Accounting Today articles from June 2006

Accounting Today archives from June 2006

E-services surge in 2006 tax season.
June 5, 2006... The 2006 filing season set a series of records, highlighted by 70 million tax returns filed electronically - up 6 percent from last year. "I'm surprised at how much people have accepted e-filing," said Holliston, Mass.-based preparer Larry...

Sales tax program slogs on.
June 5, 2006... It's been about eight months since the Streamlined Sales Tax Project - the sales tax and use system designed to retrieve lost revenue for states whose tax base is dwindling as a result of online commerce - came into effect on October 1. ...

Firms mine value from valuations.
June 5, 2006... Just four months after its acquisition of a 10-person business valuation practice, Chicago-area CPA and financial services firm Mueller & Co. said that it's already seeing new business grow out of the deal. Mueller had long had a...

Recruiting - not hiring.(recruitment for accounting services)(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... HR departments everywhere agree: It's tough to scare up suitable job candidates. Tough times call for drastic measures - like handing over your recruiting program to the marketing department, or a top salesperson. Note that we're talking...

Virchow Krause continues merger tear in the Midwest.(William F. Gurrie & Company Ltd. acquired by Virchow Krause and Co.)
June 5, 2006... Madison, Wis. -- Continuing its merger tear throughout the Midwest, regional powerhouse CPA and business advisory firm Virchow Krause & Co. will merge with Oak Brook, Ill.-based William F. Gurrie & Co. Ltd. Terms of the union, which became...

No solution in sight for EU's sales tax hemorrhage.(reports of sales tax)
June 5, 2006... Dublin and Brussels -- The European Union's sales tax losses, now loosely estimated to have reached $120 billion per year and continuing to grow, are causing deepening concern among tax consultant professionals in Europe. In the U.S., high...

Fannie Mae finds more errors.(sales and earnings of the company)(Financial report)(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Washington -- More errors have been unearthed by the seemingly never-ending review of home mortgage lender Fannie Mae's accounting. Fannie Mae also said that it will miss a regulatory deadline for filing its financial report for the first...

IRS targets down-payment scams.(Internal Revenue Service )(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Washington -- Organizations that provide seller-funded down-payment assistance to home buyers do not qualify as tax-exempt charities, the Internal Revenue Service said in a recent ruling. Down-payment assistance programs can qualify as...

Former Gemstar CEO to pay $22M.(former chairman and chief executive of Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc to pay $22 million in penalties)(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Los Angeles -- In one of the largest fines ever handed down to an individual charged with accounting fraud, a federal judge has ordered the former chairman and chief executive of Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. to pay $22 million in...

Bush nominee for tax policy post.(Eric Solomon nominated by George W. Bush for Department of the Treasury secretary)(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Washington -- The Treasury Department announced that President Bush has nominated Treasury official Eric Solomon to be the department's assistant secretary for tax policy, filling a post that has been vacant since February 2004. Solomon is...

Correction.(Correction notice)
June 5, 2006... In "Too important to leave to chance," (May 1-14, 2006, page 32), a sidebar to our feature on forensic accounting, the title of the book by Thomas Golden, Steven Skalak and Mona Clayton was incorrectly shortened; its full name is A Guide to...

CPA2Biz announces optimistic '06 outlook.(company sales and earnings)(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Jersey City, N.J. -- CPA2Biz Inc., the online marketing and technology portal for the American Institute of CPAs, announced that it expects to deliver a second year of profitability when its fiscal year closes July 31. Executives for...

GASB delves boldly into crazy world of derivatives.(Governmental Accounting Standards Board)
June 5, 2006... Norwalk, Conn. -- With quixotic courage, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board has issued a preliminary views document on one of accounting's most confounding issues - reporting on derivatives. The suggested standard would require...

'The Fox' gains on Explorer But will software providers make the switch?
June 5, 2006... With over 170 million downloads, Mozilla's Internet browser Firefox is the second-most popular browser in the world - and growing. "Firefox is definitely gaining momentum," said Mike Dickson, CPA, CITP, CISA and president of Business...

