Considering Technology, Integration, and the Future Clint Boulton at the WSJ CIO Journal reports:  Research in Motion Ltd. Wednesday [tomorrow] is introducing two smartphones based on its new BlackBerry 10 operating system software, giving CIOs yet another platform to consider supporting at a time when consumers are bringing in their own smartphones to use at work. CIOs are skeptical about the uncertainty s ...

The Wall Street Journal Recounts What the IRS Advises:  Moves to Make as April Grows Near April deadlines may not be that far way,  but some Americans still haven’t even rounded up their W2s, the Wall Street Journal noted in a (just-before-deadline) filing last year.   Acknowledging the tax procrastination is a national pastime, the Internal Revenue Service issued some tips and a series of videos to help la ...

Sweet Tax Deductions for Individuals That Often Get Forgotten  With October 15 behind us and April 15 still comfortably far away, it’s a good time to start boning up on ways to save your clients money once things start getting serious. With that in mind, Bankrate.com identified 10 great deductions that individual taxpayers should use – but often forget.  Accounting Today passes on the good news.  Here's the ...

Put on a Celebratory Launch Party, Tell Success Stories, Adopt a Mantra, and Realize:  This is What You've Studied and Worked for Throughout Your Career! Let’s face it, writes Tracy Warren at AICPA Insights . Tax time has had a bit of a bad rap for years. You know, talk of never ending piles of work and dreaded long hours. Bah-humbug! Blame it on Ebenezer Scrooge, if you will. But this year it’s time to sta ...

The accounting rulemakers said they are seeking more feedback about whether groups of companies could phase in IFRS and how investors are dealing with the two sets of accounting rules currently existing in the United States. Emily Chasen at WSJ CFO Report writes [trial subscription required] that accounting rulemakers in the U.S. and abroad are calling for collaboration even as U.S. regulators have so far r ...

Plus: A Black Box that Performs Business Valuations for Privately Held Companies?  The Scenario Might Not Be as Far-Fetched as You Think Not too long ago I had lunch w/a senior valuation guy, someone who's made his living in the field for some 30 years, and was there almost from the first days The National Association of Certified Valuators and Analysts (NACVA) was formed and Shannon Pratt began publishing ...

Solid revenue growth last year following strong performance in 2010 and 2011 after a severe revenue decline in 2009 Michael Cohn at Accounting Today reports this growth according to a newly published analysis.  The report, from the social networking forum Big4.com, analyzed the 2012 financial performance of Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers. It found that after a strong 2011, fisc ...

Consider Lifetime Client Value, Cost of Client Acquisition, and Retention Rate Is your CPA firm making the most of current relationships and doing all it can to expand into new ones?   While there are many metrics CPA firms use to evaluate quantitative performance, AICPA Insights suggests 12 metrics than can provide more qualitative feedback. These metrics can help CPA firms measure their reach with clients ...

IFRS Foundation Trustee: Don’t Wave White Flag on Cooperation Global accounting standard setters acknowledge that completion of the convergence projects is unlikely to happen in the near term, but progress can still be made to closely align International Financial Reporting Standards and U.S. GAAP, the Journal of Accountancy reports.   Here's more: ...

A Dozen Categories.  Some Categories Alone Encompassing Up to 20 New Taxes.  Here's the Detail.  The American Taxpayer Relief Act, passed by Congress on Jan. 1, permanently extends a large number of tax items from the 2001 and 2003 tax acts and extends many expired tax provisions. Here is a comprehensive look at the many changes contained in the bill, as well as other new taxes that took effect Jan. 1. Paul ...

Extra Help for Puerto Rican Rum, Asparagus Farmers,  Hollywood TV Production, 2-3 Wheeled Electric Vehicles, and Diesel Fuel Joe Weisenthal at Business Insider  gives us the lowdown:  ...

Intent:  Not to Constrain Economic Growth Which Could Lead to Future Revenues David Lawder and Kim Dixon report that The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday said Senate-passed legislation to avert the "fiscal cliff" would add nearly $4 trillion to federal deficits over a decade, largely because it would extend low tax rates for almost all Americans. ...

Economic Recovery, Intensified Competition, Squeezed Profit Margins, Upward Pressure on Salaries, Downward Pressure on Rates, and a Rush to the Cloud   Rick Telberg counts up the list of the top 20 most-clicked articles at CPA Trendlines provides a roadmap to the profession’s anxieties, aspirations and, just maybe, a glimpse into what 2013 holds: ...

There's good news and bad news.  Here's the low-down.   Dean Zerbe offers his take at Forbes on how the current deal will affect small-business owners: ...

Ambitious plans to overhaul the individual tax code, tackle corporate rates, revamp the Medicare program and consider changes in Social Security appear to have given way mainly to a tax increases for big earners Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times reports that "doing business in pieces" seems to be :the nature of what constitutes progress in such a sharply divided political world."  More: ...

Find Fulfillment, Get Productive, And Create Healthy Habits  Drake Baer at Fast Company weighs in with his choice of Top 2012 titles, asserting that "these 12 books have shaped not only the way we work this year, but how we think and the conversations we're having. Authored by luminaries like Nate Silver, Clay Christensen, and Susan Cain, these delightful-to-read tomes offer insight into the power of vulner ...

Compensation and Growth Opportunities are Key to Employee Retention;  Other Factors—and How to Differentiate Jennifer Wilson at CPA Insider writes that firm leaders should be prepared to provide clear answers to the most pressing questions young high performers have about what to expect on the path to partner.    ...

Small Business Owners Hiring Intentions for the Next 12 Months Dropped to -4 in November, Down from +10 in July Jeffrey Sparshott at the Wall Street Journal Real-Time Economy Blog reports the news:   ...

Bay State Charges Two Firms with Fraudulent Security Sales  Investment News, the daily online publication of the financial advisory industry, reports that Massachusetts took aim Thursday at two players in the small but potentially vast arena of crowdfunding, which lets small private companies sell equity directly to investors: ...

Engage Employees with Teamwork and Consensus; Look Beyond Your Own Industry, and Execute Carefully In a recent issue of the Financial Planning Association’s Practice Management Solutions, Paul R. Brown identifies important factors successful business owners pay careful attention to when managing substantial change in their organizations successfully. Here’s what to pay attention to. ...