Q: Is there some way to speed up e-mail searches in Outlook? I get tons of mail, and I just don’t always have the time, or the patience, to sort them. Any ideas for a handy tool? A: Both Outlook 2003 and 2007 have very effective sorting tools. But when
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Finance Exec Raises Smaller but Intact
For financial executives who received salary bumps in 2008, the raises were slightly lower, on average, than in 2007. However, most executives still reported a bonus in 2008, according to Financial Executives International’s Financial Executive Compensation Survey, a year-to-year comparison of compensation—including salaries, bonuses, long-term incentives and retirement benefits—of nearly
Government
GASB released a statement that incorporates accounting and financial reporting guidance, which was previously only contained in the AICPA’s auditing literature, into GASB’s financial reporting literature for state and local governments. Statement no. 56, Codification of Accounting and Financial Reporting Guidance Contained in the AICPA Statements on Auditing Standards,
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AUTO DEPRECIATION LIMITS UPDATED The IRS issued Revenue Procedure 2009-24 that provides 2009 inflation adjustments to the depreciation limitations and lease inclusion amounts for certain automobiles under IRC §§ 280F and 168. For passenger automobiles (other than trucks or vans) placed in service during calendar 2009, the 2009 depreciation limit
Data Point: 90.6 Million
The number of federal tax returns e-filed by April 24 this year. This is an increase of 5.9% over the same period last year. More than 30 million returns were filed from home computers, the service reported. Source: IRS, www.irs.gov.
Time Limit for Equitable Relief Struck Down, De Novo Standard Applied
In a trio of cases this spring, the Tax Court widened the availability of equitable relief under IRC § 6015(f) for taxpayers with innocent spouse claims. In two cases, the court invalidated a Treasury regulation provision limiting to two years the period in which innocent spouses may request equitable relief
Due Diligence on a QI
As the financial press focuses on Bernard Madoff and other Ponzi schemes, recent investor losses approaching $1 billion by the failure of qualified intermediaries have gone relatively unnoticed. Qualified intermediaries, or QIs, facilitate tax-deferred exchanges of like-kind property under section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code. Some QIs have made
A Fresh Approach for Compilation and Review
The AICPA’s Accounting and Review Services Committee (ARSC) has proposed the most significant changes to the professional literature for compilation and review engagements since the December 1978 issuance of SSARS no. 1, Compilation and Review of Financial Statements. The proposed Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Services (SSARSs), issued
Tom Ridge: Dive Deep to Anticipate Enterprise Risks
At the AICPA’s national CFO Conference in May, Tom Ridge, former Pennsylvania governor and secretary of Homeland Security, spoke to CPA financial executives about risk management in the current economic environment. Ridge is CEO of Ridge Global, a Washington-based consulting firm that specializes in risk and crisis management. He also
Nichols and JPMS Cox Receive Public Service Awards
Beverly R. Nichols, CPA, of New Orleans, and JPMS Cox PLLC, of Little Rock, Ark., each received the AICPA’s 2008 Public Service Award. Olivia Kirtley, chair of the AICPA Awards Committee, presented the awards at the spring meeting of the Institute’s governing Council in Washington. Nichols, who received the individual
Valuation Discounts for Estate and Gift Taxes
One purpose of fixing a value on an interest in a closely held business is to determine gift and estate tax liability. CPAs called upon to provide such valuations know that this can be a painstaking task. It is not an exact science but an educated estimate when, as often
Correcting FICA Errors
Correcting an employment tax error that is discovered in the year in which the error occurs is generally a simple process. However, employers often discover such errors after the close of the calendar year in which they paid the wages to an employee. The process for correcting those errors is
Solomon Recognized for Excellence in Teaching
Ira Solomon, who heads the Department of Accountancy and is the R.C. Evans Endowed Chair of Accountancy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, received the AICPA’s 2009 Distinguished Achievement in Accounting Education Award. The award is given each year to a full-time college accounting educator for distinguished excellence in
Money Laundering
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published guidance designed to enable depository institutions to more easily determine and document certain business customers’ eligibility for exemption from currency transaction reporting. The guidance is expected to ease compliance with regulatory requirements and enhance supervisory consistency. It seeks to clarify for depository
Accounting for Emissions
For several decades, the environmental, economic and health effects from greenhouse gases (GHG) have been closely studied and debated by the scientific community, regulatory authorities and other diverse groups. GHGs are emitted into the atmosphere mainly as a by-product of waste disposal and the burning of fossil fuels by individuals,
QI No Cure for Related-Party Deal
The Tax Court reaffirmed its 2005 holding that use of a qualified intermediary in a section 1031 exchange of like-kind property does not bypass restrictions on such exchanges between related parties. In evaluating whether tax avoidance was a principal purpose of such a transaction for purposes of the exception to
Economic Necessity Alters Daily Routines
The recession is forcing accountants to spend more time on cost-cutting initiatives, according to 59% of respondents to a survey by Ajilon Finance and the Institute of Management Accountants. In general, 75% of accountants said their job responsibilities have shifted because of the economic turmoil. Accountants also said they are
Password Management Strategies for Safer Systems
All of your business systems’ users have confidential passwords. Does that mean your system and its contents are safe? Definitely not. As this article explains, organizations that don’t ensure the ongoing security of their passwords are exposing themselves to fraud and potential liability by failing to protect confidential information. Recent
Use the Keyboard to Substitute for Excel’s Temperamental and Super-Sensitive Fill Handle
Q: I bet I’m not the only one who hates using the mouse to grab that little slippery fill handle in Excel. The idea is great—click on the tiny handle and drag it to fill cells in a variety of ways. But I can’t always maneuver the mouse with that
Boost Office Productivity With Dual Display Workstations
Q: I’ve been trying to convince my partners that we can boost productivity if we add a monitor to each desktop computer so each workstation will have dual displays. Most of the partners think it’s a waste of money. Since most of them read your Tech Q&A column, I figure
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