Accounting education

Generally, property inherited from a decedent gets a basis equal to the property's fair market value on the date the decedent died. This rule applies regardless of whether a federal estate tax return is filed.However, the fiduciary of the decedent's death can elect to value all the property includible in the decedent's estate on the alternate valuation date, but only if that will result in a decrease in both:

April's landmark bankruptcy legislation helped change the world for spendthrift Americans.By virtue of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, Congress reformed bankruptcy laws by taking away some privileges, and then the U.S. Supreme Court gave some of them back with a ruling that IRAs would be safe from creditors. Both actions have prompted CPA advisors to rethink the strategies available to clients whose finances get out of control.

The NASD has censured and fined Raymond James & Associates Inc. and Raymond James Financial Services Inc. $750,000 for violations relating to the firms' fee-based brokerage business.

In spite of President Bush's recent efforts to push his plan to overhaul Social Security, a majority of Americans surveyed disapprove of Bush's handling of the issue, according to a recent poll.

The Financial Planning Association, Moss Adams LLP and SEI Advisor Network are seeking financial planners to participate in their biennial compensation and staffing benchmark study.

With returns on both bonds and stocks dwindling, investors are seeking higher ground. Increasingly, that means that their money finds its way into alternative investments like hedge funds.

Washington - Nearly three-fourths of workers participating in a retirement savings poll said that employers' matching contributions of up to 5 percent of their salaries would greatly influence their decision to join a savings plan at work.

New York - Private securities class-action lawsuits spiked 16 percent from 2003 to 2004, with aggregate settlements topping $5 billion - the largest amount on record, according to a securities litigation study by Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

It is common to parody accountants as tightly wrapped number-crunchers oriented more toward dollars than human emotions, religious beliefs, moral debates and political controversies.

A majority of Californians believe that they can do a better job of investing a portion of their Social Security payments than the government can -- even though 80 percent admit that they have little or no investing experience, according to a recent poll.

The Financial Planning Association filed a petition in a District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals challenging a Securities and Exchange Commission rule exempting certain broker/dealers from the requirements of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

The American Institute of CPAs, the AICPA Foundation, the National Endowment for Financial Education and the American Red Cross have launched a new, broad-based disaster preparedness and planning guide for consumers.

Good news for accounting graduates: Average salary offers to new college graduates are climbing at a steady pace, and those with accounting degrees are faring particularly well, according to a recent salary survey.

The American College, based here, and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors have partnered to create the Financial Services Specialist designation, a new financial planning credential.

Employers and their advisors are still trying to puzzle through the creation of health savings accounts.

Sherman Hanna is a professor of consumer sciences at Ohio State University. He is also the co-author of a new measure that he says is a better way to calculate how much risk people are willing to take in their investments. It has an interesting twist.

CPAs advertising their services used to be against the rules, until regulators began loosening those restrictions about 25 years ago.

The Securities and Exchange Commission voted to allow brokers to offer fee-based advisory accounts without being regulated as investment advisors. The new rule would allow brokers to continue offering fee-based accounts without coming under regulation as advisors, provided that they meet certain requirements. According to reports, clients in such accounts must be given explicit disclosure that they are brokerage accounts, not advisory accounts, and that the brokers' interests may not be the same as their clients' interests. Brokers also must offer clients information on whom to contact at the brokerage firm if they have questions on the differences between these accounts. The commission also ordered a 90-day study into whether any changes are required regarding how brokers and advisors are regulated.

Nearly three-fourths of workers participating in a retirement savings poll said that employers' matching contributions of up to 5 percent of their salaries would greatly influence their decision to join a savings plan at work. In its 15th annual Retirement Confidence Survey, the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that, in addition to matching employer funds, 65 percent of workers were more likely to join a company-sponsored retirement plan if the plan offered an investment option that automatically provided workers with a more conservative allocation as their retirement date approached, while 56 percent said that they would join up if the plan contained a provision that raised employee contributions by a fixed percentage when they received a pay raise. The annual study measures attitudes of workers and retirees toward saving, retirement planning and financial security. A majority of those polled admitted to being behind in their retirement savings, yet confident that they'll reach their savings goal by retirement. Some 69 percent indicated that they or their spouse had accrued some savings for retirement -- the survey's highest level in more than 10 years.

In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court ruled that creditors cannot seize individual retirement accounts in a bankruptcy filing, thereby classing them with pensions, 401(k)s and Social Security, which are afforded protection under bankruptcy law. The case before the court involved a bankrupt couple from Arkansas who were fighting to keep more than $55,000 in retirement savings. Last year, more than 1.6 million people filed for personal bankruptcy, versus 875,000 a decade earlier. Experts say that much of that is being driven by people 55 and older who lose their jobs and can't pay off debts.