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By Ron Baker: Friend of VeraSage Brenda Richter, who maintains her own blog, wrote to ask that I post about this question from a Young CPA to AccountingWeb regarding tax season commitment.
You can see the comment Brenda made on the Site, and here’s what she wrote us:
Read complete post Slaves or Knowledge Workers?
Source: VeraSage, 29 February 2008. 2006 © Verasage Institute. All rights reserved.
By Sarah Johnson: The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is considering whether to bolster its regulations to guide audit-firm reviews of the work that their individual auditors do for client companies. The board also may come up with a new approach to PCAOB policing of auditor abuses.
Under its current rules in this area — all adopted as so-called interim standards from predecessor groups when the board was created under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act — the PCAOB does offer some guidance to an audit partner in overseeing his or her assistants during an engagement.
Read complete article Who's Your Auditor's Boss?
Source: CFO.com, 29 February 2008. © CFO Publishing Corporation 2008. All rights reserved.
By Neil Adler: Midsize accounting firms throughout the region are taking on additional office space to to make room for ongoing staff expansions.
Fueled by increased demand for their services, including audit, business consulting or tax advisory work, local accounting firms are growing, adding new workers, occupying more space and in some cases, opening new locations.
Read complete article Midsize Accounting Firms in Region Bulking Up
Source: Baltimore Business Journal, 27 February 2008. © 2008 American City Business Journals, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved.
By Kevin Freking: By 2017, total health care spending will double to more than $4 trillion a year, accounting for one of every $5 the nation spends, the federal government projects.
The 6.7 percent annual increase in spending - nearly three times the rate of inflation - will be largely driven by higher prices and an increased demand for care, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Monday.
Read complete article Spending on Health to Rise Dramatically
Source: SmartPros, 28 February 2008. © Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
By AccountingWEB: On February 28, 2008, the Board of Trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) announced that, following a public due process period in which 59 comments were received from accounting and financial organizations and others interested in standard setting, it has voted to approve major changes to the oversight, structure, and operations of the FAF and its two standard-setting Boards, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB).
The FAF Trustees are an independent body of leaders with diverse professional backgrounds, including business and financial executives, capital markets and investment professionals, public accountants, securities lawyers, accounting educators, and state and local government officials.
Read complete article Financial Accounting Foundation Announces Major Changes to FAF, FASB, and GASB
Source: AccountingWEB, 28 February 2008. Copyright © 2008 AccountingWEB, Inc. All rights reserved.
By Liz Gold: It's no secret that creating a firmwide disaster recovery plan helps ensure business continuity in the face of crisis, but having one in place could ultimately affect your insurance premiums as well.
Gary Marchitello, managing partner and property practice leader at New York-based Integro Insurance Brokers, said that disaster recovery plans are not mandatory when negotiating premiums.
Read complete article Before the Storm
Source: WebCPA, 25 February 2008. © 2007 WebCPA and SourceMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.
By Sarah Johnson: The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has proposed a new standard that could stave off some of the audit deficiencies found during its inspections of accounting firms.
The new standard would tell firms how to conduct internal evaluations, known as "engagement quality reviews."
Read complete article PCAOB: Auditor, Audit Thyself
Source: CFO.com, 27 February 2008. © CFO Publishing Corporation 2008. All rights reserved.
By WebCPA: The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a proposed FASB Staff Position on the endowments of nonprofit organizations that could have large implications for how they recognize their assets and use donor-restricted funds.
FSP 117-a, "Endowments of Not-for-Profit Organizations: Net Asset Classification of Funds Subject to an Enacted Version of the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act, and Enhanced Disclosures," provides guidance on classifying the net assets and equity associated with donor-restricted endowment funds that are subject to an enacted version of UPMIFA.
Read complete article FASB Proposes Guidance on Nonprofit Endowments
Source: WebCPA, 25 February 2008. © 2007 WebCPA and SourceMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.
By Christopher Wink: Doug Fuhrman lived in Germany for six years while on assignment for accounting firm Deloitte & Touche.
"There were tremendous highs," Fuhrman said. "And there were tremendous lows."
Read complete article Globe-trotting Accountants in Demand
Source: Philadelphia Business Journal, 22 February 2008. © 2008 American City Business Journals, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved.
By Lisa van der Pool: While accounting firms across the state reported strong growth in 2007, a slowing economy and industrywide consolidation has put many on tentative footing as they prepare for the year ahead.
During lean times, struggling companies tend to pare down accounting budgets -- to a point. The fact remains that audits and related accounting support are usually a necessity, even if a company is in a financial pinch.
Read complete article Accounting Firms Gird for Slowdown After Banner '07
Source: Boston Business Journal, 22 February 2008. © 2008 American City Business Journals, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved.
