Subject Root Tag

Highlights of some of our favorite tax-related blogs from the past week.

You probably know more about Donald Sterling and his mistresses, his infamous recording, and the proposed forced sale of his team, the Los Angeles Clippers, than you want to know. Nevertheless, as tax professionals we should be aware of the tax opportunities and issues for the Sterlings as sellers, if only to make conversation at the next tax-themed gathering we attend.

The House passed a pair of bills Thursday to provide tax breaks to businesses.

The CPA brand remains “incredibly strong,” according to American Institute of CPAs president and CEO Barry Melancon, but the profession still faces challenges.

Facing a series of budget cuts in recent years, the Internal Revenue Service is being urged to set a long-term strategy and use return on investment data to better manage budget uncertainty and set priorities at the agency, in a new report from the Government Accountability Office.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has released a new accounting standard to address some of the problems with financial reporting on repurchase agreements, such as those that contributed to the demise of MF Global.

Xero has released its online practice management system Xero Practice Manager, providing job, time and invoice management for accountants and bookkeepers.

CohnReznick LLP and Boston-based Ercolini & Company have signed a letter of intent to combine practices. The deal is expected to close on June 30.

ISACA, a global professional association serving 115,000 information systems assurance, security, governance and risk professionals, named Matthew Loeb its new chief executive officer.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has made public additional portions of a 2010 inspection report on Ernst & Young and 2008 and 2009 inspections of Grant Thornton because the firms failed to adequately address some of the quality control problems that the PCAOB had identified within a year, although Grant Thornton claims the problems have since been addressed.

Kennedy and Coe LLC plans to combine with Chico, Calif.-based firm, Matson and Isom. The merger, which is pending final approvals, is scheduled to close on Jan. 1, 2015.

I recently attended a mixer for bankers, attorneys and CPAs in my area and I ran into a manager from a competing CPA firm.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a revenue procedure providing safe harbors for applying the general welfare exclusion to Indian tribal government programs.

Thomson Reuters has introduced Checkpoint Catalyst, the latest generation of its online tax research system.

Bill.com has extended its leadership team with the addition of John Rettig as chief financial officer and Tanya Roberts as vice president of corporate marketing.

Genworth Financial has created a new Web site with information on long term care.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued final regulations that modify the standards governing written tax advice and update related provisions.

The Internal Revenue Service issued a ruling yesterday clearing the way for institutional investors to seek changes to incentive fees assessed by hedge funds, which may make it cheaper for them to invest in such offerings.

BlackLine Systems unveiled a COSO Jumpstart Solution to help companies comply with new guidelines set forth in the updated 2013 COSO Internal Control—Integrated Framework.

Fujitsu America announced it is providing technical services to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to create and support an Inline XBRL eXtensible Business Reporting Language software solution.