The second quarter results for growth in the U.S. economy demonstrate that once again the U.S. economy grew substantially over the previous period. The total growth was a 5.6 percent increase.The increase was attributed to three factors: a decrease in consumer spendingan increase in the investments made by American companies an increase in spending by the Federal governmentCompany spending included durable goods like computers as well as increases in inventory levels.

The European Union has rejected a U.S. plan to create tax breaks for U.S. exports, stating that the plan violates World Trade Organization rules. The WTO has threatened sanctions and tariffs if the U.S. doesn’t come up with a viable alternative to the offshore tax havens now available to U.S. companies.Presently, under the auspices of the Foreign Sales Corporation program, many U.S.

There's been a lot of business at the Fogdog sporting goods web site as customers are rewarded for making purchases with a plethora of free offers. And the Fogdog income statement looked great - all of the company's promotional items and shipping expenses were categorized as marketing expense, making the gross margin at Fogdog look pretty appealing.Apparently the practice is pretty widespread among start-up Internet companies trying to boost profit margins to attract investors.

Loss of investor confidence in dotcom companies has created a mini-boom for insolvency practitioners, according to British financial recovery and restructuring specialists, Kroll Buchler Phillips.The firm, known for its high-profile work with ailing British football clubs, has been at the forefront of the Internet insolvency boom."We've moved on from football," said Kroll Buchler Phillips business recovery partner Lee Manning.

In a letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) signed by members of the Association for Financial Professionals, the Association warned that an impending FASB ruling will cause a dangerous slowdown to merger activity and may restrict U.S. economic growth. The warning is based on results of a survey conducted by AFP of its members.

AccountingWEB has run several stories over the past few months on compensation methods, ways to hire and retain employees, and other facets of the HR process. Now, a story from USA Today goes into the psychological aspects of some new recruits being paid more than seasoned professionals.Known as 'Pay Envy,' workers in companies throughout N.

Reports gathered from the Federal Reserve Bank's 12 regional banks indicate that the economy slowed down during the spring and early summer periods.However, analysts predict this, combined with a projected slower pace in the late summer/early fall, will not be enough to convince the Fed to increase the interest rate.During June and July, the Fed specifically recorded slower pace in consumer spending, manufacturing and construction.This report comes on the heels of a story publish

Traditional methods of accounting don't begin to capture the value of knowledge, relationships, and intellectual property that exist in today's business environment. Employees are hired and retained, not just for the hours of robotic-type service spent on an assembly line, but for the intrinsic value they bring to a company through their brain power, connections, skills, and personal resources. Barry Libert, a director with Arthur Andersen, sees the traditional accounting methods as being outdated for the New Economy.

Led by Hewlett-Packard (Carly Florina, CEO), the nation’s 13th largest company, the Bloomberg list of 30 top women-run companies has far exceeded the Dow and demonstrates that women executives are in no danger of not being taken seriously.The list of the top 30 companies run by women also includes such notables as Avon (Andrea Jung, CEO), World Wrestling Federation Entertainment (Linda McMahon, CEO), Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (Martha Stewart, CEO), eBay (Meg Whitman, CEO), and Advent Software (Stephanie DiMarco, CEO).The Dow Jones Industrial Average is made up of 30 companies whi