A study by Lord & Benoit, a firm specializing in SOX compliance, identified what it described as the 10 leading material weaknesses among 148 companies with revenue of less than $100 million. Companies with effective internal controls were excluded from the study. Nearly two-thirds of the companies with material weaknesses
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Information management and technology assurance
Ideas That Really Work to Recruit and Retain Staff
Does your firm have a consistent hiring message and formalized training program for new hires? CPA and consultant Steve Erickson developed 10 tips to help firms in achieving their hiring and retention goals. Increase focus and efforts. Make recruiting a year-round focus, engaging both partners and employees in the process.
Computer Forensics: An Essential Guide for Accountants, Lawyers, and Managers
by Michael Sheetz, J.D. John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2007, 152 pp. For novices and experts alike, Michael Sheetz traces the evolution of computer forensics from computer crime investigators, who focused on securing a system, into entities dedicated to the preservation and recovery of digital evidence for admissibility and use
Add Muscle to Excel
» Key to Instructions To help readers follow the instructions in this article, we used two different typefaces: Boldface type is used to identify the names of icons, agendas and URLs. Sans serif type shows the names of files and the names of commands and instructions
Accounting Best Practices (Fifth Edition)
by Steven M. Bragg, CPA John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2007, 490 pp. Steven M. Bragg is back with new and enhanced tips designed to improve the efficiency of business accounting departments. Bragg, a prolific author and former CFO and controller, has penned the fifth edition of his accounting best
Avoiding the Commitment Dip
Firms use thousands of dollars and work hours to make change initiatives a success—and then the bottom falls out. Or in this case, employee commitment to the change drops off, and all signs point to failure. Richard Lepsinger, a human resources consultant and co-author of Flexible Leadership: Creating Value by
CPA Executives Predict HR Headaches
Staff-related issues will account for four of the top five challenges facing organizations in upcoming months, according to a survey of more than 1,350 CPA decision makers. Ninety-five percent of respondents saw employee and benefit costs as a challenge of some type, with 25% classifying it as a major challenge.
Make Track Changes Or Comments Anonymous
» Key to Instructions To help readers follow the instructions in this article, we used two different typefaces: Boldface type is used to identify the names of icons, agendas and URLs. Sans serif type shows the names of files and the names of commands and instructions that users should type into
Small Business, Big Life: Five Steps to Creating a Great Life With Your Own Small Business
by Louis Barajas, MBA, CFP Thomas Nelson Inc., 2007, 199 pp. As a 13-year-old, Louis Barajas was an integral part of his father’s small business, doing the taxes and bookkeeping and translating for his Spanish-speaking father. He understands the hard work, dedication and courage required to start and maintain a
Hiring the Best and the Brightest
High employee turnover increases costs and hurts productivity. It is also preventable. The best way to avoid spending the time, energy and money it takes to find a replacement is to hire the right person the first time. To build a solid finance team, know what you
The Red Carpet Treatment
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Statistics show strong job prospects for CPAs are likely to continue well into the next decade. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) anticipates employment for accountants and auditors to grow by at least 22% between 2004 and 2014. Sarbanes-Oxley compliance,
Managed Accounts
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A growing number of companies are beginning to offer employees professionally managed accounts for 401(k) assets. In these managed accounts, an independent investment manager handles investment decisions, makes portfolio changes as needed based on each participant’s specific needs and risk tolerance, and rebalances the
Share Files, Printer on an Office Network
Since you already have a network, adding file- and printer-sharing is a snap. Let’s start with file-sharing. Open Explorer and select a folder you want to be able to share with the two other computers and right-click on it. Select Properties and the Sharing tab. Then, under Network sharing and
All in the Family
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Multifamily office (MFO) services have long been offered by a variety of financial services providers. Increasingly, CPA firms have made this provision of comprehensive wealth management and personal services to select client families a major facet or even cornerstone of their practice. For many
Keeping Secrets
You may be able to keep a secret, but how confident are you that your computer is up to the task? As a CPA, you’re entrusted with loads of confidential information, and your professional reputation depends on your discretion. But your computer may be vulnerable to someone
Migrate Bookmarks and Favorites
Internet Explorer (IE) and Firefox both have utilities that can help you do the job. If you use IE, open it on your old computer and click on File, Import and Export, which opens a wizard. Click on Next, Export Favorites and then Next again. Now select the Favorites you
NPO Software Measures Up
If you’re in the market for nonprofit organization (NPO) accounting software, you’re in luck. Most of the products have undergone major upgrades in recent years that have made them far more powerful, feature-rich and easier to use. In our last survey of such software (“ Sizing Up
Replicating Format Painter on the Keyboard
Yes, there is. It’s another one of those undocumented Word features. The keystrokes are related to keystrokes for copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) keystrokes—only for the Format Painter you add the Shift key. If you want to load a format, highlight the formatted text and press Ctrl+Shift+C to copy just
Shortcuts
Word: Double-click on a word to select it. Word: Triple-click inside a paragraph to select the whole paragraph. Word: Hold down the Ctrl key and click within a sentence to select the whole sentence. Word often gets confused if the sentence contains a courtesy title such as Mr. or Mrs.
Stop Toolbar Changes From Disappearing
The problem may be with your Normal.dot template file. That file not only stores your default document formats, it also remembers your toolbar design. Word’s default is to automatically remember any changes in Normal.dot , but in your case it somehow apparently was changed and you’re probably getting this message
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FROM THIS MONTH'S ISSUE
Data governance: How finance builds trust in data
Learn how finance can use data governance to improve data quality, strengthen internal controls, and build trust in business data.
From The Tax Adviser
July 31, 2026
Current developments in S corporations
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