Accounting Today articles from September 2005

Accounting Today archives from September 2005

Congress mulls vetting preparers.
September 5, 2005... Washington, D.C. -- Plans by Internal Revenue Service officials and federal lawmakers to establish new national certification and testing requirements for unlicensed tax return preparers are drawing cautious support from mainstream tax...

Internal control flaws getting out of control.
September 5, 2005... San Francisco -- As if investors and public companies didn't have enough to worry about, a recent "trend alert" from Glass Lewis & Co., an investment research and proxy advisory firm in San Francisco, reported that control deficiencies reported...

Letting go of business: Good succession planning is the key to survival.
September 5, 2005... Succession planning for clients who have family- owned or closely held businesses is a world unto itself. Many entrepreneurs remain unwilling to plan for succession. The reasons they give are varied, but often include a reluctance to give up...

Address last!(before email send check)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2005... Often, the first thing you do when you start an e-mail is type in the recipient's address - but that's a recipe for going off half-cocked. Put it in last, and before you do, go through the following checklist. * Did you proofread for...

AICPA, NASBA expose UAA draft.(American Institute of Certified Public Accountants)(National Association of State Boards of Accountancy)(Uniform Accountancy Act)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2005... New York -- The Uniform Accountancy Act Committees of the American Institute of CPAs and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy issued an exposure draft of updated rules governing the profession. The committees are asking...

Shelter deal in works for KPMG.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2005... New York -- Negotiations are continuing between federal prosecutors and KPMG, and an indictment of the firm for its role in selling tax shelters appears to have been ruled out, according to published reports. The Big Four firm may avoid the...

BDO announces revenue growth.
September 5, 2005... Chicago -- BDO Seidman LLP said that its revenues for the 2004-2005 fiscal year increased to $440 million, a 21 percent increase over last year's revenues. The company said that the revenue jump was led by the firm's assurance business...

WorldCom's No. 2 gets five years.(Brief Article)
September 5, 2005... New York -- Former WorldCom chief financial officer Scott Sullivan was sentenced to five years in prison in mid-August, bringing to a close the sentencings for those who played a role in the $11 billion accounting fraud at the...

IRS S corporation audit plan draws mixed reviews.(Internal Revenue Service)
September 5, 2005... The decision by the Internal Revenue Service to launch a new compliance study of S corporations has drawn a mixed response from tax practitioners and industry groups. The study, carried out under the National Research Program, will examine...

Jersey-based Wiss merges with The Distinctive Group.
September 5, 2005... Livingston, N.J. -- Looking to expand its geographic reach, accounting firm Wiss & Co. LLP has formally merged with The Distinctive Group in an agreement effective Aug. 1. Wiss, which has a staff of 70 and nearly 20 partners, will combine...

Schneider Downs to merge with Ohio competitor.(BKR Longanbach Giusti LLC)(Schneider Downs & Co. Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2005... Columbus, Ohio -- Schneider Downs & Co. Inc., with offices in Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio, announced a deal to merge with BKR Longanbach Giusti LLC, another Columbus-based accounting firm. The transaction, which was expected to be...

GASB defines post-work benefits for puzzled users.(Governmental Accounting Standards Board)
September 5, 2005... Norwalk, Conn. -- The Governmental Accounting Standards Board's new statements on "other post-employment benefits" won't go into effect until the end of the year, but the questions are already coming in. Some queries are simply asking for a...

Data mining tools drilling into small business market.
September 5, 2005... Firms of all sizes want to provide the best services to their clients while running a tighter ship. To analyze the firm's data and help achieve these goals, many are turning to data mining tools and software systems. "We had been seeking a...

Accounting and Tax Job Searches.(job sites listing)(Brief Article)(Directory)
September 5, 2005... * Accountants Inc. - www.accountantsinc.com An accounting and finance staffing company, with candidate listings, a marketplace guide and more. * Accountemps - www.accountemps.com Need a temporary accounting or finance gig? Search...

