Audit & Accounting

AICPA RELEASES ADVISOR GUIDEThe American Institute of CPAs and Fiduciary360 have published the U.S. edition of a handbook for investment advisors. Prudent Practices for Investment Advisors identifies 23 practices for advisors to follow. The book helps them manage risk by providing a recommended “checklist” for carrying out investment decisions with prudence and due diligence. The book was reviewed and edited by the Fiduciary Task Force of the AICPA Personal Financial Planning Executive Committee.

Thomson Tax & Accounting has introduced an estate-planning notebook organizer that accountants can send to their clients as gifts.

The administration’s budget proposal to conform the penalty standards applicable to preparers and taxpayers has been welcomed by tax professionals concerned about possible conflicts of interest between preparers and their clients.The budget, the administration’s blueprint for legislative proposals, also calls for making permanent the 2001-2003 tax cuts, and offers measures to increase savings and investment and to improve compliance with the tax system. Rather than address Alternative Minimum Tax reform, it proposes a one-year patch to keep the number of taxpayers subject to the tax at around 4 million.

While many Washington observers have called much of the tax revenue side of the Bush administration’s Fiscal Year 2009 budget proposals dead on arrival, this year’s “Blue Book” of Treasury explanations nevertheless remains an important tax-planning tool.It underscores what the Bush administration considers are problems remaining to be solved. As such, they are problems that need to be either addressed or “planned around” in the meantime. Here is our take on some of the highlights in making that determination.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Private Company Financial Reporting Committee has been active for barely a year, but it has already changed the way accounting standards are set.And 2008 may well be the group’s breakout year, according to committee chairperson Judith O’Dell.

XBRL US named Campbell Pryde as vice president, domain and chief standards officer of the nonprofit consortium, which is setting standards for the use of the Extensible Business Reporting Language in the United States.

The 2008 Moss Adams Financial Performance Study of Advisory Firms has just been launched and the company urges advisors to participate. This annual study provides data and insights to help financial advisors across all business models achieve success. The study coverage includes:

Don't burn bridges. Don't take any nonsense. Those were some of the curt, but significant nuggets of advice from a keynote by Nichola Holt, a partner within Global Employer Services at Deloitte Tax LLP, during the Association for Accounting Marketing New York Metropolitan Chapter's March meeting. At the session, titled, "Women's Initiatives: The Revolution to Bridge the Gender Divide," Holt shared her experiences of coming to New York City from London and her road to making partner -- first at Arthur Andersen in 1999 and then later at Deloitte --and how she lassoed opportunities, opening up doors for others in the process. "You've got to really ask and articulate the value when the opportunity comes up," she said, "Sometimes you have to focus on what's important rather than what's urgent on your desk." Holt, who has been part of her firms' committees choosing candidates for partnership, said she admitted to being a little embarrassed at times by what some of the women offered up as client presentations. She said men were more prepared than their female counterparts, who lacked punch and enthusiasm. "Their personality wasn't coming out," she recalled, adding that women need to know and then articulate to their firms how to win business and then present themselves in a polished and succinct manner. For personal and professional development, Holt suggested "paying it forward," finding role models, understanding how gender differences impact success, articulating your value, enhancing your personal brand and maintaining self-clarity. She said career planning should be focused and include asking for help, as well as seeking feedback. When considering someone for partner, Holt said that she wants to know how the person will build the business, how they will bring value to their business and how much revenue they are currently managing. While Deloitte has formal programs to enhance women's leadership, work/life balance and diversity issues, she said the firm also encourages informal interactions to keep people connected and inspired. "Dr Pepper breaks" or brief 15-minute meetings in places such as the break room or by the water cooler with mentors or others in the firm can keep people engaged without the commitment of a lunch or dinner meeting to catch up. During tax season, Holt said she offers food-centric breaks such as ice cream in the afternoon or pizza at dinnertime if people are still in the office. She said Deloitte would be relaunching their mentoring program once tax season is over. Holt added that younger women in the firm are asking for male mentors, especially if it's a senior member of the firm to find out their career experiences. Deloitte also introduced a "Junior Win" program with a specific focus on those at the manager level or lower. She said younger staff members are often interested in work life balance and "green" environmental issues, as well as, community-oriented volunteerism. "It's a journey and you have to focus or you won't get there," she said.

The nation's economic policy heads outlined sweeping recommendations to strengthen the nation's credit markets -- calling for stronger licensing standards for mortgage brokers, more duel diligence from credit-rating agencies and stronger trading systems for complex instruments in an effort to avoid another credit meltdown. "Regulation needs to catch up with innovation and help restore investor confidence but not go so far as to create new problems, make our markets less efficient or cut off credit to those who need it," Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said during a speech at the National Press Club. "We are encouraging financial institutions to continue to strengthen balance sheets by raising capital and revisiting dividend policies; we need those institutions to continue to lend and facilitate economic growth." Paulson, who heads the President's Working Group on Financial Markets, said the recommendations emanate from seven months' work by the group, which is comprised of the heads of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Board, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Federal Reserve Board and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Specifically, the PWG recommended strengthening the credit markets in the following areas: transparency and disclosure, risk awareness, risk management, capital management, regulatory policies, and market infrastructure. Paulson stressed that both state and local regulators need to strengthen oversight of mortgage originators, while credit rating agencies, must "perform robust due diligence" of originators of assets that are securitized or used as collateral for structured credit products. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke labeled the recommendations an "appropriate and effective response to deficiencies in our financial framework that contributed to the current turmoil in financial markets," in a release accompanying the working group's policy statement. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox said the agency would use its new authority to address rating agency issues to restore investor confidence. "This effort is not about finding excuses and scapegoats. Those who committed fraud or wrongdoing have contributed to the current problems; authorities need to and are prosecuting them. But poor judgment and poor market practices led to mistakes by all participants," Paulson said. Paulson's remarks can be read at: http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/hp872.htm

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a notice with procedures for vehicle manufacturers to certify that a fuel cell vehicle meets the requirements for a tax credit. It also provides guidance to taxpayers who purchase certified vehicles regarding what they must do to use the credit. Under the law, the new qualified fuel cell motor vehicle credit is available to purchasers of qualified vehicles. The amount of the new qualified fuel cell motor vehicle credit is based on the weight of the vehicle and on when the vehicle is placed in service. An additional credit may be available for a fuel cell passenger automobile or light truck based on a comparison of the city fuel economy rating of that vehicle with the 2002 model year city fuel economy of a vehicle in its weight class. For fuel cell vehicles that weigh not more than 8,500 pounds, the base credit amount is $8,000 if the vehicle is placed in service on or before Dec. 31, 2009. The base credit amount is reduced to $4,000 if the vehicle is placed in service after that date. The amount of the credit available for heavy vehicles varies from $10,000 to $40,000, depending on the weight of the vehicle. The purchaser may claim a credit for the certified amount for a fuel cell vehicle if it is placed in service by the taxpayer after Dec. 31, 2005, and is purchased on or before Dec. 31, 2014.