Six weeks after a public disagreement over how the issuance of subpoenas to two business columnists was handled, the Securities and Exchange Commission has released guidelines describing exactly when and how journalist subpoenas will be issued in the future.

A study commissioned by the United Kingdom's accounting regulator and the U.K. Department of Trade and Industry said that the dominance of the Big Four is not healthy for competition and prevents small and midsized firms from gaining entry into blue-chip clients.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox announced that Wall Street fund lawyer Andrew "Buddy" Donohue will join the agency as the next director of the Division of Investment Management.

The chairman of an advisory panel to the Securities and Exchange Commission said that the group's pending proposal to roll back some of the internal controls provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has not been dismissed even before it is officially proposed.

BDO Seidman LLP announced that its risk consulting unit, BridgeMark Consulting, will now operate as BDO Seidman Risk Advisory Services.

Financial literacy scores of high school students continue to hover just around the 50 percent mark, according to the Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy, a national non-profit organization.

The country's largest jewelry retailer, Zale Corp., announced that its accounting, executive pay and severance agreements are under official investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The just-released Winter 2005-2006 issue of the Statistics of Income Bulletin discloses that adjusted gross income rose in 2004 for the second year in a row, increasing by 8.9 percent to $6.8 trillion. The largest component of AGI, salaries and wages, increased 6.0 percent to $4,977.9 billion, while net capital gains rose 53.2 percent to $442.1 billion. Taxable income increased 10.6 percent to $4.6 trillion.

Eighty-four percent of senior finance executives polled by global CPA and business advisory firm Grant Thornton said that rules that allow companies in bankruptcy to turn over their pension obligations to the federal Pension Benefits Guaranty Corp. should be tightened.

For the third time, a federal court has sent rules governing the mutual fund industry back to the Securities and Exchange Commission for further reflection on the costs of the changes.

A survey of 120 chief financial officers and comptrollers found that more than 80 percent of the executives are in favor of rules that would make it harder for bankrupt companies to turn over pension obligations to the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corp.

My brother just retired from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, to Venice, Florida. "I used to be a doctor," he now says, and then turns to one of three books he will read in a week.

A new survey says that the average cost for the internal controls provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is $3.8 million, down 16.3 percent from last year and about halfway to the drop anticipated for the second year of compliance.

Personal bankruptcy filings dropped to their lowest level in 20 years during 2006's first quarter, according to financial research firm Lundquist Consulting Inc.

The Internal Revenue Service heard from a variety of groups on a proposed rule change that the agency says would strengthen taxpayer control over tax information in the hands of tax preparers or tax software companies.

In remarks to reporters after a speech in Washington, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox said that small companies aren't likely to receive any exemptions from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Federal regulators released a consumer research study that offers suggestions for consumer-friendly financial privacy notices.

LEVEY FETED BY AICPA: The American Institute of CPAs named Steven I. Levey, CPA, PFS, the recipient of its 2005 Distinguished Service Award - the highest honor bestowed by the institute's Personal Financial Planning Division.The award is given annually to a CPA who most enhances the overall quality of personal financial planning. Levey, managing director at Denver-based GHP Horwath PC, was recognized for his contributions to the profession, including substantial volunteer efforts for the AICPA, chairing eight conferences, serving on the PFP Executive Committee and the Professional Liability Insurance Plan Committee, and his current post as a commissioner on the National Accreditation Commission.

As an asset class, real estate is growing in importance to professional advisors and their clients. Not only did the asset class provide high returns in the past few years, but managers kept improving the opportunities for investments. Enthusiasm seems to be growing for the class in general, and for new offerings in particular.The run-up in prices over the last few years grabbed headlines. But from the 30 percent average pace of recent times, advisors expect that performance will drop into a more reasonable range, perhaps in the high single digits.

Are your clients making the maximum allowable tax-deductible contribution to their defined-contribution plans (as much as $49,000 in 2006)? Would they be interested in contributing much more if possible? If the answer is "Yes," they should consider a cash balance plan.A CB plan is a qualified retirement plan established for the owner of a business and his employees. Tax-deductible contributions are made to the plan in the form of managed assets (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, variable annuities, etc.) with the option of purchasing life insurance inside the plan.