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September 2009 |  BY Matthew G. Lamoreaux |  Article

To climb the ladder in most finance organizations, CPAs hone their skills in making accounting judgments, closing the books, accurately preparing financial statements and other reports and filing them on time. But current CFOs agree that to reach the top—the CFO position—another skill set is required. Unfortunately, these additional skills may not be written into the CFO job description.

August 2009 |  BY JAMIE EARLY |  Article

When it comes to qualified retirement plans, the 403(b) has long been the default alternative for nonprofit organizations. The lack of nondiscrimination testing for elective deferrals and no plan audit requirement as well as the ability to avoid Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) regulations have traditionally been the biggest benefits associated with sponsoring a 403(b) plan.

June 2009 |  BY PHILIP GARRETT PANITZ |  Article

When a corporate client seeks words of wisdom regarding tax planning, most CPAs go through the litany of suggestions related to acceleration of deductions and deferral of income. Yet one of the biggest and potentially most dangerous tax issues facing corporations is the compensation paid to the top executives and whether the IRS will allow the company to deduct the full compensation paid.

June 2009 |  BY Paul Bonner |  Article

Editor's note This is a sidebar to Executive Compensation What's Reasonable? A seminal case employing the independent investor test for reasonable compensation is the 1983 decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Elliotts Inc. v. Commissioner (716 F.2d 1241). In it, the Ninth Circuit (Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and Washington) said an average return on equity (ROE) over two years of 20 clearly would satisfy an investor and was an indication that the company and its CEO were not exploiting their relationship.

May 2009 |  BY MATTHEW G. LAMOREAUX |  Article

Recessions—roughly two per decade—have occurred quite regularly since World War II. Most last less than four quarters, according to International Monetary Fund data. But the depth and breadth of recessions are notoriously difficult to predict. This article focuses on what CPA financial executives have experienced in the current recession, using data from the first quarter Business and Industry Economic Outlook Survey (tinyurl.comd2tomw) conducted by the AICPA and the University of North Carolina’s KenanFlagler Business School.

May 2009 |  BY JAMES PODLESKI, NICHOLAS PALEVEDA |  Article

Many traditional defined benefit pension plans are underfunded due to market declines. As a result, barring congressional action, they could face future excise taxes ranging from 10 to 100 of the underfunded amounts as mandated by the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA). Funding liabilities are especially difficult for smaller plans whose sponsors typically have fewer options to make up shortfalls caused by rapid declines in plan assets.

May 2009 |  BY Dale R. Vlasek |  Article

A fundamental requirement for every qualified retirement plan is that the benefits or contributions be provided in a manner that does not discriminate in favor of highly compensated employees (HCEs). The IRC requires a qualified plan to demonstrate its compliance with this nondiscrimination requirement by satisfying a particular test.

May 2009 |  BY MEGAN PINKSTON |  Article

Optimism about the U.S. economy’s prospects improved sharply in the second quarter, but compensation freezes, layoffs and capital spending cuts are still on the horizon for about half of companies, according to a new survey of CPA financial executives. Nearly onefifth of respondents were optimistic or very optimistic about the U.S.

March 2009 |  Article

The uncertain economic climate is making CFOs reevaluate accounting and finance staffing levels. For the first time in more than five years, more CFOs interviewed for the Robert Half International Financial Hiring Index predicted decreases than predicted increases in personnel. Seven percent of CFOs interviewed by Robert Half expected to reduce accounting and finance staff over the next three months, while only 5 plan to add staff.

February 2009 |  BY Elizabeth Pagano, Barbara Pagano |  Article

Here is a sample sabbatical policy based on actual policies used by firms 1. Eligibility. All partners with five years of service will be eligible to take a sabbatical every five years. All managing associates with seven years of service will be eligible to take a sabbatical every seven years.