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The huge farm bill working its way through the final stages of the House/Senate Conference Committee appears to have preserved at least a few tax provisions. In March, the conference committee had stripped out the tax provisions that had originated with the Senate Finance Committee. However, when it came time to count votes, negotiators decided that some of the tax provisions had to stay in.The farm bill can be looked at as a net tax increase, with the somewhat unusual feature for legislation in recent years of providing for more revenue-raising offsets than tax incentives. The negotiators have agreed on $1.4 billion in tax incentives and $10 billion in offsets. The figure of $1.4 billion is a significant reduction from the $2.4 billion in tax incentives originally proposed by the Senate Finance Committee.

The Internal Revenue Service said that economic stimulus payments directly deposited to individual retirement accounts and other tax-favored accounts may be withdrawn tax- and penalty-free.The relief is designed to help taxpayers who may have been unaware that by choosing direct deposit for their entire regular tax refund, they were also choosing to have their stimulus payment directly deposited as well. The tax relief is available for amounts withdrawn from tax-favored accounts that are less than or equal to a taxpayer’s directly deposited stimulus payment.

KPMG SETS UP IFRS INSTITUTENew York — KPMG has established the IFRS Institute to address the needs of companies, investors and academics affected by the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards.

There are some classes of software that simply don’t change much from year to year, and retirement planning software is one of them.In any given year, you may see tax tables updated or compatibility with new operating systems and hardware slip in, but these are, by definition, very stable applications whose core strength is that they offer reliability and a strong set of features. Nor do they need to compete with consumer applications for the beauty of their interface or use of colors. Most of the work of a good retirement planner is done in the background, with little or no reason to bother with aesthetics anywhere other than in the final client presentation.

PLANNING NICHE GROWS FOR CPASFinancial planning has helped fuel an increase in revenues at CPA firms, according to a new study by the American Institute of CPAs and CPA firm Moss Adams. The survey found an average financial planning practice size of $460,000 among the 431 CPA firms that responded, with an average yearly growth rate of 34.9 percent between 2004 and 2006. Respondents anticipated a 20.6 percent increase in assets under management in 2007.

Before write-up became a popular application, trial balance software ruled the market.The popular ATB (Accountant’s Trial Balance) is probably one of the best-known accountant-oriented applications ever created, even years after it ceased to be marketed.

CABINET NG UPGRADES QB SYSTEMCabinet NG has unveiled the latest version of CNG-Books 6.0, its document management system designed for Intuit’s QuickBooks. Incorporating .Net technology and Microsoft SQL database features, CNG-Books 6.0 gives small and midsized businesses the ability to replace piles of paper with automated electronic workflows that streamline QuickBooks-centric accounting tasks.

ENTERPRISE SUITE LAUNCHESThe Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters has introduced an Enterprise Suite containing a set of software for large tax and accounting firms. The Enterprise Suite combines tax prep, engagement, practice management, and document and workflow management software.

Many firms have great intentions coming out of the busy season, but put off technology decisions until later in the year. This causes frustration and reduces time for implementation and training. Go ahead and take some vacation, but also consider the technology planning life cycle and how your firm can best utilize its assets in the coming year.THE FOUR STAGES

Yes, we have a human capital dilemma. Yes, the next biggest concern for CPA firms is succession planning. As you consider these issues, which of the following statements most closely matches your beliefs about your firm’s succession?* My firm does not have enough quality players on the bench to ensure success in the future.