'Earnings Management'"Earnings management" has become a dirty word (or two), conjuring images of cooked books and cookie jars. But not all earnings management is unethical or even illegal, according to accounting professor Thomas E. McKee, and in Earnings Management: An Executive Perspective, he sets about showing where the line is, and how to operate effectively on the right side of it. Covering 12 broad areas of earnings management, the book offers over 30 specific techniques that are legal, ethical and effective.
Price: $49.95.
Texere/Thomson
www.thomson.com/learning/texere
(800) 842-3636
Retirement distribution
Seeing as our retirement distributions are likely to come from food banks and homeless shelters, we don't focus much on them, but for those who have their financial affairs in better shape, knowing when and how to take them can be crucial. The American Institute of CPAs has published Retirement Distribution Practice Aids for practitioners to download to advise clients of their rights, choices and obligations. Authored by tax expert and lawyer Seymour Goldberg, the practice aids include letters, forms, checklists and related guidance in both Word and Adobe PDF formats.
Price: Members - $49; list price - $61.25.
AICPA
www.cpa2biz.com
Fiduciary standards
Being a fiduciary is, increasingly, an awesome and terrifying responsibility, particularly as regulators and lawyers sharpen their knives for those who fail in their duties. If you're responsible for other people's money, whether as a financial planner, a trustee or a retirement plan sponsor, The New Fiduciary Standard is a good guide to the best way to provide your clients with a disciplined investment approach founded on high moral and legal standards.
Written by Certified Financial Planner Tim Hatton, in cooperation with the Foundation for Fiduciary Studies, the book takes as its basis the foundation's 27 "Prudent Practices" and expands on them with real-life examples and illustrations of the best way to implement and maintain them.
Price: $50.
Bloomberg
www.bloomberg.com/books
(800) 869-1231
Nonprofit law
A nonprofit's tax-exempt status is crucial to its very existence, so protecting it, by complying with all the applicable laws and regulations, is of fundamental importance. If you have nonprofit clients, then 650 Essential Nonprofit Law Questions Answered should be on your shelf: It offers guidance on the latest developments in nonprofit law, with authoritative answers and real-world solutions to business, tax, legal and fundraising questions.
Price: $65.
John Wiley & Sons
www.wiley.com
(800) 762-2974
'Time Mastery'
No matter how much you try to kill it, time can still be your friend, according to Time Mastery: How Temporal Intelligence Will Make You a Stronger, More Effective Leader. The premise is that the common focus on "time management" - all that business of organizing your minutes and seconds - is for pikers; the real geniuses are mastering time, not just managing it. To that end, the book suggests more of a philosophy than a system, drawing on sources as widely varied as Jack Welch, Albert Einstein and the fictional sailors of Patrick O'Brian to create a compelling vision of time as malleable, energizing and, yes, friendly.
Price: $21.95.
Amacom
www.amacombooks.org
(800) 714-6395
