Accounting Today articles from May 2005

Accounting Today archives from May 2005

Late filers, e-growth highlight '05 season.
May 2, 2005... The 2005 tax return season wound down with a larger-than-expected late surge of filers to make up for the slow start, according to preparers. The season also saw more than the predicted number of taxpayers switching to e-filing, with over...

IRS aims at abusive nonprofits.
May 2, 2005... Washington -- Top officials at the Internal Revenue Service closed out the 2005 filing season with deepening concerns about abusive practices by tax-exempt organizations, and fresh worries about lax compliance by the nation's charities. ...

Tax me out to the ballgame!: IRS adds free tickets to list of players' taxable perks.
May 2, 2005... Baseball season got underway this spring with a new frustration for ball players. For years, professional athletes have been allowed to request a certain number of free tickets per game that they can give to friends or family. In some...

Saying 'No' to clients.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Being unable to say "No" to someone's face can create problems if it means taking on clients who aren't worth the time. Sales specialist Kim DeMotte recommends scripting your negative replies in advance. Forearmed with No's like the ones below,...

A possible reprieve on expensing?(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... New York -- The Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly expected to change the effective date for new stock option accounting rules that will require companies to include stock option compensation as an expense on their earnings...

Report: IRS favoring finance firms.(Internal Revenue Service)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Syracuse, N.Y. -- Tax audits by the Internal Revenue Service on companies in the financial sector are undertaken far less frequently than those in other sectors, according to a report from Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access...

GASB issues concepts statement.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Norwalk, Conn. -- The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has released Concepts Statement No. 3, Communication Methods in General Purpose External Financial Reports that Contain Basic Financial Statements, providing guidelines for...

Global Crossing ends 3-year probe.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Washington -- Long-distance carrier Global Crossing and three of its former executives have settled a three-year investigation by regulators into the company's accounting practices. The Securities and Exchange Commission ordered former...

Correction.(Correction Notice)
May 2, 2005... In the April 4-17, 2005 issue, in "2005 season ending with flourish" (page 1), partnership return Form 1065 was incorrectly referred to as Form 1965. Copyright 2005 Thomson Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.thomsonmedia.com...

SSTA: 800 lb. gorilla or new growth stream for vendors?(Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement)
May 2, 2005... Not surprisingly, the National Taxpayer's Union sees nothing but downside to the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement. "Not only will this result in record-keeping burdens for small businesses," said Peter Sepp, a representative for the...

Q&A - Weiss to CPAs: Focus on fraud.(Interview)
May 2, 2005... As founding partner of Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP, Melvyn I. Weiss is generally considered one of the country's premier class-action litigators, particularly in the areas of accounting and securities fraud. His firm has been...

Report: Some cos. to see drop in 404 compliance costs.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Washington -- The cost of compliance with Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley should drop significantly for some companies, according to a report commissioned by the Big Four firms. Total 404 compliance costs may drop as much as 46 percent for...

FASB tackles risk transfer after insurance scandals.(Financial Accounting Standards Board)
May 2, 2005... Norwalk, Conn. -- Insurance and reinsurance have recently made headline news, and it has not been pretty. The legal tribulations of AIG and half a dozen other insurers have again brought big-ticket fraud to the headlines. Malfeasance most...

Hedge funds start courting hesitant smaller planners.
May 2, 2005... With returns on both bonds and stocks dwindling, investors are seeking higher ground. Increasingly, that means that their money finds its way into alternative investments like hedge funds. Recent headlines trumpeted the move by Taft-Hartley...

JOIN YOUR PEERS.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... * AAA-CPAs - www.attorney-cpa.com The American Associtaion of Attorney-CPAs offers an array of products and services to help members succeed, such as networking and referral opportunities, meetings, and continuing education credit. *...

Footnotes.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... ASHER & CO. HOLDS NINTH ANNUAL GOLF 'OUTING:' Asher & Co., a Philadelphia-based CPA and business advisory firm, recently held its ninth annual Asher Golf Open, a tournament held within its offices, with the proceeds going to charity. Each...

Audit in the court.(Column)
May 2, 2005... With the roster of recent corporate fraud trials, federal court dockets around the country must resemble the weekly TV grid that usually accompanies the weekend edition of your newspaper. And in truth, what has transpired in the courtrooms...

