AT Think

Investment bank Goldman Sachs has decided to forgo a tax deduction on the unprecedented $550 million penalty and disgorgement it agreed to pay last week to settle SEC charges.

Forty-two percent of those between the ages of 30 and 44 are looking for career growth and change, according to a study analyzing degree search behavior sponsored by EducationDynamics, a company that works with higher learning institutions to help find, enroll and retain students.

Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, the recently appointed chairman of the board of trustees of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation, which oversees the International Accounting Standards Board, is worried about the U.S. backing out of the convergence effort.

IMGCAP(1)] Being a business student in the Northeast, more specifically the small state of Rhode Island, I expected my first work-related experience to be at a local firm or business. However, this couldn’t be further than what recently happened to me. As it turned out, this experience and a trip to the West Coast were one in the same.

Accountants have a duty to safeguard their clients’ confidential data, but that’s not always easy with computer files, which can be easily whisked off a PC whilst someone is away from their desk or disappear with a lost laptop.

IMGCAP(1)] Dear Rebecca,

The death of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner on Tuesday has saved the family an estimated $600 million on its taxes, thanks to this year’s disappearance of the estate tax.

Many of you know, in the beginning of May, Nashville saw unprecedented rain. The sewer systems became completely full. Lakes, creeks and rivers were swollen beyond extremes. Nowhere for the water to go, the city and several residential neighborhoods began to flood.

Last week, a U.S. District Court in Massachusetts held that the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional in preventing same-sex couples from filing joint tax returns and receiving various government benefits such as Social Security, saying it infringes on a state’s right to define marriage.

IMGCAP(1)] When was the last time you got a referral from an existing client? Last week, last month, last quarter or last year? Most partners that I work with get a handful of these kinds of referrals a year. These kinds of referrals are usually among the best kind of referrals you can receive because there is pre-established trust, no competition, no proposal, and it’s a quick and painless sales process. So, if these are the best kind of referrals to get, what are you doing to get more of them?