Financial Planning

The U.S. Department of Labor reached an agreement Monday to set aside $356 million from the sale of Enron's assets to cover some of the bankrupt energy company's retirement and pension plan benefits.

The executive stock option settlement initiative launched in February has received a strong turnout, according to the Internal Revenue Service. The initiative provided corporate executives and their companies a means to resolve an abusive tax transaction involving the transfer of stock options to family controlled partnerships.

Courts look unkindly at CPAs who advise clients beyond their qualifications - for instance, by dispensing legal advice (if they're not attorneys as well). Knowing where to stop and refer clients to other professionals, as well as how to manage the other specialists in a client's financial life, are critical skills for effective investment advisors.

* FIRM UNVEILS FINANCIAL CONCIERGE PROGRAM FOR PRO ATHLETES: Piascik & Associates, a Richmond, Va.-based CPA and financial planning firm, has rolled out a financial concierge program for its professional athlete clients. The program is designed to keep professional athletes on a managed budget with automatic, on-time bill payment and advice on making high-dollar purchasing decisions on tangibles such as cars, jewelry and houses.

Do you know the best ways you as an investor can get cheated?

Assets in Section 529 college savings plans rose to an estimated $55.4 billion at the end of the first quarter, according to data released by the nonprofit College Savings Foundation. The quarterly asset total was up 6 percent from an estimated $52.3 billion at the end of 2004, and up 38.6 percent from the first quarter 2004 total of $40.0 billion.

Chief financial officers' optimism about the economy and their own companies' prospects is the lowest it has been during the past 12 months, according to a survey of Financial Executives International members.

American Express Financial Advisors Inc. will pay New Jersey $5 million and implement company-wide reforms to address allegations that it failed to reasonably supervise its financial advisors. The settlement follows revelations that a financial advisor in AEFA's Voorhees, N.J., office stole more than $400,000 from at least 22 clients. The New Jersey Bureau of Securities discovered the theft, and expanded its investigation with the uncovering of widespread problems involving AEFA's failure to supervise financial advisors within its franchise offices. "In investigating and prosecuting this individual, we identified a larger issue of inadequate supervision of the company's financial advisors," said New Jersey Attorney General Peter C. Harvey. "To its credit, American Express has worked cooperatively with our office to address deficiencies in its oversight of financial advisors." Harvey vowed to continue his scrutiny of financial advisory services. "We are taking a hard look at the industry," he added. "Where we find firms failing in this area and the failures are significant, we will be imposing major penalties and demanding significant reforms."

Financial Executives International, a 15,000-member trade group for chief financial officers and other senior financial personnel has elected its new slate of officers. Robert Walker, former CFO of Agilent Technologies, will serve as chairman, while Richard Schrader, executive vice president and CFO of Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc., in New York, will become vice chairman. Additional officers include: Alexis Dow, elected auditor, metro, regional government in Portland, Ore., and Joseph DiLorenzo, co-founder and manager, M/D Group LLC, in Humarock, Mass., who will serve as vice presidents at large. Gerald Urich, corporate assistant controller, The Hershey Co., Hershey, Pa., will serve as treasurer. Jeffrey Curtiss, senior vice president and CFO, Service Corp. International, Houston, will become secretary.Mary Jo Green, immediate past FEI chairman, and senior vice president and treasurer, Sony Corp. of America, New York, and second past FEI chairman H. Stephen Grace, Jr., president of H.S. Grace & Co., Houston, will continue in their capacities as directors-at-large. Joan Netzel, first vice president, audit relationship manager for SunTrust Banks Inc., Atlanta, will remain as chairman of the Board of Trustees for Financial Executives Research Foundation -- FEI's research affiliate. The FEI officers slate began officially July 1.

In a divisive 3-2 vote, the Securities and Exchange Commission amended and re-approved a proposed rule requiring the directors of mutual funds to be independent that had been ruled against by a federal court a little more than a week ago. Ruling in a suit brought by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the court said that the commission had not taken into account any alternatives and did not consider the costs of the rule, which would require that at least 75 percent of a fund's directors be independent. To address the court's concerns, the amended rule added details about compliance costs and other matters. "We've done the right thing," SEC Chairman William Donaldson said in a statement, adding that the SEC had laid out in detail what implementation would costs funds, and that it had concluded that simply disclosing whether or not directors were independent would not be adequate. Yesterday's vote was seen by some as a rush to get the rule implemented, since Donaldson is due to step down today, thus changing the balance of opinion at the commission. The Chamber of Commerce promised to sue again.