Audit & Accounting

House Approves Taxpayer Assistance and Simplification Act

It is my belief that despite the various newsletters, publications and sections on the AICPA Website, what the AICPA is doing that directly impacts its members can be publicized better by the AICPA.

The Internal Revenue Service said it would soon issue guidance to help businesses determine how to use the special 50 percent bonus depreciation allowance included with the recent economic stimulus legislation.

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board has revised the international standards requiring management to provide auditors with a clear written statement that auditors have received all the information they need.

CPAs who conduct valuations in the normal course of their practices are now required to comply with detailed standards.

In mid-February, we received an e-mail about our off-balance-sheet financing column (“Off-balance-sheet financing: Holy Grail or holey pail?” Accounting Today, Feb. 11-24, 2008, page 13) from Craig Bruya, currently chief financial officer of a Microsoft division, a former Andersen auditor and an erstwhile accounting instructor.We don’t mind getting under readers’ skins if it jars them loose from complacency. In this case, it appears we did the former, but not the latter. We think others would learn from seeing his challenges (which appear in italics but have been edited for prolixity) and our replies.

FIDELITY: RETIREES NEED $225,000 FOR HEALTH CAREFidelity Investments has released a report estimating that a 65-year-old couple retiring in 2008 would need approximately $225,000 to cover their medical costs in retirement, a 4.7 percent increase over the 2007 estimate of $215,000. Fidelity has been calculating retiree health care cost estimates annually since 2002. The number has risen a total of 41 percent since then, with an average annual increase of 5.8 percent. The 2008 estimate assumes that individuals do not have employer-sponsored health care coverage. The estimate includes expenses associated with Medicare Part B and D premiums, Medicare cost-sharing provisions such as co-payments and deductibles, and out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs. It does not include other health-related expenses, such as over-the-counter medications, most dental services and long-term care.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have issued proposed regulations to provide funding guidance for single-employer defined-benefit plans.

The fiscal year 2007 audit rate for the nation's largest corporations has plunged to its lowest level in the past two decades, according to a new report.

UHY Advisors has become a services partner of business software developer SAP America.