Practice Management

The last few months have seen the problems in sub-prime lending start to have a national and even international impact on the credit and stock markets.The combination of expanded sub-prime lending programs with mortgage rates that adjust upward after two to five years, reduced or eliminated down-payment requirements, and a housing market that has seen real estate prices actually decline in many markets, has left many marginal borrowers unable to pay higher monthly mortgage payments, unable to refinance to more traditional mortgages, and unable to sell homes at a price sufficient to cover the mortgage obligation.

The Internal Revenue Service has seen a 60 percent increase so far this year in electronic filing of tax returns by small businesses and large corporations.

Tennessee accounting firms Petty & Landis and Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain have merged their practices, giving Nashville-based LBMC a physical presence in the Chattanooga market.

Three Democratic congressmen have announced plans to draft legislation that would impose a war surtax to pay for operations in Iraq as a way to demonstrate their opposition to the war.

Accounting firm Reznick Group has named a new chief operating officer, appointing A. Mitchell Poole Jr. to the post.

"We were stretching our ranks much too thin and we simply couldn't hire people fast enough to keep up with such a rapid growth. I felt the substantial growth was causing us to get away from our culture to have a solid work/life balance. If we had kept letting market conditions run their course on our firm without taking action, we could have lost what made us great--our employees. So we slowed down this rapid escalation and staffed up to provide employees with a good work/life balance."

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., has proposed a bill that would change the tax treatment of corporate stock option deductions.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a new set of allowable living expense standards that it will use to determine the ability of a taxpayer to pay a delinquent tax liability.

Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., has proposed a 50-cent tax on each gallon of gas in an effort to limit carbon emissions.

M&A deals built around cash transactions involving companies with below-average price-to-earnings ratios are the most likely to increase shareholder value, according to a new study.