Forensic services

The AICPA Personal Financial Planning Membership Section, state societies and the U.S. Department of Labor are offering free seminars to educate employers and service providers about their fiduciary responsibilities under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) ( www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/ebsa/ebsa2004898.htm ). Small business owners and CPAs are invited to attend sessions

The SEC released Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) no. 107, Share-Based Payment ( www.sec.gov/interps ). Its purpose is to help public companies implement FASB Statement no. 123 (revised 2004), Share-Based Payment ( www.fasb.org/pdf/fas123r.pdf ), which addresses transactions in which entities exchange their equity instruments for goods or services. The SAB does

The AICPA augmented its CPA Marketing Tool Kit with a free brochure, How to Afford a Long, Happy Retirement, that practitioners can share with clients. Members can go to www.aicpa.org/cpamarketing/ and print color or black-and-white versions that leave space for a CPA firm’s name and contact information. The tool kit

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued Concepts Statement no. 3, Communication Methods in General Purpose External Financial Reports That Contain Basic Financial Statements, which defines various means of conveying information and provides criteria for effectively using them. The statement (# GC03) is available from GASB at http://store.yahoo.com/gasbpubs/gc03.html or at

The AICPA augmented its CPA Marketing Tool Kit with a free brochure, How to Afford a Long, Happy Retirement, that practitioners can share with clients. Members can go to www.aicpa.org/cpamarketing/ and print color or black-and-white versions that leave space for a CPA firm’s name and contact information. The tool kit

The Institute’s Forensic & Litigation Services Committee released Practice Aid 05-1, A CPA’s Guide to Family Law Services (# 055299JA), which provides practical guidance for practitioners providing services involving domestic relations, divorce relations and litigation and matrimonial disputes. This product is available from the AICPA online at www.cpa2biz.com or by

PEEC issued an exposure draft of a new ethics interpretation under Rule 101, Independence (AICPA, Professional Standards, volume 2, ET section 101.01) ( www.aicpa.org/members/div/ethics/ethics ). The proposed interpretation defines the terms financial interest , direct financial interest and indirect financial interest and provides guidance on their practical application. Comments are

The Institute, the AICPA Foundation, the National Endowment for Financial Education and the American Red Cross jointly published Disasters and Financial Planning: A Guide for Disaster Preparedness, which CPAs can use to help consumers obtain insurance and take other loss-mitigation steps before a catastrophe occurs. “Protecting the public interest is

Cheryl Linthicum, Mark Taylor and Teri Yohn will begin one-year terms in August as academic accounting fellows in the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant. Linthicum is associate professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio; Taylor holds the John P. Begley Chair in Accounting at Creighton University in

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) proposed four international auditing standards (ISAs) ( www.ifac.org/guidance/exd-outstanding.php ): ISA 600 (revised), The Audit of Group Financial Statements; ISA 260 (revised), The Auditor’s Communication with Those Charged with Governance; ISA 705, Modifications to the Opinion