April 2007 - Journal of Accountancy

         EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CPA firms have long sought answers to problems in recruiting and staffing. Some have used their Web sites to attract and inform prospective hires by adding features and content that highlight aspects of a career there. A survey of Web sites of the 50

         EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Managing partners at small CPA firms —those having four or fewer professionals on staff—face a challenge. Their chief responsibilities are to build and maintain a solid foundation of financial, technological and legal support and to take action to ensure the firm’s profitability and future.

  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In managing a practice’s lifecycle, CPAs periodically face questions of how best to grow–to build the practice from within over time or to acquire an existing firm. They also must consider how best and when to sell their practice. The decision of how or when to build,

     PRACTICE DEVELOPMENT     Structuring for Growth So you want to build rather than buy. Here are tips from people who’ve made it happen. by Ed McCarthy EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Managing partners at small CPA firms —those having four or fewer professionals on staff—face a challenge. Their chief responsibilities

       The Internet is a gold mine of information, but it’s also a minefield, loaded with scores of innocent-looking sites that contain stealthy programs designed to steal or destroy your data. But if you take proper precautions, you can browse the Web with relative safety. In our illustration

       Embedded stealthily on the hard drives of many computers—even those protected with conventional antivirus software—are tiny unfriendly programs variously called spyware, malware or adware. Most are simply nuisances, triggering unsolicited pop-up advertisements or surreptitiously changing your default Web page so you’ll visit specific commercial sites. But others

         EXECUTIVE SUMMARY        S corporations have become the dominant business entity type, in part because requirements for electing the status have been relaxed and clarified. An S corporation may now have more shareholders because certain family members may be counted as a single shareholder. When an

         EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The issuance of FASB Statement no. 123(R) forced companies to make several important decisions about their use of stock options as a compensation tool, to select the right valuation model and minimize the impact on financial reporting and public disclosure. A survey showed companies

       Out-of-state CPAs who want to temporarily serve a client in South Carolina must register and pay a variety of fees. In California and Illinois, there are multiple registration requirements whether or not the CPA even enters the state. In Washington state, registration is required only if the

           LETTERS STYLE OVER SUBSTANCE? I was aghast at the cover picture (Dec. 2006). A small office, like mine, needs to be efficient, and your front page picture is anything but that. A typewriter? No computer(s)? A very small screen CRT? Phone without a cord? Looks

       EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Since FASB Statement no. 123(R) began requiring companies to recognize an expense equal to the grant-date fair value of options awarded as compensation, there has been a significant change in share-based payments to employees. Companies are taking a fresh look at the alternatives available to