Finance

SCHENCK FORMS CRISIS TEAMAppleton, Wis. - Schenck Business Solutions has formed a Financial Crisis Response Team to guide and assist companies challenged by the current economy. The multi-disciplinary team is comprised of firm members with expertise in cash management, banking and financing, operations consulting, process improvement, inventory and receivables management, strategy development, and technology integration. The resources of the team are coordinated by shareholder Dan Koszalinski, CMA, CPA.

Many are surprised to learn that while it sometimes appears that the Internal Revenue Code reaches into every aspect of our lives, it lacks focus in addressing the complex tax consequences that face the unfortunate victims of Ponzi schemes.Of course, if the reports are true, there may have never before been a Ponzi scheme like Bernard Madoff's, so it is time to take a fresh look at things.

As governments desperately seek all kinds of additional revenue, senior business professionals see the increased possibility of an audit by taxing authorities as the most significant tax risk facing their organizations today, according to a new survey.

The Monitoring Board that was recently established to add more public accountability to the International Accounting Standards Board has held its inaugural meeting and picked its first leader.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a “plain English” summary of the board’s actions when it modified the standards for fair value and mark-to-market accounting in response to congressional demands.

Both the House and Senate approved the Democrats’ version of a $3.5 trillion budget plan for fiscal year 2010, but without a single Republican vote.

Accounting experts and industry organizations alternately praised and panned the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s decision to loosen the standards for fair value and mark-to-market accounting.

Lawmakers at a congressional hearing Wednesday pressed Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman to ease up on audits of small businesses.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued guidance to clarify the COBRA benefits offered under the recently passed stimulus bill.

Under pressure from Congress to act quickly, the Financial Accounting Standards Board voted to approve substantial changes to fair value accounting.

The Internal Revenue Service has begun spreading the word about a special incentive for taxpayers to buy a new car this year: a hefty deduction next year.

Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Kathleen Sebelius became the latest prospective Cabinet member to run afoul of the Tax Code after she admitted to recently paying $7,040 in back taxes and $878 in interest.

The Treasury Department has opened its ballyhooed Web site that will allow ordinary citizens to keep an eye on efforts to stabilize the financial system.

Private sector employment declined by 742,000 jobs last month, according to the latest monthly report by payroll giant ADP.

A new report suggests that companies adopting the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s recent proposals on modifying mark-to-market and fair value accounting standards should provide more extensive disclosures to help investors make sense of the impaired assets.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has bowed to pressure from lawmakers and banking interests and put forward a proposal to relax fair value standards.

The Congressional Research Service has found that both the Senate and House bills that seek to tax bonuses paid to employees of entities receiving assistance from the federal government under the Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 may have constitutional problems.

President Barack Obama has nominated a California professor, Helen Elizabeth Garrett, as his Assistant Treasury Secretary for Tax Policy.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has announced legislation that would make existing tax breaks permanent for working families and individuals.

In the current recession, an extended period of unemployment for top managers no longer carries the stigma it previously did, as a recent survey of executives said that on average, a senior manager could be jobless for as long as nine months before their careers became adversely affected.