Audit & Accounting

According to recent surveys, Americans are lacking in preparation for retirement. In fact, many have little or absolutely no idea of how to achieve certain goals. To the rescue comes WealthRidge which is offering a free retirement planning White Paper to help people get on track to financial well-being in retirement. "Facts You Need To Know About Retirement Planning" can be obtained via www.wealthridge.com. Wealthridge points out that more than 65 percent of all retirees have saved less than $100,000, and they find that is nowhere near enough money for retirement. Michael Snowdon, CFP®, financial planning partner in WealthRidge says, "It's not uncommon to live in retirement for 20 or 30 years. Finding the funding to support those years has become, for many, an exercise in futility." Why? Here's an example he cites. An individual who wants to have an income of $75,000 per year in retirement, plans to retire in 15 years, and to live for 30 more years, may need as much as $2 million to fund the desired retirement income. How so? Because health care expenses represent a significant factor. A recent study suggests that a couple who reaches age 65 will need more than $200,000 to pay for their retirement health care expenses. With fewer company pensions, and living expenses at all-time highs, saving enough money for retirement can seem to be an almost impossible task. There are solutions, notes Wealthridge, and people can achieve their goals. They say that the retirement planning White Paper provides answers to how much money will be needed for retirement, how much healthcare will cost, and how much retirees can safely withdraw from their retirement portfolio to make sure it lasts as long as they do. The White Paper also identifies the tools that are available to save for retirement, along with some cautions about what not to do. For additional information, feel free to contact Michael Snowdon at (888) 326-5557. WealthRidge is an independent fee-based financial planning firm in the Denver metro area.

The New York State Society of CPAs plans to welcome a series of speakers from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to its September 10 conference on current developments under Sarbanes-Oxley.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has added the topic of business combinations to its accounting standards codification, which aims to organize the thousands of U.S. accounting pronouncements issued by multiple standard-setters into a single authoritative source.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is soliciting comments on a new auditing standard for evaluating the consistency of financial statements.

SEC Chairman Christopher Cox hailed an appeals court decision that said the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is constitutional.

PricewaterhouseCoopers plans to reorganize its international network of member accounting firms, splitting them into three major geographic clusters.

The Internal Revenue Service has released its revised instructions for the redesigned Form 990 that tax-exempt organizations must submit.

Ascend, the national Asian-American society of accountants, held its first major conference in New York this week.

Deloitte & Touche has signed a memorandum of understanding with Canadian accounting firm Scott Rankin & Gardner for a potential merger.

The American Institute of CPAs is helping to promote a movie on the financial challenges facing the U.S. today.