Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers claims he has knowledge that some Senators, who are remaining unnamed, are attempting to use government spending legislation to thwart the SEC proposal to issue auditor independence guidelines.

Would you like to see how professional service firms are trying to become more sensitive to the marketplace? Would you like to know the steps firms are taking to become more externally focused, and their early impressions about the effectiveness of their approaches?

Have you ever experienced the frustration of displaying a worksheet without full decimal places and having Excel round the numbers for presentation purposes, but if you look closely at the calculations, the displayed numbers don't quite add up?For example, consider this calculation:23.4923.4946.98If you display your Excel spreadsheet without decimal places, the calculation is rewritten like this:232347The answer is technically correct, but who's going to believe it?One way in which you can solve this problem is to request that Excel present the w

Questions arise when proofreading numbers-when do you use words and when do you use figures or numbers? Here are a few tips for expressing numbers:Numbers Expressed as Words: Numbers from one to ten. Numbers beginning a sentence. Ordinal numbers expressed in one or two words (twenty-first century / Bill's fiftieth birthday). Street names of ten or less and house/buildings number One (One Park Avenue or 111 Third Street). Ages (unless expressed in years and months) (Bill is fifty / Jill is 2 years and 7 months old).

An important aspect of initiative that any employee can put into practice is making suggestions. Here are some tips on how to maximize effectiveness in making suggestions at work: Start in your own area. You can make the best impact in the area you know best. In your current job, look for ways to save money, improve service, or streamline processes. Experiment as necessary to test your ideas. Have a plan for implementation. Suggestions can sound like complaints if there is no plan for their implementation.

AccountingWEB ProfileEddie Goldsberry, CPADirector, International Tax ServicesPannell Kerr Forster of Texas, P.C.Networking, High-Tech ToolsHelp an International Tax Practice Achieve ResultsThe art of doing business outside the borders of the United States certainly isn't anything new, but to Eddie Goldsberry, working in internat

For the past year, reports have circulated across the accounting profession that the use of Application Service Providers or ASPs will be 'red hot' as CPAs and their clients begin to adopt rentable applications based on the ASP model.Now, a new report from IDC confirms that the ASP marketplace is gaining momentum, and has put itself on the line by forecasting that the industry will be worth $7.8 billion by 2004.

The current FSC regime is set to be repealed, but Senate leaders are hopeful the World Trade Organization will agree to an extended deadline of November 1.Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott yesterday attempted to secure a unanimous consent agreement to bring the issue of the Foreign Sales Corporation bill to the floor for consideration, but was met with unexplained democratic opposition.Off the Senate floor, a number of democrats voiced their desire to add amendments to the FSC bill, including such issues as campaign finance reform and the denial of FSC benefits to certain industries.L

In June this year, the European Commission closed a tax loophole for US companies, when it said that they had to charge VAT for software and music sold over the Internet. The proposal also said US companies could choose in which European Union country they wanted to pay VAT. However, European governments are questioning the Commission's proposals. Until now, many US companies have avoided paying VAT because the current legislation does not take Internet sales into account.