A&A news November 2006

A&A

Survey Defines Financial Services Used by Small Businesses

Small businesses contribute much to the economy. Since these businesses finance themselves differently from larger entities, understanding trends in their financing methods and their sources of capital are important to both policy makers and economic research. The results of the 2003 Survey of Small Business Finances (SSBF) were released last month, according to the Federal Reserve Board (Fed).
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A&A

Credit Card Companies Marketing New Small Business Cards

Spurred by the growth in small business owners since 2001, up 4 percent to 5.9 million, and the business potential of the 90 percent of small business spending not on credit cards, American Express, Visa and others are marketing new cards designed for the small business owner.
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A&A

Wanted: Creative Business Ideas - $100,000 Reward

Microsoft Corporation is conducting a nationwide contest looking for creative small business ideas. The contest, the Ultimate Challenge, is designed to ignite the spirit inherent in small business. It was announced in conjunction with the introduction of Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007. "We know there are lots of great ideas out there from people just waiting to start their own business, and we want to make their dream come true," said Rajat Taneja, Microsoft general manager of Small Business Applications and Services.
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Tax

Churches Adopt Business Management Methods

Megachurches with memberships in the thousands and budgets in the millions are hiring more staff and consultants with business experience as they look to implement corporate management and accounting methods for their congregations.Advertisement
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A&A

Accounting software source code presents consulting opportunity

Modifying source code in accounting software applications has emerged as a strong opportunity for accountants who want to be involved in technology consulting but may want to stop short of reselling or implementing systems.There is much confusion in the business community over the availability of source code in popular accounting software products and over other issues associated with modifying the software to meet users' special needs, says Richard Morochove, a Toronto Canada-based technology consultant and columnist for PCWorld magazine.
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A&A

Connecting Small Business Owners and Accounting Professionals

A new, innovative service is available to help small businesses meet their accounting needs-and it is free. The Green Brim, LLC gives business owners a way to fill their accounting, tax or bookkeeping needs using a simple online registration process. This eliminates the pricing disadvantages that can occur when negotiating fees with accounting firms and cuts the time it takes to obtain and check referrals.
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A&A

SBA Changes the Rules for Small Businesses Seeking Federal Contracts

A week after Democrats reclaimed the Congress, a situation likely to thwart the Bush Administration’s plans to close the embattled Small Business Administration (SBA), the agency on Tuesday announced new regulations and measures intended to help small businesses secure more federal government contracts, while improving transparency and accountability.The most significant of the measures is a new regulation requiring small businesses to recertify their size status when a long-term contract option is exercised, the business is purchased by or merged with another business or upon completion
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A&A

SEC, PCAOB Chairmen Differ Over SOX 404 Changes

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Christopher Cox and the Public Accounting Oversight Board’s (PCAOB) Chairman Mark Olson were reported to be planning to meet, possibly as early as Sunday, to discuss differences in their approaches to revising Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), Reuters reports. Early in November the PCAOB sent a draft audit revision to the SEC that did not win SEC approval because it did not meet the concerns of small businesses, unnamed sources told Reuters.
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Practice Management

Keep Those Receipts: IRS Guidance on Per Diem Expense Reimbursement

Employers who routinely pay per diem allowances in excess of the federal per diem rates need to track the amount of expense reimbursement allowances paid to employees on a per diem basis, according to guidance issued last week by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
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Tax

Small Business Survival Index Released

The Washington-based Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council (SBEC) released their 2006 small-business survival study last week. The Warren (Ohio) Tribune Chronicle reports their results compare states for the tax, spending, regulatory and litigation burdens, according to the council’s chief economist Raymond Keating.Small businesses and the spirit of entrepreneurship are important for our economy. Any policies that affect the health and growth of businesses should be examined more closely for obstacles to this sector’s vitality.
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Tax

Mixed Reaction to New Congress from Small Business Groups

Health coverage, taxes and government regulation, the most difficult problems for small businesses, are issues that a lot of newly elected representative to the U.S. House of Representatives understand, according to Dan Danner, senior vice president for public policy with the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the Associated Press reports.
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A&A

Small Business Payment Options: Cash and More

You might have heard of businesses that have stopped taking cash. Paying by credit card or plastic is becoming the norm, even as dollar bills are defined as “legal tender for all debts, public and private,” according to Slate. The Federal Reserve measured the amount of actual physical cash (M0) at $688 billion in 2004, according to Wikipedia. The Coinage Act of 1965 specifies that cash, excluding foreign gold or silver coins, is legal tender for the payment of debts, public charges, taxes and dues, according to Slate. The word “public” is key in this sentence though.
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Voice of the Editor

Even though any accounting auditor would tell you it seems like there are an awful lot of tax accountants out there, surely one-third of the country isn't made up of tax preparers, so it's rather startling news to learn that one-third of Americans like to do their taxes. Who knew?
Read more
Gail Perry, CPA
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief, AccountingWEB
editor@accountingweb.com
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This Week on AccountingWEB

Bill Walter of Gross, Mendelsohn & Associates and Harold Gaar of TravisWolff LLP weigh in on mobile technology use while employees are at work.
WestArk RSVP and Fayette County Community Action Agency – organizations that received grant funding through the IRS Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) program – spoke with AccountingWEB about how they assist senior citizens in their communities.
CPA Robert Raiola, who heads the Sports & Entertainment Group of Fazio, Mannuzza, Roche, Tankel, LaPilusa, LLC, talks NFL player income taxes with AccountingWEB.
Retiring KPMG Centennial Professor of Accounting at the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business Robert May, PhD talks with AccountingWEB about his rewarding forty-three-year career.
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