WebCPA Staff

A Florida tax preparer has been barred by a federal judge after he falsely told clients he was a former IRS employee and that the IRS had “pre-audited” their tax returns.

The U.S. Small Business Administration has introduced an online training course to help more small businesses get federal contracts.

Private sector employment fell by 298,000 in the U.S. last month, according to data from payroll giant ADP.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has released the executive summary of a report from its inspector general detailing the agency’s failures to stop Bernard Madoff from carrying out his Ponzi scheme.

A federal court has denied a $473 million tax refund to Schering-Plough after the drug maker sought to avoid taxes on $690 million in profits it repatriated from offshore subsidiaries into the U.S. through some dubious transactions.

Accounting firm Crowe Horwath is responding to the wave of companies filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with a set of services to help them navigate the reorganization process.

Mantra Films, the company that produces the racy "Girls Gone Wild" video series, has filed suit against the company’s former CFO, accusing him of conspiring with two other former executives to embezzle millions of dollars.

The National Association of Enrolled Agents has named Michael Nelson as the organization’s new executive vice president.

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board member Charles Niemeier said he plans to leave the board in the near future.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is distributing more than $35 million to over 98,000 investors who were harmed by accounting fraud at Cardinal Health.

The Financial Planning Association is urging SEC Chair Mary Schapiro to clarify and restrict the scope of authority of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority related to financial planning services.

Accounting firm J.H. Cohn LLP has merged in Charles Brucia & Co., expanding its entertainment-related client base.

The American Institute of CPAs has written to the IRS asking the service to rely on the existing Circular 230 penalty structure for regulating CPA tax preparers rather than impose a new one.

Regional CPA and business advisory firm Weaver and Tidwell has launched a Transaction Advisory Services practice, an arm providing due diligence and business valuations to private equity companies as well as companies in transition.

Cougar Mountain Software has upgraded its accounting, fund and point-of-sale software products with a new financial dashboard and filtering and reporting features.

Intacct has upgraded its Intacct Max for Salesforce CRM software with new data synchronization and contract features.

The Internal Revenue Service plans to reassign many of the auditors from its corporate division to a newly created office that will deal with wealthy tax evaders, including those with UBS bank accounts.

IRS managers may start supervising tax audits more closely to help resolve disputes between taxpayers and tax examiners.

CCH has introduced Worldwide Tax Rates and Answers: Calculators, a set of software calculators that help accountants calculate corporate income tax and withholding tax liabilities in 90 countries around the world.

The Internal Revenue Service should check Form 1098 mortgage interest statements to catch tax dodgers, recommended a new report.