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
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Employee Benefits
In a staff position document, FASB amended several statements to conform with pension-reporting requirements of Statement no. 158, Employers’ Accounting for Defined Benefit Pension and Other Postretirement Plans. FASB Staff Position FAS 158-1 also revised implementation guidance for Statement no. 158 and made technical revisions to the statement itself. Statement
New Era of Performance Standards
GOLDEN BUSINESS IDEA Gone are the days of performance checklists, hastily reviewed during an employee’s annual review. Companies now use performance standards to design orientation and training plans, research customer service and development needs, and award performance bonuses. The National Federation of Independent Business ( www.nfib.com ) provides guidelines for
AICPA Board Commends Hero
Board Commends Hero Marcella Wyler, a member of the Institute’s finance team, helped rescue a woman whose car ran off the road and landed upside-down in several feet of water on Feb. 14 near the AICPA’s offices in Durham, N.C. Wyler and another rescuer jumped into a frigid swamp to
Financial Reporting
A second, related FASB exposure draft is Not-for-Profit Organizations: Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets Acquired in a Merger or Acquisition. Both are part of a FASB project on business combinations. The AICPA issued Interpretation no. 29, Reporting on an Uncertainty, Including an Uncertainty About an Entity’s Ability to Continue as
Extraordinary Items Share Exclusive Company
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
More Than a Numbers Game: A Brief History of Accounting
by Thomas A. King John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2006, 242 pp. Thomas A. King’s light-handed romp through the annals of accounting history brings together the facts, the data, the personalities and some of the best lines of the past 20 years. King takes a principles-based approach to history, focusing
IRS Directors “Own” Shelters
With the new Industry Issue Focus initiative of its Large and Mid-Size Business Division, the IRS is poised to concentrate more resources on its top enforcement priorities, which are weighted toward business and industry. The new strategy gives IRS directors compliance “ownership” of each of 14 Tier 1 issues, plus
Smart Stops on the Web
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS SAVINGS SAVVYwww.401khelpcenter.com This is your one-stop shop for 401(k) information. Browse two of the site’s most helpful features: the Daily Digest, continually updated with pension and retirement news; and Collective Wisdom, handpicked resources from the site’s researchers. Sole practitioners and small-firm CPAs can find single-participant 401(k) providers or
Whistleblowers Wanted
The government has decided that whistleblowers are its friends, and it is increasingly making efforts to nourish and protect them. This is evidenced by a provision of the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 that increased potential rewards to people who provide information on individuals
ValuingIntangibleAssetsAFastGrowingDemandingNiche
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
Perhaps Not Home Free
The first example in “ Home Free ” (Jan. 07, page 40) might not qualify for section 1031 deferral of capital gain as the article stated. The IRS has used the “intent” of the taxpayer, predominant use and rental-property rules to determine when a property is held for productive use in a trade
Dirty Little Secrets of 401(k) Plan Fees
In September 2006, eight Fortune 500 companies were named in class action lawsuits alleging they failed to monitor and disclose 401(k) fees under so-called revenue-sharing arrangements. To protect your company or client, watch for these red flags when reviewing a 401(k) plan offering: Determine how expenses in
Collect Call
Corporations that have their 2006 tax returns on extension (involving calendar-year taxpayers with returns otherwise due on March 15) and which plan to claim the telephone excise tax refund must use a different set of interest rates than those found on form 8913, the IRS reminded.
Catching the Auditor’s Eye
NUMEROLOGY Not all business types fared equally in last year’s IRS enforcement efforts. For the 2006 fiscal year, S corporation and partnership audits rose 34% and 15% from 2005, respectively, while audits of small businesses remained constant and efforts against large corporations—those with more than $10 million in assets—actually fell
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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.
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