CPA and business consulting firm formerly known as Beard Miller Co., has merged in Paoli, Pa.-based McDade Abbott. Terms were not disclosed. The merger adds three...

Enron's Causey pleads guilty.(Brief Article)
January 30, 2006... Houston -- Enron Corp.'s former chief accounting officer figures to be the government's star witness after pleading guilty to securities fraud and agreeing to testify against Enron founder Ken Lay and former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling....

GAO critical of IRS's cost accounting compliance.(Internal Revenue Service )
January 30, 2006... Washington -- The Internal Revenue Service was singled out by congressional auditors for slow-footed implementation of federal accounting rules requiring government agencies to implement effective management reporting for cost information. ...

GASB issues guide to Stmt. 44.(Brief Article)
January 30, 2006... Norwalk, Conn. -- The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has published a Guide to Implementation of GASB Statement 44 on the Statistical Section. The guide was prepared to assist preparers and auditors of governmental financial...

GAO criticizes Army contractor oversight.(United States. Government Accountability Office)(Brief Article)
January 30, 2006... Washington -- The latest report out of the Government Accountability Office says that the U.S. Army lacks accounting oversight of work being performed by private contractors. Looking at data from two inventory control points, the GAO...

Tech giants primed for more offshore investments.
January 30, 2006... One day into a recent four-day tour throughout India, Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates announced that Microsoft would invest an added $1.7 billion into its Indian operations over the next four years. The increase...

Dixon Hughes' marketing head starts her own venture.(Dixon Hughes PLC)(Brief Article)
January 30, 2006... High Point, N.C. -- Tracy Crevar Warren, chief marketing and business development officer of Dixon Hughes PLLC, is leaving the firm to launch her own consulting business. Warren's new organization, The Crevar Group, focuses on growth...

Web Cites.
January 30, 2006... SMALL BUSINESS RESOURCES * BizStats.com - www.bizstats.com/ A great resource for small business statistics, financial ratios and benchmarks - edited by a CPA. * The Entrepreneurial Mind - http://forum.belmont.edu/cornwall/ ...

Footnotes.(National Conference of CPA Practitioners)(Brief Article)
January 30, 2006... NCCPAP DONATES TO HURRICANE RELIEF: Eschewing its tradition of presenting the outgoing officers and board members of the National Conference of CPA Practitioners with engraved plaques commemorating their service, NCCPAP is instead donating the...

Speaking Canadian.
January 30, 2006... Unlike several of my colleagues in our accounting publications group, I did not attend a college where football was king. No, at my alma mater in the Rockies, hockey was the marquee sport, and during my well-documented overstay there, the...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
January 30, 2006... No more politics I was very disappointed to read the two letters under "Unfair to Bush and the feds" (Dec. 19, 2005-Jan. 8, 2006, page 7). Hopefully, Accounting Today is not going to become a vehicle for disgruntled conservatives and...

Knowing when and how to pass the baton at your firm.
January 30, 2006... While change in general is hard for all of us, including this author, perhaps the biggest change that an owner ever will make is the one that requires him to leave the firm. Knowing when to pass the baton and how to do it are actions that all...

Taxing Issues.
January 30, 2006... H&R BLOCK TO PAY $62M TO SETTLE REFUND SUITS: Tax preparation giant H&R Block Inc. will pay $62.5 million to settle class-action lawsuits over its use of refund anticipation loans. Block said that the settlement would cover more than 8 million...

Study: Tax overhaul needed, but myriad hurdles remain.
January 30, 2006... Although tax experts from across the spectrum predict that a real tax reform is in our future, they are divided on how soon it will happen or what form it will take. Mark Weinberger, former Treasury assistant secretary for tax policy, said...

Gulf Opportunity Zone Act has impact well beyond Gulf Coast.(Gulf Coast recovery tax act)
January 30, 2006... Congress, in the waning days of its 2005 session, after failing to carry out significant parts of its tax agenda for the year, has managed to pass a Gulf Coast recovery tax act. As is common with the "last stagecoach out of town" for the year,...

Change of Auditors.(Brief Article)
January 30, 2006... PWC RESIGNS AS ALLIANCE AUDITOR: Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers resigned as accountant to Alliance Semiconductor Corp. At presstime, a replacement had not been named. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Alliance, a provider of analog and...

Canadian accounting board issues report on Big Four.
January 30, 2006... Toronto, Ont. -- Like its U.S. counterparts, the Canadian Public Accountability Board says that the Big Four firms have more work to do in order to improve audit quality and consistently meet professional standards. It was the board's third...

