Most practitioners did as well or better than last year, according to survey.
Here’s your sneak peek of the results, tabulated in real-time. As always, thanks to the participants for joining the survey panel. We’ll keep you posted
When problems first emerged in the sub-prime debt market, no-one was prepared to recognize the scale of the impact. In reality, we all looked for reasons why the problem would not be contagious.
Should accountants and auditors have identified these issues? Should regulators have realized the vulnerability of banks’ capital and reserves? Should governments have recognized that a problem in one bank would affect others? The answer to all these questions is “probably.” We believed that real value was being created by these new financial instruments and wanted to believe that the “good times” were here to stay.
Still,
Abandoning mark-to-market merely allows those who want to pretend that the crisis isn’t real, to do so.
Meanwhile, the prolific and influential Dennis Howlett at AccmanPro.com sees some refreshing candor in Newman’s remarks.
Thank goodness he has not been infected with the acquired need to talk double speak or legally sanitzed PR nonsense. His blog at the Huffington Post talks directly to the issue of mark to market in a way that must surely leave the Big 4 blushing yet takes responsibility for the profession as a whole.
Dennis Frank and Stanley Freedman began their merger talks with Daniel Hirsch and Steven Subelsky last year. The four quickly agreed that together their combined business experience would be monumental. But their relatively small size would allow them to keep in touch with clients like no monster firm could.
Today Frank, Hirsch, Subelsky & Freedman PC in Farmington Hills, Mich., is operating with nine CPAs and three staffers. The firm has clients in a couple dozen states, including, especially, Arizona and Florida, where many clients have second homes. They are positioning the firm as small enough to provide personal service, large enough to offer a full range of options, and still be price competitive against larger firms.
And it’s a small world: Hirsch actually worked for Frank for a time before opening his own office in 1993. He asked Subelsky to join as a partner shortly afterward.
Earlier today, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro sat down with PBS’ Nightly Business Report and gave her first televised interview since taking over the reins of the SEC two months ago. Below is the complete transcript.
STEPHANIE DHUE, CORRESPONDENT, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT:  You told credit rating agencies the status quo wasn’t good enough. When will we see changes in the way they do business?
MARY SCHAPIRO, CHAIRMAN, SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION:Â As you know we held a roundtable yesterday on credit rating agencies and we brought in about 30 experts from academia, from the investment community from labor unions and from the credit rating agencies themselves to talk about the short comings in the current model of credit rating agencies. And we had an enormous amount of information from all of these participants and a lot of issues for us to parse and to really think about, so I can’t tell you a specific time when I think we’ll be done on that issue, but we will be very much informed by what we learned yesterday from all these experts and proceed hopefully sometime this summer to propose some additional enhancements.
STEPHANIE DHUE:Â So you think new regulations will be needed, the regulations that have been put in place don’t just need enough time to work? READ MORE →
The economy is clearly cutting into the profession’s traditional post-busy-season celebrations.
Accountants have never been known for their wild parties. But this year, firm-sponsored get-togethers are decidedly low-key and individual celebrations seem much more toned down.
To be sure, some firms are looking at their work calendars, finding less than expected for the upcoming months and looking at some belt-tightening. Indeed, the post-busy-season reductions in force could be especially broad and painful this year, considering the continuing repercussions of an economy still in freefall.
Two-thirds see home prices fall in their neighborhood.
via AICPA
Most Americans appear to be waiting out the economic crisis before buying or selling a home, suggesting the U.S. housing market may not return to normal for at least a year or two, according to a poll conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
The vast majority of Americans, 79 percent, say they have no plans to buy or sell a home anytime soon. Among those Americans who intend to put their homes on the market or who plan to buy, 70 percent intend to wait one to two years or more before entering the market.
When problems first emerged in the sub-prime debt market, no-one was prepared to recognize the scale of the impact. In reality, we all looked for reasons why the problem would not be contagious.
