December 1998 - Journal of Accountancy

For those of you who believe time travel is impossible, more than 3,400 CPAs are willing to prove you wrong. These voyagers fast-forwarded to the future in the initial phase of the CPA Vision Process, a massive grass-roots effort by the accounting profession to reposition itself for the challenges it

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE FIRST STEP IN setting up an office of the future is asking whether physical office space is needed. Maybe a virtual office makes more sense; that is, an office housed wherever the work is being done: at home, in a car, at a client’s office. Or maybe

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OUTDATED MODES OF CPE FAIL TO PREPARE CPAs for the growing demands that face the profession. A NEW NOTION OF CPE, WHICH STRESSES knowledge gained, requires a shift in the way CPAs and the groups that regulate them view the learning process. THE OUTCOME-BASED CPE MODEL FOCUSES on

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY WHEN A CLOSELY HELD CORPORATION IS A MAJOR marital asset, divorcing spouses typically agree the corporation should be 100% owned by the spouse who is active in the business. To equalize the property settlement, the inactive spouses stock can be redeemed by the corporation. THE REDEMPTION GENERALLY IS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE FINANCIAL REPORTING COMMUNITY is concerned about the lack of adequate disclosures about measurement uncertainties in GAAP financial statements. Some standards issued by FASB and AcSEC are complex, confusing and difficult to apply. Paradoxically, companies may be required to make extensive disclosures when there is little uncertainty and

For years most accountants functioned as information gatherers and financial historians. But today, with computers automating many of those tedious, manual jobs, CPAs are swiftly evolving into information analysts. The timing of this transformation is not any too soon: Because of the now ubiquitous personal computer, business managers are drowning

The Tax Restructuring Act is changing the way many CPAs practice. The profession is examining the way CPAs get their training and continuing education. U.S. standard setters are facing pressure from both critics at home and supporters of international standards worldwide. And through all this, CPAs in business and industry