A decade of both controversy and responsibility.
January 30, 2006... It's hard to believe 10 years and 220 columns (without missing a deadline) have passed since the debut of The Spirit of Accounting, but that is indeed so. Born out of a collaboration between Ed Ketz of Penn State University and Paul Miller...

PFP Briefs.
January 30, 2006... MORNINGSTAR TO PURCHASE IBBOTSON: High-profile investment research and products provider Morningstar will buy privately held Ibbotson Associates - an asset allocation service concern - for $83 million. The deal is expected to close in the first...

Survey: Financial advisors facing big changes in 2006.
January 30, 2006... Charlotte, N.C. -- Factors such as changes to estate tax laws and the initial wave of retirement for the Baby Boomers will bring a year of significant change for financial advisors and their clients. According to a survey conducted by...

Consumer-driver health: A matter of reining in costs.
January 30, 2006... Consumer-driven health plans? The plans loom large in strategic decision-making for employers. Most firms have heard of the plans by now, and feel compelled to think about offering one to their employees. Health reimbursement arrangements...

Americans didn't report $1T in '03.(Brief Article)
January 30, 2006... Washington, D.C. -- Americans avoided paying taxes on a record $1 trillion in income in 2003, according to a new federal government report. The annual study by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis shows that the gap...

Tech Briefs.
January 30, 2006... PAISLEY CONSULTING UNVEILS NEW RISK ASSESSMENT FUNCTION: Paisley Consulting, a business accountability software provider, has upgraded the risk assessment functionality in its J2EE-based Risk Navigator, a software application helping companies...

Battle over payroll services is moving to middle ground.
January 30, 2006... Two distinct camps in the CPA community are feuding over payroll services, as adamant in their positions and loyalties as Shakespeare's rival Montagues and Capulets. And while the subject of payroll may appear inherently less passionate...

Get in the game and deepen your client relationships.
January 30, 2006... When beginning our client relationships, most of us take great care to understand the client's initial needs, choose the right products and services to meet their needs and place the right people on their engagements to ensure their success. We...

The role of IT in mergers and acquisitions.
January 30, 2006... It's no secret that mergers and acquisitions are an active part of the accounting profession today. As owners reach retirement age, they are looking for someone to buy them out and allow them to move on to a well-earned retirement. At the...

People.
January 30, 2006... COLORADO Bondi & Co., Englewood, announced four new hires: Melanie Russell, as an audit senior; and Amber Hunt, Doug Ritter and Adrienne Smith, as staff accountants.... Gordon, Hughes & Banks LLP, Golden, announced four new hires: Eric...

Firms.(Brief Article)
January 30, 2006... OHIO SS&G Financial Services Inc., Columbus, has merged in the firm of Schwartz, Adelman & Yankovich. Barry Adelman and Frank Yankovich will join SS&G as directors, along with 14 other staff. PENNSYLVANIA Schechtman Marks Devor &...

Coming Events.(Calendar)
January 30, 2006... - FEBRUARY - 2: New Tax Laws Update, National Conference of CPA Practitioners, Nassau/Suffolk Chapter. The Holiday Inn at Plainview, Plainview, N.Y. Contact: Chapter Office (516) 997-9500. 2-3: Auditing for Internal Fraud, Association...

Software & Services.
January 30, 2006... Everest Advanced 3.0 The latest edition of Everest Software's business management solution for small and midsized businesses includes a number of accounting, inventory, analytics and performance features, as well as a software development...

Books.
January 30, 2006... 'Seeing Is Believing' A picture is worth a thousand words, which is why we'll be replacing this column with a series of detailed illustrations starting in our next issue. While you can't tape a picture of yourself to your chair and...

Analyzing the marketplace.
January 30, 2006... Joel Sinkin and Terrence Putney, CPA, are co-founders and senior partners of Accounting Transition Advisors, in New York and Overland Park, Kan. Sinkin has been involved in succession planning for accounting firms for more than 16 years, while...

Why mergers do and don't happen.
January 30, 2006... Allan Koltin, CPA, president and chief executive officer of Chicago-based PDI Global Inc., has some M&A figures for the period 2003-2005. * Of 50 potential mergers, 42 never made it to the altar, eight got married, and one got divorced....

Advertiser Index.
January 30, 2006... Advertiser Page 1st Global 17 ACCT1st Solutions 18, 19 ADP 23 Capital One 15 CCH 13, 32 Creative...