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Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007, a stripped-down version of the company's Accounting Professional 2007 software, recently passed the 1 million mark in downloads during its first three months as a free application.Microsoft released the stripped-down version last October, targeting businesses that are late adopters and rely on pencil and paper, or Excel. Start-ups and eBay sellers were among the intended audience, and Microsoft bundled a number of third-party services with the free download.

Kintera Inc. has unveiled its first software-as-a-service fund accounting system for nonprofits.Kintera Sphere Fundware will allow nonprofit and government organizations to track end-to-end flow of funds, integrating with business applications such as e-commerce, utility billing, and management for grants and donors. Aside from a new inventory module with an e-commerce operation, the accounts receivable features were also upgraded.

A training and learning culture is key to retaining and attracting bright employees. What is a training and learning culture? It's a culture in which the firm grows smarter and more productive. Mediocrity is unacceptable to firms that embrace it, and the alternative results in a downward spiral as the entire firm grows ineffective.Training and learning is a two-way street: Everyone learns and everyone trains. Firms that don't incorporate it as a culture will face increasing difficulty retaining and attracting Generation X and Y employees.

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LATIN AMERICABDO Bustamante & Bustamante, Panama, and BDO Trinity Limited, Trinidad and Tobago, have joined BDO International as member firms.

April9-10: Balanced Scorecard Workshop III: Executive Strategy with the Balanced Scorecard, American Institute of CPAs. AICPA Boardroom, New York City. Contact: (888) 777-7077 or www.cpa2biz.com.

CCH has released a white paper providing insight into what it believes is most important to young accounting professionals in the workplace today.

The Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department announced the release of proposed regulations that would disallow foreign tax credits for foreign taxes purportedly paid in connection with certain artificially engineered, highly structured transactions.

When I first enrolled in college, I opted for a marketing course as an elective. At first, there was some trepidation on my part, because to me, marketing was a term my grandmother used when she intended to go grocery shopping. During my first day in class, I soon learned that the process of marketing had nothing to do with a visit to Grand Union or Safeway.

Following a long period of assimilation, the London-based International Accounting Standards Board has released an exposure draft on accounting principles under International Financial Reporting Standards for the small and midsized sector.The IASB's goal was to provide a simplified, self-contained set of accounting principles that are appropriate for smaller, non-listed companies, but nevertheless based on IFRS - the guidelines developed primarily for listed European Union companies that are now in use or being adopted by 100 different countries around the world. American and EU regulators are currently embroiled in an ongoing convergence project between IFRS and U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.