The Latest

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., unveiled a $21 billion package of energy tax legislation that Congress will consider this year, although opposition is expected from the White House as the bill would raise taxes on major oil and gas producers.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued two statements as it continues on the road to international convergence: on business combinations and on noncontrolling interests in consolidated financial statements.

The American Institute of CPAs’ Professional Ethics Executive Committee has issued an exposure draft of a proposed new interpretation that warns CPAs they should follow the requirements of governmental bodies, commissions or other regulatory agencies on indemnification and limitation of liability agreements with a client, or run the risk of discrediting the accounting profession.

As the subprime mortgage meltdown grows, some experts are starting to see the resulting fallout rivaling corporate scandals of earlier this decade, like Enron, that prompted the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Those who regularly read the Revenue Enhancers department in Practical Accountant are familiar with the Outside the Box section written by Jeff Stimpson. For those who aren’t, here’s a flavor.

The Internal Revenue Service has found problems with many of the conservation easements it gives to landowners in Colorado.

Tax prep firm Gilman Ciocia has acquired Madison CPA, a Fort Lauderdale accounting firm.

The Treasury Department's recently established Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession can play a role in improving the usefulness of audits, said a letter from an audit profession watchdog group.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has released its preliminary views on financial instruments with the characteristics of equity in an effort to simplify a patchwork of 60-plus pieces of guidance.

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department issued a notice that allows taxpayers to make corrections for operational failures in complying with rules for nonqualified deferred compensation, but only when the failures are unintentional.