Financial reporting

The American Institute of CPAs gave out its public service awards at its Spring Council meeting to an individual and a firm for their contributions to the community at large.

With accounting standards moving toward convergence around the world, some accounting firms are beginning to worry that the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards could lead to litigation.

KPMG is donating $250,000 to the nonprofit organization First Book to distribute more than 200,000 books this year to needy children.

In recent months, captives have come to the forefront of the insurance industry.As a result, there has been increased interest in what they are, the benefits that they provide, and if they are a viable option for companies.

As the Governmental Accounting Standards Board began grappling with concepts in reporting governmental service efforts and accomplishments, or SEA, it knew traditional financial statements didn’t provide a complete picture of government performance.After all, not everything that a government does can be measured in dollars and cents, so should GASB write standards for things that are not measured monetarily?

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued an invitation to comment on how it might proceed toward simplifying the measurement of complex financial instruments.The invitation comes amid a global controversy over whether current reporting on some financial instruments at fair value may be causing volatility in securities and credit markets. The issue at FASB, however, is over the perplexing varieties of measurement.

Ernst & Young is developing a curriculum to help accounting students learn about International Financial Reporting Standards.

A White House memo directing agencies to finalize their rules before the fall election could have an impact on plans for the use of Extensible Business Reporting Language and International Financial Reporting Standards in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The financial advisor of the future must go beyond today's conventional wisdom to favor a more complete risk management framework that better recognizes the retirement income needs of millions of retirees, says The Retirement Income Industry Association (RIIA), a national, not-for-profit organization whose members are defining the future of retirement security in the United States. RIIA's chairman and executive director Francois Gadenne, points out that the association has already developed a job description for financial advisors that he believes is more relevant to the practical challenges that retirees are now beginning to confront. "In order to be effective in the future, financial advisors seeking to provide the best possible results for their clients must embrace a host of new responsibilities and personal professional skills. And, based on feedback that financial advisors have brought to RIIA, they are concerned about helping investors plan, implement, and manage their retirement to achieve and maintain a desired standard of living over the long term. That's a complex task which calls for new insight and education." The association’s director, David Macchia, explains that the advisor's job description has expanded significantly. "The advisor must have the skills to not only help investors accumulate financial capital--such as savings, investments, insurance, annuities, and IRAs--but also to understand the changing roles of financial capital combined with human capital (wages and earnings) and social capital (social security, support from family or friends, defined benefit plans) as investors address their retirement income security needs." RIIA says foresees a new dimension of professional advisor education that will be called for in light of the shifting challenges confronting retirees. To support advisors in maintaining a high degree of proficiency in retirement income planning, including specialized professional education that provides the skills and insights needed in the years ahead, RIIA is developing a Retirement Income Management Body of Knowledge. This curriculum, it notes, will match specific learning objectives with practice management skills derived from a Retirement Management Professional job description and leading to a Retirement Management Analyst™ (RMA) designation. Elvin Turner, its director, asserts that the association’s expanding body of knowledge is the key to addressing financial advisors' concerns about delivering comprehensive retirement income planning to their clients. "Ethics and practice management skills are foundational elements of RIIA's body of knowledge. The reason is to help RMA designation candidates sharpen their ethical behavior and practice skills needed to address retirement needs in an effective and objective fashion." According to Gadenne, the ability to identify the vital attributes of tomorrow's successful financial advisors is attributable to what he feels is the association’s unique perspective in the financial services industry. "RIIA and its members have been able to view across silos by pulling down barriers between product and process, manufacturer and distributor, academic and business, to achieve a needs-based perspective that would otherwise not be possible. It is this perspective that is driving the definition of prudent retirement planning, including the skill set that advisors must maintain and refine over time." For more information, visit www.riia-usa.org.

Deloitte has formed an International Financial Reporting Standards University Consortium to help bring IFRS into more college classrooms.

The Internal Revenue Service has published the 2009 inflation-adjusted deduction limits for health savings accounts.

The American Institute of CPAs has appointed Jay Hanson as chairman-elect of its Accounting Standards Executive Committee.

With so many accounting standards, it can be hard to keep up with them all.

Accounting firm Moss Adams has named Rebecca Pomering CEO of its wealth management division.

A group promoting pastors’ First Amendment rights has announced an initiative to challenge the ban on endorsements of political candidates by tax-exempt organizations.

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman promised to continue enforcement efforts against tax shelters and provide clearer tax guidance.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued FASB Statement No. 162, "The Hierarchy of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles," intended as a replacement for the American Institute of CPAs' GAAP hierarchy.

If you haven’t heard by now, there’s a big conference coming up in July. It’s being billed as “How CPAs Can Make Money in Financial Planning” and it’s being held on July 20-22 at the Chicago Fairmont. Why this conference? Because the Baby Boomers, as we all know, are hitting retirement age with the Barely Boomers right behind, and they are certainly looking for financial planners to advise them. In the interests of full disclosure, the conference is being offered by the premier publications in this field: CPA Wealth Provider, Accounting Today, and Practical Accountant. The conference will detail exactly what it takes to be really successful in such a practice area, which includes estate, tax, retirement, insurance, and succession planning and, of course, wealth management. This breakthrough conference is also targeted at those firms not yet in financial planning as well as those who have not been successful. In fact, the conference will allow you to determine how deeply your firm should be in this growth area and in what capacity. You will also learn how to select the right strategic partner and how to get financial planning up-to-speed quickly. Moreover, you will hear success stories from financial planners and learn the challenges of those CPAs who entered the business without the proper training, analysis, and understanding and therefore, failed or had a number of false starts. Incidentally, the conference will offer 16-18 CPE credits. Most importantly, a number of the preeminent people in the field will be conducting sessions at this conference including the keynote speaker, Stuart Kessler, considered by many as the “Godfather” of financial planning and including, as of this date, Garrett D'Alessandro, Sidney Blum, Mitchell Freedman, Peter Jaworski, Rebecca Pomering, Larry Swedroe, Enrique Vasquez, Troy Waugh, and Clare Wherley. For more information, contact Julie.Dienes@sourcemedia.com.

Sage Software's U.K.-based parent company, the Sage Group, reported revenue of $1.29 billion for the half-year ended March 31, 2008, a 9 percent increase over the same period last year.

Standard & Poor's plans to host a forum on the merits of fair value accounting later this month.