December 2000 - Journal of Accountancy

   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TO INCREASE THE LIKELIHOOD OF BECOMING A CFO, you need a broad range of skills beyond knowing the ABCs of accounting. You must be a business strategist, think like someone on the board of directors and be familiar with technology. Don’t ignore the operations side of the

   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT ISSUED PROPOSED regulations in 2000 that are the latest round in the sponsorship payment debate between the IRS and NPOs. The regulations replace those proposed in 1993. Although they provide helpful guidance, they may also increase an organization’s risk of incurring the unrelated business

   When small business owners need payroll services to whom do they turn? More often than not it’s their CPA—the profession has helped fill that gap for years. But a recent survey of nearly 700 small businesses in the manufacturing, professional services, government, nonprofit and other sectors revealed they generally

   T he SEC and an association of state securities administrators have formally introduced a Web-based depository of information on investment advisory firms, ushering in a new phase of the digital age for both advisers and investors. The new system will enable the firms, which manage more than $18 trillion

   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INCREASING THE PRODUCTIVE, efficient, billable use of each staff member’s time well into the 1,500 to 2,000 hour annual range is the key to a firm’s bottom-line improvement. ANY FIRM THAT BILLS AND COLLECTS less than an average of 2.4 times base salary for staff time should

   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE ELECTRONIC ENVIRONMENT NOW PLAYS an important part in the hiring process. Internet job listings, hyperlinks and e-mailed resumes speed the exchange between hirers and job seekers, accelerating the recruitment process. ON-LINE CANDIDATES HAVE ENHANCED opportunities and geographic reach, as well as an excellent method to gather

   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TAX LAW REQUIRES IRA OWNERS TO BEGIN TAKING minimum distributions from traditional IRAs starting in the year they turn age 70 12 . Since the balances in these accounts can be quite sizable, some owners prefer to continue generating tax-deferred earnings as long as possible. CPAs can

     Head of Audit Effectiveness Panel Speaks Out F ormer Price Waterhouse LLP Chairman Shaun F. O’Malley found himself with little free time after he became chairman of the Panel on Audit Effectiveness two years ago. But despite the fact that the panel completed its massive report on the

   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THERE’S A PROVEN technology—using terminal servers—that lets you run your office productively without the need to continually upgrade every workstation. It runs effectively even on old 486 computers or “dumb” terminals. THE SETUP DOESN’T RELY on blue sky or untested technology. It applies 10-year-old technology, which is

   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CPAs WHO PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES TO employee benefit plans face potential liability exposure under ERISA. A June U.S. Supreme Court case made it clear that CPAs and other service providers are at risk even though in many instances their actions may seem innocuous. ERISA IMPOSES CERTAIN DUTIES