Dennis R. Reigle Joins AICPA As Director of Academic and Career Development

New York, NY, July 31, 2006-The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants announces that Dennis R. Reigle will be joining the AICPA as Director of Academic and Career Development.

Reigle previously was Managing Partner, Partner Matters and Human Resources-mericas at Arthur Andersen LLP, before taking early retirement in August, 2001, as well as eing responsible for Andersen’s recruiting and university relations effort for more than a ecade. Currently, Reigle serves as a part-time career coach for students in the MBA Program at orthwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg School of Management.

Reigle has volunteered extensively within the accounting profession, including as resident of Beta Alpha Psi, as Vice President (Practice) of the American Accounting ssociation, as a board member of the Federation of Schools of Accountancy, as a member of he AICPA Academic and Career Development Executive Committee, and as a member of
several committees of the AACSB-International. n his new role, Reigle will be located at the AICPA’s Durham, NC office.

“We are elighted to have Denny join us,” Barry C. Melancon, President and CEO of the AICPA, said. He is held in high esteem in the accounting profession and has the breadth of experience and xpertise to lead the AICPA’s academic and career development initiatives. Among our highest riorities are recruiting and retaining talented people into the profession and ensuring the availability of qualified accounting faculty. In addition, Denny’s team will lead our AICPA
Foundation, diversity, and work-life programs.”

Reigle is a member of the board of trustees of numerous educational organizations, ncluding the Graduate Management Admission Council, where he is Chairman, the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and the Wake Forest Calloway School Board of Visitors, as well as former Board Chairman of AIESEC-US, Inc., which is an international work
exchange organization dedicated to increasing cultural understanding. He was also an honorary ember of the National Council of INROADS, Inc., a not-for-profit career development rganization for minority students. He currently is a member of the Dominican University School of Business Board of Advisors.

Additionally, Reigle was the first corporate member to be inducted into the National Association of Colleges & Employers’ Academy of NACE Fellows. He was twice honored with The Federation of Schools of Accountancy Practitioner Service Award, in recognition of his efforts on behalf of post-baccalaureate accounting education.

Reigle received his B.S. Degree from the University of Cincinnati and his MBA from arvard University. He will join the AICPA in January 2007.

Posted on July 31, 2006
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | Leave a Comment

Finance Managers Rule the Roost

They may be the real decision-makers in hiring, firing CPA firms.
Are YOU the gatekeeper?

by Rick Telberg
At Large

When companies go looking for a new audit or accounting firm, who decides which to pick? If you ask a corporate CPA, you’ll get one answer. If you ask a CPA, you’ll probably get another. Want to wager on who’s right? We know where we’d put our money.

Click to browse more from the AICPA Insider

Read more

Posted on July 30, 2006
Filed Under BSG FINANCE PROFESSIONAL | 2 Comments

Citrin Cooperman Launches 1st NYC-area Blog

Mike Rhodes

Blog Targets Corporate Governance Niche

The blog, at www.corporategovernanceblog.com, is the brainchild of partner Mike Rhodes, who spearheaded creation of the firm’s corporate governance practice in 2004, according to the firm. Rhodes has more than 15 years experience dealing with governance issues at a Big Six accounting firm, a publicly traded firm and now at Citrin Cooperman. In the blog, Rhodes comments on issues such as executive compensation, board composition, and internal controls.

Want to know what Rhodes thinks of the new SEC chief accountant?
Read more

Posted on July 27, 2006
Filed Under BSG BUSINESS BUILDER | Leave a Comment

Prestige Professions? Accounting Bounces Back

Accountants score 17% in Harris poll, recover from Enron-era low

Still, accountants, at 17%, join real estate brokers (6%), stockbrokers (11%), business executives (11%), actors (12%), union leaders (12%), journalists (12%) bankers (17%), and entertainers (18%) at the lowest ratings for “very great prestige.” To be sure, the poll doesn’t measure perceptions of integrity.

Six occupations get top ratings, with “very great” prestige: firefighters (63%), doctors (58%), nurses (55%), scientists (54%), teachers (52%) and military officers (51%). They are followed by police officers (43%) and priests/ministers/clergymen (40%).

