The Latest

The SEC, a tiny auditing firm, and some of the most sophisticated financial companies and hedge funds are just some of the players who missed the warning signs in the Bernard Madoff scandal.

It's one thing to be a leader within your firm, however, it's quite another to also be a leader within your community. Two young professionals from the Virginia–based Beers + Cutler are well on their way to showcasing both skills.

If you haven’t already, you might shortly be asked, “What are the tax implications of riding a bicycle to work?” And your answer will be for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2008, under Section 132(f)(5)(F)(i) a ”qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement fringe benefit” will be considered a qualified transportation fringe benefit.

Regional New York firm Citrin Cooperman said it would merge in Syosset, N.Y.-based Massella & Associates CPA, PLLC, and the SEC Solutions Group LLC effective Jan. 1, 2009.

The National Federation of Independent Business, a small business advocacy group based here, is calling on Congress to pass a six-month payroll tax holiday as part of any economic stimulus package that would be considered in the upcoming weeks.

Nearly 70 percent of the companies singled out by the Securities and Exchange Commission for financial fraud between 2000-2007 experienced a decline in stock prices, while more than half of that number suffered a 50 percent or higher drop in share prices, according to a new study released by the Deloitte Forensics Center.

In a review of Internal Revenue Service efforts to determine whether charitable and non-profit organizations are being used to divert funds to support terrorist activities, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration suggested a number of steps the Criminal Investigation Division could take to improve counterterrorism efforts.

CPA and business advisory firms Rucci Bardaro & Barrett PC headquartered here, and Lexington, Mass.-based Mathias Barnes & Henshaw P.C. have merged their practices, effective immediately.

If firms want their employees to pass the CPA Exam, they're going to have to give them time, support and incentives.

While staffing, training, new software applications and the latest tax law changes are at the top of every practitioner's to-do list for the tax filing season that looms ahead, the overriding concern this year is the economic crisis and the changes facing both themselves and their clients.