The Latest

On Aug. 5, 2011, the Internal Revenue Service issued long-awaited (and much-needed) guidance on the treatment of basis for estates of decedents who died in 2010 that elect not to have the estate tax apply. The IRS also issued guidance for those making the election on the allocation of the generation-skipping transfer tax exemption.

ALBERTA

I have difficulty enough ordering food in a Chinese restaurant, let alone actually going to China and trying to do business.

Last month, we criticized the misguided push to converge because it has focused so much on aligning U.S. GAAP and IFRS that it has diverted attention away from much bigger problems created by indisputably deficient standards. This column specifically shows how both GAAP and IFRS come up woefully short of providing capital markets and other statement users with information they need to make rational decisions about a company's prospects and its managers' trustworthiness.

A clever plan

In 1987, I was part of a joint effort between the New York State Society of CPAs and the National Association of Black Accountants to increase the number of minorities in the CPA profession. At the time, black CPAs accounted for approximately one third of 1 percent of CPAs nationwide. That has grown to roughly 3 percent, according to NABA; an improvement, but still a troubling number.

SEC ADOPTS 'LARGE TRADER' REPORTING RULE

The family office was frequently a separate entity, with employees ranging from a chief executive or chief financial officer, to a staff of bookkeepers and personal assistants who could do everything from monthly financial statements to booking travel and personal-care appointments.

NASBA, AICPA PROPOSE CHANGES IN CPE STANDARDS

The Internal Revenue Service provided guidance in late August on the only ways to establish prima facie evidence of delivery of documents that have a filing deadline prescribed by the tax laws when there is not direct proof of the actual delivery.