Accounting education

What criteria determines a good or bad credit risk?

A survivor annuity, either in the form of a qualified joint and survivor annuity, or QJSA, if the participant is alive on the starting date, or a qualified pre-retirement survivor annuity, or QPSA, if the participant dies before the starting date, must be provided to married plan participants and their spouses with respect to certain qualified plans.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board issued a revised exposure draft, titled, "Accounting for Transfers of Financial Assets."

SmartPros Ltd., a provider of accredited professional education and corporate training, recently reported its financial results for the second quarter and first half of the year.

The Governmental Accounting Standard Board recently published a guide to its statements 43 and 45, both which address post-employment benefits besides pensions.

Structured products are wending their way into portfolios, with investors recently sucking up half a billion dollars on just three new issues of the vehicles - three of some 67 offerings of structured products launched this year.

* N.J. ATTORNEY GENERAL BUSTS AMEX FINANCIAL ADVISORS: American Express Financial Advisors Inc. will pay New Jersey $5 million and implement company-wide reforms to address allegations that it failed to reasonably supervise its financial advisors.

Ask any reputable financial planner how to secure a decent retirement, and you might just get a laundry list of what you should or should not do. Most represent pretty good thoughts.

The administrators of a Utah college savings plan have settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission for issuing false and misleading information, though the fund's former director will be charged with misappropriating funds.

Tax information providers CCH and RIA both released comprehensive explanations and practical analyses of the tax provisions contained in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2005.

The Internal Revenue Service will scrap its plans to close 68 Taxpayer Assistance Centers after Congress insisted the agency further study the potential impact of the closures.

* INVESTORS WANT MORE IN DC PLANS: Investors today want more options and advice in their defined-contribution plans, according to a survey of plan sponsors.The number of investment choices in defined-contribution plans now averages 16, down from 20 in 2001. That compares with an average of 11 investment choices in 1998, according to a triennial survey of plan sponsors by institutional investment consulting firm Callan Associates. The survey polled 95 plan sponsors with more than $100 billion in total assets and 1.1 million participants.

Question: What do tax season and the family scrapbook both have in common?Answer: They are both keys to growing your firm's financial planning practice.

The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 provides that the amount of a deduction for charitable donations after 2004 of qualified vehicles where the claimed value is more than $500 depends on the charity's use of the donated vehicle.Qualified vehicles include motor vehicles, boats and planes that aren't inventory or held for sale in the ordinary course of business. The Internal Revenue Service has issued Notice 2005-44 to provide detailed guidance on the charitable contribution rules that apply to qualified vehicles that are donated after 2004.

In a divisive 3-2 vote, the Securities and Exchange Commission amended and re-approved a proposed rule requiring the directors of mutual funds to be independent that had been ruled against by a federal court in a lawsuit a little more than a week before.

Already with a lengthy to-do list before adjourning for its August recess, reports have Congress moving to address the future of the estate tax soon.

A group of congressional representatives has asked the Internal Revenue Service to hold off on plans to shut down 68 of the agency's Taxpayer Assistance Centers.

Accountants Global Network International-North America Inc., a network of accounting firms, is tackling two of the profession's challenges by looking to enhance the skills of experienced partners, and develop a firm's staff, in a more focused manner.

Republican leaders have said that movement on President Bush's plans to overhaul Social Security is unlikely to happen until after Congress' August recess.

The American Institute of CPAs has received a 2005 Summit Award from the American Society of Association Executives for its national 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy program.