Accounting education

Abilene, Texas, CPA Jerry Love will serve as chairman of the 27,000-member Texas Society of CPAs for the coming year.

STUDY SAYS FEE-ONLY ADVISORS BOOSTING CLIENT REVENUEFee-only financial advisors are increasing client numbers, revenue and profits at impressive rates, according to a new benchmarking study issued by the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors and produced by CPA and business advisory firm Moss Adams LLP.

Did you know that your clients could be held liable for their employees' missed investment opportunities? Through a number of recent class-action lawsuits over the mismanagement of pension plans, corporate fiduciary responsibility has been brought to center stage.The fallout from these cases has put employers across the nation at risk by exposing their fiduciary responsibility.

If a company's plan permits, pension annuity payments may be provided for a certain period of time - as long as it is not longer than the period under the Uniform Lifetime Table for the participant's age as of his birthday in the same year in which the annuity starting date occurs.The period does not change upon the death of the employee, even if the remaining period certain is longer or shorter than the beneficiary's single life expectancy. The same is true if the annuity also includes a life annuity or a joint and last survivor annuity.

CPA advisors continue to debate what pricing and compensation strategies best fit their culture. Advisory firms seek to find the specific method that charges clients fairly and allows them to pay simply, and in which the firm receives adequate compensation for all its services, combined with the perfect compensation structure to incentivize the best employees. In today's world, advisors speak of improvements, but not perfection.At the core of the issue is the balance between individual performance and success, and that of the overall firm. "Overly rewarding individual performance sometimes encourages hoarding of clients that limits the firm's ability to grow," says Rebecca Pomering, CPA and principal at Moss Adams Consulting Services, in Seattle, who leads the firm's compensation consulting practice. "To achieve a long-term strategy of institutionalizing the client relationship, most firms have to make dramatic changes to their compensation plans."

If you're like most Baby Boomers, you're used to being in control. When situations turn sour, you assess the situation and take action. Laid off from your job? You take the bull by the horns and find another one - or maybe even start your own business. Child's grades dropping? You meet with his teachers and maybe hire a tutor.So it's more than difficult for most Boomers to imagine a day when they may not control their destiny. That day happens when they experience a dramatic decline in health, and they run short of money to pay for the care that they desire.

"Get all the dots," the young boy said. "Get them, and you'll beat it. I've beaten it."

Lori Schock, the deputy director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Investor Education, has been named the division's acting director.

Retirement planning has always been a challenging task, but it is even more so today.The coming generations of retirees face a complicated planning process, because funds need to last far longer than in the past. Medical advances and healthier lifestyles are giving retirees extra decades to enjoy life, but without employment income. Therefore, planning needs to begin much earlier to help ensure a secure and rewarding retirement for our clients.

The Internal Revenue Service has recently been auditing 412(i) defined-benefit pension plans.They are seeking substantial taxes and penalties from what they characterize as "abusive plans," but they do not regard all 412(i) plans as necessarily abusive. A properly structured and administered 412(i) plan can be an invaluable tax reduction tool for a business, but care must be taken.

WACHOVIA BUYS AMERIPRISE RECORD-KEEPING UNIT: Banking group Wachovia Corp. will acquire the defined-contribution record-keeping business of Ameriprise Financial Inc. Terms of the deal, which is subject to federal approval, were not disclosed.The Ameriprise unit provided record-keeping and plan administration services to 225 defined-contribution retirement plans at the end of March - covering nearly 700,000 participants and administering about $28 billion in assets.

Raymond James Financial Inc. announced an initiative that would require the restructuring of variable annuities offered through financial advisors at the firm's broker/dealer subsidiaries, Raymond James Financial Services and Raymond James & Associates.President and chief operating officer Chet Helck said that beginning in August, Raymond James will require all approved annuity providers to offer an alternative pricing structure that reduces client costs without impacting standard or optional benefits. The changes are designed to lower policy fees, create consistent commissions and reduce opportunities for confusion by simplifying offerings.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the North American Securities Administrators Association have announced a national initiative designed to protect seniors from investment fraud and sales of unsuitable securities.The initiative, which builds on the success of cooperative efforts between the SEC and Florida regulators, in conjunction with the NASD, to crack down on senior investment fraud, will include targeted examinations to detect abusive sales tactics, aggressive enforcement of securities laws in cases of fraud against seniors, and active investor education.

They say it's lonely at the top, but for many professionals it may also be lonely on the way there, according to a new survey.

Internal Revenue Service officials announced more details of changes to the Special Enrollment Examination, which will take effect at the end of this year.

Outside of tax preparation, few facets of accounting are as complicated and change as frequently as retirement and estate planning. Partly that is because of the enormous implications of taxes on these two areas. But it is also due to the changing demands of clients with each new generation of retirees.At this, the outset of the Baby Boomer generation, it is clear that clients are less responsive to complex reports and more interested in simple processes which they can participate in and understand via their own computers or over the Internet. Vendors of retirement and estate planning systems have responded to this need with a host of new collaboration tools and a dramatic improvement in comprehension for both the process and its reports.

A plan participant sometimes wants to provide a survivor annuity for a non-spouse beneficiary who is a child or other close relative of the participant, or a significant other who is not a spouse.Caution: If the participant has a spouse, a survivor annuity for a non-spouse beneficiary can be provided only if the spouse consents.

TRADING FUTURES ON DEBT SECURITIES: The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have jointly proposed rules that would permit trading of futures on debt indexes in an effort to create a new class of tradable derivatives contracts.Futures contracts on debt indices that are allowed under the proposed rules would trade on futures exchanges subject to regulation by the CFTC. Securities futures on debt securities could be traded on futures exchanges and securities exchanges subject to regulation by the CFTC and the SEC. Under current regulations, trading futures on debt indices is essentially prohibited.

The Heroes Earned Retirement Opportunities Act has passed through Congress and is expected to be signed into law by President Bush. The bill would allow excluded combat pay to be treated as compensation under IRA contribution rules.

More than 80 percent of financial planners who hold the CFP certification have a high level of career satisfaction, though the profession's 2005 reported median earnings of $232,995 revealed a noticeable drop-off from the previous year.