The Internal Revenue Service moved today to make it easier for retirement plans to stay within complex rules and to reduce barriers that discourage some businesses, particularly small businesses, from adopting such employee benefits.The IRS is streamlining its system of voluntary correction programs designed to help retirement plan sponsors and administrators retain the favorable tax status of their plans, including simplifying the fee structure for voluntary submissions.

Under increasing pressure, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) agreed to take another look at its proposed rule that would change the way some pensions are valued which could have had a possible negative impact on some companies’ balance sheets. Industry groups decried the proposed rule change, which would have required companies to use an interest rate tied to a market index—a one-year Treasury bill, for instance—to place a value on their pension liabilities.

Quickbooks maker Intuit has unveiled several new industry specific software titles to expand the usefulness of its line of Quickbooks products.Specific Quickbooks products have been launched for non-profit organizations and for health care organizations. The non-profit tool adds grant/donor management tools, budgeting by projects, and non-profit specific streamlined reporting systems.

A new payroll option — the payroll card — may soon be available to American workers, including the 13 percent of workers who don’t have bank accounts and who can't take advantage of the more popular direct deposit from their employers.With the cost of preparing paper checks averaging $1.07 plus postage per check, companies and governments are trying to get away from the traditional paycheck. A recent survey showed that 83 percent of companies polled participate in voluntary direct deposit with most indicating they would make it mandatory if the law would allow it.

In what marks the first time a corporate executive has been penalized for participating in the practice known as IPO spinning, former Quest Communications International Inc. Chairman Phillip F. Anschutz has agreed to pay a $4.4 million settlement.IPO spinning is the name given to the strategy employed by investment banks that reward corporate executives for letting the banks offer the company's initial public offering by giving company executives shares of the IPO. New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has made it his personal objective to end the practice of IPO spinning.

How to place a value on stock options is just one of the issues the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) is challenged with as it moved this week to allow companies to reverse stock option expenses on their financial statements when an employee later gives up the options. The Board is working to develop new stock option accounting rules. Most of corporate America is deeply concerned and adamantly opposed to the Board’s move last month to require the expensing of options.

A few years ago, one of my clients decided to get into the lucrative business of financial services. After all, financial services companies have been competing with CPAs in the accounting and tax business for years. Partners selected one owner to become the financial services “guru” for the firm.

The debate on mandatory expensing of stock options moved center stage last week when the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) voted unanimously to require companies to expense employee stock options. It could take up to a year before the final draft is released with the new rule taking effect sometime in 2004. In 1994 the board considered adopting the expensing method but encountered resistance from corporate groups as well as Congressional members. It seems likely that will happen again. Last month, 15 U.S.

The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) announced they have jointly developed a new, broad-based guide to help people affected by natural and man-made disasters recover from financial loss. Disaster Recovery: A Guide to Financial Issues will be offered free of charge by local American Red Cross chapters across the country as a public service to aid people affected by disasters and their families.