A&A news March 2006

Practice Management

Kick-Starting Business Development Efforts

In today’s dynamic environment, accounting firms must begin employing business development strategies. It’s hard to do and most accounting firms don’t have a clue as to where to begin the process. Small to mid-sized firms have primarily relied on referrals and networking to increase their business – or through acquisition. However, to stimulate true growth, savvy accounting firms have begun hiring business development specialists.
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Technology

Data Security Isn’t Just a Big Business Issue

High profile data breaches at major corporations have largely eclipsed the fact that, according to a 2005 survey by the Small Business Technology Institute, 56 percent of small businesses have experienced one or more security incidents in the past 12 months.Advertisement
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A&A

New and Improved Web-Based Employee Scheduling Service

On of the most difficult tasks facing managers is employee scheduling. For managers who are frequently on the road or who attend to administrative tasks like scheduling at home, the challenges are compounded. Fortunately, Atlas Business Solutions, Inc.
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A&A

Prevention Key to Disarming Threat of Workplace Violence

On March 21, dozens of law enforcement officials, workplace violence experts and Human Resource professionals, gathered for the Workplace Violence 101 conference held in Springfield, MO. From the Chief of Police who opened the event, to the keynote speaker, the leaders of the breakout sessions and the concerned participants, one theme emerged as the standard on which all corporations should focus: PREVENTION.The first step any corporation should take is to create a Workplace Violence Policy if it does not already exist, according to the experts in attendance.
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A&A

U.S. Postal Service Is Doing Something Right

The U.S. Postal Service Accounting Help desk in St. Louis, Missouri, has earned highly coveted recognition as a Certified Center of Excellence from the Center for Customer-Driven Quality at Purdue University, which benchmarks the performance of more than 20,000 customer service call centers in 40 different industries throughout North America.
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A&A

CFOs Sustain Optimism

The first quarter CFO Outlook Survey reveals that corporate America is showing sustained optimism for the economic and company-specific growth.
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A&A

The Tax Implications of Travel Reimbursements

Employers sometimes reimburse employees for travel related to the business or the employee's job.
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Technology

More Small Businesses Using Payment Cards

Results of the Visa Second Annual Small Business Cash Management Survey, released Tuesday, reveal that small business owners are increasingly adopting and more satisfied with the use of business payment cards as a tool for managing their businesses.
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A&A

Many of America’s Best CFOs Started in Accounting or Auditing

Institutional Investor magazine has completed their third annual “America’s best CFOs” ranking. They asked brokerage firm research analysts and portfolio managers to name the Best American CFOs across 62 industries. The voting criteria started at keeping clean books and communicating effectively with the market and ascended to going beyond traditional number-crunching, cost-controlling roles, improving operations, driving revenue growth, and executing big acquisitions.
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A&A

Martin Baumann, CFO of Freddie Mac Resigns

Martin F. Baumann, executive vice president of Finance and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Freddie Mac, today announced his resignation.“Marty Baumann has been a key contributor to the turnaround currently underway at Freddie Mac,” Richard Syron, Freddie Mac’s chairman and CEO, said in a prepared statement about the resignation.
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A&A

Introducing the First Real-World CFO/Controller Training Course

At 5 p.m. Eastern Time, on Thursday, May 4, 2006, accounting professionals in the New York metropolitan area who aspire to become chief financial officers (CFOs) or Controllers will have the opportunity to learn about advanced training courses at the Regev Institute CFO/Controller seminar. The two hour seminar, which is also open to CFOs and controllers seeking to sharpen their professional skills, will focus on critical but frequently overlooked financial executive tasks and responsibilities.
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Practice Management

Tax Court Rules C-Corp Is Not a Qualified Personal Service Corporation

When is an accounting firm not a qualified personal service corporation (QPSC)? According to Judge Holmes of the U.S.
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A&A

EU Threatens US with Trade Sanctions Over FSC Tax Breaks

The European Union (EU) advised the World Trade Organization (WTO), on Monday, that unless the United States ends all provisions of the Foreign Sales Corporation tax program in 60 days, it will reinstate sanctions against a number of US products.
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A&A

View from the Summit: Microsoft’s Small Business Accounting

Not surprisingly, one of the first sessions on Day 2 of Microsoft’s Small Business Summit was a Small Business Accounting (SBA) Demo presented by Larry Garcia, a Small Business Technology Specialist with Microsoft.
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Technology

An Online View of the Microsoft Small Business Summit

Microsoft’s Small Business Summit got underway Tuesday. From the sounds of things, many people are attending the Summit in person. I am not one of them.
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Technology

Mark Your Calendar: The Role of ERM in Today’s Compliance Environment

Many companies are turning to Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and risk profiling to help them achieve their strategic, performance and compliance objectives. John M. Farrell, KPMG Partner, Risk Advisory Services and Michael Rasmussen, Vice President -- Enterprise Risk and Compliance Management, Forrester Research, will describe today’s risk drivers and discuss the relationship between managing risk and compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) during a free webcast at 2:00 p.m.
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A&A

Fair Value Reporting Getting A Closer Look

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) have commissioned a survey concerning the trend toward requiring or allowing more financial instruments to be measured at fair value. The FASB/IASB survey seeks to address whether current reporting standards provide enough information for investors and creditors to analyze companies that report any financial instruments at fair value.
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A&A

'Worst Yet' Federal Budget for Small Businesses

Nearly half of the 100 federal programs that assist small businesses would end and another 40 would be cut drastically, if President Bush's fiscal 2007 budget request is approved.Advertisement
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Tax

Enron Accountant Admits to Raiding Reserves to Boost Earnings

An Enron accountant testified in court Monday that he plundered reserve funds to inflate earnings and make look Enron look more successful than it was.Advertisement
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A&A

Coalition Urges Retirement Solutions for All Americans

In a letter sent to Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao as she prepares to open the final SAVER Summit, members of Americans for Secure Retirement, a coalition of 34 organizations representing a broad cross section of interests, urged Chao and Summit attendees to explore solutions addressing often-overlooked elements of the retirement security debate.Advertisement
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Voice of the Editor

Results from a recent AICPA survey disclosed the two top priorities for CPA firms as they plan for the future: bringing in new business and finding talent. Our goal at Sift Media is to help our readers deal with the issues most important to them. One way in which we are doing this is through the launch of our new recruitment/placement service, Going Concern Jobs. Check it out today for your talent needs.
Read more
Gail Perry, CPA
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, AccountingWEB
editor@accountingweb.com
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