Key trends over the last 29 years:
● Those who see teachers as having “very great” prestige has risen 23 points from 29 to 52 percent.
● Those who say lawyers have “very great” prestige has fallen 15 points, from 36 to 21 percent.
● Scientists have fallen 12 points from 66 to 54 percent.
● Business executives have fallen seven points from 18 to 11 percent.
● Doctors have fallen three points from 61 to 58 percent.
● Athletes have also fallen three points from 26 to 23 percent.

For the record, pollsters asked: “I am going to read off a number of different occupations. For each, would you tell me if you feel it is an occupation of very great prestige, considerable prestige, some prestige or hardly any prestige at all?” 1,020 adults were counted.

Read more

Posted on July 26, 2006
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | Leave a Comment

Cross-Dressing IRS Agent Gets Probation in Fraud Case

Judge cites “gender confusion” as factor in sentencing

SCRANTON, Pa. ? A cross-dressing IRS agent who used his daughter?s identification to obtain credit was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to two years? probation, according to the Leader newspaper. A U.S. District judge cited Edward Snarski?s ?gender confusion? as a factor in imposing the sentence.

Snarski was as a special agent in the IRS criminal investigation unit in Scranton when a grand jury indicted him in 2002 on charges stemming from his scheme to pose as Erica Edwards, a fictitious person, using his daughter?s Social Security number to obtain $22,463 in credit from four banks and a mail-order clothing store.

Snarski initially argued he had been unfairly targeted because he was a cross-dresser preparing to undergo a sex change. A judge denied the motion. So Snarski pleaded guilty in January to one count of misuse of a Social Security number. The other charges were dropped in exchange for the plea. The maximum possible sentence for the offense was five years in prison, but sentencing guidelines called for a sentence of no prison time to up to six months in prison.
Read more

Posted on July 26, 2006
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | Leave a Comment

HP Readies Data Storage Geared for SMBs

For the $5,000-to-$10,000 Customer

HP is unveiling a new family of networked storage, code-named Atlanta, aimed at the small- and mid-size businesses (SMBs) that still rely on direct-attached storage. The products combine networked-attached storage (NAS) and storage-area network (SAN) functionality, and will have built-in data-protection software. Release is set for September. SMBs may spend between $5,000 and $10,000 for a complete storage solution, according to HP research. Other vendors adding SMB storage solutions include EMC, with its Insignia line, and Network Appliance, with its StoreVault line.
Read more

Posted on July 25, 2006
Filed Under BSG MARKETPLACE - Products, Services and Vendors | Leave a Comment

Worth a Look: MFA CPAs’ New Website

Check out http://www.mfa-cpa.com.

Moody, Famiglietti & Andronico LLP in North Andover, Mass., a 10-partner firm, is doing a few things worth noting:
1) Client profiles and client-centric news updates on the home page.
2) Regularly-changing content
3) Top Ten Reasons Why Clients Choose MFA, here.

One quibble: We love the picture of the serene snow scene on the home page, but it’s July. A Web site is an ongoing commitment. It needs to be fed, watered, nurtured, updated and changed regularly. MFA is off to a good start.

Got a site you’d like us to see? Send it here. Read more

Posted on July 25, 2006
Filed Under BSG BUSINESS BUILDER | Leave a Comment

CPAs Needed on the Technology Frontline

Small and mid-sized businesses turn to their accountants for guidance in business software.
What do CPAs really want in accounting software?

by Rick Telberg
At Large

[This article has been cited by AS411.]

A new review of the market for accounting software reads in many ways like a manifesto for accountants to mobilize.

First and foremost, the report, authored by market researchers at the Yankee Group, found that when deciding which software application to buy, all sectors of the small and mid-sized business arena place greater value on the opinions of accountants than those of technology consultants. The accountants’ opinions are particularly more important at businesses with fewer than 100 employees.

Browse the CPA Insider archive.

Read more

Posted on July 24, 2006
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | 4 Comments

How’s Morale at Your Office?

The solution to staff shortages and turnover may be closer than you care to look. How’s does YOUR office rate?

by Rick Telberg
On Careers

No doubt about it: the CPA profession offers a great career. It offers opportunity, challenge and reward like few others.

But linger a while at the water cooler and you’ll hear some complaints. To be sure, misgivings and nay-saying are common in any workplace. But with the profession’s recruiting and retention issues, morale deserves special attention. Staff attitude is no longer an internal management issue; today it’s a strategic factor in remaining competitive.

