The Latest

The Joint Committee on Taxation has issued a report on the individual alternative minimum tax in advance of a Senate Finance Committee hearing scheduled for Wed., June 27. The JCT report listed several selected reform options, which include: indexing or increasing the exemption amounts; allowing the deduction for personal exemptions and standard deductions to be used when computing the AMT; permitting state and local taxes against the AMT; reducing the minimum tax rates; eliminating the phase-out of the minimum tax exemption; allowing nonrefundable personal credits to offset the minimum tax after 2006; and repealing the AMT. The report is available at: http://www.house.gov/jct/x-38-07.pdf.

Unlike hockey or, for that matter, the UFC, there are, as one would imagine, few back-alley-like brawls in the accounting profession. Retaining their full complement of teeth and the contour of their profiles is not one of the bigger challenges faced by CPAs. That said, there is a bona-fide Pier 6 imbroglio taking place in Connecticut (if only figuratively) between the Governmental Accounting Standards Board and the state's comptroller. Basically the battle boils down to this: There is pending legislation before Governor M. Jodi Rell that would allow the state's comptroller to set accounting standards externally as well as internally. The bill, which has already sailed through the House and Senate, would give the comptroller authority to basically bypass GASB - the accounting standard-setting authority for municipal and state governments. Robert DeSantis, head of GASB overseer the Financial Accounting Foundation, has drafted an urgent missive to the governor imploring that she exercise her veto power. DeSantis said that the bill "threatens the integrity and objectivity of the independent standard-setting process and is a step backwards for public trust, government accountability, financial transparency and the state's investors." Joining DeSantis in the letter-writing campaign was American Institute of CPAs' president and chief executive Barry Melancon, who pointed out that should Connecticut prescribe its own standards it would add confusion not only to what standards were being used, but why Connecticut's accounting differs from 49 others. For its part, Connecticut claims that GASB's standards make it hard to achieve a balanced budget, and like other states, Connecticut requires a balanced budget. Fourteen years ago, Connecticut passed a law requiring the use of the standards issued by GASB, but has delayed implementing them due to a lack of money. Since then. the state has accrued a deficit of about $1 billion. Adopting GASB's standards would entail the state paying down that figure at a clip of roughly $150 million a year. The state's current comptroller, Nancy S. Wyman, says she has no intention of setting accounting standards for the state even if the bill is signed into law. But opponents of the measure have posited the uncomfortable question of who is to say that future comptrollers won't avail themselves of the bill's authority? Rell is expected to sign the bill. We'll see. But for now, as ring announcer Michael Buffer is fond of saying, "Let's get ready to r-u-u-u-mble!"

Financial services conglomerate Wells Fargo & Co. acquired the Twin Cities employee benefits operations of regonal CPA and business advisory firm Virchow Krause & Co. Terms were not disclosed.

Resources Global Professionals, a global consultancy and professional services provider, has appointed Colleen Cunningham as regional managing director overseeing its New York, New Jersey and Connecticut region. Cunningham, who prior to coming aboard RGP headed the 15,000-member Financial Executives International for four years, will be responsible for managing the six offices while overseeing operations, financials and recruiting. A CPA, she began her career in public accounting with both Touche Ross and Coopers & Lybrand and spent 13 years with AT&T as assistant controller of AT&T Capital.

Struggles at its subprime lending unit have resulted in tax-prep giant H&R Block Inc. posting a fourth-quarter loss of $85.5 million and a full-year loss of $433.6 million for the period ended April 30. The company said its latest quarter included roughly $677 million in losses from discontinued operations - the majority of that stemming from its Option One mortgage subsidiary.

Accounting Today has issued a call for nominations for its annual Top 100 Most Influential People in Accounting list. The list profiles the wide range of figures who wield influence over the profession, from accounting firm executives to state and federal regulators, thought leaders, academics, consultants and grass roots activists. To cast the widest possible net, Accounting Today will accept nominations by e-mail at daniel.hood@sourcemedia.com. Respondents are asked to include a brief description of the candidate's influence on the accounting profession, and, if possible, contact information. Self-nominations will be accepted. Nominations will be accepted until July 13. The often-controversial list will be published in September.

The LexisNexis Tax Center platform will now include exclusive content from Ernst & Young's International GAAP Online. Written by the International Financial Reporting Group of Ernst & Young, International GAAP Online includes the full text of every International Financial Reporting Standard and a set of model IFRS financial statements. LexisNexis has also paired with Danielle Rolfes, tax attorney and CPA with Ivins, Phillips & Barker, to present information on FIN 48. "There's a sea change that's less about the mechanics of FIN 48 and more abut rigorous accounting to give investors enhanced insight into companies' overall income tax positions and the consequent ability to scrutinize and compare," said Rolfes. LexisNexis launched its Tax Center last year to help streamline analysis of tax strategies across the broadest array of tax publishers available on a single platform, including LexisNexis, CCH, BNA, Tax Analysts, the ABA Section of Taxation and Matthew Bender.

Many of my friends are already retired, whether they have money or not. And, I keep hearing all the time the same question: When will I pack it in? After all, I’ve been at this for the past 45 years and you know something, I still love it. I may be one of the few people who on a Sunday night has trouble sleeping because I can’t wait to get to the office Monday morning.

Though financial reporting and Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 oversight remain a top priority for audit committees, other areas such as IT are fast rising as high-risk concerns, according to a survey sponsored by Big Four firm KPMG. According to the 2006-2007 Public Company Audit Committee Member Survey, conducted by KPMG's Audit Committee Institute and the National Association of Corporate Directors, just 15 percent of 282 audit committee members participating the survey indicated that they were "very satisfied" with their company's oversight of IT, while 20 percent admitted that their IT risk oversight needed improvement. Some 90 percent of respondents said the audit committee should devote more agenda time to upgrading IT risk oversight. Despite ongoing challenges posed by complex accounting standards and Section 404 compliance, most audit committee respondents were confident of their oversight in that area. About 80 percent of audit committees were "very satisfied" with their oversight of management's accounting judgments and estimates and some 60 percent said they were "very satisfied" with the amount of time the audit committee spends discussing the issue. For more information on the survey, visit: www.kpmg.com/aci.

Online business management applications provider NetSuite Inc. has launched NetSuite 2007.0, an offering that focuses on three key areas: an enterprise resource management system focused on ease- of use; a global customer relationship management and partner relationship management; and built-in suite analytics designed for the small to midsized market. The company, headquartered here, also has developed new NetSuite Assistants, a component of NetSuite 2007.0 that eases the setup, data import and ongoing administration of complex tasks. In addition, NetSuite has added assistants for complex ERP areas such as multi-dimensional product configuration and transactional form layout. Orders, forecasts, quotas and commissions can now be managed on a per-country basis in local currency to help streamline the management of global sales operations. In addition, all countries can then be rolled-up into a single dashboard for a consolidated global view across the entire organization. In a related launch, the company has also released SuiteAnalytics, a business intelligence tool that integrates pre-built dashboards and pre-configured key performance indicators with new analytics capabilities, - including the ability to embed Excel-like formulas in any NetSuite Performance Scorecard or saved-search report. For more information about NetSuite 2007.0, visit www.netsuite.com/2007.0.