EXECUTIVE SUMMARY NO MATTER HOW LARGE OR SMALL THE CATASTROPHE, being prepared with a detailed plan improves a company’s chances of survival. The plan should cover the company’s response to dealing with human losses, communications breakdowns, loss of data and business premises. THE KEY TO SUCCESS IN DEVELOPING A GOOD
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Management accounting
Preserving the Family Legacy
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TO HELP FAMILY BUSINESS OWNERS BUILD A LEGACY, CPAs need to help family members develop a plan to transfer the business to the next generation while minimizing estate, gift and income taxes. Although the 2001 tax act eliminates estate taxes in 2010, there is no guarantee the repeal
A Road Map to Risk Management
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES TAKE CALCULATED RISKS to achieve objectives. Companies must measure these risks, try to minimize them and—if possible—use them to their advantage. The CPA—as internal or external adviser—is the professional best suited to help them manage risk. CURRENT BEST PRACTICES follow these steps in the risk management
Innovation: The New Route to Wealth
here does new wealth come from? Like a four-year-old asking how babies are born, it’s a deceptively direct question that often disarms our conventional capacity to answer. To be sure, we’re ready with pat responses peppered with references to ROI, RONA and EVA, but these measures tell us more about
Stock Options Pitfalls and Strategies Du Jour
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AS THE STOCK MARKET SLUMPED , the use of stock options as the ideal form of employee compensation lost some of its luster. To fill the breach, companies are scrambling to find remedial compensation strategies to protect their employees from market losses. These alternative methods include repricing, reissuing
Bring the Real World to the Classroom
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SOME PROFESSORS ARE BRINGING practitioners into the college classroom to talk to their students about the profession and its opportunities. Here are some tips about how such exposure can double as tailor-made recruiting. CPA GUEST SPEAKERS CAN demonstrate professional diversity and encourage students to stay with an accounting
Research Summary 22: Haphazard Sampling and Selection Bias
verybody has a favorite color and season—preferences that seem innate, always defying reason. Auditors are no different when it comes to haphazard sampling, a process in which—ideally—they choose samples without regard to size, shape, location or other physical characteristics. Experts have expressed concern about bias in such sampling and, as
Research Summary 21: Audit Committee Appointments
oes the emphasis on not appointing to an audit committee corporate board directors who have significant relationships to a company obscure consideration of other characteristics that also may be important? Independence aside, a director’s ability and willingness to perform well may ride on whether he or she has equity investments
Adding Value to the Profession: The Proposed Global Business Credential
n extraordinary opportunity is before us. We are now considering a credential that adds enormous value to our profession. Its holders can be characterized as rooted in strategy, facilitators of organizational change, savvy in performance measurement systems, entrepreneurial in nature, globally aware and grounded in knowledge integration. They will
Golden Business Ideas
Linger Power Whatever you do, don’t dash out of a meeting—even if you feel pressed to attend to other business. Reason: Sometimes the most important discussions occur after the formal meeting breaks up. Details are negotiated, adjustments are made, support for marginal positions is bartered—and you don’t want to be
Strategy for Success: Moving Up the Economic Value Chain
SPECIAL REPORT: THE GLOBAL BUSINESS CREDENTIAL Adding Value to the Profession: The Proposed Global Business Credential BY WILLIAM L. REEB, CPA AND MICHAELLE CAMERON, PhD n extraordinary opportunity is before us. We are now considering a credential that adds enormous value to our profession. Its holders can be characterized
The Internet as an Investment Tool
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CPA/FINANCIAL PLANNERS NEED TO BE WEB SAVVY. The Internet makes it possible for CPA/financial planners and individual investors to be notified on-screen when news breaks about a particular stock. INVESTORS FOLLOW A STOCK BY WATCHING its price and trading volume and factors such as the P/E ratio and
Recovery of Embezzled Assets Half a World Away
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE FIRST STEP IN A FORENSIC INVESTIGATION is to gather as many details as possible about the facts of an alleged misappropriation. But CPAs need to be systematic to guard against “information overload,” which can lead to important factors being overlooked. CPAs, INVESTIGATORS AND ATTORNEYS need to develop
Research Summary 13: Workpaper Reviews
FOR THE PRACTICING AUDITOR—RESEARCH SUMMARIES #13 AND #14 Summary #13 Workpaper Reviews Specialized reviews don’t improve audit efficiency. BY E. MICHAEL BAMBER AND ROBERT J. RAMSAY ccounting firms spend a significant amount of time on workpaper review; audit managers devote more than 50% of their time to it. Firms
Research Summary 14: Audit Committees and Auditor Selection
FOR THE PRACTICING AUDITOR—RESEARCH SUMMARIES #13 AND #14 Summary #13 Workpaper Reviews Specialized reviews don’t improve audit efficiency. BY E. MICHAEL BAMBER AND ROBERT J. RAMSAY ccounting firms spend a significant amount of time on workpaper review; audit managers devote more than 50% of their time to it. Firms
Build a Bridge to the Internal Audit Department
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE RENEWED FOCUS ON AUDIT COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT of the financial reporting function can assist outside auditors in preventing financial statement irregularities. Auditors now have an opportunity to develop a relationship with the audit committee that may promote frank communication in a way that their usual relationship with management
Practical Issues in Implementing FASB 133
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FASB ISSUED STATEMENT NO. 133 TO ACHIEVE its objective of measuring all financial assets and liabilities on company balance sheets at fair value. The accounting standard is effective for fiscal years beginning after June 15, 2000 (January 1, 2001, for companies with calendar-year fiscal years). A blend of
Smart Stops on the Web
Compare Quotes Online www.insuremarket.com This site offers quotes for personal insurance coverage that includes auto, home, disability, health and life. Quotes also are available for insuring your business and for group-term life and supplemental health insurance for employees. You can save researched quotes in your personal insurance portfolio on the
A Nice Niche—If You Minimize Liability Risk
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INCREASED ACTIVITY IN ESTATE and succession planning and mergers or acquisitions involving small to midsize businesses has fueled demand for business valuation (BV) services. BV malpractice claims arise most often from a tax planning or consulting engagement that—at the client’s request—morphs into a BV in mid-transaction. THE PREDOMINANT
Companies Focus on Derivatives Compliance
BY THE NUMBERS Companies Focus on Derivatives Compliance FASB Statement no.133, Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities, issued in June 1998, requires that companies report their derivatives holdings at fair value and disclose the purpose and effectiveness of their hedging strategy. For most, the standard took effect January
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FROM THIS MONTH'S ISSUE
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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