Audit & Accounting

Since taking over management of the Institute of Management Accountants in January 2004, Paul A. Sharman has established an entirely new direction for the association.

Two accounting firms, Mueller Yuva & Osterman and Larson and Associates, have merged to combine their strengths in auditing, estate planning and other services.

Strategy and the Fat Smoker: Doing What’s Obvious But Not Easy by David Maister was given to me at the recent Winning Is Everything Conference, where he was a keynote speaker. This is the same David Maister who wrote the critically acclaimed Managing the Professional Firm (1993). I read that book twice and have heard him speak a number of times, and was always impressed by what he said, but always thought it was a bit theoretical.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has introduced Financial Explorer, a tool that shows corporate financial performance using interactive data in Extensible Business Reporting Language.

Last year, we published for the first time a ranking of CPAs by AUM (Assets Under Management). It was a huge undertaking by CPA Wealth Provider because we reached out to as many CPA firms as possible. Admittedly, we didn’t get all of them but we received a response that was staggering. We had two criteria for consideration: They must be a CPA firm that has a financial planning practice, even as a subsidiary or affiliate, and the financial planner in the office must hold a CPA credential. In the top list were 11 firms that were in “The Billion Dollar Club” while another 41 firms were in “The $100+ Million Club” and then a listing of those in the eight-figure category that we deemed “Rising Stars.” We also delved beneath the surface of just a ranking and unearthed what affiliations each firm had, such as broker/dealers, wire-houses, financial services companies, and the like. We went even further and revealed the areas of financial planning products that each firm recommended in basic categories such as IRAs, 401(k)s, mutual funds, life insurance, bonds, 529 plans, to name a few. The reaction from the accounting profession was simply wonderful. No one had ever seen such a ranking before and it opened the door now for a second ranking. Firms clamored for this to be an annual event, and we are complying. We are contacting everyone on our list from last year for updates plus additional firms that have contacted us. The final list will be compiled on May 1 and we will publish the rankings in the July 2008 CPA Wealth Provider. We encourage you to participate. For a copy of the Survey Form, contact me by email (stuart.kahan@sourcemedia.com), by fax (646) 264-6828, or write to me at Source Media, One State Street Plaza, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10004.

Mutual fund research company Morningstar has begun rating hedge funds.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting has released a progress report on its work to date.

The Canadian Accounting Standards Board has confirmed that use of International Financial Reporting Standards will be required in 2011 for publicly held profit-oriented companies.

Senator Jack Reed, D-R.I., has written letters to the heads of the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board asking how to improve the transparency of the types of assets linked to subprime mortgages.

XBRL US named Alfred R. Berkeley as the new chairman who will lead the board in 2008.