Accounting education

ADP has launched ADP Access, a retirement program that combines the benefits of ADP’s 401(k) plan recordkeeping services and the guidance of a financial advisor.

Big Four Firm Ernst & Young has given Bentley University a $400,000 grant to revamp the school’s accountancy and finance curriculum.

Global CPA and business-advisory firm Grant Thornton is gearing to launch a new practice unit — hedge fund internal control, governance and regulatory compliance services.

Today is the first day of spring and it’s a welcome sight for those of us in the Northeast. It’s been a rather interesting winter, to say the least. Although spring cleaning moves to the front burner, one does note that many people begin to look carefully at whether they have the right financial plan. During the winter, they kind of hibernate but with the advent of spring and the April 15th tax deadline looming, people generally start to take stock, much like they do on January 1st with New Year’s resolutions. My friend, John Napolitano, who is the chief executive officer of U.S. Wealth Management located in Braintree, Mass., and who is the author of the best-selling book Success as a Personal Financial Planner (published by Alpha), knows quite well how to build a thriving career in one of today’s hottest fields. So he has set forth specific questions that one should ask when looking for a financial planner. I should also say that John is quite blunt when it comes to financial planning. “Anyone with a pulse can call themselves a financial planner, and many people have hired planners who later turned out to be salesmen who didn't give a darn about their long-term plan.”

The Accredited Business Accountant credentialing program has earned accreditation from the National Commission for Certifying Agencies.

No matter how much money your client has, it’s crucial to have a basic estate plan simply to ensure that the financial goals of the client are met after the client dies.

CPA firm Hill, Barth & King has acquired Stikelether & Associates of Fort Pierce, Fla., expanding the firm’s presence on the state’s “Treasure Coast.”

As the economy worsens and unemployment continues to rise, many people who have stayed invested may be asking themselves if they made a mistake by not selling out and remaining in cash.Conversely, those who have cashed out and have been sitting on the sidelines are patting themselves on the back for a job well done. However, at some point they will need to figure out how and when to get back in the market.

Mary Lloyd says that retirement is simply not for old folks, anymore! In fact, she is out to change the concept that retirement means sitting in rocking chairs, watching sunsets, and playing shuffleboard, with the big night out every week consisting of a bus ride to the bingo hall. To young people, that seems as attractive as a long, slow root canal without Novocain. Lloyd is the author of Super-Charged Retirement from Hankfritz Press (www.mining-silver.com), and her view is that retirement doesn’t mean retreating from life, but rather, embracing it and all the things that drive one’s passions and fuel one’s fire. “The current version of retirement doesn’t work because we are living too long to be satisfied with a life that is focused primarily on leisure,” says Lloyd. “To make this stage of life meaningful, it needs to be shaped according to the values and preferences of each individual. That’s not as easy as it sounds and we need more resources to help us find the right things to create a satisfying life once we are old enough to retire.” Her advice doesn’t come from studies or data, but by walking the walk. By the time she was 47, she was working as a division manager for a Fortune 200 company, and found retirement a financially feasible option. So, in 1993, she left her job to embark on her “last” career, which was as a fiction writer. Given the tough ladder she had climbed in the business world, she didn’t think this next phase of her life would be difficult. After trying everything from a multi-month world cruise to deploying to Texas with the Red Cross in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita – with a few adventures in between – Lloyd finds herself singing a different song in 2009. Her message is simple: the current approach of retirement doesn’t work. Her tips for her baby-boomer brethren include: *The 100 percent leisure model of retirement (“the Golden Years”) is just a marketing spin for “get out of the way.” *We need some kind of work to thrive once we retire, even if we don’t do it for pay. Retiring doesn’t mean we have to stop making a difference. *By this time in our lives, each of us has a unique set of skills, talents and abilities. We need to mesh that with a personal sense of what’s important to define our own individual sense of purpose. *Living through our sense of purpose is as essential as breathing. Once we lose that, we lose the ability to make the choices we need to thrive. *Much of what we blame on aging is really the result of mindset and lifestyle decisions. It is within our capability to change and alter those elements of our lives, and master our destiny, rather than be a slave to circumstances. “The RV model might work for some, but most of us need a goal to work toward to feel worthwhile,” Lloyd says. “To retire well, we need learn how to include that and still relax and have fun.”

