October 2002 - Journal of Accountancy

  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TO EXCLUDE GAIN ON THE DISPOSITION OF A HOME from income under IRC section 121, a taxpayer must own and occupy the property as a principal residence for two of the five years immediately before the sale. However, the ownership and occupancy need not be concurrent. The

  eriodically, the JofA publishes questions on ethics topics that AICPA members have raised. This set of questions deals with interpretations under the newly revised Rule 101—Independence as defined in the Code of Professional Conduct (AICPA Professional Standards).* In November 2001 the AICPA made significant revisions to the code, updating

    Key to Instructions To help readers follow the instructions in this article, we use two different typefaces. Boldface type identifies the names of icons, agendas, URLs and application commands. Sans serif type indicates instructions and commands that users should type and file names. fter doing some basic cost accounting,

  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002 is a major reform package mandating the most far-reaching changes Congress has imposed on the business world since FDR’s New Deal. THE ACT ESTABLISHES THE PUBLIC COMPANY Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to regulate accounting professionals that audit the financial statements of public

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A FIRM SHOULD SCREEN NEW CLIENTS for fiscal responsibility and use an engagement letter to describe exactly what services it will and won’t perform, what reports it will issue and the fee structure—hourly billing, project fees or other means of computing fees. The letter should name the entities

  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE 2001 ACT DID NOT ELIMINATE THE GIFT TAX. That means CPAs and their clients still face compliance issues when preparing and filing Form 709, United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return, to report gifts. An important first step in this process is confirming the client’s

    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE FIVE KEY MARKETING ROLES for a managing partner are ambassador, relationship manager, business-development manager, head of research and development (R&D) and communications director. MANAGING PARTNERS SHOULD BE ACTIVE in industry task forces and boards to stay on top of the latest trends and technologies. The ambassador

    ax-preparation-software products generally received higher marks from practitioners this year than last year. That’s the conclusion of a survey conducted by the National Association of Tax Professionals (NATP) and shared with the JofA . A total of 977 NATP members responded to the survey, reporting their experience with the

  This is the final installment in a four-part series on identifying false invoices and their issuers. The July and August columns focused on billing schemes involving shell companies criminals set up to facilitate fraud. Articles in this issue and September explain how to detect and prevent two scams that

  The following is adapted from a speech made by AICPA President and CEO Barry C. Melancon at the invitation of the Yale School of Management. Mr. Melancon spoke before a group of business professionals and representatives of the media at the Yale Club in New York City on September