Associations

CPAs who conduct valuations in the normal course of their practices are now required to comply with detailed standards.

New York — The American Institute of CPAs has ramped up its mobility efforts to allow CPAs to practice in other states, with mobility bills enacted now in 12 states and legislation pending in 22 other states.

CPAs who conduct valuations in the normal course of their practices are now required to comply with detailed standards.

The American Institute of CPAs submitted written testimony to Congress for a hearing by the House Small Business Committee on modernizing the Tax Code for small businesses. The House Small Business Committee issued a report containing seven recommendations for improving the Tax Code in conjunction with the hearings. The recommendations included simplifying the home office deduction, updating the equipment deduction limits and record-keeping requirements, adjusting the business automobile depreciation limits and shortening depreciation schedules.

CPAs who conduct valuations in the normal course of their practices are now required to comply with detailed standards.

The House Ways and Means Committee has approved a bill that would equalize the disclosure standards of tax preparers and their clients.

The Center for Audit Quality has issued a report on a recent meeting of the Treasury Department's Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession.

The Maryland Senate passed a CPA mobility bill by a unanimous 47-0 vote about an hour before midnight on the final day of the Maryland General Assembly's 2008 session.

The American Institute of CPAs has issued revised Standards for Performing and Reporting on Peer Reviews, along with interpretations of those standards.

Approximately four out of 10 American adults are postponing making major life decisions either because they haven't saved enough money or they're worried about the U.S. economy, according to a recent poll conducted for the American Institute of CPAs by Harris Interactive.

Cain to Chair Leading Edge Alliance

The Senate Finance Committee heard testimony from Roby B. Sawyers, a professor in the College of Management at North Carolina State University and a member of the American Institute of CPAs' Tax Executive Committee, about the institute's recommendations for estate tax reform.

Clifton Gunderson Appoints Female CEO

Tax Partner Named Woman of the Year

The Center for Audit Quality marked its first anniversary with a report on its progress in improving public confidence in the audit process.The CAQ, which is affiliated with the American Institute of CPAs, originated in January 2007. Last year, it began a Public Dialogue Tour to gather ideas from investors about how to accomplish its goal. The CAQ plans two more stops on the tour this year, in Boston and its home base of Washington, D.C.

The American Institute of CPAs is holding a conference for audit committee members to make them more aware of risk management.

The American Institute of CPAs said its members have been answering tax questions for USA Today as part of an annual effort to provide online tax assistance to readers.

The AICPA said it has sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service urging its agents to be aware of "scriveners' errors," or unintentional mistakes, in the drafting of employee benefit plans.

The American Institute of CPAs sent a letter to the Senate Finance Committee prior to its March 12 hearing on estate tax reform urging lawmakers to make permanent changes to the estate tax prior to the current law expiring in 2010.In a letter, the institute reiterated a prioritized series of reforms -- a list that the AICPA had previously sent to Congress in 2005 and again in 2006.

The Center for Audit Quality has weighed in on the Securities and Exchange Commission's proposal to delay certain internal control reporting requirements for smaller companies, in a letter suggesting that the commission use the postponement to better assess the costs and benefits of implementing new standards and guidance. The SEC has proposed pushing back by one year the Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 deadline for non-accelerated filers to provide auditors' attestation reports on internal controls over financial reporting in annual reports, to fiscal years ending on or after Dec. 15, 2009. While stating that, "The benefits of complete 404 reporting ... should be available to investors in smaller companies," the comment letter from CAQ executive director Cindy Fornelli acknowledged the potential benefits of the delay in allowing the integration of forthcoming guidance from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations into auditor assessments. The letter also urged the SEC to broaden its effort to evaluate the cost effectiveness of new regulations and guidance, particularly the PCAOB's Auditing Standard No. 5, by including input not only from reporting companies, but from investors, audit committee members, auditors and others. An affiliate of the American Institute of CPAs, the CAQ is dedicated to fostering investor and market confidence in the audit process.