May 2005 - Journal of Accountancy

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE SARBANES-OXLEY REQUIREMENT FOR COMPANIES to develop key control processes has brought new attention to the well-known concept of materiality. CPAs need to be able to identify key control exceptions and apply materiality to determine their financial impact. MATERIALITY IS BASED ON THE ASSUMPTION a reasonable investor would

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY WHEN PLANNING CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS, consider the tax implications, rebate offers and soft benefits associated with environmentally friendly construction. Construction companies may not be eligible for these on buildings they construct for others, but building owners and any subcontractors used on the projects are. IT’S MOST COST-EFFECTIVE TO CONSIDER

SPECIAL REPORT GAAP has high value—for the most part—say a growing number of external users of private company financial reports, CPAs and other financial professionals working in or serving private companies, which represent more than 99% of the nation’s incorporated businesses. But while a recent AICPA-sponsored survey revealed the prevalence

f you feed correctly formatted data to Excel, it can handle a multitude of calculations flawlessly. But feed it a piece of “indigestible” information—that is, data not formatted to its liking—and the calculations will generate error messages that looks like this: Fortunately, Excel contains a group of functions designed to

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE PARTNERS AT VITALE CATURANO & CO. (VCC) have listened carefully to what employees and potential hires say matters to them in the workplace—growth, intellectually stimulating and diverse projects, and a sense of being appreciated. VCC ATTRACTS STAFF AND ENCOURAGES LOYALTY by offering a generous work/life incentives program

The AICPA’s Work/Life and Women’s Initiatives Executive Committee in 2004 conducted national surveys of CPAs and other accounting professionals in public accounting and in business and industry. (Similar surveys were conducted in 1997 and 2000.) The 2004 surveys yielded responses from 681 public accounting firms of all sizes, 674 CPAs

How stupid can some people be? Read about the exploits of some not-so-bright crooks, following in the spirit of a May 2003 JofA article, “ The World’s Dumbest Fraudsters. ” id you hear the one about the bank robber who wrote a holdup note on the back of his own

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY DESPITE DECADES OF EFFORT by organizations such as the AICPA and NASBA to bring more minority candidates into the profession, the numbers are still small. Still, there were 5,731 African American candidates for the CPA exam in 2002—the largest for any year since 1997. THE DATA SUGGEST A

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE WORKING FAMILIES TAX RELIEF ACT OF 2004 extends the alternative minimum tax exemption of $58,000 (married filing jointly) and $40,250 (single) through 2005. THE WFTRA PROVIDES A UNIFORM DEFINITION OF “qualified child” that applies for purposes of head-of-household filing status, the child care credit, the dependency exemption

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THE INCREASING FOCUS ON ETHICS HAS CREATED an opportunity for CPAs to help their companies foster a corporate culture that promotes ethical decision making. It also has encouraged more boards of directors to be involved with hiring internal audit and other accounting employees with financial reporting and control