Footnotes.(National Association of Black Accountants awards to school and college students)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2005... NABA AWARDS $73,000 TO MINORITY STUDENTS: The National Association of Black Accountants Inc. awarded scholarships to high school and college students during its recent 34th Annual National Convention and Diversity Recruitment Expo in Detroit....

Entering the Cox Era.(Christopher Cox)(Column)
September 5, 2005... As I celebrated - or, perhaps more appropriately, marked - my fifth anniversary at the helm of Accounting Today, I harkened back to the myriad changes that have impacted the profession since I first sat behind my desk in 2000. I won't bore you...

How much should the buyout be to a retiring partner?(Rosenberg MAP Survey of certified public accountant firms)
September 5, 2005... Small practices (generally under $1 million in annual fees) are commonly sold to external buyers for over one times fees, often as much as 125 percent of fees. Yet, when partners retire from a multi-partner firm and are paid retirement...

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
September 5, 2005... A cheap shot The front page of the July 25-Aug. 7, 2005, issue of Accounting Today is a real cheap shot, to put it mildly. Lousy journalism gets closer. The "H&R cell block?" headline is in very poor taste. For those of us in the tax...

Taxing Issues.(Internal Revenue Service to pay for disclosure of information)
September 5, 2005... IRS TO PAY FOR INFORMATION DISCLOSURES: A judge has ordered the Internal Revenue Service to pay more than $250,000 after determining that an IRS agent disclosed confidential information during a criminal investigation. A U.S. District...

TIGTA finds IRS is lax in combating identity theft.(Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Internal Revenue Service)
September 5, 2005... The Internal Revenue Service currently has no corporate strategy to combat identify theft, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Until it adopts an agency-wide strategy, it will be unable to help taxpayers and the...

New rules for alternative vehicle purchases, leases.(Energy Tax Incentives Act of 2005)
September 5, 2005... The Energy Tax Incentives Act of 2005, passed as part of the 2005 Energy Act and signed by President Bush on Aug. 8, 2005, includes a series of new credits aimed at encouraging the purchase of various types of new alternative fuel vehicles. ...

Judge to tell IRS to reopen collection bids.(Internal Revenue Service)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2005... Washington -- A federal judge has filed paperwork alerting the Internal Revenue Service that he plans to halt their experiment in outsourcing debt collection, siding with a Texas company that claimed they had been unfairly excluded from the...

Change Of Auditors.(accounting contracts)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2005... D&T RESIGNS BRITESMILE: Big Four firm Deloitte & Touche has resigned as auditor for teeth-whitening products manufacturer and marketer BriteSmile Inc. A successor has not been named. According to a federal filing, Deloitte's reports on...

FASB has changes to S.150 on financial instruments.(Financial Accounting Standards Board)
September 5, 2005... Norwalk, Conn. -- Accounting for financial instruments with characteristics of liabilities and equities has never been easy, and the Financial Accounting Standards Board has had a hard time hammering out the difference. Even as the board...

POOP: Not what the world needs, but what it gets.(Pitifully Old and Obsolete Principles)
September 5, 2005... For the last two months, we've been describing the Financial Accounting Standards Board's recent exposure draft on the hierarchy of principles, specifically its assertion that compliance with published generally accepted accounting principles...

PFP Briefs.(Treasury bonds and college 529 plan)
September 5, 2005... U.S. TO REISSUE 30-YEAR BOND IN Q1 2006: The Bush administration said that it would resurrect the 30-year Treasury bond, a move that it said would help to finance the national debt and, at that same time, appeal to conservative investors...

Managing the switch from commissions to earning fees.(certified public accountants)
September 5, 2005... When CPAs add financial services to their practices, the overwhelming method of entry is to affiliate with a broker/dealer and receive commissions. For many, there is a next stage: transitioning to a model of full financial advisory with...

The SEC and the FPA still disagreeing over disclosure.(Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial Planning Association)
September 5, 2005... Broker/dealers who are not registered as investment advisors must now give brokerage customers a disclosure stating that their interests may not always be the same as their customer's. This follows on the heels of a compliance deadline for...

