The Internal Revenue Service has issued a consumer alert regarding a new, two-step e-mail scam that falsely promises recipients they will receive $80 for participating in an online customer satisfaction survey.In the scam, an unsuspecting taxpayer receives an unsolicited e-mail that appears to come from the IRS. The e-mail contains a URL linking to an online "Member Satisfaction Survey.""We have seen many e-mail scams using the IRS name," IRS Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support Linda Stiff said. "The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers through e-mail.

Have you ever noticed that IT professionals are grumpy? I think that part of the reason is because they never get calls like this: "Hey IT guy, just calling to say that everything is working okay today and you're a great guy!" The calls are typically more like this: "Hey IT guy, why is it that the only messages our spam filter filters out are our sales leads? Luckily, however, it does let all the Viagra ads through, which is good because it gives us something to read while we're not selling anything.

"This is a very, very good time for the accounting profession," said Elaine Weiss, president and CEO of the Illinois CPA Society, kicking off the Society's 27th annual Business & Technology Solutions Show in the opening keynote address.Weiss's commentary on the state of the profession included descriptions of bulging accounting classrooms, professor shortages, professional challenges being addressed and met, and concerns about succession planning as the aging Baby Boom generation accountants approach retirement.After reminding her audience that they might be competing for business with a

With managers experiencing meeting overload, Bert van der Zwan of WebEx gives a web-conferencer’s view of why having fewer face-to-face encounters can benefit both companies and their staff. How many meetings do you attend every month? For some of us it may only be one or two, but for others a meeting every or every other day would not be an unusual state of affairs. Recent research on the subject found that on average, each working person in the UK attends almost eight meetings every month, and over 90 every year.

New Yorkers braved the heat one day last week to take advantage of the opportunity to record free online video resumes, when the world's first career TV-website, CareerTV.com, launched big in Times Square."It felt a bit weird doing it.

Californian computer maker Apple has launched one of its cheekiest attacks yet on the might of Microsoft with a new software bundle designed to challenge the might of Office.The iWork '08 suite introduced alongside the latest slimline iMac computers includes the Pages word processor, a presentation package called Keynote and Numbers, a rival to Microsoft Excel.This being Apple, Numbers is not being presented as just another spreadsheet, but a new approach that in the words of chief executive Steve Jobs i

Microsoft Corp. has announced plans to offer Microsoft Works, its diluted version of the Office product, to customers for free next year. Works version 9 SE will be loaded on a limited number of new computers. The catch? The program will come with advertising already installed.Display ads will appear in the lower corners of the screen when users turn on the program. The ads will update and change automatically in the background, while the user is online.

With the line between work and the rest of your life becoming blurrier every day, technology seems to make workers both more and less productive at the same time.Computer tools can make quick work of once-tedious accounting tasks, for example, but they also make it easier to buy a paperback, chat with friends by instant message or balance your personal checkbook while at the office.

On August 21-22, the Illinois CPA Society will host its 27th annual Business & Technology Solutions Show at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL. The Show will take a closer look at the hottest issues facing accounting and finance professionals and showcase the latest business technologies to help stay ahead of the competition. The event will provide innovative solutions from approximately 120 industry-leading exhibitors.