Finance

A long-awaited Senate energy and climate change bill is being introduced Wednesday by John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., with several tax provisions that would benefit nuclear power plants.

Tax accountants and others looking for clues on how the anti-tax Tea Party movement will affect this fall’s national elections received mixed signals from voters in a number of recent ballot initiatives.

The Hawaii legislature has overridden the veto of Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle and passed a strict mandatory peer review law for public accountants.

A group of seven accounting and business organizations are protesting a proposed amendment to the financial regulatory reform legislation from Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, that would legislate some accounting standards for financial reporting.

Two weeks after Goldman Sachs was charged by theSecurities and Exchange Commission for fraud, federal prosecutors have begun aninvestigation into the banking giant according to sources.

President Obama has nominated two economists and anattorney to the Federal Reserve Board, bringing the board to its fullseven-member strength for the first time in four years.

Executives from Goldman Sachs faced intense questioning before a Senate subcommittee over the investment bank’s sales of securities that an employee described as “sh***y.”

The initial meeting of the White House deficit commission kicked off as a bipartisan panel considered ways to curb the growing federal budget deficit and the national debt.

The Internal Revenue Service is helping spread the word that the COBRA subsidy eligibility period has been extended to May 31.

The Internal Revenue Service is reportedly investigating Florida senatorial candidate Marco Rubio’s use of a Republican Party credit card.

President Barack Obama visited the Great Hall at Cooper Union in New York to call on Wall Street executives to stop fighting efforts in the Senate to pass financial regulatory reform.

The Senate Agriculture Committee has approved bipartisan legislation that would require derivatives to be traded on regulated exchanges and cleared through central clearinghouses, advancing the financial regulatory reform effort.

The Senate Finance Committee held the first of a series of hearings on the Obama administration’s proposal to tax financial institutions in order to recoup losses from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The American Institute of CPAs is keeping a close watch on financial reform legislation as the Senate is expected to begin debate on the bill within the next week.

President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force has introduced a new Web site to educate Americans about how to protect themselves from fraud and report instances of fraud.

The Treasury Department has launched a new initiative to dramatically increase the number of electronic transactions, including quarterly tax payments, in order to reduce paperwork.

Washington, D.C.-The House Financial Services Committee plans to probe the regulatory failures that led up to the collapse of Lehman Brothers after a bankruptcy examiner released a damning report in March on the investment bank's accounting manipulations.

A flood of enacted and proposed legislation and regulations is making the international tax arena one of particular interest to CPAs and their clients.

The Senate has approved a two-month extension of eligibility for unemployment benefits and tax credits to help cover the cost of health insurance premiums for the unemployed.

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama released their joint income tax return on Tax Day, April 15, reporting adjusted gross income of $5.5 million, not including his Nobel Peace Prize winnings.