May 2007 - Journal of Accountancy

         EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The PPA has made it easier for plan sponsors to automatically enroll employees in a retirement plan by eliminating the worry over state withholding laws. It delineates a new safe harbor automatic enrollment provision that starts the automatic deferral at 3%, raising it by

         EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Employees of corporations with an employee stock purchase plan (ESPP) often fail to participate fully in the plan because they don’t understand why it can be a good deal. Many plans offer a purchase discount of as much as 15%. Effectively, the discount can

         EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FASB has issued Statement no. 158, Employers’ Accounting for Defined Benefit Pension and Other Postretirement Plans, to reform accounting for pension and other postretirement benefit plans. The new statement requires companies to move off-balance-sheet items onto their financial statements. The schedule of comprehensive income

       Think you can spot corruption in any of its many forms? Take this (deceptively) simple test to find out just how much you know. 1. Which of the following assets are most often pilfered? a. Cash b. Accounts receivable c. Inventory d. Intellectual property 2. Which of

     BUSINESS VALUATION     Intangible Value: Delineating Between Shades of Gray How do you quantify things you can’t feel, see or weigh? by Marc G. Olsen and Michael Halliwell EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Intangible assets are a big part of contemporary business, and many executives think innovation and related intangible

         EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Intangible assets are a big part of contemporary business, and many executives think innovation and related intangible assets now represent the principal basis for growth. CPA/ABVs and CFOs need to be able to value intangible assets for reasons that include the sale of a

         et ready, accountants! Like it or not, your basic Microsoft computer tools—from the operating system to all the workaday applications—will soon be history. Replacing them will be the recently introduced Vista operating system and Office 2007, which includes, among other things, Word, Excel, Access, Outlook and

         EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Material gains and losses are classified as “extraordinary” on the income statement when they are both “unusual” and “infrequent.” Extraordinary items are reported at the bottom of the income statement, net of their tax effects. FASB Statement no. 145 significantly shortened the list of

         EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FASB Statement no. 123(R), Share-Based Payment, poses a potential dilemma for companies with net operating losses (NOLs) that award nonqualified stock options (NQSOs) as compensation. If a company’s allowable tax deduction for stock option compensation exceeds the related book expense, it can realize an

           LETTERS MORE WAYS IN THE MAZE I very much enjoyed reading the article, “ The Choice-of-Entity Maze ” (March 07, page 64). Perhaps we should also consider the difference between the liability protection of a corporation and that of an LLC from lawsuits or other