Calif., N.Y. CPAs get awards.(California, New York, certified public accountants)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2005... Redwood City, Calif., and New York -- A number of CPA volunteers were recently recognized by CPA societies in California and New York. A Sunnyvale, Calif., CPA who volunteers much of his time to aid firefighters is the recipient of the...

Tech Briefs.(technology in accounting )
September 5, 2005... ARMANINO MCKENNA ABSORBS RESELLER: Armanino McKenna, a large California-based CPA firm, has acquired Thibault Associates Inc., an independent reseller of hardware and software in northern California. The merger would create an IT consulting...

Maturing workflow systems offer tax preparation relief.(accounting services)
September 5, 2005... During one hectic tax filing season, the Philadelphia-based CPA firm of Asher & Co. Ltd. managed their clients' tax return forms the same way most firms do - by placing them in piles on the floor or shelves. Last year, however, the tax...

What you don't know about e-mail can hurt your firm.
September 5, 2005... You return to your office from an afternoon meeting and decide to check e-mail. An hour later, having downloaded your messages, selecting those you should read, deleting junk, crafting replies and filing others that you want to work on later,...

Software Review: SOX software gaining muscle, sophistication.(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)
September 5, 2005... Three years after President Bush signed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act into law, the repercussions continue to resonate through the business community - with calls for reform, the explosion of compliance tools, and relief on the part of some...

Vendor information.(Sarbanes-Oxley compliant software-makers)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2005... * Axentis Enterprise Sarbanes-Oxley Solution Axentis 4670 Richmond Road, Ste. 300 Warrensville Heights, Ohio 44128 (800) 955-2706 www.axentis.com Pricing: Approximately $200 per user for software, support, hardware,...

Discovering the vital importance of firm culture.
September 5, 2005... Culture is a system of shared beliefs. These beliefs about goals, values and behaviors are required in order to achieve the firm's vision. Culture is strategic and directly affects everyone in your firm. It is often inherited, but it can...

Software.
September 5, 2005... Sage Fundraising 50 The new release of Sage's all-in-one nonprofit fundraising solution has not just been renamed - it was formerly MIP Fundraising Paradigm - it has been significantly enhanced, with new modules for recurring gifts and for...

Books.(accounting related books)
September 5, 2005... Best practices Of course, you already know the best practices in accounting. You don't need any help in that department. Some of the folks in your firm, however, and many of your clients, might benefit from a look at Steven Bragg's...

People.(news regarding appointments, promotions, awards and death of accountants)(Obituary)
September 5, 2005... CALIFORNIA Harold Schultz, a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, has been awarded the 2005 Distinguished Service Award by the California Society of CPAs, Redwood City, in part for his efforts as vice chair of the society's Government...

Coming Events.(Calendar)
September 5, 2005... - SEPTEMBER - 8-9: Professional Interviewing Skills, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. Columbus, Ohio. Contact: (800) 245-3321 or www.cfenet.com. 9: Family Business Seminar - Alternate Sources of Capital for Family Businesses,...

Firms.(acquisitions, awards and anniversaries by AGN International-North America, Alliott Group North America and Cherry, Bekaert & Holland LLP)(Brief Article)
September 5, 2005... COLORADO Firm network AGN International-North America, Denver, announced a number of new additions: Mendieta y Asociados S. de R.L., Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with one partner and 21 employees; Privredni Savetnik-Revizija, Serbia and...

Advertiser Index.(accounting services)(Brief Article)(Illustration)
September 5, 2005... Advertiser Page 1st Global 19 AccountantsWorld 39 ADP 29, 31, 33 CCH Tax and Accounting 12, 40...

Editor's Note: Going Paperless = Opportunities.
September 5, 2005... Type in "Paperless" or "Paperless Office" in the subject box of many search engines offering quotations by the famous and infamous, and you will find a "No Match" return. Gets kind of frustrating but I do know of one source and I mentioned...