The average settlement as a result of securities class-action litigation dropped more than 50 percent in 2008, to $31.2 million, according to a report from Cornerstone Research.

Want to really know what an intern at a Big Four firm is thinking? Now you can, because one accounting elf is writing it all online. Read more on Accounting Tomorrow's blog.

Accounting firm BDO Seidman anticipates that shareholder meetings this year will be dominated by concerns about excessive executive compensation, recession plans and credit concerns.

Many financial executives in the U.S. have begun the initial stages of convergence with International Financial Reporting Standards at their companies, but early adoption in 2009 for qualifying companies will be difficult, if not impossible, due to the significant time requirements, according to a new report.

So, do you get the feeling that American seniors will be living longer but on less money? Well, according to a new study from the Senior Economic Security Index, a new research project developed by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University and Demos, a national public policy and research organization, some three out of four senior households lack the economic security needed to sustain them through their lives. The study points out that older Americans have experienced huge, negative financial shifts that now make it more difficult to enter retirement with sustainable economic security. In fact, 87 percent of all senior households are financially vulnerable when it comes to their ability to meet essential expenses and to cover projected costs over their lifetimes. It also notes that single households, African-American households, and Latino households are the most likely groups of seniors to be financially vulnerable. Particular areas of vulnerability include: *45 percent of seniors households spend nearly a third of their income on housing while 31 percent either rent or have no home equity to draw on in tough times *40 percent of senior households spend more than 15 percent of their income on healthcare *One in three senior households has no money whatsoever left over after meeting essential expenses *More than half of senior households (some 54 percent) do not have sufficient financial resources to meet median projected expenses based on their current financial net worth, projected Social Security, and pension incomes. However, it’s not all doom and gloom. Tatjana Meschede, lead author of Living Longer on Less: The New Economic (In)Security of Seniors, says that “Even in their current precarious state, it is important to note that today’s seniors are better prepared for retirement than subsequent generations will be. They have benefited from pensions, jobs with significant retirement benefits, and a stronger social safety net than subsequent generations will enjoy.” But, left unchanged, the report points out that the current decline in employer-based retirement savings, the weakening of Social Security and Medicare, and rising debt experienced by younger Americans will add up to even greater vulnerability as they retire, “Younger generations who face historically low savings rates, declining assets, and an unsure future for their retirement accounts and Social Security itself, must urge our policy leaders to take action to strengthen the security of today’s seniors and to ensure their own,” says Jennifer Wheary, a co-author of Living Longer on Less. For more information and to download the report, go to iasp.brandeis.edu and demos.org.

The American College has introduced a video-on-demand Web site that will provide information for financial planners on wealth management and related topics.

Although admittedly many people look upon January 1st as the trigger-point for resolutions, an organization known as Savvy Ladies figures that April 15th is really the better date. “Tax time is often the only time of the year when a lot of people sit down and look at how much they’ve earned and how much they’ve been able to save,” says Stacy Francis, founder of Savvy Ladies and a certified financial planner,. “It’s a bit of a shock for many to see how much cash slips through their fingers every month.” Savvy Ladies is dedicated to providing financial education to women in their quest for financial independence. It has free monthly newsletters, seminars, and teleconferences that are pegged at fostering a sense of community and are specifically designed to educate, amuse, and fulfill savvy women who want to take control of their financial future. There are currently 2,100 members and growing rapidly. The founder of this organization is Stacy Francis who is the president of Francis Financial, a New York City-based firm that specializes in helping individuals create more fulfilling lives through financial freedom.

Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., has introduced a bill in Congress to close a legal loophole that allowed Bernard Madoff’s tiny auditing firm to avoid scrutiny.

Stetson University has partnered with Toronto-based online curriculum provider Embanet to develop a one-year Master of Accountancy program.

Children with investment income may have part or all of this income taxed at their parent’s tax rate rather than at the child’s rate, according to the IRS.

Talking with your clients about investment strategies may not be easy given the current economic climate, but preparation and ongoing assessment of an investor's portfolio are the keys to restoring confidence.Money managers agree that mutual funds continue to be a strong investment vehicle, offering investors a number of options for accessing the market - that is, if they stick with their investment strategy.