Economy

Lawmakers have passed a provision as part of the sweeping Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act of 2006, that exempts CPAs from the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act’s requirement that they send clients an annual privacy notice.

Political fundraisers for the accounting profession have raised a record-breaking campaign war chest of more than $8 million dollars to support congressional candidates in the fall elections.Big accounting has already channeled more than $5.9 million in campaign contributions to candidates for House and Senate seats in 2006, and the industry's total stake in this year's congressional elections may well top $10 million by the time the dust settles in November.

The top-scoring candidates on the 2005 Uniform CPA Examination have been announced by the American Institute of CPAs.

A recently released exposure draft from the American Institute of CPAs contains two different interpretations under the institute's independence rules.

Optimism about the U.S. economy among CPAs serving in corporate America's C-level suites is declining, according to the latest Business and Industry Economic Outlook survey from the American Institute of CPAs.

Despite some ruffled feathers over incentives designed to sway the American Institute of CPAs to relocate more than 300 jobs here, the Durham County commissioners approved giving the institute a $400,000 incentive package as part of its relocation strategy.The approval came on the heels of a minor controversy last month, when an AICPA spokesman was quoted in a local paper as saying that the incentives did not play a major role in the institute selecting Durham as its relocation venue.

A trio of state accounting boards have objected to the 'jointness' of a joint project from the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the American Institute of CPAs to form a committee to look at the financial accounting and reporting standard-setting process for private companies.

The American Institute of CPAs announced the trio of recipients of the 2006 Outstanding CPA in Government Award.

A trio of professional groups have joined forces to launch a research project to explore user perceptions of financial statement audits and auditor reports.

There is a nice addition to the AICPA Web site at www.aicpa.org/YoungCPANetwork. It is geared to those just beginning their careers in accounting. The sections that caught my attention were Mentoring, Career Planning & Development, Work/Life Balance and Professional Issues.

For my 14th birthday, my father surprised me with tickets to see a winner-take-all-match at Madison Square Garden between two of the greatest tennis players of a past generation -- Rod Laver and Richard "Pancho" Gonzales.

The American Institute of CPAs praised a new law that will prevent states from taxing the retirement income of non-resident partners last week.

In a significant move toward unifying a number of related standards and harmonizing them with a new international standard, the Auditing Standards Board has voted out a proposed statement on quality control.It was one of three exposure drafts issued for comment by summer's end.

The American Institute of CPAs has been working to mend fences with local officials in Durham, N.C., after the county manager threatened to pull a $400,000 subsidy package for the institute's relocation of its New Jersey headquarters.

The American Institute of CPAs has released two exposure drafts, one tackling standards for attestation engagements, another amendments to auditing standards.

The American Institute of CPAs Alliance for CPA Firms, PCPS, and the Texas Society of CPAs have launched the 2006 National Management of an Accounting Practice Survey.

A joint initiative by FASB AND AICPA is seeking feedback on proposed enhancements to the FASB's standard-setting procedures that would determine whether the Board should consider differences in accounting standards for private companies within Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

While the American Institute of CPAs' recent efforts have focused on strengthening its advocacy and outreach programs, more traditional accounting issues such as peer review, private company GAAP and the ongoing relocation to North Carolina headlined the institute's 2006 Spring meeting of Council."This has been a year of significant transformation," institute president and chief executive officer Barry Melancon told attendees at the three-day confab, held here. "We've wrestled with some difficult and emotional issues."

In a terrific ad campaign that aired many years ago, luggage manufacturer American Tourister showed a behind-the-scenes parody of what transpired just moments after airline passengers checked their bags.

The Auditing Standards Board is issuing a new standard on auditing internal controls. By adopting definitions from Auditing Standard No. 2 of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the standard will make audits of public and private companies more similar."This standard is important because it requires the auditor to communicate with management those areas of their internal control system that are not up to par," said AICPA vice president of professional standards and services Chuck Landes. "We want to make it clear that management has a responsibility for not only their financial statements but their internal control systems, and they are responsible to take appropriate action with respect to any material weaknesses or significant deficiencies that the auditor may identify."