So we’ve set out to find those cases in which a firm or company, boss or supervisor, or even the CPA or a co-worker can make a difference.

Read more

Posted on July 19, 2006
Filed Under BSG FINANCE PROFESSIONAL | 1 Comment

Should Tax Advice Be Patented?

Maybe It’s Too Late to Ask

The U.S. Patent Office has already issued 41 patents for tax strategies and there are 61 more applications in the pipeline, according to James Toupin, General Counsel, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

And neither the Patent Office nor the IRS think it’s a good idea, according to a report from RIA, the tax research company.

Toupin and IRS chief Mark Everson were two of a number of witnesses testifying at a hearing of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures titled “Issues Relating to the Patenting of Tax Advice.”

In an overview of the issues, the Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation said: “Patents have increasingly been sought and issued for various tax-related claimed inventions, including strategies for reducing a taxpayer’s taxes. Patented tax strategies that have attracted recent attention include methods that purport to reduce taxes in connection with wealth transfers such as estate and gift planning as well as other situations.”

GET THE FULL REPORT HERE: “Background and Issues Relating to the Patenting of Tax Advice” (JCX-31-06) (pdf).

Commissioner Everson frets that the public may think a patented tax strategy means IRS approves of the strategy. In fact, he noted, a patented tax strategy carries no weight with IRS in assessing compliance with the tax law. He also expressed concern that tax patents place an increased burden on tax professionals, according to an RIA report.

Ellen Aprill, Associate Dean at Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, said that the “proliferation of tax strategy patents would change and burden tax practice.” Download her complete testimony.

See the list of patents and patents pending.

Read more

Posted on July 19, 2006
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | Leave a Comment

Top 6 Backup Strategies for Accountants

The best assurance is storing your data offsite.

By Rick Telberg
for Hewlett Packard

Everyone knows how important it is to back up important files and applications, but many accountants still don’t have a comprehensive and coherent approach to this vital task. The plain truth of the matter is that backup is usually inconvenient, not very effective, or both.

Among accountants, the most common methods include backing up to a network hard drive, optical discs, or possibly a portable hard drive. Any finance manager using one of these methods on a regular basis is already ahead of the game.

Read more

Posted on July 18, 2006
Filed Under BSG BUSINESS BUILDER | Leave a Comment

Does ‘Corporate America’ Really Understand?

It depends on who you ask — auditors harbor more doubts than preparers.

by Rick Telberg
At Large

While CPAs in general believe that Corporate America has room for improvement when it comes to meeting the public’s expectations, those in business and industry tend to take a slightly more optimistic view than their counterparts in public accounting, according to our latest soundings.

When asked whether Corporate America fully understands and is properly responding to the public’s expectations for honesty and fairness, more of those respondents who work in business or industry believe that Corporate America “gets it.”

Click on logo to browse the AICPA Insider archive

Read more

Posted on July 17, 2006
Filed Under BSG FINANCE PROFESSIONAL | 3 Comments

Is Grassley Feeding Corn to Iowa LIFO-backers?

George White of the AICPA reports today in the Tax Insider that LIFO may be on “life support.” He says the double whammy of a revenue-minded Senate and global-minded FASB could be trouble.

But we’ve heard that there’s more to the story. There’s an anecdote floating around Washington about a meeting a few weeks ago between Sen. Grassley (R-Iowa) and several of his Iowa constituents who oppose LIFO repeal. Grassley reportedly indicated that he is not personally behind the LIFO proposal; that it got started as a result of a misunderstanding between him and Sen. Frist (R-Tenn.). Grassley said that the LIFO proposal came up during consideration of the energy bill this spring when the oil & gas industry was the target. The LIFO proposal was the same one as last fall: repeal limited to the oil & gas industry. Grassley said he objected, saying he was opposed to targeted punitive measures, and adding that if LIFO repeal was to be considered, it should be across-the-board. Grassley told his constituents that Frist misinterpreted this throwaway line as representing Grassley’s support for across-the-board LIFO repeal.

As our source remarked: “Sounds a little pat, but that’s the story Grassley fed his constituents.”

Read more

Posted on July 13, 2006
Filed Under BSG [CPA TRENDLINES] | Leave a Comment

keep looking »