Professional development

* AMERIPRISE SETTLES ON SALES OF 529 PLANS: Ameriprise Financial Inc. will pay $1.25 million to settle an enforcement action brought by regulators over its sales of Section 529 college savings plans, the company said. Ameriprise neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing.Brokerage regulator NASD said that the action against broker and insurer Ameriprise was its first in a probe into Section 529 plan sales practices at 20 securities firms. Other investigations are ongoing.

Government officials now expect 401(k) plan sponsors to conduct periodic due diligence reviews. With respect to their 401(k) or other retirement plans, the problem is that most plan sponsors do not have the in-house resources to do so.This is not something that 401(k) plans historically did. On the heels of the recent mutual fund scandals, though, Labor Department officials indicated that sponsors had a duty to periodically investigate plans and benchmark funds and fees.

By a wide majority, the Senate passed legislation to hopefully strengthen corporate pension programs and provide aid to pension insurance agencies already in debt. A similar bill rewriting pension rules has received approval from two House committees.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board will add a new project to its agenda and reconsider its accounting guidance for pensions and other retirement benefits.

The upcoming International Standards Organization's 22222 standard is now in a final ballot, with the objective of achieving and promoting a globally accepted benchmark for individuals who provide the professional service of personal financial planning.

CPAs are under increasing pressure to provide long-term care insurance to firm members, as well as to advise clients on appropriate LTC coverage. The triple-whammy of increasing medical costs, longer life expectancies, and the aging Baby Boomer workforce approaching retirement is moving the concept of long-term care to the front burner.It's not unusual to see LTC insurance as a benefit option at accounting firms, even though, so far, it has few takers. Grant Thornton has offered it as a voluntary benefit choice since 1991, but even after nearly 15 years, only 3 percent of eligible members choose to purchase the insurance.

Bonds are leaning into the double headwinds of rising interest rates and rising inflation. The high-yield end of the market is also struggling with mega-downgrades and troubling bankruptcies. Those events have prompted advisors to begin searching for replacements.Junk bonds for one, looked pretty good as the year began. However, the bonus over treasuries was not enough to cushion the fall. "Early in the year, high-yield bonds were priced to perfection," said Scott Berry, CFA, high-yield bond fund analyst at Morningstar. "That's why the drops in high-yield prices have come down as much as the treasuries."

* FICPA HELPS RESIDENTS WITH FINANCIAL GOALS: Members of the Florida Institute of CPAs have reached out to help Floridians struggling with financial issues to get back on track through "360 Degrees of Financial Literacy," the nationwide initiative designed to provide financial education to the public."360 Degrees of Financial Literacy" task force members Ken Strauss, Doug Day, James Luffman, Alberto Manrara, Marty Prague and Nancy Soderholm are working with CPA volunteers from Tallahassee to Miami to offer financial literacy presentations that address issues including budgeting, saving, investing, credit cards and the financial effects of major life changes.

If you are an owner of a business, what would happen if you or a co-owner were to die suddenly?Large problems can result from the death, incapacity, resignation, etc., of one of the owners. How would the decedent's heirs liquidate the business interest to pay expenses and taxes? What would happen if an heir or an unknown outside buyer of the decedent's share decides to interfere with the business? Could the business or other owners afford to buy back the decedent's ownership interest?

In determining what property to contribute to a charitable organization, it is usually best to contribute appreciated property, i.e., property whose fair market value is higher than its basis in the donor's hands.This is because the appreciation in value of the property is not taxable to the donor even if the full fair market value of the property is deductible for income tax purposes. However, whether the full fair market value is deductible for income tax purposes depends on the type of property contributed.

Hiring expectations, personal finances and job satisfaction concerns, among a number of other factors, caused confidence among accounting and finance workers to dip in October, according to the Hudson Employment Index.

Personal exemptions and standard deductions will rise, tax brackets will widen and individuals will be able to make larger tax-free gifts in 2006, thanks to inflation adjustments announced today by the Internal Revenue Service.

The American Institute of CPAs and the United Kingdom's Chartered Institute of Management Accountants have agreed to collaborate on developing products and services for their members. This partnership will allow the AICPA to offer additional professional resources to members working in business and industry, who account for nearly 50 percent of the institute's membership.

Legal and regulatory publisher BNA Inc. has launched Accounting Policy and Practice Report, a biweekly publication that focuses on accounting rules and their impact on corporate accounting.The publication -- launched through BNA subsidiary Tax Management Inc. -- features insights and analysis from practitioners on such topics as internal controls, revenue recognition intangibles, and pro forma reporting.

KATRINA VICTIMS CAN TAKE LOANS FROM RETIREMENT PLANS: Employer-sponsored retirement plans, including 401(k) programs, will be allowed to make loans and hardship distributions to victims of Hurricane Katrina and members of their families, the Internal Revenue Service said.For the first time ever, the IRS and the Treasury and Labor Departments are providing broad-based relief to retirement plan participants affected by a major disaster.

The accountant is one of the catalysts of an estate-planning team - a group that should also include an attorney, a financial planner and a trust officer.The goal of this dedicated team is to help in the management, conservation and transfer of wealth, while considering the legal and tax ramifications, as well as the personal objectives, of the client.

The $11,000 gift tax annual exclusion ($12,000 for gifts made in 2006) is available only for gifts of present interests. A gift to a trust for the benefit of a particular beneficiary is usually a gift of a present interest only if the trustee is required to distribute all of the income of the trust no less frequently than annually. If a trust does not have income because its assets are invested in non-income paying property (e.g., unproductive real estate or artwork), a gift to that trust will be treated as a gift of a future interest.However, the exclusion is allowed for a gift in trust to a minor, if the trust property and the income from that property may be (but don't have to be) spent by or for the minor before he reaches age 21, and to the extent not so spent will pass to the minor when he becomes 21.

Roughly two thirds of companies in the S&P 500 have exceeded analysts' estimates on earnings per share dating back to the first quarter of 2004 -- a signal that companies have become more conservative on their earnings guidance.

Clerks at the nation's bankruptcy courts processed a record 205,129 personal bankruptcy filings last week, and a private consulting firm estimates that a backlog of unprocessed filings could push the total to 300,000.

According to a recent study, the value of stock options given to employees at the nation's largest companies dwindled by roughly 60 percent throughout 2001-04.