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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IRS practice & procedure
The New Accounting Environment
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY NEW ACCOUNTING REGULATIONS BROUGHT ABOUT by Sarbanes-Oxley and SAS no. 99 will force many companies to change how they do business. Compliance with these and other rule changes will expand the burden of corporate CPAs. ONE NEW REGULATION THAT WILL AFFECT ALL public companies is the proposed NYSE
Mom-and-Pop Shops
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SMALL BUSINESSES ARE THE CORE of U.S. enterprise—70%—and the backbone of the small and local CPA firm market. Stresses caused by the rapidity and degree of change in the business world and the culture at large are putting pressure on CPAs to provide them with an ever-more-complex range
How to Profit by Safeguarding Privacy
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY PROTECTING THE PRIVACY of personal information is no longer optional for organizations that collect, use and distribute it. Federal law now requires entities to take responsibility for safeguarding the data they gather from customers and patients. ORGANIZATIONS THAT ACCEPT AND FULFILL their privacy-related obligations will find it easier
Ethics More Than Rules Compliance
The quiz, Test Your Knowledge of Professional Ethics ( JofA, Oct.02, page 110), gave the technically correct answer to question no. 4: Is the engagement partner independent if his mother-in-law is the controller of the client? But it would have been better if the answer reminded readers that professional ethics
Auditors Should Work Together
A New Accounting Culture ( JofA, Oct.02, page 27) was an important call to action for CPAs overall. In my more than two decades of experience as an internal auditor, I have witnessed too many times when CPAs took the expedient route over the proper one because of fees, friendships
Watch Your Appearance
In Test Your Knowledge of Professional Ethics ( JofA, Oct.02, page 110), the answer to question no. 4 indicated that the CPA firm would be independent because the engagement partners mother-in-law (also the clients controller) is not considered a close relative or immediate family under the new independence rules. The
In Favor of Regulation
The reprint of Mr. Melancons speech at Yale University was impressive A New Accounting Culture ( JofA, Oct.02, page 27). However, it failed to address the real reason we are in this situation: Partners at the largest firms need to make the payments on their million-dollar houses and $80,000 Porsches.
Letters To The Editor
Letters to the Editor The JofA encourages readers to write letters on important professional issues in addition to comments on published articles. Because space is limited, letters submitted for publication should be no longer than 500 words. Please include telephone and fax numbers.
Policy Management Tips
With the crisis in investor confidence many businesses face today, it never has been more important for a company to have clearly documented policies and procedures covering all aspects of its operations. Occasional updates are not enough to prevent accounting errors and to help avoid litigation or operating problems. CPAs
The New GAO Independence Standard: What Auditors Need to Know
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE GAO AMENDED THE AUDITOR INDEPENDENCE provisions of its generally accepted government auditing standards (GAGAS). Originally, the amendment was to be effective for audits beginning on or after October 1, but the GAO extended the time frame to January 1, 2003. THE GAO ISSUED THE NEW STANDARD
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
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.
Life Insurance Compliance Rules
nsurance is among the most highly regulated of the financial services industries. When coupled with the professional standards inherent in the practice of public accounting, compliance issues can quickly become complicated for CPA firms that maintain insurance practices. Many CPAs believe they know enough about insurance to advise their clients.
Accounting
For news from the AICPA and state societies, visit www.cpaweb.org , which also offers online CPE, AICPA professional literature, practice management aids and links to state society Web sites. A FASB statement will provide guidance on asset retirement obligations related to tangible long-lived assets, such as factories or storage
Privacy
A study commissioned by a technology trade group says federal legislators should obtain more information before passing online privacy laws. It also says that, if passed, current legislative proposals will effectively require businesses to build costly compliance tracking systems and many companies will stop sharing information about their online customers
Compliance
At a securities industry conference on money laundering, an SEC director encourages compliance by broker-dealers ( www.sec.gov/news/speech/spch486.htm ).
Professional Issues
Questions about the independence of investment analysts are attracting the SEC’s attention. Its acting chairman and its chief accountant worry that brokerage house researchers may be tailoring investment recommendations to suit their investment banking clients ( www.sec.gov/news/speech/spch477.htm ; www.sec.gov/news/speech/spch485.htm ).
Banking
The federal reserve board of governors adopts a rule that revises official staff commentary on regulation E, which implements the Electronic Funds Transfer Act. The new rule provides compliance guidance on electronic check conversion transactions, computer-initiated bill payments and electronic authorizations of recurring debits from a consumer’s bank account (
E-Commerce
To combat online fraud and improve the public’s confidence in doing cross-border business on the Internet, the United States joins 12 other nations in launching econsumer.gov, a multilingual Web site where consumers can obtain information about relevant laws and agencies and submit e-commerce-related complaints online ( www.ftc.gov/opa/2001/04/econsumer.htm ).
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How to find the right CAS clients
The key to success with CAS is selecting the best clients. Tools like ideal client profiles (ICPs), buyer personas, and even artificial intelligence can help identify the businesses that best fit each CAS practice.
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