I have dealt with many tax acts in the 30-plus years that I have been in professional publishing. When I worked at a tax publisher, I know tax legislation meant an awful lot of work. In one way or another, I would be involved in assembling the Code-as-amended, analyzing the effective dates, excerpting legislative committee reports, and writing or reviewing analyses. Besides the work, the legislation would almost always seemed to come down at a bad time, usually at the end of the year as Congress was about to adjourn. It was a real pain.

Securities and Exchange commissioner Cynthia Glassman announced that she will not seek reappointment to the five-member panel when her term expires this summer.

CAL-BAY DISMISSES ARGY & CO.: Tustin, Calif.-based Cal-Bay International Inc. said that it dismissed its auditor, Argy & Co., and has named Lawrence Scharfman & Co. as its new independent accountant.The operator of environmental service units that sell and distribute environment and process control products in California, Nevada and Hawaii said that Argy & Co. had expressed doubts about the company's ability to continue as a going concern in its reports for the years ended Dec. 31, 2003, and Dec. 31, 2004.

The Institute of Internal Auditors has formally recommended that the requirement for an external auditor to attest to a company's internal controls be removed under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

The Internal Revenue Service announced that it has reached an agreement with the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards to offer continuing education credits at the IRS Nationwide Tax Forums scheduled for this summer.

A growing number of Americans recognize that they're not saving as much as they should for retirement, a shift in attitudes that experts hope will lead to improved saving practices in the future.

An independent report, backed by data from Big Four clients, shows that corporate auditing costs for Sarbanes-Oxley 404 compliance dropped significantly in 2005.

Online tax preparation services are using the Internal Revenue Service's Free File program to promote "get rich quick" schemes and overpriced refund anticipation loans to low-income taxpayers, some lawmakers have charged.In a sharply worded letter to IRS Commissioner Mark Everson, Senate Finance Committee chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, placed much of the blame for these practices on the IRS officials who negotiated a new contract with 20 online tax prep companies to provide taxpayers with free electronic tax preparation and filing services during this tax season.

Make no mistake about it: The Institute of Management Accountants supports the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. It has even said that the legislation was long overdue.But that doesn't mean that the IMA thinks SOX is working.

Almost nine full years have passed since the $250,000/$500,000 exclusion of gain on the sale of a principal residence first became available. Little did many of us imagine how much would change in nine years.While the basic sale-of-a-principal-residence provision has remained the same, except for some minor congressional tinkering, the world in which it lives has not. The real estate "boom," capital gains rate reduction, subsequent rulings and other developments have all played a part in making this a particularly dynamic area of tax planning. A review of recent trends and developments over the past year is especially illuminating.

In four months flat, the Financial Accounting Standards Board has cranked out a proposal for a new standard on accounting for post-retirement benefit plans, including pensions.Not only has the board been quick to write the proposal, but it may be quick to implement it as well. If approved soon, it will be effective for fiscal years ending after Dec. 15, 2006.

On March 31, the Financial Accounting Standards Board issued an anticipated exposure draft that proposed significant changes in accounting for defined-benefit pension and health plans. As we explained a couple of columns back, it will recognize net plan assets and/or liabilities, accompanied by accumulated comprehensive income for deferred gains and losses that are currently off-balance sheet.Because of the large amounts and the generally bad news that this new accounting will declare more openly, FASB will be inundated with many negative comments from defenders of the status quo of bad accounting.

As of late December, the Public Company Accoun- ting Oversight Board had published on its Web site the results of some 173 inspections of audit firms.The purpose of this article is to attempt to identify the more prevalent audit performance deficiencies cited in the inspection reports.

PricewaterhouseCoopers announced that it will create a new audit firm in Japan after an alliance with a partner was ordered to halt auditing services for two months.

Raymond James Financial Inc. announced an initiative that would require the restructuring of variable annuities offered through financial advisors at the firm's broker/dealer subsidiaries, Raymond James Financial Services and Raymond James & Associates.

Excess inventory retailer Overstock.com Inc. announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission has issued the company a subpoena requesting information on accounting policies, targets and projections.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued an updated and expanded revision of a revenue procedure governing its popular voluntary correction program for employee retirement plans -- the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System.

Responding to continuing complaints from corporate America about the excessive cost of complying with Sarbanes-Oxley Act internal control audit reporting requirements, top officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board told accountants and private sector financial execs that relief is on the way.

Morgan Stanley & Co. will pay $15 million to settle a civil lawsuit from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC said that the company failed to produce tens of thousands of e-mails it requested as part of a probe.

In one of the largest fines ever handed down to an individual charged with accounting fraud, a federal judge has ordered the former chairman and chief executive of Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc. to pay $22 million in penalties, interest and restitution.