October 2004 - Journal of Accountancy

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY IN BUDGET-CONSCIOUS TIMES MANY COMPANIES MISS the opportunity to recover hundreds and thousands of dollars each year through the subrogation process—filing claims against third parties responsible for causing damage or injury to companies and their assets when these losses are uninsured or fall below the policy deductible. In

lthough AICPA tax practitioners rated this year’s crop of tax-preparation software superior to the products they used last year, they gave lower grades to vendors’ technical support. But for many tax practitioners, the bigger story was that the number of tax-software products continued to decline, forcing newly orphaned customers to

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR CLERICS, GROSS INCOME does not include housing allowances paid as part of compensation to the extent the allowance is used to rent or provide a home and does not exceed the fair rental value of the home plus the cost of utilities. However, housing allowances are included

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE RANGE OF ACCOUNTING ISSUES involved in court disputes today covers so many aspects of finance that CPAs of all types may be qualified to offer expert witness services in one or more areas. CPA LITIGATION SERVICES ENCOMPASS several roles: expert witness (who renders an opinion before a

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY BEGINNING IN 2004, MANY PUBLICLY traded companies must comply with SEC rules by reporting on the effectiveness of their internal controls in the annual report. The content should contain A statement of management’s responsibilities for establishing and maintaining an adequate system. The identification of the framework used to

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY BUY-SELL AGREEMENTS LET OWNERS, or shareholders and a corporation, agree to the terms and conditions of a future sale to smooth the transfer of an ownership stake under certain triggering events. They also provide a framework for establishing the purchase price of a business interest when an owner

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AFTER SEVERAL YEARS of WORKING FOR A COMPANY, CPAs may find their duties have grown or changed but their salary hasn’t kept up. In other instances new hires at the company with the same responsibilities may be earning more for doing essentially the same job. TO ADDRESS ANY

CPA was hired to be an expert witness in a civil fraud case. On cross-examination the opposing attorney asked the expert a seemingly simple question: “Would you please define ‘fraud’ for the jury?” The CPA replied, “Do you want to know the legal definition or my definition?” The attorney countered,