The Latest

For the sixth consecutive year, information security management reigns as the top initiative that will affect IT strategy, investment and implementation over the next 12 to 18 months, according to the American Institute of CPAs' annual Top Technology Initiatives Survey.Some of the profession's top tech gurus pointed to an increased awareness among firms regarding how they transmit confidential information electronically as one reason for the issue's continued high profile among practitioners.

With Democrats running both Houses of Congress, the normally Republican-leaning political fundraisers for the accounting profession are starting to tilt to the left.A new Accounting Today analysis of campaign contributions to congressional candidates by the industry's political action committee fundraising groups confirmed a distinct shift toward Democrats amid the 2008 primary election season.

Unreported income from the cash economy and late-year Tax Code changes are the focus of the first of this year's two reports to Congress by National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson.In her report, Olson proposed a comprehensive strategy to address tax noncompliance in the cash economy, which accounts for the largest portion of the tax gap. The report identifies the lack of progress in addressing cash economy noncompliance as a most serious problem.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the task of sorting through a multitude of mutual funds to offer clients? Think of narrowing down the appropriate funds as a funneling process.This technique works for Sean Bergin, managing director of Citrin Cooperman Wealth Management Co., based in Philadelphia. For him, the key is to slim the selection down via a handful of requirements.

AUDIT MARKET GROWING MORE CONCENTRATED

Recently, the front end of my SUV and a wild turkey in dire need of an air traffic controller met head on at roughly 50 miles per hour, sending feathers flying and scattering pieces of my bumper across the road. For some strange reason, the incident brought to mind, of all things, the 2008 presidential race.

I was really taken aback and terribly upset by Roger Russell's article, "Calls increase for estate tax repeal," (Accounting Today, Jan. 7-27, 2008, page 10), which repeats many of the well-worn shibboleths concerning the estate tax. By blatantly repeating the propaganda of the National Association of Manufacturers, Mr. Russell does not do Accounting Today or its readers a service.

The on-again, off-again issue of the offset of tax losses from one part of a company against profits at its headquarters located in another European Union state is resurfacing.

IRS BEEFS UP TAXPAYER PRIVACY

LANDEC DISMISSES E&Y