Developing a Paperless Mindset.(managing electronic documents at Thomson Creative Solutions)
September 5, 2005... Often, when firms decide it's time to start implementing a paperless office, their first thought is a digital document management system. While it is a very important component, at Thomson Creative Solutions we understand that a paperless...

Some Practical Considerations.(document management software)
September 5, 2005... The "paperless office," today's buzzword for Electronic Document Storage and Sharing systems (EDSS), is a lot like exercising. Everyone wants the end result, but only a few are willing to do all the hard work to make it happen. Just as...

Tips for Integrated Paperless Engagements.(accounting firms)
September 5, 2005... In today's practice environment, successful firms use technology for competitive advantage. They seek to leverage technology to improve both financial results and client service. One of the hottest technology trends in the last few years has...

Adding To Firm Profit.(PayCycle payroll processing solutions)
September 5, 2005... Paperless payroll is rapidly gaining acceptance among accounting professionals seeking to minimize paperwork as well as the costs of their operations. PayCycle has eliminated virtually all the paperwork involved with client payroll,...

Improving Audit Productivity.(Colligo Networks Inc.'s Colligo Workgroup Edition)
September 5, 2005... Audit workflow today is governed by the generation, sharing, and compilation of information. This information takes many forms but more and more frequently, is electronic. Excel spreadsheets, emails, scanned receipts, invoices - the list goes...

DMS Transition to a Paperless Office.(Lacerte Document Management System for certified public accountants)
September 5, 2005... At the height of one particular tax season, a CPA and his three employees helped upwards of 275 taxpayers file their returns. That meant handling a lot of support documents. The CPA started looking for a more efficient way to manage the volume...

The Path to Paperless.(document management software)
September 5, 2005... Paperless is really a misnomer, but I'm ok with it if we use it as an idea. It's the idea of working with organized electronic documents instead of paper documents and ad-hoc file systems (like your "My Documents" folder). It's the idea of...

Track to Greater Success.(CCH Digital Solutions for a paperless business environment)
September 5, 2005... The hottest technology topic in our industry today is "going paperless" or "digital." Accounting firms and corporations are increasingly taking advantage of digital workflow tools that enable them to dynamically change the way they approach...

Identifying Savings.(data retrieval costs)
September 5, 2005... Everyone knows that paper costs money. But how much? In a recent survey done in London, managers questioned stated that on average it takes 15 minutes to retrieve a live hardcopy document and eight hours for an archived file. And what about the...

A Paperless Office is a Must Today.
September 5, 2005... Going paperless is no longer an option, but a must for CPAs today. With the trend moving in this direction, it is imperative to go paperless in order to keep up with the competition. eFileCabinet is a paperless document storage system that...

Tax Workflow Software.
September 5, 2005... By reducing the inefficiencies inherent in paper based processes, "paperless engagement" software enables firms to improve productivity, quality, and convenience. But no single paperless software package meets the needs of every engagement....

A Smart Business Decision.(Sage CPA Practice Manager and Sage CPA Accounting product line from Sage Software Inc. )
September 5, 2005... For three consecutive years the "paperless office" has appeared on the AICPA's Top 10 Technologies survey. Clearly the concept of a paperless office environment is a hot topic in the accounting industry these days. Certainly the benefits of...

Paperless Expense Reporting.(accounting employee expenses)
September 5, 2005... For most organizations, more dollars are spent reimbursing employee expenses than in almost any other area-often second only to payroll. Ironically, while the majority of companies with more than 100 employees have automated financial...

Which Solution?(managing a paperless workflow)
September 5, 2005... The buzz about "paperless" gets louder every day. The technology is proven, and it is here to stay. You probably have noticed that everybody seems to have a paperless offering these days, and, your firm may be trying to sort through the...

