Practice Management

The Internal Revenue Service is taking issue with a new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration that faults the IRS for taking longer than expected to upgrade its computer systems to allow the use of SmartID cards for improved security.

Transition Advisors president Joel Sinkin discusses succession planning for accounting firms and how they can prepare for mergers.

Federal, state and local authorities have issued various forms of tax relief for those affected by Hurricane Sandy last week.

The H&R Block blog offers several tips for tax preparers to help clients recover from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy.

The IRS e-Services suite of services, including the transcript delivery system, the e-file application, the disclosure authorization and TIN matching will be unavailable from Saturday, November 3, at 9 p.m. Eastern, until Monday, November 5, at 6 a.m. for maintenance.

The Internal Revenue Service has made progress in automating installation and monitoring in a large segment of its computers, but it hasn't yet implemented key patch management policies and procedures, according to a new report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

Top 100 Firm The Bonadio Group has agreed to add Richard Zweifel and his team to its central N.Y. roster.

Accounting Today's updated round-up of Hurricane Sandy news, as its aftermath continues to impact the profession. For more updates, follow the #Sandy hashtag on our Twitter accounts @AccountingToday, @TaxProToday and @ATomorrow.

Hancock Askew & Co. LLP has agreed to merge with Stein Accounting CPA. Once the merger is complete Hancock will have 65 employees, which includes eight partners and two principals.

In 2005, the Internal Revenue Service finalized substantial revisions to Circular 230 governing the rules for practice before the IRS. The revisions were in response to what was believed by the IRS to be improper practices in the preparation of tax opinions in support of tax-sheltering transactions. The IRS believed that tax practitioners were relying in their opinions on statements and representations from the tax shelter promoters that they knew or had reason to believe were not accurate.