EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE HAS PROPOSED NEW standards for its listed companies to compel audit committees to change their makeup, broaden their oversight of external auditors and assume greater responsibility for their fiduciary obligations. The audit committee would have the sole authority to retain and terminate
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TOPICS
Management accounting
The Home Sale Gain Exclusion
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TO EXCLUDE GAIN ON THE DISPOSITION OF A HOME from income under IRC section 121, a taxpayer must own and occupy the property as a principal residence for two of the five years immediately before the sale. However, the ownership and occupancy need not be concurrent. The
Regulations Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002 is a major reform package mandating the most far-reaching changes Congress has imposed on the business world since FDR’s New Deal. THE ACT ESTABLISHES THE PUBLIC COMPANY Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) to regulate accounting professionals that audit the financial statements of public
A New Accounting Culture
The following is adapted from a speech made by AICPA President and CEO Barry C. Melancon at the invitation of the Yale School of Management. Mr. Melancon spoke before a group of business professionals and representatives of the media at the Yale Club in New York City on September
Make Strategic Relationships a Success
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR ALL BUSINESSES, THE NUMBER of strategic relationships has been growing 25% per year since 1985. A FIRM’S FIRST STEP TOWARD a strategic alliance is to decide what capabilities it wants to add. Then it should decide what it wants to achieve: Does the firm wish to
Offer Family-Business Solutions
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY MILLIONS OF BABY BOOMERS who own businesses will approach retirement during the next decade. They will need help with the 10 key issues that affect management and succession. THE MYRIAD FAMILY-BUSINESS CONSULTING opportunities include improving organization design, creating greater operational efficiency, developing effective leadership, organizing fair compensation plans,
Beyond Traditional Audit Techniques
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CAL FED’S INTERNAL AUDITORS MONITOR THE COMPANY’S risk profile and play a key role in identifying areas for risk management. Understanding the business operations can make the auditors a catalyst for change—with a prominent position as key risk advisers. THE COSO DEFINITION EXPANDS internal audit’s traditional testing of
Five Tips to Steer Clear of the Courthouse
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AS PART OF THEIR RISK MANAGEMENT strategy, companies are increasingly hiring an array of experts, including CPAs, to review their policies and controls and scrutinize internal procedures to help keep them out of the courthouse. CPAs ACCUSTOMED TO ASSESSING controls can recommend these “best practices” to their clients:
Smart Stops on the Web
RISK MANAGEMENT SITES Abstracts, Archives and Articles www.riskworld.com This Web site offers CPAs news articles, briefs and reports on risk analysis, assessment and management, and archived content dating back to 1995. Other topics include business and investment, law and policy, and risk in everyday life with links to risk associations,
Tips on Installing a New Operating System
Q. I’ve decided to upgrade my operating system from Windows 98 to XP. I’m not so much interested in all the new XP features—although I’m sure I’ll find them useful. My primary reason is that my current Win 98 setup is unstable. No matter how I tinker with the system,
Risky Business
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CPAs ACKNOWLEDGE THE IMPORTANCE of being proactive on IT security issues but often find it difficult getting corporate boards and audit committees to realize IT security protection requires ongoing, consistent investment in talent and technology. THOSE WHO PERFORM IT AUDITING must report their risk management concerns to boards
Move Excel Worksheets from One Workbook to Another
Q. I often have to move several Excel worksheets from one workbook to another. I use the conventional copy-and-paste technique (Ctrl-C, Ctrl-P). While it works, it’s a real drag. Isn’t there a better way? A. Yes. And the solution, you may be surprised to learn, is a drag, too, but
Browsing in Large Word Documents
Q. I work with very large instructional documents with lots of elements (tables and graphics, for example) and browsing around a document trying to find things can be quite a challenge. Can you suggest any ways to make my job easier? A. The last several versions of Word have a
A Fast Way to Address an E-mail
Q. I’m just starting to use Outlook as my e-mail tool, and although it’s very good, I’m sure there are ways to make it work even more efficiently. For example, I send e-mails most frequently to three people, yet each time I set up a message, I have to go
Smart Stops on the Web
EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION SITES Case Studies and Reviews www.compensationresources.com CPAs at firms and companies can find case studies—with required actions and outcomes—for implementing nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements, as well as reviews of customized packages at this site. Visitors also can use a compensation calculator and get an overview of stock-option-program designs.
Outlook Provides Travel Instructions
Key to Instructions To help readers follow the instructions in this article, we use two different typefaces. Boldface type is used to identify the names of icons, agendas and URLs. Sans serif type indicates commands and instructions that users should type into the computer and the names of files. Q.
Spotlight on Midlevel ERP Software
n many ways, the attributes you want in enterprise resource planning (ERP) accounting software resemble those you’re likely to seek when choosing a spouse. You want a faithful (accurate) helpmate who grows with you (capable of being scaled up). You want someone you can cherish through sickness (financial loss) and
Freedom From Market Swings
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE OBJECTIVE OF ANY INVESTMENT STRATEGY CPAs recommend to clients should be to preserve capital and build on it at a consistent rate in both bull and bear markets. The key to doing this is to look beyond stocks and diversify into alternative investments. A PORTFOLIO CONSISTING ENTIRELY
The Hedge Fund Mystique
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY HEDGE FUNDS ARE SUCCESSFUL ONLY IF THEY MAKE money in both up and down markets. To do this, they employ some creative and risky investment strategies—selling short, using leverage, trading put and call options, trading futures and investing in emerging markets. SINCE HEDGE FUNDS ARE NOT RIGHT FOR
The Rise and Fall of Enron
If you’re like most, you’ve been astonished, disillusioned and angered as you learned of the meteoric rise and fall of Enron Corp. Remember the company’s television commercial of not so long ago, ending with the reverberating phrase, “Ask why, why, why?” That question is now on everyone’s lips. The Enron
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Right-sizing risk management
Sole practitioner or small firm? Risk management doesn’t have to be “one size fits all.” Learn how to help protect your practice without adding unnecessary admin time.
From The Tax Adviser
July 31, 2026
Current developments in S corporations
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