The Institute recently established the National Commission on Diversity & Inclusion—a group of representatives from minority professional advocacy groups, CPA firms, and state CPA societies as well as leaders from business and industry, government, and education—to promote diversity within the accounting profession. The formation of the group reflects the AICPA’s
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Corporation cannot deduct California business privilege tax in year paid
Banking corporation Wells Fargo, an accrual-basis taxpayer, could not deduct the California business privilege tax it paid in one year (year 1) for the privilege of doing business the next year (year 2), even though California law had since 1972 treated the tax as being incurred in year 1, a
Auditing
The AICPA’s Auditing Standards Board (ASB) issued Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 126, The Auditor’s Consideration of an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern (Redrafted), as a result of its Clarity Project to supersede SAS No. 59, The Auditor’s Consideration of an Entity’s Ability to Continue
From CGMA Magazine: Developing the talent pipeline
During the past few years, as businesses have focused on surviving a rough economy, human capital development has largely been pushed to the back burner. Workers who survived rounds of layoffs have had more to do and less time to hone new skills or dream of that corner-office promotion. But
Five Twitter tips
1. Use services such as Twitter Search (twitter.com/#!/search-home) to see if someone’s talking about you, your company, or your products. You can also sign up to receive instant notification in the event a tweet does mention you, your company, or your products. 2. Use applications such as TweetDeck (tweetdeck.com) or
Financial reporting
The SEC approved disclosure rules designed to increase transparency around companies’ use of so-called “conflict minerals” and payments to governments for access to natural resources for extraction purposes. The rules, advocated by certain human rights groups, will implement two sections of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection
The incredible shrinking font
Q: In Excel 2010, the font tool allows me to select from a font size ranging from 8 points to 72 points, but I’m sure that I’ve seen others use a smaller font. Can you tell me how this is done? A: Even though Excel’s font size tool offers font
What is an item of property?
The Tax Court held the IRS properly recharacterized income generated from the rental of semi truck tractors and trailers as nonpassive under the self-rental rule, since each tractor or trailer was considered an item of property under Regs. Sec. 1.469-2(f)(6). Generally, taxpayers’ passive losses are currently deductible only to the
Proposed amendments would change apportionment rules
The Multistate Tax Commission is considering significant changes to the rules that govern how multistate businesses are taxed. The goal of the proposed amendments is to modernize the Multistate Tax Compact so it conforms to shifting tax policy preferences and changes in the world economy. All but three states (Delaware,
IRS wins again on appeal of rehabilitation credit
In the IRS’s second successful appeal of historic rehabilitation credits for private investors in public projects, the Third Circuit reversed and remanded the Tax Court’s decision in Historic Boardwalk Hall LLC. The IRS victory follows earlier success in Virginia Historic Tax Credit Fund, 639 F.3d 129 (4th Cir. 2011). Prior
Embracing change
Richard J. Caturano, CPA, CGMA Title: Executive managing partner, Boston office, McGladrey LLP City: Boston Education: B.S. in accounting, M.S. in taxation, Bentley College Date of birth: Nov. 18, 1952 Family: Wife, Barbara; son, Anthony; daughter, Christina Ryan; son-in-law, Shane Ryan; grandson, Rhys Richard Ryan Device he can’t live without:
Institute recognizes outstanding CPAs in government
John H. Fisher, former audit manager and single audit coordinator for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Roger Norman, legislative auditor for the state of Arkansas, received the AICPA’s Outstanding CPAs in Government Award. Fisher, who worked in Kansas City, Mo., and died in September 2011, was
Handling an inadvertent termination
The general definition of an S corporation includes restrictions on the type and number of shareholders as well as the type of corporation that may qualify for the election. If an S corporation violates any of these restrictions, its S status is automatically terminated. Inadvertent involuntary terminations should be addressed
Government
An independent report commissioned and released publicly by FAF reviewed GASB’s activities as the standard setter for state and local governments. FAF is GASB’s parent organization. The report advised FAF and GASB to consider: Developing a plan to work toward improving the timeliness with which GAAP financial reports are issued.
Student overcomes physical adversity and earns Medal of Inspiration Award
Paul Wright, a student at Western Washington University, received Beta Alpha Psi’s Medal of Inspiration Award. Sponsored by the AICPA, the award recognizes a student who has experienced extreme hardships and who has demonstrated an unusually high level of success despite that adversity. Beta Alpha Psi is an honorary organization
Practice management
CPAs can find nonauthoritative guidance on how to respond to requests for client information in connection with a pending loan application from Technical Question and Answer (TPA) 9110.19, which was developed by the AICPA Accounting and Auditing Technical Hotline. Prospective borrowers are asked to furnish only limited information in connection
Ethics IQ quiz
The AICPA Code of Professional Conduct (AICPA Professional Standards) is an ever-evolving document. Periodically, the JofA publishes answers from AICPA Professional Ethics Division staff to questions asked by AICPA members via the Institute’s Ethics Hotline or on topics related to revisions to the code. This set of questions and answers
Commission issues seven recommendations for bolstering the future of accounting education
Integrating accounting education, practice, and research in new teaching models and curricula is among the recommendations from the Pathways Commission’s final report now being implemented. The report on the future of higher education in accounting, released July 31, culminated two years of study and insights from teams representing diverse viewpoints
No deduction for bringing down the house
The Tax Court disallowed the taxpayers’ charitable contribution deduction for the value of a donated house that would later be destroyed in a training exercise by a county fire department. The court held that a deduction should not be allowed since the taxpayers did not transfer an undivided portion of an
Complete advice
Q: My colleague runs the same version of Microsoft Office 2003 as I do, but my version is missing some of the functionality that hers has. Why would this happen, and what can I do about it? A: When installing Microsoft Office 2003, the installation routine provides the option to
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FROM THIS MONTH'S ISSUE
Flip out with the latest Tech Q&A
The September Technology Q&A column shows how to create dynamic to-do lists with Excel's checkboxes and also how to set up multifactor authentication texts that don't rely on phones. Flip through both items and view a video walkthrough in our digital format.
From The Tax Adviser
August 30, 2025
2025 tax software survey
July 31, 2025
