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The American Institute of CPAs has begun publicizing the revised set of peer review standards it quietly issued earlier this year.

XBRL US, the nonprofit group working to develop the Extensible Business Reporting Language in the U.S., said it has finished codifying collections of financial and business terms for U.S. generally accepted accounting principles in XBRL format, along with an accompanying preparers guide.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board may change some accounting rules to make it more difficult for banks to get subprime loans off their books.

2008 was to be the year that companies and their tax advisors worked to get their nonqualified deferred-compensation plans in order to comply with the new requirements under Code Section 409A and the regulations thereunder. Recent positions from the Internal Revenue Service are, however, expanding the focus of compensation concerns for 2008 beyond deferred compensation to include deductions for current performance-based compensation.BACKGROUND

Just because the idea of violating a patented tax strategy sounds ridiculous on its face doesn’t mean you won’t get sued for using it.Currently, some 65 tax patents have been issued, and 109 more are pending, according to Eileen Sherr, technical manager at the American Institute of CPAs’ Tax Division. “Many of these are common twists on everyday transactions,” observed Sherr, who attended a recent Internal Revenue Service hearing on the issue.

The Treasury Department has released a blueprint for overhauling the regulation of financial markets to forestall future crises in the mortgage and credit markets.Under the blueprint, there would be a “conduct of business regulator” to monitor the business conduct of financial firms. The agency would assume many of the roles of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and insurance and banking regulators. The blueprint also envisions a “corporate finance regulator” that would encompass the SEC’s oversight of accounting regs.

Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson is putting new pressure on lawmakers to establish nationwide standards that would weed out bad-apple tax practitioners and serve to protect the more than 60 percent of taxpayers who rely on paid tax preparers.In bluntly worded testimony suggesting that she is losing patience with both Congress and her own agency, Olson called on the House Ways and Means Committee to move forward on proposals to rein in rogue tax preparers and protect American taxpayers from other forms of abuse.

The first ever study of CPA financial planning/investment advisory practices, by Moss Adams and the AICPA, shows some fascinating facts about the burgeoning financial planning industry. In effect, the study draws upon detailed information provided by 431 practices falling into various business models across the country. It points out that the growth of CPAs in this practice area has been steady for several decades with a significant rise in the 1990s and continuing into the new millennium. The survey was sent to the more than 44,000 members of the AICPA, a list composed of solo practitioners, managing partners, Personal Financial Planning (PFP) section members, and other individuals within the Institute who had expressed an interest in financial planning. In fact, the study shows that the typical financial planning practice is growing faster than the broader industry and has a higher operating profit margin than its peers of the same size.

The Internal Revenue Service is making progress on devising a strategy to narrow the tax gap, but significant challenges remain, according to a new report by the Treasury Department's inspector general.

Lynn A. Chiavaro coached one of the first college girls' basketball teams three decades ago and was inducted into the Hall of Fame for her accomplishments in the sport.