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Document management software developer SmartVault has introduced an affiliate program that pays referral fees to accounting professionals, QuickBooks ProAdvisors and consultants who recommend the software to their clients.

Many of the Internal Revenue Service’s plans to protect its employees and provide service to taxpayers during and after a major disruption are not up to date, have not been adequately tested and do not contain sufficient detail to be effective, warned a government watchdog.

If you took an early distribution from your retirement plan, here are the top 10 things you need to know, according to the Internal Revenue Service:

There is something special about the Internship Program at Cowan Gunteski & Co. P.A. For the past two years, it has been run by the Young Professional Group, a committee of ambitious team members who are below the level of manager and under the age of 35. Prior to that, the in-charge person was a partner. Empowering the Young Professionals with the Internship Program changed the foundation of the program. Since we are so much closer to the age of the interns, we can relate on a level of “buddy” more than “mentor.” It is important to an intern who is nervous about entering their first “real world” experience, to make that transition with people to whom they can best relate. Because partners and managers are at a different stage of their lives and careers, they may not be as approachable or available when a question needs to be answered or advice is sought. I personally feel that this one progressive move is changing the future of the firm, since a great deal of hiring is done through the Internship Program. From the perspective of a college student, it is much easier to approach a “20-something” team member than a partner who may be the same age as your dad. Cowan Gunteski & Company has allowed us to bridge the generation gap between management of the firm and its future leaders. As a staff accountant who has been with the firm for less than two years, I cannot believe I am in the position that I hold today. Cowan Gunteski & Co. has entrusted me with interviewing and hiring the summer interns for the firm. When I sat across the conference room table from Bill McNamara, the partner–in-charge of the Internship Program in 2003, for my own interview, I never expected to be in his seat just three years later. This responsibility has given me the opportunity to learn a great deal about the interview process. If I knew back in 2003 what I know now, the interview process would not have been so daunting. Although Career Services and professors coach eager college graduates on how to dress, act, speak and behave on interviews, they cannot ease the pressure of actually going on an interview. I invite all those anxiously seeking employment to breathe a sigh of relief—the people on the other side of the table are not the enemy. In the past year I have interviewed more than 25 potential intern candidates. During each interview I would try to put myself in the candidate’s shoes. Having been there myself only three years ago, I remember those nervous feelings as I went over each checklist item, just as I was taught in college: dark suit – black or navy (as a female I always struggled with a skirt or pants but have found that either are appropriate as long as you feel confident), bring a portfolio with an updated resume and review the company’s Web site to have intelligent questions to ask the interviewer. On the way to the interview, I felt it was important to practice answering the basic questions: What are your strengths and weaknesses? What are your goals? What have you accomplished that shows leadership? With sweaty palms, stressing out about arriving on time and not saying “Uh” or “Um” too much—it could have been construed as torture.

As expected, the Senate approved Mary Schapiro by a unanimous vote as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Schapiro, who has a reputation as a tough-minded regulator, noted during the confirmation process that she planned to ramp up enforcement efforts at the SEC. She also proposed rethinking the current roadmap to U.S. adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards, and expressed concerns about the resources and independence of the International Accounting Standards Board, which sets IFRS.She was formerly chief executive of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the securities industry's self-regulating body.

National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson urged Congress to simplify the U.S. Tax Code and recommended measures to reduce the burden on taxpayers who are struggling to pay their bills.In the first of this year's two required reports to Congress, she designated the complexity of the Tax Code as the most serious problem facing taxpayers. According to data compiled by her office, U.S. taxpayers and businesses spend about 7.6 billion hours a year complying with tax-filing requirements. "If tax compliance were an industry, it would be one of the largest in the United States," she said in her report. "To consume 7.6 billion hours, the tax industry requires the equivalent of 3.8 million full-time workers."

GUIDANCE ISSUED ON TAX STATSWashington, D.C. - The Internal Revenue Service has issued interim guidance on the ability of a tax return preparer to use statistical compilations of anonymous tax return information to support their business.

From my vantage point on the other side of the Atlantic, I was delighted to see the Securities and Exchange Commission publish its roadmap to adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards. I just hope the U.S. constituents are as pleased as I am and that we can make some real progress towards global accounting standards.With that hope in my heart, I thought it would be worthwhile exploring what the situation might be post-IFRS-adoption for U.S. GAAP, for the Financial Accounting Standards Board and for the International Accounting Standards Board, drawing on my experience of what has happened in the U.K. and Europe.

Page 330 of our 2002 book, Quality Financial Reporting, includes this comment: "No one should accuse accountants of being glacial; after all, glaciers move."Contrary to our jab, the accounting glacier did actually move in May 2008 when FASB issued Staff Position APB 14-1, ponderously titled Accounting for Convertible Debt Instruments That May Be Settled in Cash Upon Conversion (Including Partial Cash Settlement). This FSP is something of a sleeper because no one's said much about it, even though it kicked in for fiscal years and first quarters beginning after Dec. 15, 2008.

As the debate over adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards heats up in the U.S., KPMG has released a survey indicating support for IFRS among investors, analysts and corporate executives who prepare financial statements.