May 1999 - Journal of Accountancy

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY NOW’S THE TIME to consider launching a commerce site on the Internet. You can bet that many of your competitors—at least the smart ones—are either on the Net already or are rushing to get aboard, because that’s where the business is. THE INTERNET IS providing new ways to

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE QUESTION OF WHEN TO CAPITALIZE ADVERTISING costs has long presented a problem for CPAs. While the easy solution is for companies to expense advertising as it is incurred, both the IRS and FASB say in some circumstances it should be capitalized. THE MOST FORMIDABLE BARRIER A COMPANY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY XML IS A NEW MARKUP LANGUAGE— a relative of the Web’s HTML—that codes all information, making it accessible to many users across virtually all programs and platforms. XML TELLS YOU WHAT the information is, such as a customer name in a purchase order, and how it should be

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY STOCK REPURCHASE PROGRAMS CAN POSE PROBLEMS for financial executives because they may raise concerns at the SEC about insider information and stock manipulation. IF THE COMPANY HAS MATERIAL INFORMATION that has not been made public it should not buy back stock. BOARD AUTHORIZATION FOR PURCHASE OF that company’s

How does an upstart company compete against the likes of General Electric Co. or the Disney Co.? That question runs almost daily through the mind of broadcast executive Larry Wills, and he admits that it takes guts to wake up every morning knowing he’ll be battling giants. But the 38-year-old

(ILLUSTRATION BY: KELLEY GRAPHICS) The CPA designation already sets you apart from other service professionals, but it alone will not position your firm ahead of other firms and the many new full-service companies, such as American Express and HRB, that invest millions of dollars each year in marketing and brand

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SMALL FIRMS CAN DO BUSINESS INTERNATIONALLY by combining traditional and idiosyncratic personal skills with, for example, an entre into an underserved niche and aggressive marketing techniques. DAN LAUFER FOUND THE KEY to U.S.– Israeli practice was partnering with the Big Five, drawing on his background in two different

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY BENFORD’S LAW PROVIDES A DATA analysis method that can help alert CPAs to possible errors, potential fraud, manipulative biases, costly processing inefficiencies or other irregularities. A PHYSICIST AT GE RESEARCH LABORATORIES in the 1920s, Frank Benford found that numbers with low first digits occurred more frequently in the

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE COST OF AN INVESTMENT IN E-COMMERCE can be hard to evaluate. CPAs, always cost conscious, should be aware that e-commerce costs can escalate as the technology is implemented. CPAs SHOULD WEIGH THE BENEFITS of an e-commerce investment and the risks associated with making the wrong e-commerce investment,

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CPA FIRMS ARE CHANGING: They will become more dependent on each other—fueling growth and service opportunities in the coming decade. THE FIRMS WILL SHARE CLIENTS with other firms, creating informal cooperative networks. Further, industry CPAs will outsource more work to this network, which will adapt itself to the

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CO-SOURCING OF SOME INTERNAL FUNCTIONS is a way for a company to maintain control while cutting costs and maximizing internal audit capabilities. Co-sourcing arrangements with outside vendors allow the in-house auditors to retain responsibility for the internal audit process while relying on the outside entity for specialized technical

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A VEBA MAY BE A GOOD WAY FOR CERTAIN BUSINESSES to cut taxes, provide benefits for employees—including owner-employees—and protect assets from personal and business creditors. VEBAs also can provide other benefits, including the opportunity for substantial estate tax savings. A VEBA TRUST CAN PROVIDE A VARIETY OF BENEFITS,

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TECHNOLOGY IS dramatically changing the role of the financial professional from that of information recorder to business strategist—making the financial manager much more critical to the success of an enterprise. TO KEEP PACE WITH these changes, the financial professional is expected to provide accurate and timely financial information

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CPA FIRMS HAVE BEEN OFFERING consulting services to their audit clients, leading the SEC to question their commitment to auditor independence and the nature of independence itself. THE INDEPENDENCE STANDARDS BOARD, a private-sector body containing four CPAs and four public members, was the result of that questioning. The