Commentary: CPAs should create a national financial dialogue.
May 2, 2005... With Social Security reform the domestic cornerstone of President Bush's second term, the American Institute of CPAs was on point when it issued its recent white paper providing lawmakers with a nonpartisan and comprehensive analysis of the...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
May 2, 2005... PRACTICE MANAGEMENT OR MIND POSITIONING? How disappointing it was to read the technology piece by Ted Needleman, "Practice management - when you have to know!" (Accounting Today, March 14-April 3, 2005, page 28). I accept that Mr....

Who's in charge of value in your firm?(accounting services)
May 2, 2005... In his Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, Peter Drucker wrote, "The final question needed in order to come to grips with business purpose and business mission is: 'What is value to the customer?'" My VeraSage Institute...

Taxing Issues.
May 2, 2005... IRS SOLICITS MEMBERS FOR ADVOCACY PANEL: The Internal Revenue Service is accepting applications for joining its Taxpayer Advocacy Panel. The TAP provides a forum for citizens from each state to make suggestions regarding IRS...

IRS board and NRP signal increased compliance focus.(Internal Revenue Service and National Research Program)
May 2, 2005... The Internal Revenue Service's tough stance on settling the "Son of Boss" tax shelters matches the call by the IRS Oversight Board for increased compliance funding, as well as the tax gap findings of the National Research Program. Together,...

The tax impact of the Hill's new bankruptcy legislation.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... As of this writing, bankruptcy reform legislation had passed the Senate and was expected to move quickly through the House and be signed by President Bush. The Bankruptcy Abuse and Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 may already be...

SOI bulletin shows decline in biz income.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Washington -- The Winter 2004-2005 Statistics of Income Bulletin, a quarterly compilation of information on various topics from federal tax returns and other documents, has been released by the Internal Revenue Service. For tax years 1995...

EBRI survey on retirement savings: Match!(Employee Benefit Research Institute)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Washington -- Nearly three-fourths of workers participating in a retirement savings poll said that employers' matching contributions of up to 5 percent of their salaries would greatly influence their decision to join a savings plan at work. ...

Change Of Auditors.(Lewak Greenbaum & Goldstein)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... NAS HIRES SINGER LEEWAK: North American Scientific Inc., a Chatsworth, Calif.-based manufacturer of medical therapeutic products, hired Singer Lewak Greenbaum & Goldstein as its new independent accountant, according to a federal filing. ...

COSO is helping companies take the 'ouch' out of SOX.(Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission )
May 2, 2005... The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was supposed to help investors, not sink companies. But Section 404 of the sweeping law - certifying the integrity of corporate internal controls - may be threatening the financial health of smaller public...

Never send to know for whom the gavel falls ...(business ethics)
May 2, 2005... We have both recently experienced sobering thoughts with the untimely passing of a friend and colleague. The event made us mindful of the frailty of life and our interconnectedness. This introspection brought to mind the timeless John Donne...

Study: 2004 class actions up 16 percent.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... New York -- Private securities class-action lawsuits spiked 16 percent from 2003 to 2004, with aggregate settlements topping $5 billion - the largest amount on record, according to a securities litigation study by Big Four firm...

GAO: SSA needs to hone statements.(Social Security Administration)(Government Accountability Office)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Washington -- The Social Security Administration needs to sharpen the understandability factor of the benefit statements delivered to some 140 million workers, according to a survey conducted by the Government Accountability Office. The...

PFP Briefs.
May 2, 2005... HIGH COURT RULES CREDITORS CAN'T SEIZE IRAS: In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that creditors cannot seize individual retirement accounts in a bankruptcy filing, thereby classing them with pensions, 401(k)s and Social Security,...

A legacy of Terri Schiavo: More interest in living wills.
May 2, 2005... It is common to parody accountants as tightly wrapped number-crunchers oriented more toward dollars than human emotions, religious beliefs, moral debates and political controversies. Among the Babel of commentators seeking a pulpit during...

Mortgage interest deductible in computing a client's AMT.
May 2, 2005... For regular income tax purposes, qualified residence interest is deductible as an itemized deduction in computing taxable income. Qualified residence interest is interest that's paid or accrued during the tax year on acquisition...

Tech Briefs.(SmartPros Ltd)
May 2, 2005... SERENIC LAUNCHES NAVIGATOR 4.0: Financial management software provider Serenic Corp. has unveiled Version 4.0 of its flagship Serenic Navigator product for nonprofits. The enhanced offering features a redesigned menu pane (graphical user...

