The Latest

ALABAMA Keith Barfield, a founding shareholder of Barfield Murphy Shank & Smith PC, Birmingham, has been elected to a three-year term on the Partner’s Advisory Council of the BDO Seidman Alliance, while founding partner John Shank has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Birmingham Venture Club.

At my local pharmacy, there’s a sign at the counter that reads: “Since when did poor planning on your part become an emergency on my part?”

The Senate has overwhelmingly passed a housing relief bill that includes a $7,000 tax credit for purchasers of foreclosed homes in addition to $4 billion in grants for local communities to buy and repair foreclosed properties.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have issued proposed regulations to provide funding guidance for single-employer defined-benefit plans.

The fiscal year 2007 audit rate for the nation's largest corporations has plunged to its lowest level in the past two decades, according to a new report.

Intacct upgraded its on-demand accounting software with Intacct Spring 2008.

UHY Advisors has become a services partner of business software developer SAP America.

Steinway Replaces Deloitte with UHY

Racing to find political common ground on estate tax policy before the Bush administration tax cuts expire, congressional leaders are urging Republicans and Democrats to “think outside the box” when considering reforms.Among the alternatives placed on the table for discussion during recent Senate Finance Committee hearings: proposals to tax the beneficiaries of inheritances, rather than estates, as well as options under which estate taxes would be levied based on the heir’s “access to sophisticated tax advice.”

When the Governmental Accounting Standards Board issued Statement 34, requiring government-wide accrual accounting and modified accrual accounting for governmental funds, it improved financial reporting enormously, but inevitably created some confusion.Part of that confusion was over one of the most widely used pieces of government financial information — fund balance. Grappling with vague definitions of “reserved” funds, state and local governments have been reporting restricted net assets and reserved fund balances inconsistently.