April 2020 COVID-19 is affecting all aspects of business operations. In addition to the disruptions in day to day activities, the circumstances, requirements and deadlines for financial reporting continue to evolve. Effective dates for implementation of many regulatory updates have been delayed and auditors’ ability to gather evidence and perform the fieldwork associated with issuing [...]
September 2011 Undocumented workers in the United States received refundable tax credits totaling $4.2 billion in 2010, an amount which is dramatically higher than occurred previously. An audit by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration recommended changes in how these payments are made. The IRS dismissed the recommendations, saying (without support) that they did [...]
March 2011 The Government Accountability Office (GAO) again reported that it “cannot render an opinion on the 2010 consolidated financial statements of the federal government, because of widespread material internal control weakness, significant uncertainties, and other limitations.” This has occurred for years. Although each year the federal government states improvements are being made, the bottom [...]
August 2010 Issuers conducting private offerings of securities often rely on Regulation D as the exemption from the registration requirements of the federal Securities Act of 1933. When raising money, most hedge funds, private equity funds, and private real estate investment vehicles, as well as those arranging angel financing, generally restrict themselves to “accredited investors”. [...]
October 2009 Starting in 2010, taxpayers at any income level can convert regular IRAs to Roth accounts. Roth accounts have easy-to-understand advantages and disadvantages. Roth advantages include tax-free income and no required minimum distributions. But, taxes must be paid on all initial contributions to a Roth account, including immediate additional taxation on conversions from a [...]
May 2006 This month, the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) changes to its Code of Arbitration Procedure. The changes are intended to simplify and reorganize the language/rules. The proposal makes the following changes: Divides the current Code into three separate codes: the Customer Code, the Industry [...]
March 2009 Last week, the American College of Trial Lawyers (ACTL) and The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System at the University of Denver issued a final report that proposes dramatic changes to the federal and state court systems. The report is based on surveys sent to the 3,812 Fellows of the [...]
September 2008 One of the differences between the presidential candidates is their tax policies. Current tax rates arise from two pieces of legislation supported by and signed into law by President Bush during his first term, as follows: The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 lowered ordinary income tax rates for individuals. [...]
May 2008 The prestigious Advanced Practices Council (a unit within the Society of Information Management) recently released a report entitled “Information Lifecycle Management Concepts, Practices and Values". The report is based on a year-long study of 345 IT and storage managers. It provides worthwhile insights for anyone endeavoring to develop better electronic storage practices. Why [...]