The next frontier: Giving form to unstructured data.
May 2, 2005... When the former chair of Enron, Kenneth Lay, sent e-mails to his staff assuring them that the company's future was sound, he probably never thought about how these pieces of unstructured data could one day be used to indict him on 11 counts of...

Opportunity knocks for M'soft ISVs.
May 2, 2005... Redmond, Wash. -- Officials at Microsoft said that independent software vendors would play a key role in the planned fall launch of its Office Small Business Management Edition. "The reason we continue to grow is because of our ISVs," said...

Software Review: This isn't your father's time and billing software.(Product/Service Evaluation)
May 2, 2005... Time and billing software was one of the first applications to make the leap from paper to PC, with the earliest forms appearing in 1979. Normally, this is a simple and straightforward process - record the time, send the bill, track the...

Vendor info.(Directory)
May 2, 2005... * Billing Matters 6.0 Plus LexisNexis Time Matters Software 215 Commonwealth Court Cary, N.C. 27511 (919) 467-1221 www.timematters.com Pricing: First user, Professional Edition - $525; first user, Enterprise Edition -...

The ongoing evolution of firm-wide learning.
May 2, 2005... Education and training have always been an important part of the accounting profession. Beginning with the formal university curriculum required for a degree in accounting, and followed by specialized study in preparation for taking the...

Software.
May 2, 2005... Donor management Best has released the latest version of its MIP fundraising and development software for midsized and large nonprofits, GT Pro 4.0. The new release comes with a number of enhancements, including several that specifically...

Books.(Book Review)
May 2, 2005... 'Controller's Guide' If the rash of post-scandal regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley was the equivalent of painting a big red bull's-eye on every finance exec in the land, books like Steven M. Bragg's Controller's Guide: Roles and...

Do you have to market after hours to be effective?
May 2, 2005... In every organization - indeed, in every civilization - it's natural that people align themselves into "camps." The camps are defined by positions on controversial issues, preferences and personality traits. There are many such camps in...

New phone systems enhance service, efficiency.
May 2, 2005... Nowadays, communications plays a larger role than ever in strengthening customer service, as well as bottom-line results, yet not every accountant has the right system to meet their needs. In fact, many small firms and independent CPAs...

People.(Appointments)
May 2, 2005... * Arizona Lohman Co. PLLC, Mesa, announced three additions to the firm: Stuart P. Wiemers, as a manager; Julie Herman, as a senior; and Michelle D. Laswell, as an accountant. Wiemers brings 19 years of tax planning, consulting and...

Firms.
May 2, 2005... * Missouri Milhouse & Neal LLP, Maryland Heights, was named a Great Place to Work by St. Louis Magazine. This marks the third time the firm has been so recognized.... The Yanker Group Wealth Management Services, a strategic partner of...

Coming Events.(Calendar)
May 2, 2005... - May - 2-3: AICPA Conference on Tax Strategies for the High-Income Individual, American Institute of CPAs. Las Vegas. Contact: www.cpa2biz.com/conferences. 2-3: Analyzing Written Statements, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners....

NetSuite appoints marketing, channel vice presidents.
May 2, 2005... San Mateo, Calif. -- Veteran Intuit executive Jay O'Connor was appointed vice president of worldwide marketing for NetSuite Inc., a provider of on-demand business software. In his new role, O'Connor will be in charge of overseeing...

SEC names Eisenberg as divisional acting director.(Securities and Exchange Commission)(Meyer Eisenberg)(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Washington -- The Securities and Exchange Commission in early April named agency veteran Meyer Eisenberg to the post of acting director of the commission's Division of Investment Management. Eisenberg will fill on an interim basis the void...

Feds say 15 states falsely accounting for Medicaid.(Brief Article)
May 2, 2005... Washington -- The Bush administration has singled out 15 states that it claimed used improper accounting methods to garner excessive amounts of federal Medicaid money. Officials claimed that Alabama, Alaska, California, Georgia, Idaho,...

Advertising Index.
May 2, 2005... Advertiser Page 1st Global 19 AccountantsWorld 47 ADP 37, 39, 41 Aon 30...

Go to the Top.
May 2, 2005... I'm old enough to have known Groucho Marx who passed away at the age of 87 in 1977. He was a remarkable human being with an incredible wit. But at one meeting, he said something that wasn't particularly funny but which became an edict for me....

