“Charity begins at home” is a popular phrase often used to encourage donations to local charities. But for a nation nearly 1 million people immigrated to and more than half a million new American citizens were naturalized in 2004 alone, according to Department of Homeland Security statistics, home may not always be the United States. Even Americans who are born here may have strong connections to other countries or feel compelled to contribute to foreign charities in the wake of such disasters as tsunamis and earthquakes.

BP, followed by competitor Royal Dutch Shell Group and telecom provider Vodafone, top the 2005 Accountability Rating, a corporate rating of the world's 100 biggest grossing companies.Advertisement

Thirteen percent of Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) at Canadian companies expect to add staff during the fourth quarter of 2005 according to the latest Robert Half International Financial Hiring Index. Only 2 percent of those surveyed expect to reduce staffing levels while 82 percent do not expect any change to current staffing levels.“Businesses are adding accounting and finance personnel to support new system upgrades and business expansion,” Jeff Holloway, a vice-president of Robert Half International said in announcing the findings.

The US and Mexico have reached agreement (the “Agreement”) regarding the eligibility of fiscally transparent entities for benefits under the Convention Between the United States of America and the Government of the United Mexican States for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxation, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The Agreement “specifies the cases where fiscally transparent entities are entitled to treaty benefits and clarifies the procedure for claiming treaty benefits from Mexico,” the IRS reports.

Farmers across the country are racing against time to save at least part of a devastating harvest season.In the gulf states that were directly impacted by the fury of Hurricane Katrina, farmers are rushing to save dying cattle, restore electricity and find scarce, and expensive, diesel fuel. Farmers in the breadbasket states need to move their corn, soybeans and wheat to export markets, but the just-opened Port of New Orleans is a transportation bottleneck. The American Farm Bureau Federation predicts $2 billion in damage to farmers nationwide, the New York Times reported.

Not every financial-accountability software solution can claim to change how countries work. The Government Accountability Solutions from FreeBalance can. And it is finding a niche in developing countries as well as those undergoing reconstruction or restructuring.“What we do is combine multiple bank accounts in one, automate it and divide (fiscal) responsibility so one person can’t control everything,” Bruce Lazenby, President and CEO of FreeBalance told the Business Edge (Ontario, Canada). “This leaves a trail for an auditor.

The Ordre des comptables generaux licencies du Quebec (CGA) and the Ordre des comptables en management accredites du Quebec (CMA) yesterday signed a partnership agreement on professional development.

XBRL, which stands for eXtensible Business Reporting Language, is a language for electronic communication of business and financial data. Although it is not yet the language of business, there are signs that it will be in the future. Most of the discussions about XBRL up to this point have been highly technical and not much use when talking about or even describing XBRL to non-technical staff, let alone clients. That is where this white paper The Business Case for XBRL from UBmatrix, comes in.

New research shows that pension plans in the United States (US) are four times more likely to be fully funded than occupational in the United Kingdom (UK). In a company press release, Aon Consulting reports that only 5 percent of UK pension plans are fully funded compared to 20 percent of US pension plans for year-end 2004 based on company annual reports.