Wealth management

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service have issued proposed regulations to provide funding guidance for single-employer defined-benefit plans.

UHY Advisors has become a services partner of business software developer SAP America.

At the Financial Planning Association business solutions conference last month, Julie Littlechild, president of Advisor Impact, presented new information based on a survey of investors about the economics of loyalty. In effect, she was showing what turns a client from satisfied-but-passive to actively engaged in the growth of an advisor’s business. “Client engagement is the outcome of a practice that is structured effectively and a driver of future growth in an advisor’s business,” she says. “Advisors can achieve a balance between a level of service that is both meaningful to their clients and profitable to then, but which encourages clients to be actively engaged in the growth of the advisor’s business.” Vanguard Financial Advisory Services sponsored the study and notes the results underscores that there is a direct economic correlation between having engaged clients and having a thriving practice. Littlechild says that of the investors surveyed (some 1,000), 17 percent were disgruntled, 19 percent were complacent, 31 percent were content, and 33 percent were “engaged.” Actually all of those in the disgruntled section had thought about switching advisors. Obviously, the thrust of any practice is to move clients into the “engaged” category because the economics of loyalty are simply too great to ignore. Keep in mind that the higher up the scale clients move—from disgruntled to complacent to content to engaged—the more services they utilize, including comprehensive financial planning, retirement income planning, tax planning, estate planning, and trust services. Also, it may go without saying that the engaged clients are more loyal clients. They are unlikely to switch advisors. So, how to get clients into this category? Littlechild offers a few tips:

The Securities and Exchange Commission is offering investors a new interactive tool for comparing the costs, risks, investment strategies and past performance of mutual funds using Extensible Business Reporting Language.

The Treasury Department has released a report on The Changing Nature and Consequences of Public Company Financial Restatements as part of an effort to encourage U.S. capital markets competitiveness.

In the midst of what he termed the "mother of all crises," former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker maintained that the worsening economic climate sends a clarion call to repair and reform the U.S. financial system.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed securities fraud charges against five former San Diego officials who failed to adequately disclose problems with the city's municipal bonds in 2002 and 2003.

Many clients of CPA firms are Boomers who will be retiring in increasing numbers over the next decade. What does that mean? Obviously that means firms will be looking to continue to retain many of those retirees as clients,and it will also mean there will be a need to find a steady supply of new clients.

Financial Web site myStockOptions.com has opened an online Tax Center that explains issues related to equity compensation for tax year 2007.

The first waves of Baby Boomers have turned 62 this year and started claiming Social Security benefits. But, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC), many are confused about their post-retirement health insurance options. As a result, the association has offered 10 tips that planners should consider with their clients:

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.

The International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation's XBRL Team has released the near-final version of the IFRS Taxonomy 2008, translating International Financial Reporting Standards into Extensible Business Reporting Language.

BDO Consulting said it is forming a corporate advisory practice to provide strategic and financial consulting services to companies in distress.

On January 24, 2002, I gave a presentation, at the Large- and Medium-Sized Firms Practice Management Committee of the New York State Society of CPAs, entitled "Like the Energizer Bunny, the Enron Mess Keeps Going and Going." It seems I was right as Citigroup just settled a lawsuit in which it agreed to pay $1.66 billion to the Enron Bankruptcy Estate, which had filed bankruptcy and fraud claims against Citigroup in the United States Bankruptcy Court in New York.

Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business plans to introduce an executive master's degree program with a specialization in financial statement analysis and securities assessment, aimed at working professionals.

It’s often said that small business is the engine of the U.S. economy. If so, family businesses are of the high-performance, whisper-quiet, finely tuned kind, humming along at an impressive clip — even if there might be a few bumps ahead. But to stay on track and avoid breakdowns, family businesses would do well to schedule regular tune-ups with their financial professionals.That’s the snapshot of today’s family businesses that emerges from the 2007 Family Business Survey conducted by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. in conjunction with the Family Firm Institute, and the Cox Family Enterprise Center at the Kennesaw State University Coles College of Business.

CFP BOARD REVISES ETHICSThe CFP Board of Standards has adopted a revised version of its Standards of Professional Conduct, which sets forth the ethical standards for CFP professionals.

The Treasury Department has released its blueprint for overhauling the regulatory structure of the financial markets in an effort to cope with the crisis in the mortgage and credit markets.

R.R. Donnelley & Sons and Edgar Online have launched TryXBRL.com, a Web site that allows users to view and analyze financial statements tagged in Extensible Business Reporting Language from over 12,000 publicly traded companies.

New research from MassMutual Financial Group has revealed a surprising contrast in consumers’ confidence about retirement preparedness and their actual savings behavior that could help shape the next generation of retirement savings solutions. The study, conducted by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual), included responses from more than 17,000 individuals participating in some 2,300 employer-sponsored retirement savings plans administered by MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division. In examining the relationship between savings confidence and actual savings behavior, the study found that those who saved more and were active in managing their retirement savings actually were less confident in their retirement security and the retirement decisions they make compared to individuals with lower savings rates. A key finding showed that those who are more active in managing their retirement savings (79 percent) are also more eager for help and information about investments and investing versus those who are less active (47 percent). According to retirement experts at MassMutual, working with a financial professional may provide the kind of help these individuals want, as well as to help alleviate anxiety they may have regarding their investments for retirement. “Rather than just track what people are actually doing in terms of retirement savings, we are also deeply interested in the ‘Why,’” says Ian Sheridan, corporate vice president and chief marketing officer for MassMutual’s Retirement Services Division. “Our research shows that what individuals say and what they actually do are, at times, explicitly different.” Sheridan goes on to say that participants in the study were categorized as low, medium, and high savers based on their annual deferral rates of salary into a 401(k) savings plan. Low savers were those who deferred less than 4.0 percent, medium-savers between 4.0 percent and 7.99 percent, and high savers deferred 8.0 percent or more of their salaries. Individuals with the highest deferral rates said they enjoyed managing their finances more than the low and medium savers (57 percent of high savers versus 49 percent of medium and low savers). But, this fact notwithstanding, MassMutual said that those who take an active role in saving more and making investment decisions still lack confidence about those investment decisions and their financial security as they approach retirement. This is evidenced by the following findings: