Accounting education

Resolutions relating to improving personal finances in the New Year will likely hold steady year-over-year, according to an unscientific survey.

So now Intuit owns a bank? What next? A lot.Intuit's recent purchase of Digital Insight, which provides online services to banks, follows a logical series of moves by Intuit into consumer financial services that also have implications for the business market.

The Securities and Exchange Commission stopped well short of proposing exemptions from the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s internal control provisions that many small companies had loudly lobbied for at the panel’s Wednesday meeting.Under the guidance proposed by the SEC, executives would evaluate the design of only those financial controls that might carry the risk of having a material impact on financial statements.

PWC SURVEY FINDS BOARD MEMBERS CONCERNED ABOUT FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS: Nearly 75 percent of board members at U.S. financial services firms said that the increasing use of sophisticated financial instruments such as derivatives will be the next big area of regulatory focus for the financial industry, according to a survey conducted by Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.Meanwhile, a near-unanimous 97 percent of board members polled said that the level of due diligence and understanding of sophisticated financial instruments being used in the market should be a major concern for board members.

LBMC Investment Advisors LLC said that it recently surpassed the $200 million mark of assets under advisement. Formed in 1998 as an affiliate of Lattimore Black Morgan & Cain PC - Tennessee's largest regional accounting and business consulting firm - LBMC Investment Advisors has offices in Brentwood and Knoxville, Tenn.

I noted a few weeks ago that the "Joy of Cooking" celebrated its 75th anniversary with the publication of its ninth edition.

A new federal reports says that the National Strategy for Financial Literacy needs to contain some measures of accountability.The strategy belongs to the Financial Literacy and Education Commission, which was created by December 2003 legislation. The Government Accountability Office says that while the strategy is comprehensive in identifying the breadth of issues involved, the plan does not serve as a plan of action designed to achieve specific goals.

Robert N. Anthony, an honored member of the Harvard Business School faculty for more than 40 years and a prolific scholar, author and innovator in the field of management accounting and control, died Dec. 1 in New Hampshire.

The International Accounting Education Standards Board is seeking comment on an exposure draft of its strategic plan for 2007-09.

This column has to do with life expectancy. If you would rather not know when you are departing this world, then perhaps you don’t want to read any further. But if you are curious enough to know what your longevity might be and how this is critical for retirement planning, read on.I asked one calculator which said I would leave this earth in 12 years, 306, days, 3 hours, 38 minutes, and 24 seconds, as of the time I got this down on paper. Another calculator estimated that I would last until I was 90.21 while a third one had me pegged taking off at age 89.

Sometimes, I feel bad for Comptroller General David Walker and his staff at the Government Accountability Office.I imagine it’s the same sort of sadness most people feel for the geeky guys in high school comedies. You know, the good guys who never get the girl, but are there throughout the course of the plotline, providing some sort of insight into the inner workings of the social machination that exists all around them.

With the close of 2006 approaching, we asked industry leaders to share their ideas of what the accounting profession will look like in five years: What will be its major concerns? Challenges? Hot new service areas? What will shape will the firm landscape have taken?In the final part of the series, among others, managing director of research for research firm Glass Lewis & Co. Lynn Turner, Information Technology Group Inc. principal David Cieslak and Internal Federation of Accountants chief executive Ian Ball take a stab at forecasting what the future holds for the profession. The managing partner of Beckstead and Watts, Brad Beckstead, the firm involved in the legal challenge over the constitutionality of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, wraps things up.

A board within the International Federation of Accountants is seeking proposals for a research project that will examine how other industries measure the continuing education efforts of professionals.

State tax policy has only a modest effect on entrepreneurship rates, according to a report released by the Small Business Administration’s Office of Advocacy.A new analysis by professors at the University of Tennessee and Creighton University takes into account tax rates, as well as the type of taxes in a state’s portfolio, to reach the conclusion. “State Tax Policy and Entrepreneurial Activity” looks at detailed tax policy information from 50 states, spanning from 1989 through 2001.

FIDELITY LOWERS MINIMUM GIFT FUND CONTRIBUTION: In an effort to make the benefits of donor-advised funds more accessible, the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund announced that it would lower its initial contribution and grant recommendation minimums.

Last year, Congress passed the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, and with that legislation came some changes in the way bankruptcy debtors are taxed.New Internal Revenue Service guidelines have been issued to help explain provisions of the act that affect individual taxpayers filing Chapter 11 bankruptcies. The guidelines are issued in IRS Notice 2006-83 and relate to all Chapter 11 bankruptcies filed on or after Oct. 17, 2005.

The American College, a financial services educator based here, has launched an expedited learning program designed to prepare financial advisors for the Certified Financial Planner certification examination in roughly seven months.Developed in conjunction with the JR Financial Group, a financial services trainer, the program, titled Financial Planning Express, combines self-study with a series of live, four-day classroom sessions held every six weeks. The six modules that comprise the Express program conclude three weeks prior to the CFP certification examination with a live, five-day comprehensive review of all 89 CFP topics covered on the test.

My first brush with the National Collegiate Athletic Association came during my tenure as sports editor of my college newspaper. Two star players from the hockey team had been slapped with season-long suspensions for accepting room and board -- not even money, mind you -- while playing as juniors in Canada.

I got hooked onto Lee Eisenberg’s new book, “The Number” (Simon & Schuster, 2006), via Elaine Morgillo, a certified financial planner and president of New England-based Morgillo Financial Management.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that 1st Global Capital Corp., a Dallas-based broker-dealer, will pay a $100,000 penalty and consent to findings that it made unsuitable recommendations and sales of Section 529 College Savings Plans.According to the order, between 2001 and 2004 1st Global recommended and sold investments in 529 plan units without understanding and evaluating the comparative costs for its customers.