Accounting education

One year since being given the green light by the American Institute of CPAs, its trio of specialty credentials - the Personal Financial Specialist, the Accredited in Business Valuation and the Certified Information Technology Professional - have made steady, if not spectacular, membership gains, while the committee charged with their progress has deployed a grass-roots strategy to improve their value proposition.

Leaders of the American Institute of CPAs' national effort to improve financial literacy among the American public called on members of the institute's ruling Council to get involved as the institute unveiled a consumer Web site tied to the educational initiative.

Nominations are open for CPA Wealth Provider's Second Annual Financial Planning Awards in the following three categories:

The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards has turned over the setting and promotion of financial planning standards abroad to a newly established nonprofit standards-setting body, so that it can focus its efforts on promoting and setting planning standards in the U.S.

Social Security and Supplemental Security Income recipients will see a 2.7 percent bump in their benefits starting in 2005 under a cost of living adjustment announced Tuesday.

Thomson Tax & Accounting has acquired Gear Up Inc., a Vancouver, Wash. provider of training and continuing professional education for tax and accounting practitioners.

Business Transitions LLC, a provider of online buy/sell forums for CPA and financial services practices, has added a new service to its financial services practice succession planning Web sites aimed at sole practitioners.

In an effort to strengthen its wealth management practice, Wachovia Corp., the nation's fifth-largest bank, agreed to acquire wealth advisory firm Tanager Financial Services Inc.

While half of them will need it at some point in their lifetime, when it comes to long-term care, most Americans get a failing grade, according to a survey conducted by MetLife.

Fund research provider Morningstar Inc. said it is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission related to incorrect total return data that Morningstar published earlier this year for a single mutual fund.

The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. has named Sarah Ball Teslik, executive director of the Council of Institutional Investors, as its new chief executive.