Integrating Document Management.(Office Tools Pro, Document management software from North 40 Systems)
September 5, 2005... Document management has become a very attractive tool for small firms to improve efficiency and profitability. Better-designed and less expensive hardware has made the ideal scenario of one-touch electronic access to your clients' files more...

Going Paperless In Payroll.(PayMaxx' Payroll processing software, PowerPayroll)
September 5, 2005... As technology increases, so too do the opportunities to operate in a paperless office environment. PayMaxx, a CompuPay company, offers options for paperless payroll processing and other related products and services. PowerPayroll is...

No Longer a Prisoner to Paper.(InFile Software)
September 5, 2005... "I hated filing, and finding anything quickly was worse," says Michael Spewak, founder of InFile Software. "That's why I invented InFile. Now I save, find, and use all my documents in seconds, not hours." According to Spewak, InFile is the...

Firm avoids indictment with $456M payout; ex-partners indicted.
September 26, 2005... New York -- It was a deal years in the making, though industry observers say that it didn't have to be. In striking an agreement to escape a potentially fatal criminal indictment for its sale of legally questionable tax shelters from 1996...

CPAs reach out in Katrina's aftermath.(Certified Public Accountant )
September 26, 2005... Accountants who lived and worked in the path of Hurricane Katrina are relocating, rebuilding and, very slowly, recovering from the unprecedented devastation that changed hundreds of thousands of lives last month. "I used to work in New...

All's well - now get to work.(Business Mangement tips)(Brief Article)
September 26, 2005... It's a nice feeling - all your client work humming quietly along, no disasters, no angry calls, no humble apologies to make. That doesn't mean that you can rest on your laurels, and drop out of touch with your clients. In fact, when things...

HealthSouth chair steps down.(Appointments and Replacements)(Brief Article)
September 26, 2005... HealthSouth Corp. chairman Bob May, who led the health care company through a massive accounting scandal, announced his resignation, effective Oct. 1. The company said that director Jon Hanson has been elected to replace May, who had been named...

BearingPoint announces SEC probe.(Securities and Exchange Commission)(Brief Article)
September 26, 2005... McLean, Va. -- BearingPoint Inc., KPMG's former consulting business, said that the Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a formal investigation of the company. In a statement, BearingPoint said that it believes that the matters...

Aronson merges in Bethesda firm.(Capron Associates LLP)(Brief Article)
September 26, 2005... Rockville, Md. -- Aronson & Co. announced a merger with Capron Associates LLP, a small public accounting firm based in Bethesda. Capron concentrates on closely held businesses, nonprofits, business valuations and forensic accounting, and...

Shell wraps up investor lawsuit.(Brief Article)
September 26, 2005... Amsterdam -- Royal Dutch Shell PLC said that it will pay $9.2 million and adopt some corporate governance changes to settle shareholder lawsuits related to an oil reserves scandal. The agreement resolves four lawsuits pending in federal...

Corrections.(Correction Notice)
September 26, 2005... "Everyone wants suites - but what exactly are they?" (Aug. 22-Sept. 4, 2005, page 22) said that Microsoft Business Solutions has three enterprise resource planning systems, when in fact it has four; the ERP system that went unmentioned was...

New regs would change the landscape for intangibles.
September 26, 2005... A new set of proposed regulations from the Internal Revenue Service aims to change the way companies use accounting methods to switch profits from countries with high corporate tax to countries where corporate taxes are low. The regs - all...

Nonprofits adopt for-profit efficiency, accountability.
September 26, 2005... In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, many nonprofits are struggling to meet the demands of those in need and the needs of their donors. Ensuring that donors' contribution dollars are spent helping hurricane victims, and not to change a light bulb...

SEC's top accountant to leave for private sector.(Securities and Exchange Commission)(Brief Article)
September 26, 2005... Washington -- The chief accountant of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Donald T. Nicolaisen, will leave the commission in October to return to the private sector. Nicolaisen, 61, joined the SEC under former Chairman William...

