Tax, accounting, auditing news - Journal of Accountancy

April 27, 2015

CHIP buy-in programs may qualify as minimum essential coverage

The existence of Children’s Health Insurance buy-in programs that qualify as minimum essential coverage will not make taxpayers ineligible for the premium tax credit except in periods when they are actually enrolled in the program.

April 27, 2015

AICPA issues Q&As for practitioners related to ALTA best practices framework

New technical questions and answers provide nonauthoritative guidance for practitioners regarding the types of engagements practitioners may perform in connection with the American Land Title Association’s “Best Practices Framework.”

April 24, 2015

FASB proposals address plan accounting, certain electricity contracts

Three Accounting Standards Updates proposed by FASB seek to simplify accounting for employee benefit plans.

April 23, 2015

Proposed PFIC rules would define “active conduct” of an insurance business

Proposed rules would define when investment income earned by a foreign insurance company would not be considered passive income in the determination of whether the company is a passive foreign investment company (PFIC).

April 22, 2015

FASB proposes significant changes to not-for-profit reporting

Not-for-profit financial statement preparers would experience significant changes in practice as a result of new standards proposed Wednesday by FASB.

April 21, 2015

Doughtie to become first female CEO of KPMG in U.S.

KPMG in the United States has elected Lynne Doughtie, CPA, as its next chairman and CEO, adding to the growing ranks of women in prominent leadership positions in the accounting profession.

April 21, 2015

As cyberbreaches rise, consumers alter spending, browsing habits

The percentage of Americans who have fallen prey to an information security breach has risen to 25% from 11% the previous year, a new AICPA survey found.

April 16, 2015

Millions of taxpayer phone calls went unanswered by IRS this tax season

The interim report for the 2015 filing season revealed that the average time a taxpayer calling the IRS for assistance had to wait was 24.6 minutes, up from 11.7 minutes last year, and that very few taxpayer calls were actually answered.

April 16, 2015

New FASB standards keep focus on simplification

FASB issued separate accounting standards Wednesday that are designed to simplify reporting of certain employer retirement obligations and assets, as well as provide explicit guidance about how to account for fees paid in a cloud-computing arrangement.

April 16, 2015

CPAs select security as top technology priority

A steady stream of high-profile cybercrimes involving corporate and customer data has captured the attention of North American accounting professionals, who ranked IT security as their top technology priority.

April 16, 2015

Americans’ financial happiness on the rise

Americans’ financial well-being improved this quarter, as indicated by a 6.5-point rise in the AICPA’s Personal Financial Satisfaction Index (PFSi).

April 13, 2015

IRS grants penalty relief to taxpayers who received incorrect health care forms

The incorrect forms generally included the monthly premium amount of the second-lowest-cost Silver plan for 2015 instead of for 2014.

April 10, 2015

Wife of anti-tax author sentenced to prison

Doreen Hendrickson, wife of tax protester author Peter Hendrickson, who wrote the antitax book Cracking the Code, has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for criminal contempt after failing to file amended tax returns as ordered by a court and for filing a false return.

April 10, 2015

Revised IAASB standard increases auditors’ involvement with “other information”

Revisions issued by the IAASB require auditors to increase their involvement with information that is included in entities’ annual reports but is outside audited financial statements.

April 9, 2015

How do Americans define personal financial prosperity?

Although homeownership often is depicted as the American Dream, a new AICPA survey shows that being able to afford a comfortable retirement is considered the best sign of financial success.

April 8, 2015

Americans fear running out of money in retirement

More than half of CPA financial planners say their clients’ biggest concern about retirement planning is running out of money, according to a new AICPA survey.

April 7, 2015

FASB issues changes regarding presentation of debt issuance

The standard requires that debt issuance costs not be classified as a deferred charge or deferred credit.

April 2, 2015

How revenue recognition divergence would affect preparers

Convergence between U.S. GAAP and IFRS may diminish as the FASB and the IASB pursue different proposed changes in response to implementation concerns.

April 1, 2015

FASB agrees to propose revenue recognition standard delay

FASB voted to propose a one-year delay in the effective date of the new, converged revenue recognition standard.

March 31, 2015

PCAOB reorganizes standards to follow flow of an audit

The PCAOB voted to reorganize its standards to make them easier to navigate and follow the flow of an audit.

FROM THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

Clean data faster using Excel’s REGEX functions

Excel’s REGEX functions provide a simpler, flexible solution to text-cleaning tasks, reducing the need to combine multiple functions when cleaning imported data. This JofA Technology Q&A article shows the way with step-by-step instructions and a video walkthrough.