Ex-Ernst (non-CPA) Partner Succeeds McDonough
Washington, D.C., (SEC)- SEC Chairman Christopher Cox announced today that Federal Reserve Board Governor Mark W. Olson has been appointed Chairman of the five-member Public Company Accounting Oversight Board until 2010. READ MORE →
… On a CD platter, that is. One St. Louis CPA takes his clients a step closer to paperless.
by Rick Telberg
At Large
Every year after tax season, Joe Eckelkamp convenes a full-day off-site “debriefing day” with the staff of his St. Louis CPA firm. “We discuss what we did right, did wrong, want to change or want to keep the same,” he says.
At last year’s meeting, they decided to reduce the paper processed in the office and to enhance the client’s tax-return package with paperless alternatives. Indeed, all but five of the firms were e-filing.
Eckelkamp’s tax prep package, one of the market leaders, already provided more than enough paperless capability. But he wanted to move slowly, adopting a three-year plan to go paperless with clients, whether that meant online, e-mail, PDF, CD or some new media yet to be discovered.
This year, for the 2006 filing season, Phase 1 was launched. READ MORE →
All this fuss about English as an official national language is hilarious…
by Bruce Marcus
…particularly when there are a remarkable number of native Americans who speak it poorly, and write it as if it were a second language.
Lawyers are notoriously bad about writing, particularly those who think a simple communication must be written as if it were a delicate legal document. I once rewrote a brief that had been written in pure legalese. I did it in English. We won. The judge understood and appreciated it.
IRS Commissioner Testifies before Senate Committee on Finance on Compliance Concerns Relative to Large and Mid-Size Businesses
Written Testimony of Commissioner of Internal Revenue Mark Everson
June 13, 2006
Good morning, Mr. Chairman, ranking Member Baucus and members of the Senate Committee on finance. It is my pleasure to be with you this morning to discuss compliance issues relative to large and mid-size businesses. These types of issues are handled by our Large and Mid-Size Business Division (LMSB), one of four operating divisions at the IRS.
I want to thank you and all of the Members of the Committee for your interest in the issues I am going to talk about today. I also want to thank you for the support you have demonstrated in the past for our work to rebalance the IRS? enforcement efforts with our service improvements, including some very helpful provisions that were contained in the American Jobs Creation Act. A number of these provisions are directly relevant to LMSB?s taxpayer base and to programs which are administered by LMSB, such as the tax shelter work performed by the Office of Tax Shelter Analysis.
LMSB?s taxpayer base, though small in number relative to the overall taxpayer population, consists of the largest businesses in the United States, including corporations, sub-chapter S corporations, and partnerships with assets greater than $10 million, including over 6,100 publicly traded companies. LMSB taxpayers most recently filed approximately 176,000 income tax returns, and while the overall large business population base remains relatively stable in number, we continue to see an increase in complex business structures and pass-through return filings.
LMSB taxpayers are sophisticated, well-capitalized, well-organized, and adept at planning. Particularly in the case of public companies, they are driven to show high after-tax profitability to shareholders in a very competitive and complex economic environment. They have the resources and willingness to aggressively defend and contest tax positions. READ MORE →
… At Practitioners Symposium 2006
AICPA CEO Barry Melancon talks about credentialing during a wide-ranging state-of-the-world report with 2005-2006 Chair Leslie Murphy at Practitioners Symposium in Las Vegas.
Here’s a tidbit worth re-citing: three times as many CPAs are retiring these days as are entering the profession. Retirement attrition stands at 16.5%. Growth from new entrants: 5.5%.
Blogs may be the talk of the nation, but it’s all the “little things” that count.
by Rick Telberg
At Large
Not too long ago, the accounting profession was actually debating whether CPA firms could or should “do” marketing.
It was a silly debate. Every business — even a CPA business — starts with a sale. No sale: No business. So marketing was always part of the profession. Many just didn’t want to deal with the fact — or know how to.
Today, some still don’t want to deal with marketing. Don’t worry about them. They’ll be out of business soon enough.
But there’s a new cadre of CPA firms who do understand what marketing means. And these are the ones you need to watch. READ MORE →
Trend gains momentum with help from tech companies.
By Rick Telberg
Techno-pundits have been predicting the demise of office paper for decades. The noise has gotten louder in recent years, as computers have become ubiquitous in business and personal life.
For the first time, it appears that accountants in public practice are actually achieving the paperless office, at least from the technological standpoint. The jury is still out on whether or not the technology will be widely embraced and accepted, though the AICPA membership voted it one of the Top Technologies for 2006.
To a large extent, paperless technology is being driven by the IRS, which hopes that its e-filing program will eventually encompass almost all tax returns regardless of the entity that they refer to. After all, every return submitted electronically is one that the IRS doesn’t have to key, and that not only saves plenty of money, but puts the onus of errors on the preparer. That, in turn, has forced the tax research publishers and tax preparation software manufacturers to add paperless functionality to their packages. READ MORE →
