Explorer: To go to your home page quickly, press F6 to highlight the Address Bar and then type two periods (..) there. Hitting the Enter key then takes you home. Excel: To delete a cell—not just the contents of a cell—highlight the doomed cell and press Ctrl+- (that’s Ctrl and
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The magazines
Another Choice
The article “ How to Tame Health Care Costs ” ( JofA , Aug.03, page 83) failed to mention an important alternative to cost reduction. Establishing a health care funding plan and using proceeds to offset future expenses is a viable option as well. Daniel A. Bills, CPA Director of
Tax Ruling—Not Procedure.
“ More Clarification on 1031 Exchanges ” ( JofA , Jun.03, page 83) refers several times to “revenue procedure 2002-83.” The article states that the revenue procedure was issued in December 2002. In fact, there is no revenue procedure 2002-83. There is a revenue ruling 2002-83, issued in November 2002,
Word Makes Backup Copies, Too
Q. In the good old days when I was using WordPerfect, the program created a backup copy of every file I opened. That way, if I made a mistake—say, I deleted an important section—the backup always was there to rescue me. Why doesn’t Word do that? A. It does, only,
Step Transaction Doctrine Thwarts Attempt to Exclude Gift Taxes
IRC section 2035(c) presumes gifts an individual makes within three years of death are tax-avoidance transactions and eliminates the advantage of such “deathbed transfers” by increasing the gross estate to include gift taxes a decedent paid in the three years immediately before death. In a recent case, the appeals court
Pass-Through Entities’ Tax Payments for Nonresident Owners.
any states, in order to collect revenue without having to pursue nonresidents for it, have begun requiring flow-through entities (for example, S corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies (LLCs)) to either withhold taxes or pay estimated taxes on behalf of their nonresident shareholders, shareholders, partners and members (owners), respectively. This
Institute Names Metzler Small Firm Liaison
On July 31, the AICPA selected James C. Metzler, CPA, a nationally recognized consultant to small firms and previously a partner of a local Buffalo, New York, firm for 24 years, to fill the newly created position of vice-president for small firm interests. Metzler, who is a long-term member volunteer,
Letters To The Editor
The JofA encourages readers to write letters on important professional issues in addition to comments on published articles. Because space is limited, letters submitted for publication should be no longer than 500 words. Please include telephone and fax numbers. JofA e-mail address: JOAED@aicpa.org .
Automatically Insert Current Date
Q. How do I automatically insert the current date in a document? A. There are several ways. Let’s start with the simplest and work our way up to the more complex. But before we start, be sure to turn on Word’s AutoComplete feature, or else some of these methods won’t
Uncle Sam Lends a Hand
Source: Tax Policy Center, www.taxpolicycenter.org .
Auditing
The SEC approves rules the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) proposed under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ( www.sec.gov/rules/pcaob/34-48180.htm ). They establish a registration system for public accounting firms seeking PCAOB permission to prepare or issue audit reports for publicly traded companies. Under the act, firms that do not
Accounting
AcSEC issues an exposure draft (ED) of a proposed statement of position (SOP), Allowance for Credit Losses, that addresses creditors’ recognition and measurement of the allowance for credit losses related to all loans, as defined—with certain exceptions—in FASB Statement no. 114, Accounting by Creditors for Impairment of a Loan. The
Finds DCA Strategy Lacking
I’m surprised that the article “ Investing After 50 ” included dollar-cost averaging (DCA) among the recommendations for CPAs who advise clients age 50 and over. Academic research over the past 20 years has shown that a DCA strategy does not necessarily result in superior returns even after adjusting for
How to Flip the Order of Data in an Excel Table
Q. I often recruit Excel to do double duty as a database, and there are times I’d like to reverse the order of numbers or names in a table. How can I do that? A. In other words, you want to take a column of consecutive numbers or words, say,
How to Conceal and Display Hidden Text
Q. Some of my reports contain information I do not wish certain people to see. Rather than prepare two reports, I understand there’s a way to variously hide and then display text with just a few mouse clicks. How do I do that? A. That’s correct. Hiding text is a
Have a Fallback Plan
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A PRACTICE CONTINUATION PLAN ENSURES that in the event of death or disability, a CPA’s practice will go on and its value will not evaporate. TYPICALLY, SUCH AN AGREEMENT PROVIDES for four basic elements: The mechanism for a smooth and quick transfer of the practice, an agreed-on price
The Section 412(i) Retirement Alternative
ecent stock market declines have triggered substantial losses for many retirement plans, leading clients to rethink investment strategies and life insurance companies to tout IRC section 412(i) plans as a way to protect retirement funds. CPAs should review such plans to advise eligible clients. HOW DO THEY WORK? Section 412(i)
A Strategy for Finding the Right Accounting Software
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SHOPPING FOR ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE is difficult. The software must be just the right size, it shouldn’t contain more or fewer features than you need and you should feel secure that its publisher will be able to provide upgrades and fix bugs as needed. IT’S NOT ENOUGH TO EXAMINE
Adjust the Design of the Application Toolbar
Q. My partner and I recently upgraded to XP. He was playing around with various defaults and now, when he has several Word or Excel files open at the same time, the icons in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen look less cluttered than mine. And that’s because
Starting Pay Rises for New Accountants
Source: National Association of Colleges and Employers. Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, www.naceweb.org , 2003.
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