July 2002 - Journal of Accountancy

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY MOST E-MAIL IS vulnerable—it can be read by computer-savy snoops and even tampered with. THERE ARE WAYS TO make your e-mail more secure—at least to the extent that no one can intercept it and read it. And there is a way to know whether it was tampered with

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY MILLIONS OF BABY BOOMERS who own businesses will approach retirement during the next decade. They will need help with the 10 key issues that affect management and succession. THE MYRIAD FAMILY-BUSINESS CONSULTING opportunities include improving organization design, creating greater operational efficiency, developing effective leadership, organizing fair compensation plans,

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY BEING A RELIABLE SOURCE of timely information for busy editors and reporters can give a CPA who is a sole practitioner or in a small practice a significant marketplace advantage. A practitioner can pursue this opportunity by developing a relationship with local media. TO BECOME A KEY LOCAL

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FEW CPAs WOULD DENY THAT MISSION STATEMENTS, strategic plans and goal setting are crucial to help drive a business to success. However, very few CPAs take the time to apply these concepts to their personal lives. CPAs WISHING TO ACHIEVE BETTER WORK/LIFE BALANCE should start by creating a

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AS PART OF THEIR RISK MANAGEMENT strategy, companies are increasingly hiring an array of experts, including CPAs, to review their policies and controls and scrutinize internal procedures to help keep them out of the courthouse. CPAs ACCUSTOMED TO ASSESSING controls can recommend these “best practices” to their clients:

This is the first article in a four-part series on identifying false invoices and their issuers. This and next month’s columns focus on billing schemes that involve shell companies. Articles in the September and October issues explain how to detect and prevent two scams that use other, completely different phony-bill

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CAL FED’S INTERNAL AUDITORS MONITOR THE COMPANY’S risk profile and play a key role in identifying areas for risk management. Understanding the business operations can make the auditors a catalyst for change—with a prominent position as key risk advisers. THE COSO DEFINITION EXPANDS internal audit’s traditional testing of

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY IF A TAX-SAVING IDEA SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, it probably is. Corporations that invested in a Merrill Lynch tax plan discovered this the hard way when the government, applying principles from a 1935 case, Gregory v. Helverling, attacked the plan as a tax-avoidance scheme. THE MERRILL