Practice and client management

Check out the digital edition of the May 2013 issue of Accounting Today.

The Internal Revenue Service’s Oversight Board heard about the various problems encountered by tax practitioners and taxpayers, including the shortened tax season, identity theft and tax fraud.

The Internal Revenue Service has changed the inflation-adjusted annual limitation for health savings accounts for next year.

When Oklahoma energy billionaire George Kaiser opened the Northeast Gateway liquid natural gas terminal in 2008, the floating depot’s first delivery was shipped on the Excellence, a 909-foot supertanker that holds 138,000 cubic meters of LNG—enough gas to meet more than 4 percent of daily U.S. demand.

It’s become an annual rite of spring, at least for me—the release of Bloomberg BNA’s Survey of state tax departments. The survey, Bloomberg BNA’s 13th annual survey, asks questions aimed at clarifying each state’s position on the gray areas of corporate income and sales and use tax administration. Although nexus isn’t the only topic, it has been one of the main emphases of the survey.

The research and advocacy organization Global Financial Integrity is urging Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to allow the Senate to vote on agreements negotiated by the Treasury Department with Switzerland, Luxembourg, Hungary and other countries to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, in an effort to ferret out tax evaders.

In 1972, President Richard Nixon cruised to re-election. “The Waltons” premiered on CBS. And Sumner Redstone, who wasn’t yet a global media mogul, made a taxable gift to his children and failed to file a return.

You receive a call from a very excited client: your lawyer client settled a large case. Or your client won a large judgment. Or your client won the lottery. Now your client is about to receive a very large check: $1,000,000. $5,000,000. More? That’s the good news.

The rate at which the mortgage interest deduction is claimed and the average amount deducted varies widely across states and within states themselves, according to a new report.

Accounting Today is in the midst of collecting submissions for its 2013 ranking of the Top Firms by AUM.

Sage North America launched Fundamentals of High-Performing Firms from the Sage Accountants Network(SAN), a business acumen program for accounting professionals.

Managing and retaining data, as well as securing the IT environment topped the list of technology initiatives driven by North American CPAs, according to a joint survey by the American Institute of CPAs and Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada).

Figuring out the value of video

You need to protect your firm's online content

Math and marketing don't always have the most harmonious relationship, as marketers at accounting firms are well aware.

While Congress continues to struggle this year to address such issues as how to deal with the federal deficit and the sequester, the House Ways and Means Committee has put forth a series of discussion drafts focused on fundamental tax reform.

Spring is a time of optimism, so it's a great time for accounting firms to look for fresh opportunities to grow the business. Here are five ways accounting firms can "fertilize" their existing efforts in order to jumpstart their business and grow deeper, stronger roots with clients.

It's important to try new approaches to building your business

When you work in a professional services firm with different locations, different practice areas and different industries (not counting different deadlines and "busy seasons"), it is quite challenging to pull everyone together and focus on one vision for your firm.