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Hearing witnesses blame crisis on failed reform and low standards

New York-Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, re-assured attendees at the American Accounting Association's recent annual meeting that he had no intention of legislating accounting standards.

The "Five Stages of Grief" are the steps of the psychological process by which people deal with unfortunate circumstances. And nowadays we have seen this process, and the psychological character of our clients, reflected during our valuation engagements.

There are certain things in life I hold to be inevitable truths. First, I have never encountered a vegan or a professional accordion player whom I have found to be even remotely funny. Another is that no matter what the airline or the departure time, my flight from New York to Chicago's O'Hare Airport will be delayed - a lot.

Although the monetary penalty for Circular 230 has been on the books for a number of years, it has yet to be used. That, however, could change soon if Karen Hawkins, the new director at the Internal Revenue Service's Office of Professional Responsibility, has her way.

PCAOB FORMS INVESTOR ADVISORY GROUP

Eli Mason, whose career in public accounting spanned more than seven decades as a practitioner and a vocal proponent of the profession, died on August 4 following a long illness. He was 88.

CPAs 'tweeting' benefits of social media tool

Union of Pa.-based Top 100 Firms will create a Northeast mega-firm

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.