June 2000 - Journal of Accountancy

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY UNDER CURRENT TAX LAW, A COMPANY generally can deduct only 50% of business meal and entertainment (M&E) expenses. However, with smart tax planning, companies can take advantage of certain exceptions to this rule and increase the tax deductibility of some M&E expenses to 100%. BY SEPARATELY IDENTIFYING, ACCUMULATING

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY TO CLEAR UP CONFUSION FROM PAST pronouncements, FASB issued Statement no. 136, Transfers of Assets to a Not-for-Profit Organization or Charitable Trust That Raises or Holds Contributions for Others. NPOs will have to implement the statement for the fiscal periods beginning after December 15, 1999. STATEMENT NO. 136

t sounds like magic: Send your back-office chores away at night and find the finished work waiting with your e-mail in the morning. Believe it or not, some CPA firms are doing it: e-mailing tasks to accounting and programming personnel in India, where the workday begins just as Americans head

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY E-COMMERCE PRIVACY ISSUES ARE HIGH PROFILE in Washington. Technology allows the easy accumulation and distribution of personal financial data as well as the theft of these data, and security must be ensured. INCIDENTS THAT CAUGHT THE ATTENTION OF Congress were a bank selling confidential information to third-party marketers;

Business-to-business transactions on the Internet are outpacing business-to-consumer transactions by 3 to 1, according to AdRelevance, a Web market research organization. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AN ORGANIZATION WITHOUT a Web site in its marketing plan doesn’t have a realistic marketing plan. The Internet is becoming the preeminent medium for selling, buying, communications

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY SPREADSHEET SOFTWARE contains functions that let you analyze complex “what-if” financial scenarios. THE SIMPLEST IS THE one-variable table, which automates the analysis of a single changing fact in the scenario, such as an interest rate for a loan. A TWO-VARIABLE DATA TABLE, in which both the interest rate

TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 6 The underlying formula in B16 provides the results of the calculations. Exhibit 7 Type in the words “Interest Rate” (with quotation marks) to label the cell where the rates will be displayed. Exhibit 8 The underlying formula in B16 remains, but the cell is identified

TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 16 You can choose to see the report in a side-by-side Scenario Summary format or a PivotTable format. Exhibit 17 Excel generates the Scenario Summary report automatically. Exhibit 18 Goal Seek calculates the variables that will achieve your goal. Exhibit 19 Enter the data so Excel

TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 11 Calculating multiple scenarios is easy with Scenario Manager. Exhibit 12 The name box is located in the upper left of the screen, under the menu and formatting toolbars. Exhibit 13 Open the Scenario Manager dialog box to add the necessary scenarios. Exhibit 14 Identify the

TECHNOLOGY WORKSHOP   Exhibit 1 The one-variable data table can give the cash flow picture automatically. Exhibit 2 Set up the one-variable data table directly below the original data to speed the solution. Exhibit 3 Tell the spreadsheet where to find the needed data—in a row or a column. Exhibit

t the turn of the past century, the United States was a country in desperate need of an accounting profession. On one hand, times were good. The nation was becoming a center of industry, moving steadily away from its agricultural past. Railroads had carved shipping and travel lines across the