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The May 2008 issue of The Journal of Accountancy ran opinion pieces on the role of accounting in the subprime crisis and subsequent bursting of the credit market bubble. Paul Miller was invited to comment on a controversial claim that mark-to-market practices made things worse. The critics claim that GAAP practices weakened institutions that invested in collateralized debt obligations by revealing large losses when the CDOs’ market values evaporated.They assert that financial statements would better serve the public interest if managers can keep unrealized losses (which they consider to be unreal) out of their financial statements. By a huge leap of ego, they conclude that they and everyone else would be better off if nobody is aware that those losses had occurred. After all, everyone knows they aren’t real because they are always followed by gains. Except when they aren’t, of course.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board may change some accounting rules to make it more difficult for banks to get subprime loans off their books.At an accounting conference held last month in New York, FASB Chairman Robert Herz said that the rules might require banks to keep loans on their books that they previously have been able to package and sell off or securitize.

The number of tax evasion prosecutions fell 5.3 percent last year, continuing a steady decline for at least two decades, according to a new study.

The American Institute of CPAs has sent the Internal Revenue Service a spreadsheet-full of comments on the draft instructions for the revised Form 990 that will be used by tax-exempt organizations to file their returns next year.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board issued the latest inspection report of Deloitte & Touche, noting problems with nine audits performed by the firm last year.

Sage Software launched a new online accountants' community as part of the redesign of its Accountants' Network site.

The Internal Revenue Service won another tax shelter case, this one involving a sale-in/lease-out transaction.

The New York State Society of CPAs has promoted Joanne Barry to deputy executive director.

The brother of the former manager of the Washington, D.C., tax office has pleaded guilty in a wide-ranging tax scandal.

The MetLife Mature Market Institute has available to consumers, especially those who are not in "traditional families," some tips on how to make the right choices in preparing for retirement, notwithstanding the challenges they face.