Fingerprints?
Hats off to the AICPA for stepping in and suggesting to the IRS that maybe requiring CPAs and other tax preparers to be fingerprinted is going just a bit too far. Right now, the proposal for fingerprinting doesn't extend to CPAs, but it wouldn't hurt to have that part in writing once the permanent regs are created. I'm still waiting to hear how registering my fingerprints will make me a better tax preparer.
And for those marginal tax preparers who might be plotting the next big tax loophole rip-off scheme ala the Earned Income Tax Credit, phony business entities, or the first time homebuyer credit, well they're going to be fingerprinted anyway once they get caught, so doesn't it make more sense to devote the time and energy into closing loopholes and reviewing tax returns for improper claims? Just saying....
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Perry is a CPA and a former senior tax accountant with Big Four firm Deloitte. She maintains a small tax practice, she is a personal finance instructor, and the author of thirty books, including Surviving Financial Downsizing: A Practical Guide to Living Well on Less Income (Adams Media); QuickBooks on Demand (Que); Excel 2007 Macros Made Easy (McGraw Hill); The Complete Idiot's Guide to Doing Your Income Taxes (Alpha/MacMillan); and, most recently, Mint.com for Dummies (John Wiley & Sons). In addition, she is a former columnist for the Indianapolis Star and Indianapolis News daily newspapers.
Perry is a nationally recognized speaker who advises public accountants on using Internet tools to improve their accounting practices. She also taught a college-level introductory accounting class and was on staff at the Indiana CPA Society as a computer applications instructor. For five years, she was a contributing editor for Accounting Today magazine before taking over the helm at AccountingWEB.
Perry is a graduate of Indiana University where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism. She returned to school to study accounting at Illinois State University, passed the CPA exam (in one sitting!), and worked for Deloitte in the Chicago tax department.
Gail has been named one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Accounting by CPA Practice Advisor magazine and the American Society of Women Accountants.