Technology Trends.(Website list)
June 5, 2006... Boomer Consulting - www.boomer.com Created by tech guru Gary Boomer, the site uses its "Technology Leadership Process" and "Boomer Technology Circles" to teach firms how to grow their business by managing technology better. Forrester...

Footnotes.(The Mercadien Group)(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... AN EYE-OPENING DAY: "When we first came here, we didn't really know what our parents did," said Blase Salvatore III, after visiting Princeton, N.J.-based CPA firm The Mercadien Group on Take Your Child to Work Day. "After listening to all the...

A cheaper tune-up.
June 5, 2006... For those readers who remember a time when a do-it-yourselfer could actually perform a tune-up on a car, you'll also recall that the second time you did it was light years easier than the first. And in subsequent trials, the earlier fumbling...

Commentary: From knowing to doing.
June 5, 2006... If your firm is not achieving controlled profitable growth at a rate of 20 percent per year or more, if you are struggling to find and retain top-notch staff, if partners are working harder to keep less, if fees are an issue with your clients,...

Practice Management: Thinking new thoughts on your partner compensation.
June 5, 2006... Can there be any more emotional topic than partner compensation? It seems that no matter what a firm partner is paid, there is always the issue of relative pay. In other words, how much did I get paid in comparison to you? If I received...

States continue to diverge on sales, income tax nexus.
June 5, 2006... Although the continuing thirst of states for more dollars to fuel spending increases has led to a variety of efforts to augment tax revenue, they differ widely on what they consider sufficient contact with a business to give them the authority...

Targets of convenience: Tax gaps, tax prep, the deficit.(Internal Revenue Service)
June 5, 2006... With a Congress and an administration too fond of tax cuts and spending to solve the growing budget deficit, the tax gap has become a more convenient focus for deficit reduction. With the tax gap, the Congress can urge action by the Internal...

Taxing Issues.(Internal Revenue Service on tax gap )(oil and gas companies asked to report tax information)(KPMG L.L.P. sues Sidley Austin Brown and Wood)
June 5, 2006... TIGTA SAYS TAX GAP COULD EXCEED PROJECTIONS: According to a report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the nation's tax gap - the annual difference between federal taxes owed and those paid - could in fact exceed the...

In new due process policy, EITF issues proposal series.(Financial Accounting Standards Board's Emerging Issues Task Force )
June 5, 2006... Norwalk, Conn. -- In its first exercise of a new due process policy, the Financial Accounting Standards Board's Emerging Issues Task Force has issued three exposure drafts of proposed consensuses. The documents deal with accounting for...

Change of Auditors.(IVAX Diagnostics Inc. appoints PricewaterhouseCoopers L.L.P. as its accountant)(OSI Systems Inc. hires Moss Adams L.L.P.)(Emrise Corp. hires Hein and Associates L.L.P.)
June 5, 2006... IVAX RETAINS PWC: Ivax Diagnostics Inc., a Miami-based manufacturer and marketer of scientific instruments, medical diagnostic and autoimmune kits, has retained Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers as its independent accountant. PwC...

Comcast - 'All for one and, uh, all for one'.
June 5, 2006... Much has been claimed in the corporate world about the benefits of advancing the interests of all stakeholders: customers, society, employees and investors. We have also advocated Quality Financial Reporting as a way to benefit stockholders and...

Grant launches recovery, reorg services unit.(Grant Thornton L.L.P.)(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Chicago -- Grant Thornton LLP has launched a new recovery and reorganization services practice to provide services to under-performing and financially troubled businesses. The firm named Marti Kopacz and Loretta Cross to lead the practice....

Software Review: Evolution, not revolution, in estate/retirement planning.
June 5, 2006... Outside of tax preparation, few facets of accounting are as complicated and change as frequently as retirement and estate planning. Partly that is because of the enormous implications of taxes on these two areas. But it is also due to the...

Joint and survivor annuities for non-spouse beneficiaries.
June 5, 2006... A plan participant sometimes wants to provide a survivor annuity for a non-spouse beneficiary who is a child or other close relative of the participant, or a significant other who is not a spouse. Caution: If the participant has a spouse, a...

