The corporate finance professionals who climb the value chain will be interpreters and collaborators, able to leverage data as a strategic asset while working across functions to solve problems and innovate. As the volume of information increases, they will play a critical role in determining the integrity of information and
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Financial reporting
Accounting standard setters have agreed on a lessee accounting approach, setting the stage for a lease accounting exposure draft in the fourth quarter this year. FASB and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) previously agreed that leases should be recorded on the balance sheet, but have been debating the
Are frequent flyer miles taxable?
Earlier this year, Citibank surprised many of its customers by issuing Forms 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Income, to report the value of frequent flyer miles the customers had received in exchange for opening new accounts as part of an ongoing promotion. Understandably, the customers were upset because, the value of the miles
International
As part of its annual improvements project, the IASB published for public comment an exposure draft of proposed, narrowly scoped amendments to 11 IFRSs. Subjects of the proposals include shortterm receivables and payables in IFRS 13, Fair Value Measurement; recognition of deferred tax assets for unrealized losses in IAS 12,
Small business, big risk
Small businesses are significantly more likely than their larger counterparts to neglect instituting basic antifraud controls that could save them from costly losses, a recent worldwide survey shows. Organizations with fewer than 100 employees were significantly outpaced by larger organizations in every fraud control measured in the Association of Certified
Authors contributing to the July 2012 issue
Corporate Governance Best Practices 10 Years After SOX page 24Ken Tysiac is a JofA senior editor. He covers breaking news for journalofaccountancy.com and for print. He has more than 20 years of journalism experience, including work with The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer, of Raleigh, N.C., and
Corporate governance best practices 10 years after SOX
You could hardly go to a Washington hearing related to an accounting or auditing issue this spring without someone singing the praises of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). At a House subcommittee meeting on accounting and auditing oversight, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., said SOX has
IRS suspends repair/capitalization exams
In March, in a Large Business & Industry (LB&I) Directive (LB&I-4-0312-004), the IRS suspended current field examinations on the repair vs. capitalization issue to permit taxpayers to file accounting method changes under recently issued temporary regulations and revenue procedures. Taxpayers that are subject to the temporary regulations (T.D. 9564; see
A relatively easy macro
Q: I have written an Excel macro that copies a column of data on Sheet1 and pastes that data as a row on Sheet2. However, I want the paste location to drop down to the next blank row each time I paste, but the macro keeps pasting the data to
Properly assessing the reverse mortgage option
The recent recession left no age group untouched, but baby boomers were hit especially hard. High unemployment and an uncertain stock market have caused older Americans to realize that their retirement funds might not support their desired lifestyle. Many seniors are facing foreclosure, while others are unable to meet their
FAF creates Private Company Council
Along-awaited structure for creating differences in U.S. GAAP for private companies was implemented May 23 when the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) voted to establish a new council during a meeting in Washington. The Private Company Council (PCC) will identify and vote on exceptions and modifications to U.S. GAAP for private
Medical center’s FICA refund claim dismissed as untimely
The First Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a suit for refund of FICA taxes Maine Medical Center mistakenly paid for its medical residents in the 2001 tax year, upholding a lower court determination that Maine Medical’s discovery requests were not warranted and that the information it sought from the IRS
AICPA names new SVP
The Institute named Lawson Carmichael senior vice president for strategy, people, and innovation. Carmichael will lead the AICPA’s strategic planning activities and oversee the Office of Strategy Management and Human Resources team. He will also be responsible for leading market research and product and services innovation. He will work out
A taxing question
Q: Our company operates in many states and ships products throughout the United States. Dealing with sales taxes is a significant problem for our organization, as our current accounting system does not meet our sales tax needs. Can you recommend an accounting system that provides a strong sales tax solution?
IRS looks into international activities
Many tax-exempt entities participate in the global economy by engaging in charitable or other exempt activities overseas and/or making foreign financial investments. These activities have drawn attention from the IRS and other federal agencies as they examine the flow of tax-exempt funds around the world. FOREIGN BANK ACCOUNTS The first
Reader tip
Responding to the March 2012 Technology Q&A topic “Monitoring the Field” (JofA, page 69), reader Scott Bollenbacher says his firm (Bollenbacher & Associates LLC, of Portland, Ind.) uses the $9.99 iPad app MaxiVista (tinyurl.com/6nnvpkz) to wirelessly convert its staff’s iPads into external monitors for use with their laptop computers in
Footers take a step backward
Q: To avoid losing documents in the digital universe, we like to insert the document file name and path into the document’s footer. I can still do that with Excel, but I cannot figure out how to do it with Word now that I have upgraded to the 2010 version,
Institute recognizes CPA exam’s top scorers for 2010 and 2011
The AICPA announced the winners of the 2010 and 2011 Elijah Watt Sells Awards, which are presented annually to the candidates earning the highest cumulative scores on the four sections of the Uniform CPA Examination. The award was created in 1923 to honor Sells, one of the country’s first CPAs
Independent contractors and the Section 530 safe harbor
In September 2011 the IRS announced a new voluntary classification settlement program (VCSP) providing partial relief from retroactive federal employment tax assessments for eligible taxpayers that agree to prospectively treat their workers, or a class or group of their workers, as employees (see “Tax Matters: IRS Offers Employee Reclassification Agreement,”
Tax and estate planning expert receives Kess Award
Martin Shenkman, principal at Martin M. Shenkman P.C. in Paramus, N.J., received the AICPA’s 2012 Sidney Kess Award for Excellence in Continuing Education during the Conference on Tax Strategies for the High-Income Individual in Las Vegas. The award, created in 2010 to honor Kess, a nationally renowned tax expert and
Features
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.
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