June 2008

TAX / PERSONAL FINANCIAL PLANNING

A rising demand for converting superannuated life insurance interests into an investment vehicle is colliding with the challenge of new state regulations for controlling abusive stranger-originated life insurance (STOLI). Standing between your client’s unneeded policy and the best possible price that he or she can garner for it are a host of tax and other considerations.

FINANCIAL REPORTING

A New Day for Business Combinations

Combination accounting has long been controversial because of divergent views on how to provide useful information. FASB rolled out a major overhaul of GAAP related to mergers and acquisitions when it issued Statement no. 141(R), Business Combinations. A fundamental concept at the core of the standard is that the reporting entity is the entire economic enterprise created by the combination.

TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP

Web Syndication Using RSS

Reading your daily news can now be as easy as opening your Outlook inbox. This article explains how to effectively use RSS feeds with Outlook 2007 to receive news from all the Web sites that are important to you.

FINANCIAL REPORTING

Fair Value Roundtable

A panel of financial reporting experts including FASB Chairman Robert Herz; Michael Hall, a partner with KPMG LLP; Gordon Goodman, trading control officer with Occidental Petroleum Corp.; and Michael Young and Antonio Yanez Jr., both of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, recently met in New York to discuss the role of accounting in the subprime collapse and to predict how financial reporting could change in light of current events.

PROFESSIONAL ISSUES

Interstate Mobility and the CPA Tax Practitioner: It Does Apply to You

Mobility issues affect CPAs in practices of all sizes, including tax practitioners who may be violating current accountancy laws in other states without realizing it.

Corner Office Conversations

Swinging for the Fences: Jonathan Mariner Interview

Major League Baseball CFO and Executive Vice President Jonathan Mariner discusses the road to CFO, his entry into the business of sports with the Florida Marlins, and his push to help Major League Baseball get its financial house in order.

TECHNOLOGY

Accounting for Second Life

Public accounting meets virtual reality.

BUSINESS & INDUSTRY

Creating Growth: Using Opportunity Risk Management Effectively

Risk and opportunity are two sides of the same coin. A world of opportunity awaits companies that develop innovative growth solutions that recognize and manage related risks.