I just read about a new CD-R (recordable) from Kodak that is supposed to safely store data for 300 years. I’m aware that a conventional CD-R’s surface oxidizes, making it unreliable after about 10 years. So what’s your take on this 300-year claim? Your guess is as good as mine.
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Information management and technology assurance
Oops, Don’t Take My Tax Advice
Stanley Zarowin, a former JofA ssenior editor, is now a contributing editor to the magazine. His e-mail address is zarowin@mindspring.com . Do you have technology questions for this column? Or, after reading an answer, do you have a better solution? Send them to contributing editor Stanley Zarowin via e-mail at
Stop the Printer! Stop the Printer!
How do you get a printer to stop printing? Sometimes all I want to do is print one page, but if I forget to click on the right button, the whole 100-page document starts pouring out. Help! You’re not alone. It’s a small crisis many have experienced. It’s called the
Good News for Cordless Telephone Users
A new cordless technology that promises phone service without the usual crackles and whooshes has just reached the market. The technology uses a frequency (1.9 gigahertz) that’s outside the range of many other wireless devices—thus freeing it from static-causing interference. The new frequency is more secure against eavesdropping, too.
Use Background Printing for More Flexibility
When I have a big print job running, I often have to wait until it’s done before I can return to work on the computer. My system has plenty of memory. Why can’t it do both jobs simultaneously? I don’t think it’s a memory problem. It sounds like you have
Display File’s Full Path in Toolbar
When I’m working on a file, its name appears in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. That’s OK, but I sure would like Windows to identify not just the file’s name but its path also. I never understood why Windows failed to take that extra step. As you can
When It’s Safe to Remove a Remote Memory Device
I copied a large important spreadsheet file to a portable memory stick, but when I examined the file later, I discovered it was corrupt and therefore unusable. What caused that? Although I love those portable memory sticks—they’re great for keeping my office computer synchronized with my laptop—now I’m leery about
Understanding the Best and Brightest
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY To find out what promising young accounting professionals want from employers, the AICPA Private Companies Practice Section (PCPS) conducted a new “Top Talent Study.” CPA firm partners asked their most highly valued nonpartner employees about their hopes for growth opportunities, job benefits and firm culture, and how
Partly Secret Way to Hide a Worksheet
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
Highlights
FASB issued Statement no. 157, Fair Value Measurements, which provides enhanced guidance for using fair value to measure assets and liabilities and will apply where other standards require or permit fair value measurements ( www.fasb.org/pdf/fas157.pdf). Although the statement does not require any new measurements, some entities will have to change
Tax Software 2007
Data from more than 2,000 AICPA Tax Section members responding to the JofA annual tax software survey help you decide which product is best for you.
Risk Management
On October 19 and November 16, 2006, the AICPA will offer free Infocasts presented by specialists who have authored titles in the Institute’s series of Management Accounting Guidelines (MAGs). Business Continuity Management will be the subject of the October 19 Infocast presented by author Eric Krell. The November 16 Infocast
Government Accounting
The Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board issued an exposure draft of a proposed Interpretation, “Items Held for Remanufacture” ( www.fasab.gov/pdffiles/edinterpretation.pdf ), that would provide guidance for the classification, valuation and reporting of items held for remanufacture prior to sale or issuance, such as items being inspected, disassembled, evaluated, cleaned, rebuilt,
XBRL
AICPA President and CEO Barry C. Melancon and SEC Chairman Christopher Cox will be keynote speakers at the 14th International XBRL Conference & Exhibition in Philadelphia on December 4–6, 2006. “XBRL’s potency as a business tool is recognized worldwide,” Melancon said. “It facilitates the transmission and analysis of financial information
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 posted on its Web site a compilation of all changes made through July 10, 2006, to the guidance in Accounting
Financial Reporting
The SEC granted relief from a Sarbanes-Oxley Act section 404(b) auditor attestation requirement to foreign private issuers that are accelerated filers (but not large accelerated filers) that file their annual reports on forms 20-F or 40-F ( www.sec.gov/news/press/2006/2006-136.htm ). They will not have to comply with the section 404(b) requirement
Auditing
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) issued Staff Audit Practice Alert no. 1, Matters Relating to Timing and Accounting for Options Grants, which advises auditors of emerging risks to consider during audits of financial statements or of internal controls over financial reporting ( www.pcaobus.org/news_and_events/ ). The alert was prompted
FYI
Kathleen L. Casey was sworn in as the 88th SEC commissioner by Chairman Christopher Cox in July. She is a 13-year veteran of Capitol Hill, having served as legislative director and chief of staff for Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) and staff director of the Senate Banking Committee’s Subcommittee on Financial
International
As the direct result of December 2005 talks between SEC Chairman Christopher Cox and Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) Chairman Arthur Docters van Leeuwen, the two groups in August published and implemented a joint work plan on the application by international companies of international financial reporting standards (IFRSs) in
Highlights
In the most sweeping change to pension law since the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, Congress passed and President George W. Bush signed the Pension Protection Act of 2006 in August. Key provisions include the following: Increased funding requirements for single- and multi-employer defined benefit plans. The rules
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