Audit & Accounting

The American Institute of CPAs has appointed Jay Hanson as chairman-elect of its Accounting Standards Executive Committee.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is expected to announced a proposed rule Wednesday mandating the filing of SEC reports in Extensible Business Reporting Language format.

Accounting firm Moss Adams has named Rebecca Pomering CEO of its wealth management division.

A group promoting pastors’ First Amendment rights has announced an initiative to challenge the ban on endorsements of political candidates by tax-exempt organizations.

The Treasury Department's Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession on May 5 issued a draft of its final report. It is broken down into a number of sections, each with detailed recommendations with regard to auditing and the auditing profession.

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman promised to continue enforcement efforts against tax shelters and provide clearer tax guidance.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued FASB Statement No. 162, "The Hierarchy of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles," intended as a replacement for the American Institute of CPAs' GAAP hierarchy.

If you haven’t heard by now, there’s a big conference coming up in July. It’s being billed as “How CPAs Can Make Money in Financial Planning” and it’s being held on July 20-22 at the Chicago Fairmont. Why this conference? Because the Baby Boomers, as we all know, are hitting retirement age with the Barely Boomers right behind, and they are certainly looking for financial planners to advise them. In the interests of full disclosure, the conference is being offered by the premier publications in this field: CPA Wealth Provider, Accounting Today, and Practical Accountant. The conference will detail exactly what it takes to be really successful in such a practice area, which includes estate, tax, retirement, insurance, and succession planning and, of course, wealth management. This breakthrough conference is also targeted at those firms not yet in financial planning as well as those who have not been successful. In fact, the conference will allow you to determine how deeply your firm should be in this growth area and in what capacity. You will also learn how to select the right strategic partner and how to get financial planning up-to-speed quickly. Moreover, you will hear success stories from financial planners and learn the challenges of those CPAs who entered the business without the proper training, analysis, and understanding and therefore, failed or had a number of false starts. Incidentally, the conference will offer 16-18 CPE credits. Most importantly, a number of the preeminent people in the field will be conducting sessions at this conference including the keynote speaker, Stuart Kessler, considered by many as the “Godfather” of financial planning and including, as of this date, Garrett D'Alessandro, Sidney Blum, Mitchell Freedman, Peter Jaworski, Rebecca Pomering, Larry Swedroe, Enrique Vasquez, Troy Waugh, and Clare Wherley. For more information, contact Julie.Dienes@sourcemedia.com.

Sage Software's U.K.-based parent company, the Sage Group, reported revenue of $1.29 billion for the half-year ended March 31, 2008, a 9 percent increase over the same period last year.

Standard & Poor's plans to host a forum on the merits of fair value accounting later this month.