Accountants Round Up

"CPA as Client Trustee"

By Christopher D. Carico: The family CPA is often the best choice as successor trustee of the family trust.

As a group, CPAs are highly educated, detail oriented, tax-sensitive and cost conscious. Since a trustee’s duties include preparing an annual accounting, filing yearly tax returns, monitoring trust investments and determining distribution amounts to be given to beneficiaries, CPAs ordinarily possess all the needed skills. While it may make the most sense for the family members to select the CPA to act as successor trustee, the same may not be true for the CPA. Before saying “yes,” the CPA should have answers to the following questions:

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Source: WebCPA, 28 July 2009. © 2009 Accountants Media Group and SourceMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

"Financial Crisis Creates Fair Value Skeptics"

By WebCPA Staff: Turmoil in the financial markets has negated the value of fair value accounting, according to more than half the respondents to a new survey.

The survey of financial professionals’ views on fair value accounting by valuation-related service provider Valuation Research Corp. found that a majority of respondents indicated that they believed that market turmoil and the collapse of active markets for many assets caused implementation issues in fair value accounting.

Read complete article Financial Crisis Creates Fair Value Skeptics
Source: WebCPA, 13 July 2009. © 2009 Accountants Media Group and SourceMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

"Getting Started in the World of Social Media"

By Brian Swanson: As a new or young accountant there are a number of responsibilities and challenges on your plate.

Much of your time is dedicated to training on regulations (such as GAAP, tax codes, etc), internal firm processes, the studying for the CPA exam, CPE courses if you are credentialed, not to mention the day-to-day tasks associated with client service and delivery.

And you still need to consider how you will develop your professional network.

Read complete article Getting Started in the World of Social Media
Source: Accounting Tomorrow, 28 July 2009. © 2009 Accountants Media Group and SourceMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

"Accountants Loyal Now, but May Jump Ship When Economy Rebounds"

By AccountingWEB: The accounting profession, when compared to the rest of the U.S. job market, has held up well in terms of job losses, shedding less than 2% of jobs since June 2008. Perhaps as a result, accountants are loyal to their employers with 57% saying they plan to stay with their companies once the economy improves, according to a new survey by Ajilon Finance, a leading specialty finance and accounting recruitment firm, in conjunction with the Institute of Management Accountants' Inside Talk Webinar Series.

Read complete article Accountants Loyal Now, but May Jump Ship When Economy Rebounds
Source: AccountingWEB, 5 August 2009. A Sift Media publication © 2009 Sift Media Limited.

"Help wanted: Accounting PhDs"

Posted by Marge O’Reilly-Allen and David Wagaman: The accounting profession is facing yet another challenge: a severe shortage of doctorally qualified faculty to teach the next generation of accountants. A growing demand for accounting professors has resulted in an inadequate supply of accounting PhDs, and accounting programs are experiencing great difficulty recruiting new faculty members. The situation is growing worse, and will not improve unless both academia and the accounting profession work together to develop long-term solutions.

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Source: AccountingWEB, 27 July 2009. a Sift Media publication © 2009 Sift Media Limited.

"Twitter 101 for Law Firms and Other Businesses: From Twitter"

By Kevin O'Keefe: Twitter reached out to the business community this past week with a Twitter 101 for businesses at business.twitter.com of all places. It's an excellent resource for lawyers and law firms.

Every day, millions of people use Twitter to create, discover and share ideas with others. Now, people are turning to Twitter as an effective way to reach out to businesses, too. From local stores to big brands, and from brick-and-mortar to internet-based or service sector, people are finding great value in the connections they make with businesses on Twitter.

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Source: Real Lawyers Have Blogs, 25 July 2009. Copyright © 2009, LexBlog. All Rights Reserved.

"Despite Slowdown, Accounting Salaries Rising"

By A.E. Feldman: As many industries lose stability amid the economic crisis, the accounting profession is actually weathering the storm. That’s among the findings of a recent survey from the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA). The study shows that accounting salaries are on the rise and demand is growing for professionals with advanced certifications.

Executive search firm, A.E. Feldman, says that accounting firms are in growing demand to assist companies navigating the challenges and opportunities that the current financial environment creates.

Read complete post Despite Slowdown, Accounting Salaries Rising
Source: A.E. Feldman Blog, 13 July 2009. © Copyright A.E. Feldman - All Rights Reserved.

"More Stringent Accounting Ethics Code Released"

By WebCPA Staff: The International Federation of Accountants and the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants have issued a revised Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants that strengthens the independence requirements of auditors.

The revised code, which takes effect on Jan. 1, 2011, extends the independence requirements for audits of listed entities to all "public-interest entities," which are companies that are considered to be of significant public relevance.

Read complete article More Stringent Accounting Ethics Code Released
Source: WebCPA, 10 July 2009. © 2009 Accountants Media Group and SourceMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

"Bye, Bye Batch Processing"

By Trish McIntire: We know the drill. If the taxpayer hasn't received their tax refund by Tuesday, they won't get it until the next week. The IRS mails the checks on Friday because they batch process the returns. Noon on Thursdays the gates open and all the return that have been received since the prior Thursday are admitted to the processing queue. A return arriving at 2pm on Thursday will sit for a week. This system was in place when all returns were mailed and has continued with e-filed returns. In fact, the IRS publishes a chart each year, the Refund Cycle Chart, I use to tell clients when to expect their refund.

This will be changing next year with the introduction of Modernized e-File (MeF).

Read complete post Bye, Bye Batch Processing
Source: Our Taxing Times, 28 July 2009.

"Computerized CPA Exam Reaches One Million Mark"

By AccountingWEB: The computerized Uniform CPA Examination has achieved one million administrations, according to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, National Association of State Boards of Accountancy and Prometric, the three parties in charge of the exam.

"The significance of the one millionth exam section transcends the milestone itself," said Barry Melancon, AICPA president and CEO. "More people are sitting for the CPA exam because the CPA profession has enjoyed unprecedented growth as an attractive career choice. Our research shows that colleges and universities are awarding more bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting than at any other time in history."

Read complete article Computerized CPA Exam Reaches One Million Mark
Source: AccountingWEB, 8 July 2009. Copyright © 2009 AccountingWEB, Inc. All rights reserved.