As the nation works toward recovering from one of the steepest downturns in U.S. history, employers are preparing now for when the economy rebounds, according to a recent CareerBuilder survey. Seventy-two percent of employers who have employment brands say they are taking measures to strengthen those employment brands today, so they are competitively positioned for an upturn down the road.Employers are working to remedy the fallout of a grueling economy. The U.S. has lost 6 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

On July 1, 2009, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is instituting a major change in the way accounting standards are organized. On that date, the FASB Accounting Standards Codification (FASB Codification) will become the single official source of authoritative, nongovernmental U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (U.S. GAAP). After that date, only one level of authoritative U.S. GAAP will exist, other than guidance issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). All other literature will be nonauthoritative.

When Eduardo Chavez-Guerrero's wife's business started to take off, he decided to help her run CP Universal LLC, which provides decoration for special events such as corporate lunches and weddings."My wife has run the business for five or six years and it really started to grow and with the growth came other areas we needed to know more about, like accounting and taxes," he said. "I have no idea what accounting is about and I abhor it with a passion."