Accounting Marketers Play Key Role.
May 2, 2005... It is absolutely true that all businesses, including professional service firms, need to distinguish themselves in their marketplace. This is accomplished by creating a compelling message that differentiates the firm from its competitors. ...

You Can't Do It Yourself.(employee selection)(Column)
May 2, 2005... For the past 19 years, I have been in the business of helping accountants grow their firms. And, there is one thing I'm certain of and that is you, the accountant and owner of the firm, is simply not the best choice when it comes to selling...

Putting Your Best Face Forward.(marketing)
May 2, 2005... According to Capstone Marketing research, the top three marketing tools that generate the most leads for CPA firms are networking, mixers with referral sources, and seminars. What do these three marketing tools have in common? Each brings CPAs...

Business Developers are from Saturn ... Partners Are From Mars.
May 2, 2005... Sarbanes/Oxley reforms have upended a formerly predictable cosmos. Today, significant conflicted-out opportunities are being cast off by large firms like meteors through the atmosphere. Finding the most efficient way to draw the largest meteors...

Ten Marketing Tips to a Profitable Client Payroll Business.
May 2, 2005... Payroll is no longer something to fear or loathe as a CPA professional. In fact, payroll could be one of the easiest and most profitable add-on business services for your clients. According to industry reports, estimated billings for...

Creating a Steady Flow of Leads.
May 2, 2005... CPA firms that devote time, money, and resources to one-shot marketing campaigns often wonder why such techniques don't work. A campaign may involve a single mailing or a mailing with a follow up phone call, and that is often where the...

Linking Marketing to Profitability.
May 2, 2005... CPA firms are starting to embrace marketing as a vital component for driving growth. Many firms even have a written marketing plan in place. But the key to making marketing a strategic, long-term investment with a positive ROI is to correlate...

Marketing is Easy...If You Play By the Rules.
May 2, 2005... I started my career as an attorney at a large law firm, and almost a decade later, I now find myself the Director of Marketing at Thomson RIA, the provider of what I believe are the best research products for tax professionals. I mention my...

Avoiding 10 Big Marketing Mistakes.
May 2, 2005... Have you noticed a slump in your sales? Are you having trouble establishing your new business in the marketplace? Or maybe you're established, but you just can't seem to get the word out about your new product? If these sound familiar, then you...

Firm Wide Commitment a Must.
May 2, 2005... Public accounting firms that want to advance to the next level, becoming and remaining profitable, are adopting many of the proven concepts that have worked so well in corporate America. This includes recognizing and embracing the importance of...

SEC postpones expensing: Proponents worry delay will re-open the battle over options.(United States. Securities and Exchange Commission)
May 16, 2005... As if to continue the angst and agony of waiting, the Securities and Exchange Commission recently postponed the compliance date for the application of the Financial Accounting Standards Board's Statement 123(R), "Share-Based Payments." The...

M'soft takes aim at SMB market again.(Small Business)(Small Business Accounting)
May 16, 2005... If at first you don't succeed, try and try again. Microsoft is taking that time-honored adage to heart with another attempt to capture the market for small business accounting software with its Small Business Accounting, due out this...

Fishing in rich waters: Vendors continue to expand and improve their offerings for Internet tax research.
May 16, 2005... The perception that Web-based tax research is a mature market hasn't slowed the furious pace at which publishers have added to their Internet products. For Heather Depe, CPA, of Minneapolis-based Simma Flottemesch & Orenstein Ltd.,...

Shut up over there!:.(Brief Article)
May 16, 2005... The open office - whether cubicle farm or newspaper-style bullpen - is designed to foster communication. In some ways, it has worked too well, often leaving employees with the feeling that they're working in the middle of Grand Central Station....

Deloitte settles with SEC for $50mn.(Deloitte & Touche L.L.P.)(United States. Securities and Exchange Commission)(Brief Article)
May 16, 2005... New York -- Deloitte & Touche LLP agreed to pay more than $50 million to settle charges brought against it by the Securities and Exchange Commission related to two former audit clients. The payments are part of separate settlements related to...

Roadmap for standards equivalence.(Brief Article)
May 16, 2005... Washington -- Officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the European Union Commission have reached an agreement on a "roadmap" toward equivalence between international and U.S. accounting rules. The roadmap sets out steps...

GAO issues gov't audit CPE rules.(Brief Article)
May 16, 2005... Washington -- The Government Accountability Office has issued extensive new guidance for auditors and audit organizations in implementing revised continuing professional education requirements for those conducting so-called "Yellow Book"...

