Wealth management

Contact information for the vendors of the Accounting Today 2005 Top 100 Products and Ones to Watch.AccountantsWorld

Filomeno & Company PC, an eight-partner CPA firm based here, has expanded its financial planning practice with the merger of fee-only planning firm Thibodeau Financial Advisors LLC into its fold.

The majority of tax professionals who enter the financial planning business do so by hooking up with an independent broker/dealer firm, according to a report by market research and consulting firm Tiburon Strategic Advisors.

To help fund President Bush's reform plan to add personal retirement accounts to the Social Security program, the White House admitted that it would probably use government borrowing to cover the oft-debated "transition financing" phase of a new program.

Filomeno & Company PC, an eight-partner CPA firm based here, has expanded its financial planning practice with the merger of fee-only planning firm Thibodeau Financial Advisors LLC into its fold.

As part of its multi-pronged educational effort on financial literacy, the American Institute of CPAs has launched a consumer Web portal that offers information and articles organized by a series of life stages, such as college, entrepreneurship, marriage, parenthood, home ownership and retirement.

The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 limits the deduction allowed for entertainment, amusement and recreation provided to certain specified individuals to amounts treated as income to the recipient for federal income tax purposes.

There's good news for accounting and finance professionals - starting salaries are expected to increase an average of 2.4 percent next year. But the news is far better for internal auditors and professionals focused on Sarbanes-Oxley and other corporate governance-related initiatives - they're poised to see huge boosts in base compensation, according to staffing giant Robert Half International Inc.

The American Institute of CPAs has named Thomas J. Purcell III to a two-year term as chairman of its Tax Executive Committee, the tax policy and standards-setting body of the AICPA.

Strong revenue and market share growth don't guarantee a financially healthy independent investment advisor practice -- but being focused and deliberate about the types of clients served and the services offered can drive profitable growth, according to a study of the top firms by Schwab Institutional and Moss Adams.

A recent survey on issues related to long-term care and the sometimes widely varying views between men and women on the subject gives credence to the phrase, "Men are from Mars and women are from Venus."

529 college savings plans continue to increase in popularity, as assets in the plans grew to an estimated $45.1 billion at the end of the third quarter, according to data released by the nonprofit College Savings Foundation.

The Financial Planning Association has been awarded a $94,500 grant by the American Red Cross to support its pro bono September 11 Recovery Program.

The sale of many of its offices two years ago pushed financial planning and tax prep firm Gilman+Ciocia Inc. into the black for fiscal 2004, as a $6.1 million gain on that sale wiped out an operating loss of just over $1 million for the year ended June 30.

The Internal Revenue Service has issued proposed regulations that would permit distributions to be made from a pension plan under a "bona fide phased retirement program." It also would set forth requirements for the program.

The National Association of Securities Dealers charged H&R Block Financial Advisors Inc., the investment arm of the tax prep giant, with fraud in the sale of $16 million worth of Enron Corp. bonds after the energy firm's finances and bond ratings had begun to collapse.

Average tuition and fees at four-year public colleges and universities for the 2004-05 year climbed 10.5 percent from last year's levels, to $5,132, while fees at four-year private schools rose 6 percent, to $20,082, the College Board reported.

At the end of a year of sideways markets, many tax advisors are focusing on the ramifications of the two recently passed tax acts. There is, however, a roster of other year-end strategies that are worth looking into.

For tax years beginning in 2004 and 2005, the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, recently passed by Congress, allows taxpayers to elect to take state and local general sales and use taxes as an itemized deduction on their federal income tax returns for those years. However, a taxpayer who makes this election will not be able to take an itemized deduction for state and local income taxes for the same year.

WACHOVIA TO BUY TANAGER FINANCIAL: In an effort to strengthen its wealth management practice, Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia Corp., the nation's fifth-largest bank, agreed to acquire wealth advisory firm Tanager Financial Services Inc.