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Following President Obama’s first formal address to Congress where he called for a rebuilding of America, members of the profession as well as GOP lawmakers offered mixed reactions to his budget priorities as well as the stimulus package.

When a firm has hired 40 to 45 new class graduates each year for the past four years, it makes sense that their employee population would get a lot younger. And what does a firm gain with a younger population? Energy, enthusiasm and well, insight. At least for one New England firm.

Sarah Krom went from being interviewed for an internship at Cowan Gunteski & Co. to interviewing new intern candidates in a handful of years. She shared her views from both sides of the table in today's story.

Congressional leaders are looking to clamp down on offshore tax havens after a Government Accountability Office report found that 83 of the 100 largest publicly traded U.S. corporations have subsidiaries in jurisdictions listed as tax havens or financial privacy jurisdictions, while 63 of the 100 largest publicly traded federal contractors reported having subsidiaries in such jurisdictions.

Talking with your clients about investment strategies may not be easy given the current economic climate, but preparation and ongoing assessment of an investor's portfolio are the keys to restoring confidence.Money managers agree that mutual funds continue to be a strong investment vehicle, offering investors a number of options for accessing the market - that is, if they stick with their investment strategy.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.Such is the case for information security management, which has been voted - for the seventh consecutive year - the most important issue affecting IT strategy, investment and implementation over the coming 12 to 18 months, according to the American Institute of CPAs' 20th Annual Top Technology Initiatives Survey.

As the 111th Congress grapples with tax legislation and other issues of concern to CPAs, more than a few House and Senate leaders are likely be feeling a deeper appreciation for the accounting profession.At least that's what political fundraisers for the profession are hoping for after contributing a record $5.5 million dollars to support congressional candidates during the 2008 election campaign.

KPMG'S FLYNN AND VEIHMEYER STEP UPNew York - KPMG has named John Veihmeyer as the new CEO of its U.S. member firm, KPMG LLP, as Timothy Flynn assumes the role of chairman of KPMG International's newly formed Global Executive Team.

On one blazing Arizona afternoon what now seems like a century ago, I found myself seated at a lunch counter next to an older man who told me that he peddled solar panels for a living.This was at a time when the Southwest had just begun pushing solar energy, and when I queried Joe as to how hard it was to convince people to change their energy systems, he told me in an avuncular manner, "Son, when you speak like you know what you're talking about and you throw out a few numbers, it doesn't matter. Chances are they won't understand it anyway and that's when you convince them it's for the greater good."

There have been many Ponzis in the past and there will be many Ponzis in the future, but it will take at least a century before we see another $50 billion Bernard Madoff Ponzi.Carlo "Charles" Ponzi was born in 1882 in Parma, Italy. He migrated to the United States in 1903 when he was 21, and over the next 14 years, he bounced from city to city in New England working in various jobs such as waiter, clerk and translator of Italian.