September 1998 - Journal of Accountancy

Tax accountants love to grumble about their tax software, telling war stories about how they survived software bugs, tardy arrivals of updates and state editions and occasional erroneous IRS code interpretations. As this in-depth survey of tax preparers shows, most CPAs really dont hate their tax software; in fact, they

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THERE ARE ALTERNATIVES to litigation that can be used to settle disputes and help reduce the number of times a CPA must appear in court. These alternatives collectively are known as alternative dispute resolution (ADR). TECHNIQUES THAT FALL UNDER the ADR umbrella include mediation, arbitration and hybrid methods

The CPA Vision Process is a nationwide initiative intended to gather input from CPAs in all segments of practice to create a unified and comprehensive vision of the profession’s future. Led by a coalition that includes representatives of the American Institute of CPAs and state CPA societies, this ambitious undertaking

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INFORMED INVESTING IS CRITICAL when a CPA’s clients risk substantial capital to buy a franchise. THE NORTH AMERICAN SECURITIES ADMINISTRATORS Association (NASAA) has recommended a national disclosure standard using the new Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (UFOC). SIGNIFICANT CHANGES INCLUDE THE USE of clear, unambiguous language and the elimination

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TO IMPROVE EMPLOYERS’ FINANCIAL STATEMENT disclosures of pension and other postretirement benefits, the FASB issued Statement no. 132, Employers’ Disclosures about Pensions and Other Postretirement Benefits, in February 1998. The statement fine-tunes requirements in previous FASB statements and brings uniformity to disclosure requirements. STATEMENT NO. 132 REQUIRES EMPLOYERS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ONE CALIFORNIA FIRM DEVELOPED a program—$KiddAccounts—to teach elementary school children the basic concepts of budgeting. Steve Miksis, a CPA and manager, tailored the program to the young audience, using ideas they could easily understand. Taking an interactive approach and using Budgetbuck, a large cartoon version of a dollar

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS have had to cope with a number of accounting pronouncements in recent years. The experiences of the Museum of Undersea Exploration, a hypothetical NPO, should help CPAs understand the impact these new rules have had on NPOs. FASB STATEMENT NOS. 116 and 117 require MUSE and