EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOR CLIENTS DREAMING OF A FINANCIALLY SECURE retirement, CPAs need to offer assistance on which savings vehicles—qualified and nonqualified—will help them reach their goal. This decision involves both tax and nontax considerations. CLIENTS PREPARING FOR RETIREMENT HAVE a wide variety of savings vehicles available to them including 401(k)
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TOPICS
Personal financial planning
Real Estate Is Hot…Don’t Get Burned.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY IN A HOT REAL ESTATE MARKET, CPAs HAVE AN opportunity to advise clients buying homes on a wide range of issues including financing and price negotiations. Accountants also can help clients refinancing existing mortgages make the right decisions while interest rates hover at historic lows. LOW INTEREST RATES
Smart Stops on the Web
SMART STOPS ON THE WEB Spend Time to Save Money financialplan.about.com Financial planners, CPAs and their clients will want to visit this Web site for money-saving tips on, for example, college, divorce, real estate and retirement. Visitors also can access financial advice for people in their 50s and 60s and
Death and Taxes
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CPAs WHO FILE FORM 706 ON BEHALF OF DECEASED clients should be familiar with some common pitfalls. The form shows the decedent’s assets, liabilities and allowable deductions that together are used to calculate the estate’s tax liability. FOR HELP IN DETERMINING WHICH ASSETS TO LIST on form 706,
Web Sites Worth a Visit
PERSONAL FINANCIAL PLANNING SITES www.ihatefinancialplanning.com Don’t let the URL fool you. Whether they love or hate financial planning, PFP professionals and clients can find useful information at this Web site. Visitors can register for free to access articles, checklists and interactive forms on topics such as annuities, asset allocation, budgeting,
It Works for Them
ersonal financial planners help clients identify financial goals, organize ways to achieve them and set timetables for implementation. Together, a planner and client look at the clients total financial picture, including income, savings, investments and debts as well as his or her personal situation. Then, they analyze where the money
Socially Responsible Investing
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AS CONCERN FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, SOCIAL ISSUES and corporate governance increases, CPAs may find more interest among their clients in investment strategies and mutual funds that emphasize social responsibility. SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS INVESTORS MAKE DECISIONS by screening for positive and negative issues, shareholder advocacy, community investing and providing social
What’s Hot, What’s Not.
o be successful financial planners and investment advisers, CPAs must keep up with a wide range of changes in investment products, technology, economic conditions and client management techniques. While the body of required knowledge may at times seem overwhelming, much of it is in fact just common sense. Here are
A Napster for Financial Data?
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY IN THE NOT-TOO-DISTANT FUTURE, you may be able, with just a few mouse clicks, to access any public company’s financial reports in extraordinary detail and for any period. In addition, you may be able to perform an array of instant analyses of those data. THE UNDERLYING TECHNOLOGY is
A Financially Secure Future
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE HIGH COST OF A NURSING HOME STAY CAN bring financial ruin to even the most well-funded retirement. Failure to plan for long-term-care needs can spell disaster for clients neither poor enough to qualify for government aid nor wealthy enough to pay for it themselves. Today, a
Planning for Higher Education
ollege is expensive. IRC section 529 qualified tuition programs have become more popular due to Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) provisions that ended the taxing of distributions used to pay qualified higher education expenses. Prior to the EGTRRA, the earnings portion of such distributions was
Smart Stops on the Web
TAX SOFTWARE SITES Links to Tax Programs www.futureofsoftware.net CPAs and tax preparers can find links here to sites that offer software—either to demo for free or purchase—as well as hardware and peripherals. Users can explore categories such as computer rentals, data recovery and storage, and multimedia. A search on the
When the SEC Knocks….
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY WITH INCREASING NUMBERS OF CPAs OFFERING investment services, more are registering with the SEC as investment advisers and facing field examinations from the SEC Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE). These investigations determine whether the adviser is complying with the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, protect
Going, Going, Gone?
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY WITH UNCERTAINTY ABOUT WHETHER THE ESTATE TAX will actually be repealed in 2010 and the possibility it will return in 2011, CPAs need to help their clients plan carefully to make sure they take maximum advantage of all of the estate tax changes. THE ESTATE TAX EXEMPTION INCREASES
Smart Stops on the Web
ESTATE PLANNING SITES Test Your Knowledge www.aaepa.com The American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys Web site offers a top 10 estate planning techniques section which gives an overview of various approaches and how to use them to protect clients’ wealth. The FAQ area helps CPAs answer common questions such as
Ten “Musts” for Developing a PFP Practice
CPAs interested in careers in personal financial planning or who have established practices and would like to create a niche in this area can follow these steps to get started: Select a practice structure. Depending on their firm’s purpose or the way they conduct business—including how much liability they are
Don’t Invest for Clients—Plan for Them
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AS CPAs ADD FINANCIAL PLANNING services TO their professional offerings, it’s important not to limit planning to just discussing investments. Effective planners must develop an in-depth strategy by examining all aspects of a client’s financial affairs including assets, liabilities, insurance, investments and employee benefits. BY TAKING A MACROECONOMIC
Smart Stops on the Web
PERSONAL FINANCIAL PLANNING SITES A Free Plan for the Future www.atlanticfinancial.com Investors can get a free financial plan by filling out a short online questionnaire at this site. For a thorough analysis, they can download a comprehensive form and mail it to Atlantic Financial, an independent investment firm in Westboro,
SEC Jurisdiction Over Investment Advice
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY MANY CPAs HAVE RESPONDED TO INCREASED client interest in financial products by formally offering investment advisory services. This generally requires them to register as investment advisers with either a state agency or with the SEC, based primarily on the amount of assets under management. CPAs CAN PROVIDE LIMITED
E-Commerce
For news from the AICPA and state societies, visit www.cpa2biz.com , which also offers online CPE, AICPA professional literature, practice management aids and links to state society Web sites. E-COMMERCE The SEC adopts rule amendments that permit registered investment companies and advisers to store required records on electronic
Features
FROM THIS MONTH'S ISSUE
Making the right choice when no one is watching
The true test of one’s character is the decision made when no one is looking over your shoulder. Learn how CPAs can uphold ethical standards and take actions that help limit liability risk.
From The Tax Adviser
April 30, 2026
Current developments in taxation of individuals: Part 2
April 30, 2026
