EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE NONAUDIT SERVICES Sarbanes-Oxley prohibits CPAs from providing to their public company audit clients are bookkeeping or services related to the accounting records or financial statements of the client; financial information systems design and implementation; appraisal or valuation services, fairness opinions or contribution-in-kind reports; actuarial services; internal audit
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Social Security Lags for Ladies
Source: Social Security Administration, www.ssa.gov .
Technology
The AICPA issues its annual ranking of the ten technologies that are most likely to significantly affect practitioners, their clients and their employers in the coming year. Topping the current list ( www.cpa2biz.com/toptechs ) is information security, followed by business information management, application integration, Web services, disaster recovery planning, wireless
About Technology Advice
Especially in light of the deflection in the author’s reply to accurate criticisms of “ Remote Accessibility Revisited ” ( JofA , Oct.02, page 11), I feel it imperative to reiterate the comments in those letters. Consultants have a tendency, as an extension of being overexcited about “doing it best,”
Ensuring Ethical Effectiveness
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT NOW REQUIRES PUBLICLY traded companies to disclose whether they have adopted a code of ethics for senior financial officers. In addition, the New York Stock Exchange is considering new rules that would require listed companies to have a code of business conduct that applies to
Loan Guaranties and Tax-Free Transfers to Controlled Corporations
IRC section 351 allows a taxpayer to make a tax-free transfer of property to a controlled corporation in exchange for stock. Section 357(c), however, requires the taxpayer to recognize a gain when the liabilities the corporation assumes, plus the liabilities on the transferred property, are greater than the property’s adjusted
Lottery System Would Help
I agree with the letters, “ Disappointed with JofA News ” and “ Profession Needs Monitoring and Control ” ( JofA , Sep.02, page 13). I, too, believe lack of independence is the primary problem in the auditing process. Our leaders have for decades foisted on the American public the
Save The Formatting When Word Text Is Moved
Q. When I copy text from one document to another or from one place in a document to another, sometimes the formatting comes along with it and sometimes it doesn’t. Why is Word so finicky? A. Well, Word may indeed be finicky at times, but when this happens it’s not
Understanding Life Insurance Illustrations
CPAs who are new to insurance may find they are sometimes confused by policy illustrations. In truth it’s not easy to digest the complex information they present without some training. Insurance illustrations are what the industry gives clients to help them understand a policy. They are simply hypothetical representations that
Spreadsheets With Something Extra
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. ave you ever created a spreadsheet only
Insist on the BV Data That Matter
More is more when it comes to business valuation (BV). That’s why if you’re a CPA hired to value a company, you must begin by getting as much information as possible about the client’s business and the industry it’s part of before you give an estimate. Or if you’re a
Sarbanes-Oxley Act Tops NASBA Meeting Agenda
Congress’s landmark accounting reform legislation—and its potential impact on how states will regulate CPAs—was the leading discussion topic at the annual meeting of the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) in October. Attendees deliberated over what measures contained in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002—which covers CPAs providing attest
A Principle to Live By
Several times during the past few months, JofA articles and editorials about ethics caused me to pause and thank my mother for teaching me a simple rule: When you are stumped about what to do, pretend that your peers will know about your actions. Will you be embarrassed or proud?
How To Get Those Accent Marks Into Your Correspondence
Q. I have international clientele and when I correspond with them, I must use letters, accents and sometimes even punctuation marks that are not on my computer keyboard. Any suggestion on how I can accomplish this? A. If you use foreign characters only occasionally, I can show you how to
Get Your Computer To Reveal Its Inner Secrets
Q. How can I find out all the technical information about my computer—such as how much RAM and what kind of processor it has? A. Press the Start button, select the Run command (see screenshot at right), and at the prompt, type MSINFO32. That will produce a dialog box with
The Padding That Hurts
avenport, an independent auditor, had a hot potato on his hands. He had just learned from Robert, his client’s internal auditor, that an employee had reported to him possible expense account abuses by one of the company’s managers. Robert said that this employee accompanied Murphy, a senior vice-president, on many
Golden Business Ideas
A Better Way to Deal With the Layoff Dilemma In these tough economic times, a company may experience critical cash-flow problems and sometimes have to terminate even talented, loyal employees. It’s just a product of the business cycle, and in a few months, the company may desperately want to hire
Tax Notes
TAX NOTES The IRS in December proposed a revenue procedure ( www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-02-79.pdf ) that would permit some businesses that use the accrual method of accounting to delay, by one year, the reporting of advanced payments for services. Currently they must report the advanced income in the tax year they receive
Shortcuts
Shortcuts Office: To quickly remove a toolbar icon, hold down the Alt key as you click on the icon and then drag it off the toolbar. Outlook: To create a contact (name, address, phone) from an e-mail message, drag the message to the Contacts icon in the Outlook bar. Excel
Keep Excel Column Titles On Top
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. Q. When I have a spreadsheet with
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