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Intacct is expanding its Web-based accounting software and changing the pricing in an effort to draw away more customers from QuickBooks and NetSuite.

Steve Tait, president of H&R Block's accounting subsidiary RSM McGladrey, plans to resign, effective April 30.

A former investment advisor has pleaded guilty to helping Ernst & Young market illegal tax shelters.

The troubled economy and the credit crisis do not appear to be tempering the ambitions of growth-oriented CPA firms seeking to fulfill their aspirations for mergers.

The continuing economic slowdown means that tax preparation and tax planning will be more critical than ever, and this will be reflected in the questions that taxpayers will ask of their preparers during tax season."Economic uncertainty, coupled with tax law changes, will make this season busier than normal," said Mark Albrecht, CEO of XCM Solutions LLC, a provider of workflow and automation solutions. "Staffing and workload challenges will be even more acute."

You've seen it: During a moment of "down time," an employee is clicking around on a social networking site - and there you are, unsure what you should do about it.Many firms, it seems, aren't sure either. Yet most clearly acknowledge that the Internet has changed the way business is conducted and now, with the popularity of social networking, to say communication styles are evolving is an understatement.

The item on Rene Lacerte in The Year Ahead special report gave incorrect customer and employee numbers for his current company, Bill.com. The figures given are actually for his old company, PayCycle. Our apologies for the error.

FASB FORMALLY DEFERS FIN 48Norwalk, Conn. - The Financial Accounting Standards Board has released a staff position officially deferring the effective date of FASB Interpretation 48, Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes, for nonpublic pass-through entities and nonprofit organizations until fiscal years beginning after Dec. 15, 2008. When FIN 48 was issued in July 2006, it was supposed to be effective for fiscal years beginning after Dec. 15, 2006. Many large companies have adopted it, but smaller organizations, including pass-through entities such as S corps and partnerships, as well as nonprofits, were concerned about how to apply its stringent requirements.

December was not a marquee month for the Treasury Department or Homeland Security. The final month of 2008 witnessed a pair of massive breaches of competence from two units under the auspices of each - the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Secret Service.Inexplicably, those charged with protecting the president allowed a venomous anti-U.S. Iraqi to throw not one, but two shoes at President Bush during a visit to Baghdad.

Forty-two years ago, I, a man of color, entered a profession that was virtually all white: accounting. I faced and overcame many challenges, rose through the ranks over four decades, and became a managing partner and member of the board at a Big Four firm. Upon retiring, I opened a new career chapter: I now work to help ensure that more young men and women of color enter and succeed in accounting, and that their journey will yield them the same professional satisfaction that mine did.I am concerned today because minorities, especially African-Americans, are underrepresented in the profession, particularly at the managerial and partnership levels. This is unacceptable for the health of our society and for the health and competitiveness of American business. Additionally, it saddens me to see so many talented and educated minorities miss out on a career in a profession that many of them would enjoy greatly and prosper in.