Community News news October 2006

Community News

Honoring the Patron Saint of Accountants on All Saints' Day

At this time of year, the focus of the world seems to be on ghosts, ghouls, vampires and candy. Halloween has become a multi-million dollar business. However, most people forget that November 1st is actually All Saint’s Day, when all saints are revered for their part in helping those on earth. Did you realize that there was a patron saint for accountants? The patron saint of accountants, bankers, bookkeepers, security guards and tax collectors is Saint Matthew of Apostle fame, and he also was the author of one of the Gospels.
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A&A

Halloween Treats for Accountants

Editor's Note: This article was first published in 2005. All the links included have been verified and are still operational.The kids will soon be out begging for candy. You can let them, or your clients, put the “bite” on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with a chocolate candy bar wrapped in a 1040 tax return with the message “Here’s your chance to bite back at the IRS”. They also have a candy bar with a wrapping informing everyone that “Accountants make life less taxing”.
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Tax

International Economic Center, the OECD, Takes Aim at U.S. Tax Policy

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), signalled a growing interest in international tax with the publication of a draft of guidelines on tests that investment managers in the UK need to meet before profits from offshore hedge funds can remain outside of the UK’s taxing authority, hedgeweek.com reports.
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Community News

Merger Puts Firm in Top 10 in Indianapolis

Two privately held accounting firms have merged, creating one of the largest private firms in the Indianapolis area. Zurface, Sanders & Rasor and LM Henderson & Company PC joined October 1. The new firm is operating under the name LM Henderson and Co. LLP, with approximately 40 employees.ZSR had been ranked 25th in the area, based on number of employees, by the Indiana Business Journal Book of Lists, while Henderson was placed at 15th, which was among the highest for private, local firms.
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Tax

Grant Thornton LLP Fiscal 2006 Revenues Rise to $886 Million

Grant Thornton LLP, the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International, one of the six global accounting organizations, today reported that revenues climbed 22 percent, to $886 million in the fiscal year that ended July 31, 2006.
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Community News

Six “Women to Watch” in the CPA Profession

The Work/Life and Women’s Initiatives Executive Committee of the American Institutes of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the Illinois CPA society and the New Mexico Society of CPAs, are honoring the accomplishments of six women in the CPA profession with “Women to Watch” Awards.
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Practice Management

Devilish Employees: They’re a Year-Round Threat

Managers say the ghouls and goblins who traditionally show up on Halloween can strike at any time in the workplace. In fact, some spend about one-fifth of their time untangling personality conflicts among co-workers.Certain problem behaviors haunt executives throughout the year. A poll of 150 senior executives from the nation’s 1,000 largest companies revealed that 18 percent of their time is wasted resolving staff conflicts.
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Practice Management

IPA Names Best Managed CPA Firms of 2006

Hundreds of certified public accounting (CPA) firms participated in INSIDE Public Accounting’s (IPA) Annual Benchmarking Survey.
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Community News

Accounting Students Get $1.2 Million from Anonymous Benefactor

A $1.2 million endowment bequest has been established for undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships for students studying accounting at the University at Buffalo School of Management. The donor, who grew up in Buffalo and holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees from the School of Management, wishes to remain anonymous. “This gift from a School of Management graduate,” John M.
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Community News

Tax Preparers Going to Jail and Barred from Promoting Tax Fraud Scheme

In separate cases, tax preparers have been found guilty of promoting fraudulent tax schemes and filing fraudulent tax returns in an attempt to defraud the U.S. government of tax revenues legally owed to them. Some of the tax preparers will serve prison terms, while others will be barred from various activities related to the fraud they are accused or convicted of.“Dishonest tax professionals harm the good reputation of honest ones and cheat all honest taxpayers,” Eileen J.
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Practice Management

Legal, Tax & Regulatory Information Market to Exceed $18 Billion by 2009

Providers of legal, tax and regulatory information can look forward to a compound annual growth rate of 6.5 percent from 2006 to 2009, according to the first annual MarketVeiw report from Outsell, Inc., the only research and advisory firm for the worldwide information industry.
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Community News

Erasing Enron: Federal Judge Vacates Lay’s Conviction

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Simeon T. Lake III, in Houston, vacated the convictions of late Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay.
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Community News

Mid-Size Firms Unite to Capture Big Four Business

A national network of 22 mid-size accounting firms is marketing itself as one company to draw business away from the Big Four.The network is called Baker Tilly USA, and it opened for business Monday, offering tax, audit and consulting services under one brand name, according to the Washington Post. "We're coming at a time when the business market is crying out for alternatives to the Big Four, and we believe our structure can fill that void," Geoff Barnes, chief executive and president of Baker Tilly International, told the Post.
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A&A

More Restatements in 2006 for Smaller Accounting Firms - Update 1

Of the 928 companies that announced in the first half of 2006 that they would file restatements of their results for prior periods, 504 were clients of firms other than the eight largest accounting firms, according to data compiled by AuditAnalytics, a company that analyzes audit problems, the New York Times reports.
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Tax

Zuckerman Named Head of Employee Plans Rulings & Agreements

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has named Andres E. Zuckerman as the new Director of Rulings and Agreements in the Employee Plans division. Zuckerman will be responsible for developing and managing the IRS’s up-front compliance programs for Employee Plans, including the EP voluntary compliance programs, the determination letter program and the development of guidance and rulings.“We welcome Andy back to TE/GE,” Steven T. Miller, Tax Exempt and Government Entities (TE/GE) Commissioner, said in a statement announcing the appointment.
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Community News

President Bush Signs Bill Exempting CPAs for GLB Requirement

“This is wonderful news and a win for both CPA practitioners and their clients. The disclosure statements are often confusing to clients and they are expensive and time-consuming for CPAs to prepare,” Barry C. Melancon, President and chief executive officer (CEO) of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), said in a statement responding to news that President Bush had signed Senate Bill 2856. “Since the exemption is effective upon the President’s signature, all those CPAs who are now preparing this year’s privacy notices can stop.
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Tax

AICPA Comes Out Against Tax Preparation Cost Estimates

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) is urging the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) not to include the tax preparer cost estimate in the 2006 Form 1040 instructions.
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Practice

Celebrating 70 Years of Winning Friends and Influencing People

In 1936, Dale Carnegie put pen to paper and created one of the most important business books of the modern age: How to Win Friends and Influence People.
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Technology

NetSuite, “The Next Big Thing”, Ends Salesforce Sticker Shock

NetSuite, selected as one of five “the Next Big Thing” companies at http://www.sandhill.com/conferences/enter2006.php Enterprise 2006, has struck a blow to end sticker shock by offering life-time fixed subscription price for salesforce.com users migrating to NetSuite CRM+.
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Community News

WithumSmith+Brown Wins Marketing Awards

WithumSmith+Brown (WS+B) Certified Public Accountants (CPA) and Consultants, won five of the 2006 Jasper Awards at the 32nd Annual Jersey Shore Public Relations and Advertising Association (JSPRAA) Awards Competition. The firm earned two Gold and three Silver Jasper Awards.Jasper Awards are presented to communications professionals throughout New Jersey for outstanding works in the categories of advertising, print materials, direct mail, radio and television, audio/visual, excellence in writing, media relations, public relations, special events, and interactive communications.
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Pages

Voice of the Editor

What would you do if one of your clients won the lottery? We asked several accountants to weigh in with their advice for the lucky Powerball winner, and the tips we received are useful for anyone who receives a windfall, whether it's a lottery win, an inheritance, a big bonus on the job, or a killing in the stock market.
Read more
Gail Perry, CPA
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, AccountingWEB
editor@accountingweb.com
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