CPA Trendlines

Louisville Firm Re-Orgs for Corporate Structure

Jones, Nale & Mattingly Restructures “to Enhance Growth and Client Service”

LOUISVILLE, K.Y., — Jones, Nale & Mattingly PLC says it is is transitioning from a traditional partnership structure to a corporate model. The firm has created a Board of Directors that is responsible for managing the overall direction of the organization. The board has the authority to develop policies and strategies that are designed to achieve the firm’s mission and vision.

By streamlining its business structure and clearly defining leadership responsibilities, Jones, Nale & Mattingly says it will be able to more effectively manage client relationships and service teams going forward.

As part of the restructuring, the firm announced that R. Wayne Stratton, CPA/ABV/CFE/CrFA, has been named Chair of the Board. In his new role, Mr. Stratton, who has over 35 years of experience with JNM, is responsible for the overall management of the Board of Directors.

“This new structure clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of our leadership,” said Wayne Stratton. “The structure promotes innovation and enhances our ability to proactively provide comprehensive, strategic financial solutions for our clients. This is a natural next step toward maximizing the potential of our firm.”

The firm also announced that Jon Meyer has been appointed Chief Executive Officer, charged with implementing the policies of the board and managing the day to day operations of the organization. In his role as CEO, Mr. Meyer will report to the board regarding matters of policy.

“Our firm is dedicated to serving middle market companies and their families throughout Kentucky, wherever they need help around the globe,” Jon Meyer said. “This new structure is a continuation of our long-held approach to provide clients — our neighbors — with simple access to the products, service and expertise they need to guide their business and financial success.”

In addition to the appointments of Stratton and Meyer, the firm announced the following members of the company’s board of directors:
— David Price, Technology Director
— Ken Lear, Audit Director
— Dennis Martin, Tax Director READ MORE →

CCH Rolls Out CCH@Hand Version 2.0

RIVERWOODS, Ill. (from a press release)? CCH has released Version 2.0 of CCH@Hand?, an application that speeds and integrates tax research with the workflows of accountants, tax preparers and lawyers. READ MORE →

Age Discrimination Visible, but U.S. Businesses Urge Older Workers to Stay on the Job

National Study Suggests Many Keep Working Out of Financial Necessity

NEW YORK (from a press release) — While nearly a quarter (23 percent) of the U.S. workforce knows of an older worker who has been denied a job, promotion or raise because of age, more than twice as many businesses encourage older workers to stay on the job than to retire early.

According to a national Hudson survey, 38 percent of workers say their organizations keep older workers because they are difficult to replace, compared to 15 percent whose firms want to make way for younger workers. READ MORE →

Three-quarters of Employees Looking for New Jobs, Says New Survey

Companies Are Trying to Retain Employees As They Take Flight For New Career Opportunities

Alexandria, Va., (Press Release) ? Seventy-six percent of employees are looking for new employment opportunities, according to the 2005 U.S. Job Recovery and Retention Survey by the Society for Human Resource Management and CareerJournal.com. Sixty-five percent of HR professionals were concerned about the voluntary resignations at their organizations. To prevent a mass exodus, almost half of the organizations are implementing special retention processes to keep their employees. READ MORE →

CPAs Still Learning Lessons from Grade School: The Hard Way

Accountant pleads guilty in Roslyn schools theft scandal

ROSLYN, N.Y. — Andrew Miller, 56, the outside accountant hired for bookkeeping at the super-affluent Roslyn, Long Island, school district, has admitted to sneaking into the district’s office to help cover up the alleged theft by administrators of $11.2 million in public money, and pleaded guilty to a felony charge of tampering with public records. The case led to a statewide overhaul of school-district financial reporting rules. Miller will get no more than 6 months in prison and 5 years of probation when he is sentenced Jan. 11.
READ MORE →

Sage Launches BusinessVision 7.0

Major upgrade with over 100 advanced feature enhancements

Pleasanton, Calif. (News Release) – Sage Software announced today that the new U.S. version of its award-winning business management solution for growing small businesses, Sage BusinessVision 7.0, is now available. This release includes over 100 enhancements to the application, such as expanded database tables and fields, a new user interface for improved ease-of-use, a new database for faster performance, better data management capabilities, and easier third-party application integration, plus extensive new reporting features. READ MORE →

PayCycle Adds Two Financial Institution Partners

NCR and FedComp Now Offer the PayCycle Online Payroll Service

PALO ALTO, Calif. — PayCycle, a leader in on-demand payroll, today announced two new partnerships designed to further extend its reach to small businesses via financial institutions.

Through PayCycle’s partnership with NCR Corporation’s eCommerce organization, NCR’s community bank customers will be able to provide their small business users access to the PayCycle payroll service directly from their Web sites. FedComp, the largest provider of data processing and credit union accounting systems, will offer PayCycle within its market-leading credit union software which serves over 2,500 credit unions nationwide.

Earlier this year, PayCycle announced similar partnerships with Digital Insight, the leading consumer and business online banking provider for banks and credit unions, and BancSource, a provider of banking services throughout 8 western states.

READ MORE →

Scott Taub Designated as Acting Chief Accountant

Washington, D.C. – Scott Taub, who has served as the SEC’s deputy chief accountant since September 2002, has been named Acting Chief Accountant for the SEC, succeeding Donald Nicolaisen.

SEC chief Christopher Cox still needs to fill several key posts, including that of PCAOB chairman.

Before joining the SEC, Taub was a partner in the Professional Standards Group of Arthur Andersen in Chicago. He also served as a professional accounting fellow with the SEC’s Office of Chief Accountant from June 1999 through June 2001, and is a 1990 graduate of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. READ MORE →

SAP: Small Business Likes ‘Little GAAP’

Overwhelming Majority Favors Separate Compliance Standards for Small Businesses Versus Large Enterprises

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Penn. (from SAP) — Nearly half of all small companies feel that Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) regulation has made it harder for them to successfully conduct business, according to a recent study commissioned by SAP America, Inc., a subsidiary of SAP AG (NYSE: SAP). The study, which comes on the heels of a decision by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to delay compliance requirements for small businesses by one year, brings to light the opinions and difficulties faced by small-business decision-makers managing SOX-related processes at public and private small businesses nationwide. More than two-thirds of all small businesses favor differing sets of compliance standards for small and large companies, while others are outsourcing or cutting back in areas such as marketing, research and personnel to meet compliance demands. READ MORE →

Surge Seen in Outsourced Finance and Accounting

With financial executives off-loading finance work to accounting firms, both sides may be profiting.

by Rick Telberg
At Large

You’d better watch out. Companies are looking for you? big companies. And they want to hit you with some money? big money. Why you? Because you’re an accountant. You know money. Finance. Numbers. Technology. You can be trusted with somebody else’s payroll. Their accounts receivable. Their payables. Their purchasing, revenue accounting, general accounting. These are the activities that big companies most often outsource, and lately they’ve been outsourcing like never before. READ MORE →