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Executive-level CPAs in business and industry are confident in the future of their own companies, but much less so in the prospects for the U.S. economy, according to a recent survey. While two thirds of the C-suite CPAs responding to the American Institute of CPAs' Spring 2007 Business and Industry Economic Outlook Survey expected their businesses to expand in the next 12 months, less than half have a favorable view of the economy. "Despite reservations about the U.S. economy, companies continue to have a healthy outlook on their own businesses with the next 12 months, and anticipate continued stability in terms of revenue and hiring expectations," said John Morrow, the AICPA's vice president for members in business, industry and government. Most of the surveyed CPAs, however, noted that they expect increases in revenues, not profits, which will be held down by employee costs and a limited ability to raise prices. Fully 95 percent of respondents noted that employee and benefit costs are a challenge, and staff-related issues -- including finding and retaining qualified staff -- accounted for four of the top five challenges faced by organizations. The survey, which represents the views of over 1,350 AICPA members in a wide range of industries, is available online at the institute's Financial Management Center Web site.

Sage Software today launched its Peachtree by Sage 2008 product line, a selection of software targeted at the small business market. In addition to performance enhancements, small businesses will see more user-control capabilities, along with improvements for producing more specific information output for their needs, especially in reporting, to encourage better business management. "They want to get the numbers right, and put in the effort to do that so they can make the right decisions," said Shari Willman, product manager for Peachtree, about the product line's customers at the American Institute of CPAs' Tech+ Information Technology Conference, here. The culmination of roughly 18 months of work, Peachtree by Sage was influenced by more than 100 customers in Sage's "Customer Connected Design Center," so customers could take part in identifying opportunities to enhance functionality and introduce new features. "We really changed the product considerably in 2007, so in 2008 we improved on that," Willman said. Among some of the changes in this release are 100 new fields, 50 new filters and 30 new sorting options for information within the accounting report functionality. Peachtree by Sage 2008 also includes a new Transaction Detail Report, which is a comprehensive report that enables small businesses to see key information related to any transaction from one location. More aesthetic-improvement features have been added, including a design screen that aims to offer more flexibility for adding color, logos and other information to customize the standard layout on forms such as invoices, sales orders and other transactionary documents. The software also includes a new document management function that enables small businesses to add attachments to records such as vendors, employees, inventory items, payroll checks or quotes directly within the product. The 2008 product line keeps consistent with its separate offerings for industry niches such as accounting, manufacturing, nonprofits, construction and distribution. Peachtree by Sage 2008 comes in four packages -- basic, standard, advanced and premium. Peachtree Quantum by Sage 2008, the company's top-of-the line offering that can serve up to 10 users and has access to all industry-specific features, is also available. Included with Peachtree Quantum is Peachtree Quantum Business Care, an extensive service plan that includes product updates and upgrades that become available within 12 months of the product purchase date, access to online training and one year of unlimited access to customer support. For more information, call (800) 228-0068.

Wizard Productivity Systems has unveiled the first end-to-end system for streamlining the implementation and set-up of Microsoft Dynamics. Wizard Accounting Solutions for Microsoft Dynamics aims to make it easy to purchase, install and learn Microsoft's accounting and business software by offering a turnkey end-user package that companies can purchase online or over the phone. The package includes Dynamics; a step-by-step program for configuring a company's system; a customized server with a three-year service plan; and a choice of three different levels of technical guidance and coaching. Pricing starts at $12,250, including hardware. WPS has offered the set-up component of the package, the Wizard X4 Productivity Suite, through Microsoft resellers for a year; this marks the first time the product has been available directly to users. For more information, visit www.wizardx4.com or call (800) 939-4119 ext. 701.