PFP Briefs.(Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission propose rules for trading)(Prudential Financial Inc. on tax liabilities)(Generation X on Retirement Saving )
June 5, 2006... TRADING FUTURES ON DEBT SECURITIES: The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have jointly proposed rules that would permit trading of futures on debt indexes in an effort to create a new class of...

Performance Measurement: BI pushing for momentum.(High Liner Foods Inc.)
June 5, 2006... It took High Liner Foods Inc. in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, 10 years to find a viable and affordable business intelligence solution, said chief financial officer Kelly Nelson. "What we had was JD Edwards' [enterprise resource planning system]...

Are you recruiting staff? Try strategies that work!
June 5, 2006... Staffing is one of the biggest concerns facing CPA and IT firms today. And yet, as I shared in the first article in this three-part series on recruiting, very few firms have a written strategic recruiting plan in place. In the previous...

Tech Briefs.
June 5, 2006... NETSUITE UNVEILS VERSION 11.0: NetSuite Inc., an on-demand software provider, unveiled the latest edition of its flagship product, Version 11.0. The upgrade offers a new services vertical for mid-market companies, along with a new Asynchronous...

Software Review: Trial balance apps: When write-up isn't right.
June 5, 2006... Many accountants have made the investment in a write-up package. With this investment already made, they often use the write-up software even when it may not be the best tool for the task. Many accountants think of trial balance software as...

Firm Intranets: A revolutionary new advantage.
June 5, 2006... One of the advantages of consulting and having relationships with leading firms is being able to witness how firms leverage technology as a strategic asset. Innovative thinking is one thing, while innovative "doing" is another. Take Fuller...

Software, services & supplies.(Essential Taceo is an e-mail and document security rights management application)(Dymo Stamps combines a small thermal printer with online software to print postage)(promotion of brand)
June 5, 2006... Lose something? Seems like everywhere you turn, somebody is losing a laptop loaded with private client data. We here at New Products can sympathize. We are (quite rightly) not trusted with a company laptop, but if we were, we'd be sure to...

Books.(information on various books)
June 5, 2006... Silos and turf wars While we agree with author Patrick Lencioni that internecine conflict - one department or business unit against another - can cripple a company, we always thought that the solution was to establish dominance by having a...

People.(new appointments)
June 5, 2006... CONNECTICUT Greg Rothauser has been promoted to network engineer at The Technology Group LLC, Hartford, which he joined in 2004.... Edward E. Pratesi, managing director of Brentmore Advisors LLC, has received the Accredited Senior...

Firms.(contracts between Dobson & Co and AGN International)(Baumeister & Frazier PC)(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... BOTSWANA Dobson & Co., Gaborone, has joined firm network AGN International. The firm has one partner and 12 staff. CALIFORNIA Burr, Pilger & Mayer has been named one of the Best Places to Work in the Bay Area by the San Francisco...

The AICPA on valuation standards.(American Institute of Certified Public Accountants)(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Edward Dupke, chair of the AICPA Business Valuation Standards Task Force, said that the major changes to the "Statements on Standards for Valuation Services" exposure draft break down into four broad areas: 1. Written reports. The original...

Advertiser Index.(Statistical table)
June 5, 2006... Advertiser Page 1st Global 21, 35 AccountantsWorld 47 ADP 31 Capital One 17 CaseWare ...

TIPRA draws strong reactions.
June 19, 2006... The ink was barely dry on President George W. Bush's signature before critics and proponents of provisions in the new tax reconciliation legislation voiced their reactions, and practitioners began studying planning opportunities for their...

SEC and PCAOB: SOX is staying.(Securities and Exchange Commission)(Public Company Accounting Oversight Board)
June 19, 2006... Washington -- With a few years of Sarbanes-Oxley implementation behind them, both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced concrete steps that they will follow in considering some...

Accentuate the positive!: Firms bolster retention strategies with latest technology, flexibility, supportive atmosphere.(services of Deloitte and Touche LLP)
June 19, 2006... Within half an hour of the second plane hitting the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, every single U.S. employee at Deloitte & Touche LLP received a voicemail telling them to go home and be with their families. This was the moment that...

