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The magazines
AICPA Governmental Audit Quality Center Flourishes
The AICPA Governmental Audit Quality Center (GAQC) recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. Its more than 450 members—from every state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands—audited approximately 77% of the federal expenditures covered in single audits CPA firms performed in 2003, the most recent year for
SOX and Nonissuing Organizations
“ Stay Out of Trouble ” ( JofA, Aug.05, page 67) highlighted an important issue regarding the confusion over auditing standards for nonissuing organizations. Certainly, some of this confusion stems from the underlying intentions of Sarbanes-Oxley. The act, hastily issued in response to the lack of accountability and transparency in
Convergence: In Search of the Best
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE CONVERGENCE AGREEMENT BETWEEN FASB and the IASB is significantly affecting U.S. and international financial reporting. THERE IS NO SINGLE PATH TO CONVERGENCE , but an open-minded pursuit of the highest quality guidance should result in standards that foster superior financial reporting. CONVERGENCE WILL REQUIRE CHANGES
Don’t Let Them Walk
GOLDEN BUSINESS IDEAS After a company has invested in training them, many employees leave for better-paying jobs. In some respects, employers create the problem when they place more emphasis on hiring candidates based on their skills rather than on their history of loyalty. A history of frequent job-switching is likely
How to Prevent Investment Adviser Fraud
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SECTION 206 OF THE INVESTMENT ADVISERS ACT OF 1940 provides guidelines for investment advisers on what constitutes fraud. THE SUPREME COURT HAS HELD THAT THE ACT imposes a fiduciary duty on investment advisers to act in the best interest of their clients by fully disclosing all potential conflicts
Letters to the Editor
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 .
Quickly Delete Spam Files
I’m delighted how well the new Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter works. It traps 50 or more spam items a day for me. But before I whack them with the Delete key, I glance at the list to be sure the filter hasnt accidentally labeled a good e-mail as spam.
The MD&A Challenge
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CPAs HELPING COMPANIES DRAFT THEIR MD&A do so at a time when the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance is increasingly unhappy with the quality of these disclosures, and in the wake of civil fraud charges against the former CEO and CFO of Kmart alleging the MD&A in a
International
The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) issued an invitation to comment on a proposed revision of its constitution ( http://ifac.org/downloads/ifac_constitution_draft.pdf ). If approved, the proposal also would create bylaws and a policies and procedures manual. Comments are due February 1, 2006. IFAC’s International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) issued
Display Underlying Excel Formulas
Is there a way to display all the underlying formulas in an Excel spreadsheet? Sure. The convenient way (that allows you to toggle back and forth between formulas and results) is to press Ctrl+~ (the tilde button is at the extreme upper left side of the keyboard). If you print
AICPA Holds Conference to Help Women Professionals Succeed
More than half of all accounting graduates in the United States are women,” said AICPA Chair Leslie Murphy, speaking in Chicago at the first Women’s Summit, held on October 11 by the AICPA Work/Life & Women’s Initiatives Executive Committee and sponsored by Robert Half International. “So this summit gathered firm
Questions For The Author?
Stanley Zarowin, a former JofA senior editor, is now a contributing editor to the magazine. His e-mail address is stanley@zarowin.com . Do you have technology questions for this column? Or, after reading an answer, do you have a better solution? Send them to contributing editor Stanley Zarowin via e-mail at
Write It Right
Source: Survey of 150 executives at the 1,000 largest companies, Accountemps, Menlo Park, Calif., www.accountemps.com , 2005.
Wishful Thinking
Source: Survey of 1,400 CFOs from U.S. companies with 20 or more employees, Robert Half Management Resources, Menlo Park, Calif., www.rhmr.com , 2004.
A Social Security Solution
“ Promises to Keep ” ( JofA , Jul.05, page 41) did an excellent job of comparing the seven social security reform bills to current law. I’m glad it reminded CPAs “it’s time to get involved” to “help the public understand the plans before us and perhaps help shape even
Can Trusts Deduct Adviser Fees?
Many trust fiduciaries incur investment adviser fees while administering the trust. To reduce taxable income, the trustee wants to deduct these costs against trust income—but the courts are split on the issue. The Tax Court recently was asked to reconsider the question. Henry Rudkin established a testamentary trust with the
Move, Copy, Delete Many Files Swiftly
Every month I need to move a large number of files from one folder (directory) to another. Moving one at a time is laborious. Is there a fast way to do it? Windows Explorer has several ways. The fastest way is to move a group of contiguous files is to
New Fraud Guidance
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SSARS NO. 12, Omnibus Statement on Standards for Accounting and Review Services—2005, amended SSARS no. 1, making specific changes regarding the practitioner’s consideration of fraud and illegal acts in compilation and review engagements. ALTHOUGH COMPILATION AND REVIEW performance standards don’t require CPAs to assess the risk of fraud,
FYI
Taxpayers can request automatic six-month tax-filing extensions for the most common individual and business returns, under new regulations from the Treasury Department and IRS ( www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=150456,00.html ). The service also issued guidance on how large corporations and tax-exempt organizations can seek waivers from electronic filing requirements ( www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=150695,00.html ) and
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The key to success with CAS is selecting the best clients. Tools like ideal client profiles (ICPs), buyer personas, and even artificial intelligence can help identify the businesses that best fit each CAS practice.
From The Tax Adviser
March 31, 2026
Current developments in taxation of individuals: Part 1
March 31, 2026
Current Developments in Taxation of Individuals: Part 1
March 6, 2026
