The Internal Revenue Service is allowing limited exceptions from coverage of the new deferred compensation rules for certain stock appreciation rights, or SARs, that "do not present potential for abuse or intentional circumvention of the purposes" of Section 409A.

H&R Block Financial Advisors, the investment arm of the tax prep giant, agreed to pay a $500,000 fine and to return $325,000 in clients' mutual fund trading profits to settle charges brought against it by the National Association of Securities Dealers related to the market-timing of mutual fund shares by two of its former financial advisors.

The Global Alliance, an association of top-ranked CPA firms formed last month, has expanded its ranks with the addition of West Coast firm Armanino McKenna LLP to the group.

The American Institute of CPAs has named California accounting professor Robert S. Roussey as the 2004 recipient of its Special Recognition Award, which is presented to individuals who have made substantial contributions to the accounting profession.

Section 331 of the American Jobs Creation Act included a provision that could potentially have a big impact on some investors.

A recent merger in wealth management has observers wondering if this time around, the cultures of banking and investment advisors will successfully mesh.

A taxpayer generally may exclude up to $250,000 ($500,000 for certain married couples filing joint returns) of gain realized on the sale or exchange of a principal residence. To be eligible for the exclusion, the taxpayer must have owned the residence and used it as a principal residence for at least two years during the five-year period ending on the date of the sale or exchange.

There may be no phrase in the English language more satisfying to say or hear than, "Problem solved!"For accounting and information technology professionals, it embodies a special meaning, in that someone, or something, has enabled their business to sidestep a potential hurdle and continue their strategy of providing client services to reach the ultimate goal of any business - profitability.

HIGH-END AND MID-MARKET ACCOUNTINGACCOUNTMATE 6.5

Contact information for the vendors of the Accounting Today 2005 Top 100 Products and Ones to Watch.AccountantsWorld

Filomeno & Company PC, an eight-partner CPA firm based here, has expanded its financial planning practice with the merger of fee-only planning firm Thibodeau Financial Advisors LLC into its fold.

As the renowned Baby Boomer generation inches its way into the retirement years, employers are beginning to consider how this vast purge of experienced workers is going to affect the workplace.

Depreciation would be a joke if it weren't such a disgrace ... but that's precisely what happens when accountants calculate depreciation expense in advance and then report it on future income statements. There is no valid justification for reporting assumed depreciation instead of actual observed amounts (including appreciation)."

Tax reform under the second Bush administration will most likely take the form of piecemeal tax cuts, according to participants in a tax panel sponsored by the Council for Electronic Revenue Communication Advancement, a government-private industry trade association. President Bush has said that he would appoint a panel to recommend changes to the tax code that would make it simpler, fairer and less burdensome.

The Council of the International Federation of Accountants, a group that sets international standards on ethics, auditing and assurance, education, and public sector accounting, has named PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Graham Ward, CBE, MA, FCA, as its new president for a two-year term.

More than half of U.S. and European multinational companies will increase their compliance spending by an average of 23 percent over the next 12 to 24 months, according to a recent survey from Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.According to PwC's Management Barometer Survey, about 51 percent of those polled said that they would raise spending on compliance, while some 44 percent of senior executives revealed that their companies do not have a clear view of their total compliance spending.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has begun to deliberate again on one of its most far-reaching and controversial projects - that of fair value measurement.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and its overseas counterpart, the International Accounting Standards Board, have formed a new joint working group on performance reporting.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has reportedly opened an investigation into KPMG's audits of mortgage finance company Fannie Mae.

As part of efforts to tighten ethical standards for tax professionals and curb abusive tax shelters, the Treasury has issued final regulations amending Treasury Circular 230, which governs the practice of attorneys, accountants and other tax professionals before the Internal Revenue Service.