Action Idea: E-recruiting.(Brief article)
June 19, 2006... Looking to boost your recruiting pipeline? Try an e-mail recruiting newsletter, which can put you in front of a huge number of potential staff. You can write your own, or personalize one from a vendor. Some tips: Build your list. Set a...

PCAOB proposes new reporting rules.(Public Company Accounting Oversight Board)(Brief article)
June 19, 2006... Washington -- The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will propose rules for annual and special reporting of information and events by accounting firms that are registered with the board. The reporting framework proposed by the PCAOB...

GAO looks at IRS OIC program.(Government Accountability Office)(Internal Revenue Service)(Brief article)
June 19, 2006... Washington -- The Government Accountability Office says that the performance of the Internal Revenue Service's offers-in-comprise program has been mixed, and suggests that a combination of better management information and simplification could...

Judge OKs $6.6B Enron settlement.(Enron Corp.)(Citigroup Inc.)(J.P. Morgan Chase and Co.)(Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce)(Brief article)
June 19, 2006... Houston -- A district court judge approved a $6.6 billion settlement between a trio of banks and Enron Corp. shareholders. In a civil lawsuit, the shareholders accused the banks of helping the bankrupt company hide its shaky financial footing....

Relocation and peer review top AICPA Council agenda.(American Institute of Certified Public Accountants)
June 19, 2006... Salt Lake City -- While the American Institute of CPAs' recent efforts have focused on strengthening its advocacy and outreach programs, more traditional accounting issues such as peer review, private company GAAP and the ongoing relocation to...

IRS gives thumbs down to down-payment assistance.(Internal Revenue Service)
June 19, 2006... In May, the Internal Revenue Service ruled that certain organizations providing down-payment assistance gifts to low-income homebuyers do not qualify for Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. Organizations specifically targeted are those...

Fannie Mae to pay $400M to settle.(Federal National Mortgage Association)
June 19, 2006... Washington -- Fannie Mae will pay $400 million to put an end to the accounting woes that have dogged the home mortgage giant since 2004. The latest estimates from government-chartered Fannie Mae, whose official name is the Federal National...

Web Cites: Malpractice.(Website list)
June 19, 2006... AccountingMalpractice.com - www.accountingmalpractice.com/ A comprehensive portal replete with tools, advice and resources to promote accounting diligence and help protect practitioners from mammoth malpractice claims that could potentially...

Footnotes.(scholarships for undergraduate students )(Brief article)
June 19, 2006... BEERS & CUTLER ENDOWS UM BUSINESS SCHOOL: Washington, D.C.-area CPA and business advisory firm Beers & Cutler said that it would establish the James R. Beers Scholarship Endowment with a donation from the firm matched by founding partner Jim...

ASB issuing new standard on internal controls audits.(Auditing Standards Board )
June 19, 2006... New York -- The Auditing Standards Board is issuing a new standard on auditing internal controls. By adopting definitions from Auditing Standard No. 2 of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the standard will make audits of public and...

HONORING O'KELLY.(awards)(Brief article)
June 19, 2006... HONORING O'KELLY: KPMG chairman and chief executive Timothy Flynn accepts the first-ever Eugene O'Kelly Award from the CEO of the American Cancer Society of New York and New Jersey, Donald Distasio. The award, named in honor of the former...

All's fair in SOX and value.(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)
June 19, 2006... In Moonstruck, the late Vincent Gardenia steals one particular scene as Cosmo, a wizened plumbing contractor in Brooklyn who tries to convince a young couple of the virtues of expensive copper piping. "There are three kinds of pipe. There's...

Commentary: A guideline to successful CPA firm M&A.(Certified Public Accountant )(Mergers and acquisitions)(Company overview)
June 19, 2006... What's behind the recent explosion of mergers and acquisitions in the accounting profession? The answer is self-evident. Mergers and acquisitions are the most efficient way to achieve a number of universal goals, including implementing an...

Taxing Issues.(certified public accountant's seminars)
June 19, 2006... IRS TAKES ON CREDIT COUNSELORS' TAX EXEMPTION: The Internal Revenue Service said that it plans to revoke the tax-exempt status of the 41 credit-counseling agencies it has audited as part of a crackdown on industry practices. Over the past...

