WebCPA Staff

In an unusual move, Sikich LLP has merged with Icon Digital Design & Illustration, a marketing and design company, and named two of Icon’s partners as partners in the accounting firm.

Senate Finance Committee ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, threatened to hold up the confirmation of all nominees to Treasury Department posts unless the Treasury and the IRS do more to ease tax penalties on small businesses.

President Obama urged a group of leaders of community banks to increase their lending to small businesses.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has established an academic fellowship program to recruit accounting researchers to spend a year at the PCAOB’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Leaders of the Senate Finance Committee said they intend to work on passing legislation to extend expiring tax breaks early next year.

The Internal Revenue Service released its 2010 inflation adjustments to the excise taxes on airport transportation, with at least some of them ascending.

The Internal Revenue Service is unable to verify taxpayer eligibility for the majority of the tax benefits and credits provided by the Recovery Act, according to a new report.

The number of employers planning to offer annuities to participants in their 401(k) plans is expected to grow as companies look for ways to provide workers with a steady distribution of benefits during retirement, according to a new survey.

For at least the first few days of 2010, and probably longer, executors of the estates of people dying after Dec. 31, 2009, will be operating in a difficult environment after the Senate’s failure to extend the estate tax at its current rates.

The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board said it has achieved its goal of substantial convergence with International Financial Reporting Standards dated Dec. 31, 2008, with a series of new or improved standards.

Sage North America has announced the winners of its Sage Spirit and Sage Community Service Awards for channel partners for 2009.

A new report by the Treasury Department’s Inspector General for Tax Administration found that millions of people may have improperly received Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers from the IRS that could be used to fraudulently claim tax refunds.

Professional services firm Aliign, a spin-off of parent CPA firm Blue & Co. LLC, has launched in the Indiana and Ohio markets.

Accounting Today is in the midst of compiling its annual lists of the Top 100 Firms and Regional Leaders.

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board has released a new assurance standard on controls at service organizations such as international outsourcers.

Payroll services provider Paychex has published four online tax resources for CPAs and small businesses free of charge on its Web site.

CCH has released the latest version of its online consumer tax preparation software, CompleteTax.

The Senate voted to extend funding for Small Business Administration lending programs in the Recovery Act through February 2010.

Comedian and actor Sinbad reportedly owes the IRS over $8 million in unpaid taxes, and the feds want to foreclose on his home to pay off his outstanding tax liens.

Thomson Reuters has released the latest version of its property tax software.