The IRS, 33 states and Puerto Rico agreed to share Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) information and coordinate their resources to ensure that currency exchangers, check cashiers, money transmitters and issuers of traveler’s checks and stored-value cards—known as money services businesses (MSBs)—register with the government and report cash transactions and suspicious
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TOPICS / TAX
International tax
Auditing
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) said its 2006 inspections of firms that audit public companies will focus on whether they expended their efforts and resources efficiently in achieving the objectives described in PCAOB Auditing Standard no. 2, An Audit of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting Performed in Conjunction
FYI
Ray Whittington, CPA, a distinguished accounting educator, was appointed dean of DePaul University’s College of Commerce and Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. Whittington joined DePaul’s faculty in 1997. Previously, he served as director of auditing research at the AICPA and vice-chair of the Auditing Standards Board and was a senior
International
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) published a Statement of Best Practice, Working Relationships between the IASB and Other Accounting Standard-Setters, that identifies activities in which the IASB and similar national and regional bodies believe they should engage to facilitate the adoption of or convergence with international financial reporting standards
Financial Literacy
Slightly more than one-third of those polled were members of Generation X, born between 1964 and 1980. Most of them were skeptical about government and corporate benefits. Fifty-five percent said they will save and invest to fund their retirement, 65% didn’t expect Social Security to provide retirement benefits and 68%
Accounting
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. FASB issued two staff positions (FSPs). One, Accounting for Life Settlement Contracts by Third-Party Investors, provides guidance on the investor’s
Business Valuation
The AICPA has entered an agreement with the publisher of the Daubert Tracker, an online database of information on the admissibility and effectiveness of expert testimony in judicial proceedings. Under the arrangement, members of the AICPA business valuation and forensic litigation services (BV/FLS) section are eligible for substantially discounted subscriptions
Professional Issues
The AICPA Work/Life & Women’s Initiatives Executive Committee issued “Women’s Summit: Helping Women Professionals Succeed,” a collection of valuable data and best practices resulting from the first AICPA Women’s Summit, held October 2005 in Chicago ( www.aicpa.org/worklife ). The managing partners, human resources professionals and female CPAs in attendance shared
XBRL
XBRL International, an AICPA-founded, not-for-profit global consortium of more than 400 companies and agencies working to promote technology for better and easier financial reporting, established the XBRL Standards Board to strengthen the quality, consistency and stability of the group’s technical materials and increase the openness and formality of the process
FYI
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) named two CPAs deputy chief auditors. Laura Phillips will provide technical direction on the development of the board’s standards and ensure they and related information are available and appropriately communicated to public company auditors and other interested parties. Jennifer Rand will oversee and
International
The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board of the International Federation of Accountants released a paper, “The Road to Accrual Accounting in the United States,” that offers practical insights for jurisdictions making or considering a conversion from the cash basis of accounting. It outlines the development of administrative arrangements for
Recruiting Made Easy
A talented recruit may be your next partner. You never know. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Porter Keadle Moore LLP established a comprehensive campus recruiting presence on eight college campuses to recruit hires directly from schools. That way it can train staff in its unique processes from the very beginning. A first step
Start Your Own Practice
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A decade of declining enrollment in college accounting programs during the 1990s combined with passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002 and the new financial reporting and internal control demands on publicly traded companies have created a sellers’ market for CPAs. That makes it a good time to
Privacy
The AICPA’s board of directors approved a document that replaces the initial Privacy Framework developed by the AICPA and the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA). The new guidance, “Generally Accepted Privacy Principles (GAPP),” is based on the premise that good privacy practices are essential to effective corporate governance and
Technology
The AICPA issued its annual ranking of the 10 technologies most likely to significantly affect practitioners, their clients and their employers in the coming year ( http://infotech.aicpa.org/resources/top++10+technologies/ ). For the first time, the AICPA invited members of ISACA to join the AICPA Information Technology (IT) section members and Certified Information
Government Accounting
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued Accounting and Financial Reporting for Pollution Remediation Obligations, an exposure draft (ED) that specifies five circumstances—any of which would require a government to estimate its obligations to address the current or potential detrimental effects of existing pollution ( www.gasb.org/exp/exdfpg.html ). The ED also
Auditing
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. The SEC approved on February 6, 2006, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s (PCAOB) Auditing Standard no. 4 ( www.sec.gov/news/digest/dig020706.txt ;
FYI
A semiannual AICPA survey of CPAs serving as senior corporate executives revealed they have a mostly favorable outlook for the U.S. economy in 2006 ( http://fmcenter.aicpa.org/NR/rdonlyres/ ). Sixty percent of respondents believed that the economy will continue to improve, and 74% of them had high hopes for their own organization’s
International
The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) published an ED to amend International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) 2, Share-based Payment ( www.iasb.org ) by stipulating that the vesting conditions an individual or organization must satisfy to receive shares concern only specified periods of service or required performance targets. It also requires
Financial Reporting
FASB issued as final two staff positions—FSP SOP 94-6-1, Terms of Loan Products That May Give Rise to a Concentration of Credit Risk, and FSP AAG INV-1 and SOP 94-4-1, Reporting of Fully Benefit-Responsive Investment Contracts Held by Certain Investment Companies Subject to the AICPA Investment Company Guide and Defined-Contribution
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