Advertisements at California airports entice busy executives to “play hooky” using handheld devices. After all, the ads argue, if you fix a PowerPoint and answer an email, it’s not really playing hooky now, is it? This marketing strategy touches on an increasingly common scenario in which the worlds of business and pleasure collide. While this particular vendor is trying to promote the fact that we can spend a day at the beach or on the golf course instead of in an office, it fails to include an asterisk warning us of the downsides of anytime, anywhere access from a machine that can fit in our pockets. *Warning: This device can be addicting and impede on your personal life. Contact your IT professional if you catch yourself checking emails in your sleep. Traveling to various accounting shows put a bug in my head that I need a “Crackberry.” It’s not enough that I run back to my hotel room to check my email every time my schedule shows a 15-minute “open” slot or that I have my cell phone attached to my pants so I can feel people trying to reach me in case I don’t hear it ring. I should be able to communicate in the elevator, on the Starbuck’s line and maybe even while showering. (A little electric shock couldn’t be that painful.) “Please, don’t get a Crackberry,” a friend of mine implored during a hike one recent weekend during which I promised to keep my phone in my backpack—but not turned off—and not to conduct any business until I returned home (are we there yet?) “You’re the picture of a junkie.” I envisioned myself standing still with a BlackBerry sticking precariously out of my veins and knew his statement was true. The sick thing is, his comment is making me entertain the idea even more… Having a Palm Pilot, Treo or BlackBerry does not serve as a magic wand in which all business problems can be solved from the road in a matter of minutes, either. This kind of connectivity has obvious advantages. Most companies with mobile workforces can win the argument in favor of providing their staff with handheld machines. Sales people, in particular, can stand to gain from viewing client and prospect data when out of the office, potentially even winning them deals by arming them with pertinent or personal details about an individual or company they may otherwise not have known or remembered. But as accounting software vendors start boasting about their mobile apps, one has to wonder just how much number crunching customers expect to do on the road. When pressed, a few of them admitted that companies are only using a select set of features and functionality, most of which involves looking up client data—not necessarily updating their general ledgers. There’s something to be said for preparedness when entering a meeting, even when closing a deal is not the main objective. There comes a point, however, at which attempting to conduct the type of business you would on a PC on something the fraction of the size just becomes counterproductive. After all, how much drilling down can you do on a screen that small without straining your eyes so much that the numbers start resembling Chinese characters. Not to mention Swollen Thumb Syndrome. One software reseller I spoke with is convinced the next generation will be born with extra thumbs in a twisted world of Darwin vs. the BlackBerry, in which the cool kids will wear glasses and the most popular pickup line will be, “Nice Digits.”

For some, going global means eating a hamburger one night, sushi the next, a gyro sandwich the third, followed by curried chicken, and then Chilean sea bass. “Going global” or “going international” means something entirely different for firms. It might mean hiring a more diverse staff to appeal to a more diverse potential client base. For others, it might mean foreign outsourcing, or joining an international firm association to develop working relationships with firms in foreign countries. To some, it might mean hiring accountants from overseas to fill staff vacancies. And let’s not forget the need to understand international accounting standards as the move to convergence gains strength. There are, especially in regional firms, exchanges of staff where staff from one firm work in the offices of a firm in another country for a number of months. One firm association rotates its annual international meeting among its seven international regions to ensure a continuing diverse international flavor. I just read an online article in USA Today about the fact that more MBA candidates are going abroad for their degree. The reasons given were that it normally takes one year rather than two, the future MBAers like international travel, it helps their career if they might want to eventually work in that country, and there is contact with MBA candidates from many other countries. What is interesting to watch in many firms is that there is an increased comfort level with going international, similar to what you experience when you eat unfamiliar food from different cultures. Think also about the fact that the youngest generation is growing up in the “Age of Globalization,” and using the Internet to easily plan foreign travel and interact, communicate, and maintain contact with those in other countries. Ultimately, they are forming and building at a very early age an international network that will serve them very well in their future personal, employment, and professional endeavors.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act hasn't helped in the long-running battle against corporate fraud, according to a recent survey of certified fraud examiners -- a staggering 76 percent of whom reported that fraud is more prevalent today than five years ago. The 2007 Report on Corporate Fraud, conducted for governance software vendor Oversight Systems Inc., noted that that was up nine percentage points from its survey in 2005, and that a mere 3 percent of respondents felt that fraud was less prevalent, down from 7 percent in 2005. "This survey indicates the checklist approach to compliance is not effectively reducing fraud," said Oversight Systems chief executive Patrick Taylor, in a statement. Furthermore, 43 percent of respondents felt that "vigilance and interest by corporate leaders" in creating a culture of integrity and fraud prevention had "already started to fade." Among the survey's other findings:

Notice 2007-54, which provides guidance and transitional relief for the return preparer penalty provisions amended by the Small Business and Work Opportunity Act of 2007, has been issued by the Internal Revenue Service. The new amendments are effective for returns prepared after May 25, 2007. The new law amended several provisions of the Tax Code to extend the return preparer penalties under Section 6694 to preparers of all tax returns, including estate and gift tax returns, employment tax returns, and excise tax returns. Prior to the new law, these penalties applied only to the preparers of income tax returns. The new law also increased the amount of the penalties and changed the standards of conduct that must be met by return preparers in order to avoid penalties under Section 6694. The transitional relief provided by Notice 2007-54 will apply to all returns, amended returns and refund claims due on or before Dec. 31, 2007, including those returns, amended returns and refund claims filed pursuant to extensions to file due on or before Dec. 31, 2007; to 2007 estimated tax returns due on or before Jan. 15, 2008; and to 2007 employment and excise tax returns due on or before Jan. 31, 2008.

Technology is on the mind of the CPAs visiting here as part of the American Institute of CPAs annual technology conference. This year, there's more to the equation, as the New York-based association has added a "plus" to its event name to demonstrate its intent to go deeper with information and perspective. Formally kicking off the conference Monday at the Mirage, after a series of optional sessions and roundtables the day before, David Cieslak, a partner at Arxis Technology Inc. in Simi Valley, Calif., and chair of the Tech+ AICPA Information Technology steering committee, said that they decided to "take this conference and strip it back to the walls." The sessions, he added, were intended to "provide a cookbook" of information to participants.

In a motion filed last week, lawyers for action star Wesley Snipes asked that tax fraud and tax evasion charges against him be dismissed, claiming that he is being targeted because he is African-American. The eight-count indictment, filed last October, charges Snipes and two Florida men with conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and presenting fraudulent claims for payment totaling almost $12 million. Snipes also faces six counts of failing to file income tax returns between 1999 and 2004. The motion notes that although co-defendant Eddie Ray Kahn, the founder of tax scheme promoter American Rights Litigator, had not filed tax returns from 1997 to 2002, he was not charged with failing to file. It was also "possible" that co-defendant and tax preparer Douglas P. Rosile had not filed in 2003 and 2004, but no charges were brought against him. Both Kahn and Rosile, the motion points out, are "Caucasian." Snipes has maintained all along that he was simply the victim of bad tax advice, and that the charges against him were racially based. As further evidence of "selective prosecution," the motion points out that while American Rights Litigator had over 2,000 clients, Snipes was the only one to be prosecuted. His lawyers ask that, should the case continue, he be granted discovery rights to determine the race and tax return status of those other clients, and whether any face charges. In addition, the motion claims that Snipes was singled out because he asked the examining agents to send him written copies of the questions they wished to discuss with him, refused to acknowledge the illegitimacy of his tax strategy, and because he possesses a "national platform" to publicize the issue. Finally, the motion also reveals that Snipes' middle name is Trent.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to fine telephone-equipment giant Nortel Networks as much as $100 million for accounting fraud, according to published reports. The reports also noted that SEC attorneys sought permission from the commissioners to inflict a fine of less than $100 million -- the first instance of a new policy that gives the politically appointed commissioners more say in corporate penalties. Previously, attorneys negotiated settlements without consulting the commissioners. Toronto-based Nortel inflated its earnings by $3.4 billion between 2001 and 2004, when the SEC began an investigation of the company's accounting. As an indicator of the scale of the possible fine, late in 2006, federal judges signed off on an estimated $2.4 billion payout by Nortel to settle a shareholder lawsuit.