Michael Cohn, editor-in-chief of AccountingToday.com, has been covering business and technology for a variety of publications since 1985. Prior to joining Accounting Today and WebCPA, he worked for Red Herring, Internet World, Beyond Computing, Accounting Technology and PC Magazine, and freelanced for a variety of other business publications. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in English, he studied accounting at the Wharton School of Business, and currently lives in New York City.
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One of the dilemmas facing many accountants and tax preparers this tax season is the problem of how to account for uncertain tax positions and deal with them on the IRS’s new Schedule UTP.
By Michael CohnMarch 22 -
State budget deficits are prompting governors to slash spending, but also shift the tax burden away from corporations.
By Michael CohnMarch 16 -
Actor Charlie Sheen has certainly managed to keep his name in the news in recent weeks, and now that his starring role on “Two and a Half Men” appears to have come to an end, we wondered what it would be like if he took a job overseeing tax legislation and accounting standards.
By Michael CohnMarch 9 -
A tax credit that is supposed to help poverty-stricken communities is instead being used to finance at least two luxury hotels, an antique car museum, a small theater in an upscale neighborhood, and other dubious projects, while lining the pockets of wealthy banks and investors.
By Michael CohnFebruary 23 -
The unveiling of the Obama administration’s budget this week appeared to be only the opening act for what promises to be a long-running series of episodes involving spending, taxes, and cuts to favored and not-so-favored programs.
By Michael CohnFebruary 16 -
President Obama has launched a new initiative to fund small business entrepreneurs known as Startup America, which sounds like something that might better belong on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley than on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington.
By Michael CohnFebruary 1 -
President Obama placed an unusual degree of emphasis Tuesday during his State of the Union address on tax reform, and while there appears to be more bipartisan spirit in Congress in the wake of the tragic shootings in Tucson, the prospects for getting an agreement are murky at best.
By Michael CohnJanuary 25 -
President Obama has issued an executive order directing federal agencies to consider the costs and benefits of regulations both new and old.
By Michael CohnJanuary 18 -
What full faith and credit? That’s the question many are asking as Congress is coming under increasing pressure to raise the debt ceiling yet again to avoid a possible default on the federal government’s credit obligations.
By Michael CohnJanuary 11 -
Every few years, as regularly as clockwork, Washington starts talking about “simplifying” the Tax Code.
By Michael CohnJanuary 4 -
The past year witnessed plenty of head-spinning developments in the worlds of accounting and taxes, and AccountingToday.com (along with its predecessor site WebCPA) was there to chart the latest developments.
By Michael CohnDecember 28 -
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo had one more piece of unfinished business before leaving for the governor’s mansion in Albany: file suit against Ernst & Young for allegedly helping its former client Lehman Brothers engage in accounting fraud.
By Michael CohnDecember 21 -
A federal judge’s decision striking down a key provision of the health care reform law, along with the near-certain repeal of the 1099 information reporting requirements in the law, indicate that President Obama’s signature achievement of the past year is likely to be chipped away in the years ahead before many of its provisions even take effect.
By Michael CohnDecember 15 -
The controversial WikiLeaks cache of hundreds of thousands of documents from the U.S. State Department has been yielding many surprises, despite protestations to the contrary.
By Michael CohnDecember 9 -
One promising sign of President Obama’s meeting with congressional leaders Tuesday was that he didn’t emerge with his lip bleeding from a fresh elbow jab in the face.
By Michael CohnNovember 30 -
The incoming Congress already appears intent on weakening the financial reform legislation passed by the outgoing Congress.
By Michael CohnNovember 24 -
Please do not adjust your set. This is still WebCPA, but now it’s been rechristened Accounting Today for the WebCPA.
By Michael CohnNovember 15 -
Republicans will gain greater leverage in Congress now that they have won control of the House and captured more seats in the Senate, giving them more influence over tax policy and financial regulation.
By Michael CohnNovember 3 -
Tax forms and other government documents will now be subject to a kind of literacy test, under a new government law that so far has not attracted a whole lot of attention.
By Michael CohnOctober 24 -
As the incoming chairman of the International Accounting Standards Board, Hans Hoogervorst has been named to a key position in the global accounting profession at a time of dramatic changes.
By Michael CohnOctober 12