WebCPA Staff

Members have been named to a blue-ribbon panel to provide recommendations on accounting standards for privately held companies.

A former Deloitte tax professional has agreed to pay approximately $144,000 to settle insider trading charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

ConvergenceCoaching has brought on Jack G. Lee III as a new partner in the CPA firm leadership and marketing coaching group.

Schutte & Hilgendorf has expanded its audit practice to include governmental auditing and accounting services.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board discussed the standards for accounting for financial liabilities at a meeting Wednesday and how to address changes in an entity’s own credit risk of financial liabilities measured at fair value.

A group of computer hackers in Latvia has downloaded millions of confidential tax documents from government computers and is posting the details online to expose waste and corruption among the country’s leaders.

The Financial Accounting Foundation has selected Michael Granof, a professor at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, to serve as a member of the Governmental Accounting Standards Board.

Liberty Tax Service has reported a 10.2 percent increase in the total number of tax returns filed as of Feb. 15, 2010, and a 28.1 percent increase in revenue generated, a marked contrast with rival H&R Block.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged one of Bernard Madoff's key operatives with falsifying accounting records to enable the multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme and illegally enrich himself, Madoff, and Madoff’s family and employees.

Accounting Today has announced its first annual Growth & Profitability Summit, to be held Nov. 17-18 at the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel in Las Vegas.

CCH Small Firm Services plans to open a new headquarters facility in Kennesaw, Ga., in the third quarter of 2010.

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing to discuss trade and tax issues relating to small business job creation.

Seventy percent of small business owners say the federal stimulus has had no effect on their businesses, according to a survey by Discover.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H., have introduced legislation to eliminate many of the exemptions, deductions, credits and other tax breaks in the Tax Code.

H&R Block blamed the recession for a drop-off in tax filings so far this season.

The Senate approved a job creation bill Wednesday after 13 Republicans agreed to vote for the measure, which includes tax breaks for businesses that hire or retain employees.

Financial Finesse, a company that provides financial education services to businesses and their employees, has noticed an uptick in calls about budgeting and debt management.

The Securities and Exchange Commission plans to conduct a seminar next month to help companies and preparers comply with rules that require financial reports to be filed using Extensible Business Reporting Language, or XBRL.

Despite lean budgets for many businesses today, cash bonuses continue to be the leading incentive for recognizing employee performance, according to a survey of CFOs.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has received just over 200 comment letters since it posted its proposed roadmap for transitioning to International Financial Reporting Standards on its Web site in 2008, and it’s now receiving some extra suggestions as it prepares to publicly deliberate Wednesday on the roadmap.