Software
The annual JofA/NATP survey of tax software users revealed a significant drop in satisfaction from last year. Respondents downgraded products, support and network operations and provided clues about their e-filing habits.
Professional Issues
Beginning April 5, 2004, scheduling and taking the CPA exam will be more convenient than ever before. But the test’s expanded emphasis on certain subjects and its electronic interface will be new to candidates. The chairman of the exam content committee of the AICPA board of examiners explains how the test has changed and the best way to approach it.
Tax
The Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 accelerates some previously made changes in overall tax rates and cuts rates for dividends and capital gains. It also makes some important adjustments to increase business spending and investment.
Financial Reporting
As preparing and reporting on client financial statements using an “other comprehensive basis of accounting” (OCBOA) become more common and accepted, CPAs should understand how to employ such statements. They produce a result that both internal and external users might find easier to understand and can save the client money.
Career Development / Fraud
The investigation of fraud is a growing field for CPAs. This article profiles three antifraud experts who describe the nature of the work, the kinds of personality traits necessary for success and how they got started in this sector of the profession.
Practice Management
To remedy tax-season inefficiencies, Habif, Arogeti & Wynne LLP, a 25-partner Atlanta accounting firm, took a plunge into the deep end of the information technology (IT) pool. This article describes how the practice embraced IT to organize common CPA office procedures and in doing so developed a digital, virtually paper-free business.
Divorce Consulting / Litigation Issues
CPAs have specialized skills and knowledge they can apply to helping divorcing individuals organize the financial side of a very difficult life transition. In working with clients who must uncouple matrimonial finances, practitioners can use tax, audit, valuation and forensic skills to develop a domestic-relations-consulting niche.