IRS's TAP sets its sights on refund anticipation loans.(Internal Revenue Service)(Taxpayer Advocacy Panel )
June 19, 2006... The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel has released its 2005 Annual Report summarizing its new recommendations for improvements in the way the Internal Revenue Service does business. The report forwarded suggestions to the IRS representing a variety...

TIPRA strategies: Dealing with Roth, other changes: Tax Strategies.(Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005)
June 19, 2006... The Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005, signed by President Bush on May 17, 2006, took so long in coming that it still carried the "Act of 2005" label. Far from having no surprises, however, the final bill contained a...

Supremes uphold corp. tax breaks.(rules for taxations)(Brief article)
June 19, 2006... Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously denied a taxpayer group's challenge to nearly $300 million in tax breaks given to a DaimlerChrysler plant in Toledo, Ohio. In the 9-0 decision, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the...

Interpreting FAS 109 - accounting for income taxes.(Financial Accounting Standards Board )
June 19, 2006... When recognizing benefits from uncertain tax positions in their financial statements, what level of confidence should corporations have that those positions will be sustained? How do they determine whether or not their positions meet that...

Change Of Auditors.
June 19, 2006... ELOYALTY JETTISONS PWC: Eloyalty Corp., a Lake Forest, Ill.-based management consulting and systems integration concern, has dismissed independent accountant Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and named Grant Thornton as its new auditor. ...

Revenue recognition remains accounting's 800-lb. Gorilla.
June 19, 2006... Norwalk, Conn. -- It's the biggest item in a financial statement, and the most frequent cause of restatements. Elements of its generally accepted accounting principles appear in over 200 pronouncements from half a dozen standard-setters. It...

GAAP's not good in theory - or the real world.(Generally Accepted Accounting Principles)
June 19, 2006... In early April, a former student sent us a quote from a senior official of what might be called a "constituent representative organization" by some folks, but a "Washington lobby" by others. This person claimed that the Financial Accounting...

Teach your clients how to navigate the new retirement.
June 19, 2006... Retirement planning has always been a challenging task, but it is even more so today. The coming generations of retirees face a complicated planning process, because funds need to last far longer than in the past. Medical advances and...

IRS auditing 412(i) plans.(Internal Revenue Service )
June 19, 2006... The Internal Revenue Service has recently been auditing 412(i) defined-benefit pension plans. They are seeking substantial taxes and penalties from what they characterize as "abusive plans," but they do not regard all 412(i) plans as...

PFP Briefs.(Wachovia Corp.)(Ameriprise Financial Inc.)(United States. Internal Revenue Service)(Morgan Stanley Group Inc.)(United States. Securities and Exchange Commission)
June 19, 2006... WACHOVIA BUYS AMERIPRISE RECORD-KEEPING UNIT: Banking group Wachovia Corp. will acquire the defined-contribution record-keeping business of Ameriprise Financial Inc. Terms of the deal, which is subject to federal approval, were not disclosed....

Ray. James offers annuity restructuring.(Raymond James Financial Inc.)(Brief article)
June 19, 2006... St. Petersburg, Fla. -- Raymond James Financial Inc. announced an initiative that would require the restructuring of variable annuities offered through financial advisors at the firm's broker/dealer subsidiaries, Raymond James Financial...

SEC, NASAA to aid seniors.(Securities and Exchange Commission)(North American Securities Administrators Association)(Brief article)
June 19, 2006... New York -- The Securities and Exchange Commission and the North American Securities Administrators Association have announced a national initiative designed to protect seniors from investment fraud and sales of unsuitable securities. The...

Tech Briefs.(Avalara)(Telecom Compliance Services)
June 19, 2006... INTUIT'S 3Q REVENUE GROWS; UNVEILS 2-FOR-1 STOCK SPLIT: Spurred by a double-digit increase in its Consumer Tax unit, accounting software provider Intuit Inc. posted a 14 percent gain in third-quarter revenue, to $956 million, versus the...

