A&A news April 2009

A&A

FASB to issue new FIN 48 guidance

FASB will issue a proposed staff position for FASB Interpretation No. 48, Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes, for pass-through and tax exempt not-for-profit entities. Once released, the FSP will be available for a 30-day comment period.FASB also decided:Not to provide guidance related to whether a tax is or is not an income tax. That attribution of the income tax to the entity or its owners should be based on the laws and regulations of the taxing authority rather than on who is responsible for payment of the income taxes.  
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A&A

AICPA Forensic Q&A - Week 3

Once the initial "grandfather phase" is over, must everyone take the AICPA educational program?
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A&A

Real Life: Funny stories from the busy season

Herewith are some true busy season experiences posted by accounting professionals on Tax Almanac's "Funniest Tax Story of the Day" forum. AccountingWEB has been given permission to reprint these articles. We hope readers will post comments at the bottom, sharing their own reminiscences from busy seasons gone by.
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A&A

Small businesses say retirement plans are still excellent benefits

Amid the growing concerns about the current economy, small business owners continue to recognize having a solid retirement plan as an important issue both personally and to their employees. This is according to survey results released last week by SunTrust Banks, Inc.
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A&A

Revamp your communications plan and increase revenues

By Barbara Bix and Melissa Josephson Edwards If the rate of your incoming revenues seems to be slowing down, it may be time to revamp your firm's marketing communications plan. Effective communications plans will leverage your principals' time and speed up the sales process by anticipating and getting prospective clients the information they need to move to the next level — wherever these prospects are in the buying process.
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A&A

AICPA Forensic Q&A - Week 2

What are the seven specialized practice areas encompassed by the CFF Credential?
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A&A

April 15 tax day - late night tv show jokes

A roundup of late night comedy show tax jokes that aired this week
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A&A

FASB chairman says final revisions to Statement 157 reaffirm fair value

In a statement accompanying the release of the final FASB Staff Position (FSP) of proposed changes to FAS 157, Fair Value Measurements, Determining Fair Value When the Volume and Level of Activity for the Asset or Liability Have Significantly Decreased and Identifying Transactions That Are Not Order, FASB Chairman Robert H. Herz said that the revised FSP, along with two others related to fair value measurements, provides additional application guidance and calls for new disclosures.
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A&A

AICPA Forensic Q&A - Week 1

What does it mean when someone says they are Certified in Financial Forensics?
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A&A

Top 9 confusing business deductions

It's tax time, which means almost 21 million self-employed people are preparing to fill out their tax returns, including Schedule C: Profit or Loss from Business. Should be pretty easy - just enter how much money came in and went out of your business last year. Right?
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A&A

AICPA, CPA2Biz, and Intacct form alliance to benefit small businesses

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), its subsidiary CPA2Biz, and Intacct today announced an alliance that they expect will benefit millions of small businesses across America and improve the productivity of the CPA profession.
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A&A

FASB responds to negative feedback to Proposed FAS 157-e, will vote on final version

When the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) decided to move forward with changes to FAS 157, Accounting for Fair Value, with the proposed FAS 157-e, "Determining Whether a Market is Not Active and a Transaction is not Distressed," it did so in the face of strongly worded comment letters from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ), which expressed serious reservations about the proposed changes. Neither organization supported the draft FASB Staff Position (FSP), and both called for major revisions.
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A&A

Change your IT strategy to work smarter in the recession

By Jennie LeopardThe recession is pushing every organization, regardless of size, to find ways to work smarter. Companies both large and small need to reduce operating costs at the same time they continue to increase productivity, efficiency, retain a competitive edge, and stop that bottom line from shrinking.How can you adapt your IT strategy in this economic downturn?1. Sweating existing IT assets harder
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A&A

Getting your feet wet with marketing online

By James Pennington, consultant at the National B2B Centre (NB2BC)Plan your Web siteMany people sit down and start working on their Web site but then stop and never get started again because they haven't thought about what they are trying to achieve. Remember, that your Web site is another sales medium. Understand your proposition and unique selling point and have a strategy for using the Web. The following resources can help: 
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A&A

Running a business: From rural life to Second Life

SciArt Media, a Temple, NH based Web design and publishing company, opened a new office and more on President's Day, February 18th. What is unusual is the location of the new office: It is nowhere in the real world – it is entirely virtual – located in the realm of Second Life.
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A&A

Increase your sales by improving your Web site design

Design and usability matter a lot when creating a company Web site, and getting it right could be the difference between business success and business failure. Chris Barling, chief executive of ecommerce software provider Actinic, offers best practice advice.
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Practice Management

52 Random insights to grow your business

1. Be careful of being too anxious to prove your value.2. Be willing to walk away from every sale.3. Be worth the price of admission.4. Become like the companies and people you admire.5. Brand your honesty.6. Build an asset so attractive that buyers will come looking for it.7. Build things worth noticing.8. Clearly define what you are a steward of.9. Create a product people can easily become obsessed with.10. Develop a system for dealing with customer complaints.11. Discover whether or not this is your own thinking.
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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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