CPA Observation Post

Congress Probes Tax Prep Fraud and Identity Theft (via @AccountingToday)

The House Judiciary Committee’s Crime Subcommittee held a hearing Thursday on the growing problem of identity theft and income tax preparation fraud. Read More>>

PCAOB Hears Further Debate over Audit Firm Rotation (via @AccountingToday)

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board held a daylong meeting to gauge reaction to its proposal for mandatory audit firm rotation. The San Francisco roundtable followed a two-day meeting in March in Washington, D.C. Many of the comments seemed more supportive of the concept of requiring public companies to rotate their auditing firms. Read More>>

Supreme Court's health care decision affects many tax provisions (via @AICPA_JofA)

The Supreme Court's decision upholding the individual mandate in the health care law had a surprisingly large number of tax ramifications. Because much of the health care law was enacted through the Internal Revenue Code, the court's decision to let the law stand means that numerous tax provisions will take effect over the next few years. Many of those provisions involve health care, but some, such as the 3.8% tax on net investment income and the codified economic substance doctrine, don't, and may surprise taxpayers. Read More>>

GASB Final Pronouncements Are Now Available as Free Downloads

 Effective immediately, final Statements and certain other pronouncements issued by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) are available for downloading at no cost on the GASB website (gasb.org). Documents available will include GASB Statements, Concept Statements, Interpretations, and Technical Bulletins. These documents will be posted as PDF files in their originally issued form and therefore the documents have not been modified for any subsequent amendments. >>Read More

FAF Seeks Nominations for New Private Company Council

The Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF) Board of Trustees has issued a request for nominations for candidates to serve on the Private Company Council (PCC). The deadline to submit nominees for PCC members and the PCC chair is June 30, 2012. >>Read More

Homestead and Senior Freeze Deadlines Extended

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has extended the deadlines for Homestead Benefit and Senior Freeze applications to Friday, October 19. >>Read More