Implications of the SEC IFRS Work Plan for Private and Public Issuers; How Slow Adoption May Rewrite GAAP   Grant Thornton Audit Services has published a 16-page report providing background and context on IFRS in the United States.   The report explores how market forces press the issue, cover SEC final report highlights and reaction to the report, summarizes how some companies are preparing for IFRS today, ...

Although 2013 Rates Are Still Unclear, Smart Planners Are Making These Moves Today Laura Sanders at the Wall Street Journal reports that the annual scramble to make smart tax moves before December 31 is proving especially vexing this year, since Congress still hasn’t settled 2013 tax rates on income, investments, large gifts, and estates. Deductions and other breaks are in doubt.  And some questions—such as ...

CBO Details Penalties For Being Uninsured Under The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office recently reported an estimated six million people would be subject to the Obamacare tax, approximating $7 billion in taxes in 2016 with each of the 6 million people paying at least $695. ...

Typical Household Taxes Go Up by $2,000, Says Non-Partisan Tax Policy Center More than a dozen tax cuts are set to expire Dec. 31 and a couple of new taxes are scheduled to start with the new year, Catherine Rampell at The New York Times reports.  Here's more: ...

Booming Demand for Nurses and Physician Assistants;  Huge Need for Primary-Care Physicians An estimated 30 million people will gain insurance as a result of the Affordable Care Act, asserts Aubrey Westgate at Physicians Practice.   At the same time, the Association of American Medical Colleges anticipates a shortfall of 45,000 primary-care physicians and 46,000 specialists in the coming decade.   More:   “W ...

Media Vary on Whether Election Increases or Decreases  Uncertainty;  Concur It's Good for Business A number of media outlets have begun to weigh in on the topic. At Accounting Today, the editors have put together a topical list of some of the relevant issues: ...

Star Wars Creator Strikes Savvy Deal with Disney Quentin Fottrell at CBS MarketWatch reports that Disney will buy George Lucas' LucasFilm for $4.05 billion in cash and stock, the two companies announced Tuesday: Wade Westhoff, a financial adviser based in Danville, Calif., says of the Disney deal. “This is a textbook example of exit planning for a private business owner.” (Lucas and a spokesman for LucasFil ...

Federal Lawsuit from AHA and Four Other Providers Accuse HHS of Illegally Denying Medicare Payments Joe Carlson at Modern Healthcare reports the story: In a federal lawsuit, the American Hospital Association and four healthcare providers accuse HHS of illegally denying hospitals Medicare payments for audited outpatient procedures. The Chicago-based interest group for hospitals says in the complaint that HHS ...

IFRS News Offers Summary of Significant Developments in International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)   Grant Thornton's IFRS team publishes a quarterly update on developments in the international accounting arena: ...

WhitServe Alleges that Mac OS X Infringes on a Patent it Holds for "Sequentially Opening and Displaying Files in a Directory."  Steve Musil at c:net  reports that WhitServe, which owns intellectual property but doesn't make any real products, is suing Apple over allegations that versions of the Mac OS X operating system infringe on a file viewer patent it holds: The complaint, filed today in U.S. District C ...

Forensic Accounting Revenue in the U.S. is Expected to Grow 6.8% Annually A recent market research report noted in The CPA Insider reports that demand for forensic accounting services will remain strong over the next five years in the United States as a result of increased financial regulations and continued demand for investigative services in the wake of the recession: ...

"It Got a Bit Ugly" Sarah E. Needleman at the WSJ Small Business Blog reports:  Ten months after co-founding a communications firm in 2008, Tami Hausman asked her business partner to meet at a local Starbucks. Things weren't working out, Ms. Hausman says, and she wanted to run the New York company on her own. ...

At Stake was Client Confidentiality   The Appraisers Guild reports on an important bit of recent case law.  On August 10, the Arizona Board of Appraisal dismissed the USPAP violation complaint filed by Chase Bank against John Dingeman on initial file review.  Why is this newsworthy?  Because it represents a major victory for appraisers everywhere.  Dingeman, has been fighting strong arm tactics employed by ...

Good Values are Sometimes Overlooked.  How Can Private Equity Investors Best Assess Company Viability?   With nearly $1 trillion in dry powder, the private equity market is becoming steadily more competitive. EBITDA multiples are rising, PE firms are holding their portfolio companies longer, and pension funds are starting to make direct investments. So how do smart investors in private equity compete?   Axi ...

Top Vote-Getters Include Fed Honchos, Private Sector Leaders, and Association Chief  Who’s the most important person in Accounting?  Is it Leslie Seidman (Chairman of the FASB), Hans Hoogervorst (Chairman of the IASB), or Douglas Shulman (Commissioner, IRS)?   Or instead, might it be James Doty (PCAOB Chair), Mary Shapiro (SEC), or even an as-yet-unnamed person—our next president?  Or someone else entirely? ...

Most Business Owners Understand Interim Cash Flows.  But Terminal Cash Flow May Be Most Important: More Detail on Standards of Value.  Lucas M. Parris at Mercer Capital has authored a white paper at Mercer Capital that posted last month titled Understand the Value of an Insurance Brokerage that guides consultants through the process of selling out, selling in [transferring ownership to heirs], putting toget ...

Keys:  Talk to Existing Staff.  Hire a Specialist Attorney.  Don’t Negotiate Directly.  Exercise Care—and Sleep on it Before Signing.  James Doulgeris at Physicians Practice describes a common scenario where physicians agree to a buy out and later come to regret it: ...

Plus:  New Local Case Law in Los Angeles, San Francisco.   Detail on Virginia Occupational License.  Deloitte Tax Alerts notes new case law in Illinois and new local law in San Francisco and Los Angeles.  Also:   More on Virginia's business, professional, and occupational license tax.  ...

Insurers Say Rates Can Surge After Hospitals Buy Private Physician Practices; Medicare Spending Rises, Too    Anne Wilde Matthews at the Wall Street Journal reports that the increased number of physicians going to work for hospitals is actually resulting in higher costs for patients.   Hospitals are acquiring physician practices and integrating them into hospital services, and while the stated goal is to im ...

Keys to Exit Excellence: Act Now, Begin the Grooming Process, Proactively Identify Potential Acquirers, and Create Value in Your Practice    Donald J. Korn writes in The Journal of Accountancy that it's critical to be proactive in building an exit plan.  Here he talks to a number of experts on the topic—including NACVA member Marty Abo, who recently was featured in Smart CEO Magazine—and collects tips on be ...