The Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005, signed by President Bush on May 17, 2006, took so long in coming that it still carried the "Act of 2005" label.Far from having no surprises, however, the final bill contained a generous handful of provisions that had been far out of the money only weeks before. While some of these unexpected changes impact businesses, the most high-profile surprises appear to focus on the individual taxpayer. These include the lifting of the adjusted gross income cap on Roth IRA conversions, the raising of the "Kiddie Tax" age limit to 18 years, and the increase in the AMT exemption amounts.

When recognizing benefits from uncertain tax positions in their financial statements, what level of confidence should corporations have that those positions will be sustained? How do they determine whether or not their positions meet that threshold for recognition?And if the position meets that recognition threshold, what share of the related benefit should be included in the entity's financial statements? What actions or events could change that recognition status for future financial statements?

It's the biggest item in a financial statement, and the most frequent cause of restatements. Elements of its generally accepted accounting principles appear in over 200 pronouncements from half a dozen standard-setters. It causes confusion. It shakes the market. It tempts fraud.It's the perpetual and dizzying headache called revenue recognition - and even the Conceptual Framework of the Financial Accounting Standards Board can't agree with itself on the nature of the beast.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a status report with the U.S. Court of Appeals, saying that it will again ask for public comment on its independence proposal for the boards of most mutual funds.

For the first time, Securities and Exchange Commission information about companies and mutual funds is now fully searchable online.

Intuit Inc. is among the latest companies receiving an informal inquiry from the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding its stock option granting practices.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's top auditor offered some suggestions for the third year of life under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, while speaking at the 25th Annual Securities and Exchange Commission and Financial Reporting Institute Conference on June 8.