Practice Management

As part of its previously announced Power to Get More Done Initiative, which aims to help firms deal with the shaky economy by giving them money to hire extra staff and invest in their business, financial and tax software provider Intuit has announced the co-sponsors and judges for the effort.

Consulting giant BearingPoint, which filed for Chapter 11 last month, agreed to divest several of its units to Big Four firms Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The Obama administration will ask the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, to form a task force to recommend an overhaul of the tax code.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner proposed a sweeping revamp of government regulatory powers over the nation’s financial system highlighted by establishing a single agency “with responsibility for systemic stability over the major institutions and critical payment and settlement systems and activities.”

The Internal Revenue Service is looking for civic-minded volunteers to serve on the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, which listens to taxpayers, identifies key issues and makes recommendations for improving IRS service.

Northeast super regional CPA and business advisory firm J.H. Cohn has unveiled a new ad campaign with the tagline, “The Experience to Face the Unprecedented.”

In a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner asked lawmakers to grant the Treasury Department more power to seize failing financial firms.

From Accounting Technology editor Bob Scott’s most recent popular e-letter “Consulting Insights" comes this Random Thought: “I’ve decided if I were a public official, I would run government like a business, meaning I would invest in financial instruments, treat my employees as disposable, and pay out enormous and unmerited bonuses.”

Employees at the Internal Revenue Service are running up millions of dollars in charges on agency-issued telephone calling cards with little control over their spending.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has asked Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to account for their retention bonus programs while the entities were losing money and even after they accepted taxpayer-funded bailouts.