June 1999 - Journal of Accountancy

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FASB ISSUED A REVISED ED SEEKING TO DEFINE what constitutes control of an entity. Under current rules, the condition for a controlling financial interest is ownership of a majority voting interest–unless control is temporary or does not rest with the owner of the majority voting interest. FASB’s goal

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY WHEN APPLYING NEW ACCOUNTING STANDARDS to their companies, CPAs recommend a five-step approach: 1. Assign specific groups or professionals to monitor and translate new pronouncements. 2. Use liaisons and questionnaires to analyze how and where the company could be affected. 3. Summarize the technical detail for nonfinancial colleagues.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY WHEN THE WOMEN AND FAMILY ISSUES executive committee issued its first survey results in 1993, many firms thought they had done all that was possible to attract and retain women CPAs, but it was necessary to rethink what all CPAs—not just women—want in a career. THE INCREASING SHORTAGE

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE INTERNET TAX FREEDOM ACT (ITFA) ENACTED IN 1998 , puts a three-year moratorium on the imposition of new taxes on Internet access and electronic commerce. It also creates a 19-member commission to recommend how—and if—remote commerce, including Web sales, should be taxed. ANOTHER SOLUTION IS TO EXTEND

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SEPARATING BAD CLIENTS FROM YOUR FIRM is not as easy as picking up the phone and telling them they must find a new CPA. First, you must clarify your firm’s long-term goals. Second, you must decide which clients will be most profitable as your firm prepares to meet

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TODAY’S TECHNOLOGY gives traveling accountants instant and convenient access to all the information in their offices. Here are some of the tools that make such connections possible: Itty-bitty computers, such as the Philips Velo and LG Electronics Phenom, run pocket-size versions of the Microsoft Office applications and function

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ALTHOUGH QUALIFIED PERSONAL RESIDENCE TRUST Sare less flexible than when they first were created, they still can provide attractive tax benefits to certain homeowners. To set up a QPRT, a taxpayer transfers a remainder interest in his or her personal residence to someone else in trust while retaining

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY IN THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED September 30, 1998, federal executive branch agencies for the first time prepared financial statements in accordance with a comprehensive set of federal accounting principles. THERE WAS LITTLE AGREEMENT in the past within the federal government about appropriate federal financial accounting standards. As a

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY IN JANUARY, THE EUROPEAN UNION introduced a new currency named the euro. By 2002, it will be used by at least 11 EU nations, whose national currencies will pass into history. TO HELP PEOPLE GET ACCUSTOMED TO the euro, the European Commission allowed for a three-year transition period