AT Think

Lawmakers are mulling the possibility of adding an extra tier of unemployment benefits beyond the four tiers currently available for those who have been out of work for over 99 weeks.

Benjamin Bankes should be proud. More kids are being exposed to some kind of financial learning these days and that’s good news, according to Money Management International, a nonprofit credit counseling agency that just released the results of its 2010 Kids and Money Survey.

The Internal Revenue Service has been tangling with Los Angeles sports and entertainment mogul Phil Anschutz and former Minnesota Vikings owner Billie Joe “Red” McCombs in a couple of high-profile tax cases involving a strategy that had been marketed to billionaires just like them by Wall Street investment banks.

Forty-seven minority accounting doctoral students are on the receiving end of $470,000 in scholarships from the KPMG Foundation for the 2010-2011 academic year. Of those 47, 12 new recipients have been named and 35 existing awards have been renewed.

Talk has been swirling that Congressman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., former chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, has been negotiating the equivalent of a plea bargain with his congressional colleagues to avoid the trial he will soon face.

IMGCAP(1)] Dear Rebecca,

Amazon is taking a page out of Apple’s book when it comes to recognizing revenue.

IMGCAP(1)] The American Institute of CPAs established a new scholarship honoring the veteran chair of the Institute’s Advanced Estate Planning Conference. The scholarship will pay for one young CPA to attend the conference each year starting in 2011.

I’m willing to give Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t choose to berth his new yacht in Rhode Island just to avoid Massachusetts taxes.

IMGCAP(1)] For the first time in many years, new clients, practice growth, and marketing and business development are among the top MAP survey issues keeping managing partners awake at night. For many firms this translates into the question – should we hire a marketing director, a marketing consultant, someone administrative to “get the letters out,” a lead generator or a salesperson?