July 2006

Retirement Planning / Wealth Management

Elderly homeowners often obtain supplementary retirement funds through reverse mortgages. Getting a reverse mortgage can be a great financial move, but caution is needed because in some circumstances it can be very expensive. Here’s a guide through the pros and cons.

Retirement Planning

Social Security: What’s the Magic Age?

Here’s your chance to find your way through the Social Security maze—from computing how much you will receive to deciding when to start taking benefits to the sticky issue of taxation.

Auditing

Assessing and Responding to Risks in a Financial Statement Audit

The Auditing Standards Board released eight new auditing standards—SAS nos. 104–111—to provide guidance concerning the auditor’s assessment of and response to the risks of material misstatement in a financial statement audit. The SASs are effective for audits of nonissuers for periods beginning on or after December 15, 2006.

Practice Management

The Small Firm Advantage

Local practices have a competitive edge in recruiting, retention, client service and other operational areas. Many AICPA programs and services support them, as well as their small business clients.

Bankruptcy

A Strategic Player

Internal audit—headed by a chief audit executive—is playing a major role in companies’ efforts to strengthen corporate governance and internal controls. Audit committees and senior management are seeking strong and capable CAEs to lead these efforts. Here’s how to pick one.

Technology

Get the Word Out

CPAs can use secure Web sites to store many years of data, permitting quick and easy access to them. The sites, also called reporting portals, can handle information that is formatted in many different ways, making it easy for clients to access it 24/7.

Peer Review

Enhancing Public Confidence: The GAO’s Peer Review Experience

To assess its own effectiveness, Congress’s watchdog agency obtained independent peer reviews of its financial and performance audits. The results are in: The reviewers recommended GAO procedures be used as better practices on a worldwide basis.

Fraud

What’s Your Fraud IQ?

Think you know enough about corruption to spot it in any of its myriad forms? Then rev up your fraud detection radar and take this (deceptively) simple test.