The European Union adopts a provision requiring EU-listed companies, including banks and insurers, to prepare their financial statements, beginning in January 2005, in accordance with international accounting standards ( www.fee.be/european/eunews.htm ). European regulators believe the directive will increase the reliability, transparency and comparability of member states’ consolidated accounts, thus promoting
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Enron Affects All CPAs
What was the most significant event to affect the profession in the past 50 years? It was the disclosure of Enron’s massive manipulation of its financial reporting and the fall of one of the nation’s most prominent and respected CPA firms. It has had a profound effect on me as
Accounting
For news from the AICPA and state societies, visit www.cpa2biz.com , which also offers online CPE, AICPA professional literature, practice management aids and links to state society Web sites. To increase efficiency the Financial Accounting Foundation, which oversees and funds the Financial Accounting Standards Board, changes FASB’s voting requirement to
Boost Business Referrals
CPAs understand the benefits of having clients refer friends, family and colleagues, but some haven’t built a program for actively seeking referrals into their everyday operations. Here are strategies to increase a firm’s business through word of mouth. Develop a system. Standard practice should include asking for and following up
Securities
The SEC proposes amendments to rules governing mutual fund advertisements, which the commission says may give investors the false impression that funds’ occasional high returns typify their overall performance ( www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/33-8101.htm ). The changes would require the ads to disclose that a fund’s past results do not guarantee future returns,
Back Up Your Internet Explorer Favorites
Q. I always back up all my files. However, I can’t figure out a way to back up my Internet Explorer Favorites list. And that worries me because it’s taken me years to collect all those url addresses and I’d hate to lose them. In fact, when I upgrade the
Line Items
Under the act, a victim’s federal income taxes are forgiven for the year of the terrorist attack and for the preceding year. The minimum refund is $10,000—even for victims who owed no taxes. Publication 3920 contains worksheets CPAs can use to help victims and their families determine the amount of
Don’t Lose Sight of Enduring Values
“The Crisis in Accounting Education” encourages CPAs to become involved in helping to improve accounting education because they are in the best position to provide expert insight. The business environment has changed rapidly, and the accounting profession’s response to these changes may indeed be visionary in some respects. However, some
Sees Overemphasis on Credentials
I read “The Crisis in Accounting Education” and the accompanying book review, “Accounting Education: Charting the Course through a Perilous Future” ( JofA, Apr.02, page 84), with much bemusement at their failure to point a finger at what I believe is the real “crisis” in accounting education—the overemphasis by colleges
Technology
The AICPA top technologies task force releases its annual ranking of noteworthy issues ( www.aicpa.org/news/2002/p050702.htm ), putting business and financial reporting at the head of its list. Training and technology competency placed second. With information and security controls in third position, the ranking clearly reflects the effects of Enron’s fall
Could Five Years Be a Deterrent?
I was surprised to see so little mention of the five-year program’s impact in “The Crisis in Accounting Education” ( JofA, Apr.02, page 81). That there are fewer accounting students, I believe, is directly related to the requirement for five years of education prior to certification. What college student today
On Hedge Funds—The Good and the Bad
As an investment adviser who has spent considerable time looking at alternative investments, I found the article, “Freedom from Market Swings” ( JofA, May02, page 49), somewhat simplistic and potentially misleading to readers. Although I agree there may be merit to investing in alternatives to provide diversification from “long-only” equity
Defining an Involuntary Conversion
TAX CASE The tax law provides relief for taxpayers that reinvest money obtained from an involuntary conversion. Because the nature of involuntary conversions varies in different industries, taxpayers constantly confront new situations. The Tax Court recently considered the question of an involuntary conversion in the timber industry. Willamette Industries is
A Vote for a Four-Year Degree
I am not surprised at the precipitous drop in the number of accounting students reported in “The Crisis in Accounting Education.” I believe there are several contributing factors, including the present post-Enron image of CPAs. However, the seeds for this were sown by passage of the 150-hour requirement a few
Get the Red Out of Negative Spreadsheet Numbers
Key to Instructions To help readers follow the instructions in this article, we use two different typefaces. Boldface type is used to identify the names of icons, agendas and URLs. Sans serif type indicates commands and instructions that users should type into the computer and the names of files. Q.
The Industry Issues Resolution Program
n recent years, the Internal Revenue Service has made a concerted effort to give both business and individual taxpayers options for resolving tax controversies earlier in the return filing and collection process. For business taxpayers, it set up—now on a permanent basis—an industry issue resolution (IIR) program, to settle some
Meet the Press
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
Offer Family-Business Solutions
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,
Billing Schemes, Part 1: Shell Companies That Don’t Deliver
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
Businesses Set Priorities to Cut Costs
NEWS DIGEST Source: Survey of 1,400 randomly selected CFOs nationwide, Robert Half International Inc., Menlo Park, California, www.rhi.com , 2002.
Features
FROM THIS MONTH'S ISSUE
Promises of ‘fast and easy’ threaten SOC credibility
CPAs warn that an ongoing push for high-volume SOC services may come at the cost of quality and objectivity.
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Trust distributions in kind and the Sec. 643(e)(3) election
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Effects of the OBBBA on higher education
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