PCAOB and SEC on reform: Changing hearts and minds.(Public Company Accounting Oversight Board)(United States Securities and Exchange Commission)
May 16, 2005... Washington -- The two regulatory "missionaries" responsible for bringing religion to the accounting profession - the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and the Securities and Exchange Commission - told House lawmakers that their tandem...

China taking steps to bolster CPA profession, standards.
May 16, 2005... Brussels -- The demand for capital in the Republic of China, whose 9.5 percent growth has spurred its government to rein in that rapid rate for fear that its economy could overheat, is also spinning off steps to spruce up the country's...

Judge OKs Andersen settlement in WorldCom suit.
May 16, 2005... New York -- A district court judge here gave the okay in late April to a settlement in which Arthur Andersen agreed to pay $65 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit brought by WorldCom investors who alleged that the audit firm failed to...

Bankruptcy reform act may open new doors for CPAs.(Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005)(certified public accountants)
May 16, 2005... In April, President Bush signed into legislation the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, also known as the Bankruptcy Reform Act. At least eight years in the making, the legislation marks the most significant...

Legislation spurs knowledge 'upgrade' for clients, advisors.(Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act)
May 16, 2005... April's landmark bankruptcy legislation helped change the world for spendthrift Americans. By virtue of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, Congress reformed bankruptcy laws by taking away some privileges, and then...

CPE - Part 1.(Brief Article)(Directory)
May 16, 2005... * Best CPE - www.bestcpe.com This site has product info for low-cost online CPE courses from Hardwick Publications. * Bisk Education - www.bisk.com Bisk offers a wide range of CPE courses, both online and on CD-ROM, videotape,...

Footnotes.(Brief Article)
May 16, 2005... FLORIDA A&M GARNERS TOP HONORS IN DELOITTE COMPETITION: A student team from Florida A&M University took first-place honors at the 10th annual National Student Case Study Seminar sponsored by the Deloitte Foundation, which was held recently in...

Doing 'the hustle' with options.(Securities and Exchange commission on accounting of employee stock options)(Column)
May 16, 2005... I have never understood those brief retro flashbacks in terms of apparel and other cultural timepieces. My aversion becomes especially relevant when I see ads for wide-flare pants or automobile designs that harken back to the popular styles of...

Losing respect over Bush plan 'endorsement'.(social security reform)(Column)
May 16, 2005... Losing respect over Bush plan 'endorsement' I used to have great respect for Accounting Today. As a result of William Carlino's editorials regarding Social Security and some of the letters to the editor that were selected for publication, I...

Sarbanes-Oxley has limited scope.
May 16, 2005... I read the commentary titled "What is the profession?" from Mr. Edwin J. Kliegman in the April 18-May 1, 2005, issue of Accounting Today (page 6). Mr. Kliegman makes some interesting and somewhat provocative statements in his commentary. ...

Social Security solution.(Letter to the Editor)
May 16, 2005... Everyone in Washington D.C. knows that the solution to the so-called Social Security crisis is to increase the cap or to eliminate it completely ("A social look at security," Accounting Today, April 18-May 1, 2005, page 6) - but where do you...

Victims of the consumption tax.(Letter to the Editor)
May 16, 2005... Regarding your article on consumption taxes ("Is a consumption tax the answer?" Accounting Today, April 4-17, 2005, page 1): In the long run, I believe that a national sales tax probably is a hell of a lot better than what we have now. ...

IRS propaganda?(Letter to the Editor)
May 16, 2005... I read "Don't bring your gun" by Gail Perry that you placed on the front page of your April 18-May 1, 2005, issue. My first observation is that your publication is a "trade" publication for the accounting profession. My impression of this...

Getting back to the basics.
May 16, 2005... You would think that, by now, accountants and other professionals would have a clear understanding of how marketing and selling fit into the management of a professional services firm. It amazes me how many professionals still don't...

Taxing Issues.
May 16, 2005... TAX CUTS SAVED BUSH, CHENEY $110K: President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney saved a combined $110,182 in taxes last year under the income tax cuts passed by their administration, according to an analysis of the 2004 tax returns...

'Nexus' remains nebulous: States vary on who to tax.
May 16, 2005... The types of activities that allow a state, under its own rules, to tax a business entity vary widely. In fact, the same company with relatively light activity within one state might be subject to tax in that state, yet not be taxed in a state...