Michael Cohn

American Institute of CPAs president and CEO Barry Melancon discussed the need for greater diversity at CPA firms as efforts at greater inclusion seem to be running into some headwinds.

The American Institute of CPAs is pushing back against a proposal by Internal Revenue Service commissioner John Koskinen to offer a form of voluntary tax preparer certification after a series of court rulings invalidated the IRS’s efforts to require mandatory testing and continuing education of preparers.

The American Institute of CPAs has honored CPAs Vern Hoven and Sharon Kreider with the 2014 Sidney Kess Award for Excellence in Continuing Education.

CPA2Biz, the business and technology subsidiary of the American Institute of CPAs, has changed its company name to CPA.com to more closely align with its mission of “empowering CPAs and businesses for the digital age.”

The Association for Accounting Marketing and Hinge Research Institute have released a study that examines overall marketing spending at accounting firms, including compensation for marketing staff, the top five spending categories, and detailed budget breakdowns by firm size and market location.

The American Institute of CPAs has presented its AICPA Medal of Honor to Gary M. Scopes and its Public Service Award to Diane Cornwell.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has denied an emergency motion by the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable to stay the Securities and Exchange Commission’s conflict minerals rule under the Dodd-Frank Act requiring companies to disclose their use of minerals such as tungsten and tin mined in war-torn areas of Africa like the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Accountants should take the lead in assessing the impact on their companies of the depletion of natural resources, recommends a new report.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has issued a proposed standard to address the accounting and financial reporting issues related to fair value measurements for state and local governments.

The Internal Revenue Service has begun accepting applications once again for its Low Income Taxpayer Clinic grants.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has released staff guidance on how the PCAOB should perform an economic analysis as part of its standard-setting process.

Nearly half the tax returns on which individuals claimed tax deductions for alimony payments did not match up with their former spouse’s tax returns, showing a total “alimony gap” of over $2.3 billion in 2010, according to a new government report.

Paul Beswick, who has served as chief accountant in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of the Chief Accountant, plans to leave the agency to return to the private sector.

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board has released for public comment proposed changes to the International Standards on Auditing to clarify the expectations of auditors when auditing financial statement disclosures.

The Center for Audit Quality and the Institute for Corporate Responsibility at the George Washington University School of Business are teaming on a new initiative on rethinking financial disclosures in response to recent comments from Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Jo White to streamline the existing Form 10-K disclosure requirements.

Small and midsize businesses in the U.S. benefit from government and private sector initiatives that support them from the start-up stage through enterprise development stages and beyond, according to a new report from the Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants and Delta Economics.

The Internal Revenue Service has published final regulations to provide guidance on which costs incurred by estates or trusts other than grantor trusts are subject to a 2 percent floor for miscellaneous itemized deductions.

Adaptive Professional Solutions has debuted an online marketplace for temporary accounting and finance staffing.

The National Federation of Independent Business reported that its Small Business Optimism Index rose 1.8 points in April to a post-recession high of 95.2, crossing the 95 marker for the first time since 2007.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued final regulations clarifying the rules regarding the tax treatment of payments by qualified retirement plans for accident or health insurance.