CRM making life easier for CPA firms, small businesses.(customer relationship management)(certified public accountants)
June 19, 2006... More than two years ago, Diane Yetter, CPA and president of Chicago-based Yetter Consulting Services Inc., had disparate software systems for keeping track of her clients' needs, projects, history, contact information and billing. Then she...

Yankee Group: Accounting software ruled by triumvirate.(Microsoft Corp.)(Intuit Corp.)(Sage Group PLC)
June 19, 2006... Boston -- Market research firm the Yankee Group announced that Intuit, Sage and Microsoft have reconfirmed their dominance in the small and midsized accounting and enterprise resource planning software markets. The Boston-based firm said...

Sage unveils new products, services at Insights.(Sage Group PLC)
June 19, 2006... Nashville, Tenn. -- During Sage Software's annual Insights partner conference, resellers such as Kevin Stanton, manager of marketing communications at Winn Technology Group, were especially interested in all the new offerings that the company...

Performance evaluations for IT professionals.(information technology )
June 19, 2006... How do you evaluate your professional information technology staff? Who is responsible for those evaluations and how often do they occur? While these are basic human resources questions, we find that many firms do not have fair and...

CSI snatches up Dunphy Systems.(Creative Solutions Inc)(Brief article)
June 19, 2006... Dexter, Mich. -- Creative Solutions Inc., a unit of Thomson Tax & Accounting, has acquired the assets of Dunphy Systems, a Columbus, Ohio-based publisher of tax software. Terms were not disclosed. Creative Solutions said that it will be...

Software.(Sage Group PLC)(Cartesis Inc.)(Apex Analytix)
June 19, 2006... Quantum migration Small businesses are so cute - one minute they're little start-ups in someone's garage, and the next thing you know they're off to their first day on the stock exchange. In between, they can run through an awful lot of...

Books.(Pricing on Purpose: Creating and Capturing Value)(Guide to Risk Based Audits of HUD Projects, 2 vols.)(Guide to HUD Audits, 3 vols.)(Quicken for Dummiese)(Better to Best: How to Speak for Extraordinary Results...Every Time!)(Keeping Employees Accountable for Results)(Book review)
June 19, 2006... Price like you mean it Ronald Baker is well known in the accounting profession for his crusade against the billable hour, for which he's made frequent appearances on Accounting Today's Top 100 Most Influential People list, but his interest...

Coming Events.(Calendar)
June 19, 2006... JUNE 19: CCH Spring Seminar - Leveraging Technology to Drive Your Strategic Advantage, CCH. Sheraton Park Ridge, King of Prussia, Pa. Contact: http://cchgroup.com/springseminars or (800) PFX-9998. 20: Personal Financial Planning, New...

People.(new appointments)
June 19, 2006... CALIFORNIA Loretta Doon has been named chief executive officer of the California Society of CPAs and the California CPA Education Foundation, Redwood City. She had previously served as chief operating officer for both organizations. John...

Firms.(business enterprises)(Brief article)
June 19, 2006... CALIFORNIA Stonefield Josephson, Los Angeles, has launched Stonefield Josephson Executive Search, a recruiting team specializing in financial executives. Director Tami Kautzman will lead the new team. FLORIDA Kerkering, Barberio &...

Advertiser Index.(Table)(Brief article)
June 19, 2006... Advertiser Page 1st Global 19 ADP 9 AICPA 7 BNA 8 CaseWare ...

Editor's Note: From Where Will the Money Come?(certified public accountants)(Editorial)(Brief article)
June 19, 2006... This is the overriding theme of this year's special report on firm of the future. In past years, we have looked at other aspects of an accounting firm such as technology and practice management, but this year we decided to target the revenue....

Overachieving: The Theme For The Future.(rules for Certified public accountants)
June 19, 2006... The year 2005 was a very good year for public accounting, and 2006 looks even better. In this consultant's view, CPA firms that I have observed over the past few years look to be heading towards even more prosperous, exciting, and enthusiastic...

The Question Every Practicing Accountant Must Ask.
June 19, 2006... The accounting profession has experienced unprecedented change over the past 20 years. We have gone from paper to PC, the Big Eight has become the Final Four, and the Internet has become mainstream. Nevertheless, the typical accounting firm's...