The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) appointed Lawrence W. Smith to a five-year term as a member effective July 1, 2007. Smith will replace Edward W. Trott who will retire from the board on June 30, 2007. Board members are appointed by the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF). Smith is currently director of FASB's Technical Application and Implementation Activities, and chairman of the Emerging Issues Task Force. Prior to joining FASB in 2002, Smith worked at KPMG for 25 years. The seven-member FASB is led by Chairman Robert Herz.

Growing risk awareness and recent natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, may have prompted an increasing number of companies to invest in disaster recovery (DR) as part of the business continuity program – but how safe is that investment?Just what, indeed, is being recovered? Few organizations have any real insight into the true extent of their corporate assets. In fact, on average, upwards of 50 percent of assets on the register cannot be located.Not only does this challenge the validity of the DR solution but it also raises huge questions in the event of an insurance claim.

Are you a small-business owner who is finding it more and more difficult to motivate your troops? SmartMoney.com offers five easy tips for kick-starting your crew without busting your budgets.While large corporations with deep pockets can easily dangle bonuses, perks and an array of fancy reward programs (often created by outside consultants) to encourage employees to outperform, you company isn't quite there yet.

Massachusetts, one of the first states to pass a universal health insurance law, requires all residents, including uninsured adults, to purchase some kind of health insurance policy by July 1, 2007 or face a fine; but businesses and individuals will be given until January 1, 2009 to sign on for what the state considers a “minimum standard of care,” the Associated Press reports. The additional time was needed to allow employers, workers and insurers to make the transition to the new standards, which will include prescription drug coverage.

A new study shows that your company’s bad apples have a tendency to spoil your entire corporate culture. KEYGroup founder and president Dr. Joanne G. Sujansky, Ph.D, CSP, offers solutions for managers who don’t know what to do with these problematic employees.Every organization has at least one: that employee, who for whatever reason, behaves as though coming to work is a fate worse than death.

A Santa Rosa tax accounting firm is alerting thousands of clients that their private financial records may be in jeopardy after a key computer was stolen from the office, the Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press-Democrat reported.Terry Brown, owner of Tax Service Plus, said a computer containing the records of his firm's 3,000 to 4,000 clients was missing when he arrived at work March 7 and found a back door broken open.He said he's notifying clients by letter what actions they should take to protect themselves against anyone who tries to use the stolen information to open a fraudulen

Proposals recently issued by the Treasury Department to close the tax gap, which focus on small businesses and the self-employed, would generate only $2.9 billion in revenue, one percent of the estimated total, while they would increase the paperwork requirements on small businesses, and even turn them into tax collectors, bizjournals.com reports. “That’s 1 cent on the dollar,” Senator Max Baucus, (D – Mont.) told Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

A all-star panel of American business and government leaders pushed Tuesday for a rollback in regulations they say are necessary to keep U.S.

Microsoft has announced its plans to launch an online community site for financial professionals, similar to the popular MySpace networking site.Calling it a “MySpace for financial pros,” Microsoft has yet to give the Dynamics Live Beta Community site a more marketable name.The site will be aimed at corporate controllers, finance managers, finance staff and accountants and includes blogs, forums, tagging, RSS syndication and other community-specific features.The news follows Reuters’ recent announcement that, it too, will launch a “MySpace for Finance” in the near future.