A study released last week by the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) of the House of Representatives points out problems with the current law requiring mandatory withdrawals from retirement plans which, in a declining stock market, result in seniors being required to reduce their retirement holdings much faster than they originally anticipated.Hefty penalties on non-mandated withdrawals from Individual Retirement Accounts and other tax-deferred accounts such as 401(k)s discourage seniors from withdrawing their money when the market conditions are conducive to sound investment strategy.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled last Friday that the European Union (EU) has the right to impose trade sanctions amounting to $4.043 billion on the U.S. to make up for tax breaks given to U.S. corporations that export products to European countries.The issue at task is a situation that occurs when a U.S.

PricewaterhouseCoopers' "Trendsetter Barometer" interviewed CEOs of 407 product and service companies identified in the media as the fastest growing U.S. businesses over the last five years. The surveyed companies range in size from approximately $5 million to $100 million in revenue/sales. More than two-thirds of America's fastest growing companies don't know what they are worth, according to the latest "Trendsetter Barometer" from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Only 29 percent of surveyed "Trendsetter" companies report having a current valuation.

By Robert G. Epstein, CPA, President and CEO, CareerBank.comIs Auditor Independence really the answer that will make it all work? This is an age-old question of the accounting world, and there are no easy answers. In simpler times, the fear of being publicly humiliated by losing your CPA license and having to sit for the 3-day exam again was enough to keep most CPAs clean. Well, times have certainly changed! With auditor independence and the Enron-Andersen issue dominating industry discussions, that no longer seems to be the case.

The 2002 Forbes' 16th annual world's billionaire ranking is out. In 2001, there were 538 billionaires, and in 2002, that number dropped to just 497, what a shame. No surprise, Bill Gates, Founder, Chairman and Chief Software Architect of Microsoft remains in the number one position where he has been for five years running.

Questions about accounting at IBM resulted in analysts expressing worries about the value of Big Blue's stock, and the resulting ripple sent the Dow Jones industrial average down 1.6 percent on Tuesday. IBM share prices dropped to below $100 on Tuesday after a report in Friday's New York Times raised the issue of how the earnings on a $300 million gain were reported to shareholders.

By Bruce Katcher - You can't pick up the newspaper today without reading about yet another organization that has decided to improve their bottom line by conducting a major layoff. Layoffs, however, have many negative consequences. There are huge financial costs associated with layoffs including legal fees, severance packages, outplacement expenses, increased unemployment insurance, damaged customer relationships, and negative public relations.  

While Congress is mulling over the possibility of offering a holiday from Social Security tax for the month of January as an impetus to stimulating the economy, the American Payroll Association warns that such a tax hiatus would wreak havoc with payroll tax return filing requirements, payroll calculations, and payroll software programs."This is not a political assessment, but one based on the realities of processing payroll and maintaining compliance.

A Congressional push for legislation that would stimulate holiday shopping by providing a national sales tax holiday has met with delays that will likely prevent the holiday from occurring before the end of the year.Although many Senators favor the proposed amendment to a national economic stimulus package, the topic probably won't be discussed in the Senate again until later this week at the earliers.