FASB issues new draft on transfers of financial assets.(Financial Accounting Standards Board)
September 26, 2005... Norwalk, Conn. -- In a continuing struggle to keep up with the increasing complexity of financial assets and special purpose entities, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued three proposals to amend existing statements that have,...

Getting to the 'core' of a portfolio.(investment strategies)
September 26, 2005... Years of lower equity risk premiums have prompted advisors to begin looking beyond the traditional modern portfolio theory for strategies that can produce heftier returns. Enter the core/satellite design - defined as a commitment to...

Web Cites: Accountants in Industry.
September 26, 2005... * The Association of College and University Auditors - www.acua.org The Association of College and University Auditors is an international professional organization established in 1958 to focus on higher education and provide an arena to...

Footnotes.(California Society of Certified Public Accountant )(Brief Article)
September 26, 2005... CALCPA ESTABLISHES PH.D PROGRAM: Citing a disturbing drop-off in the number of accounting educators pursuing Ph.Ds, the California Society of CPAs has established a doctoral scholarship program. The society said that awarded accounting...

The Big 4: A going concern?
September 26, 2005... While Big Four firm KPMG was busy writing a check for $456 million as a settlement with federal regulators for its part in pushing fraudulent tax shelters, the remaining three global audit firms were either breathing a sigh of relief or...

Rethinking the 'peer' in peer review.(American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants)
September 26, 2005... It's no coincidence that within the past year both the New York State Society of CPAs and the American Institute of CPAs have formed committees to examine the accounting profession's peer review program. The process, as it is structured now, no...

How about an NST?(Letter to the Editor)
September 26, 2005... The editorial, "Should A-M-T Be G-O-N-E? (Accounting Today, Aug. 22-Sept. 4, 2005, page 6) was superb. Not only must the alternative minimum tax go, but it should be accompanied out the door by the Internal Revenue Code, as well, and be...

Break the paradigm: Base fees on value, not hours.(accountants' professional fees)
September 26, 2005... Breaking the paradigm is all about breaking the current mold and developing a new way of thinking. When it comes to pricing accounting services, it's now time for accountants to embrace a new model. Most other professionals don't charge by...

Taxing issues.(new regulations on Intellectual property law)(Minnesota's Department of Revenue gives tax shelters)(Internal Revenue Service spends on training)
September 26, 2005... TREASURY, IRS ANNOUNCE PROPOSED COST-SHARING REGS: The U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service announced proposed regulations that provide further guidance to Section 482, which determines taxable income in connection with...

GAO and TIGTA offer IRS some advice on compliance.
September 26, 2005... Both the Government Accountability Office and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration have some advice for the Internal Revenue Service. On the heels of an IRS decision to focus on S corporations in order to zero in on the...

Residential energy-saving credits pose many issues.(2005 Energy Tax Incentives Act)
September 26, 2005... Although the Energy Tax Act allocates considerably more dollars to efficient energy production, the homeowner energy conservation credits, along with the alternative motor vehicle credits (examined in our last column, Sept. 5-25, 2005, page...

Change Of Auditors.(Deloitte & Touche L.L.P. and Riverview Bancorp Inc.)(State Bancorporation Inc. and Crowe Chizek)(ViroLogic Inc. and Ernst & Young L.L.P.)
September 26, 2005... * ZONES INC. DISMISSES PWC: Zones Inc., an Auburn, Wash.-based reseller of information technology products, dismissed Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers as its independent accountant and hired Grant Thornton as its successor. In a filing...

Today's audit committees: More meetings, hours, risk.
September 26, 2005... Audit committees have never felt so stressed and stretched. Everybody, from stock exchanges to boards of directors to investors, expects more from them, and the penalties for failure have never been more serious. As a result, audit...

Newsflash: Is FASB ready to close its doors?(generally accepted accounting principles)(Financial Accounting Standards Board)
September 26, 2005... In our preceding five columns, we have expressed our concerns to our good friends at the Financial Accounting Standards Board about their May 2005 exposure draft on the hierarchy of accounting principles. We confess that we yawned when we...