disparate.info

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123976053040419549.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455219391652725.html

This interesting tidbit was buried in a Wall Street Journal “Heard on the Street” article.

“Financial Accounting Standards Board Chairman Robert Herz had a derisive response for banks who argue that market-value accounting rules are hurting economic prospects. ‘So why don’t we just pass a law requiring broker-dealers to send out monthly statements to their retail customers that show nicely rising values, thereby engendering consumer confidence, spurring more spending and helping us avoid a recession?’ Mr. Herz asked. Don’t laugh, the government is desperate enough to try it.”

The full text of Mr. Herz’ speech can be found here.

Source: “Overheard,” The Wall Street Journal, September 23, 2008.

http://www.cscpa.org/Content/23402.aspx

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122039907716592937.html

I decided one day to write down more or less everything I did at work for an entire day. Here is literally a day in the life of a staff accountant at a small accounting firm:

• 7:30 am: Check email, enter yesterday’s time into billing system
• 8:00: Print draft of compiled financial statements for client review
• 8:30: Update another draft compiled financial statement for client changes; extreme difficulty with formatting because of strange setup by former coworker
• 9:30: Restart laptop due to ever-increasing problems; downtime is killing my productivity
• 9:45: Look into inconsistency in prior year reviewed financial statements
• 9:50: Review for open items a tax return started by a former coworker; thought this would mean lots of time spent familiarizing myself with client and workpapers, but turns out return was never started
• 10: Watch Senior Accountant correct an error in one of my workpapers which prevented the cash flow statement of yet another set of compiled financial statements from totaling properly; yet another one of my stupid mistakes leads me to problems with a statement which has become the bane of my existence; I understand statements of cash flow, I just can’t ever get mine to work
• 10:30: Start again on audit with expectation I’ll be interrupted again on some random project
• 2:30: Still working on audit, with little interruption; no lunch today, too much to do; I hate audit planning, but it’s amusing to me that I’m completing the planning documentation when the audit is nearly complete
• 3:45: Take call from partner working from home; time to update draft financial statements that client urgently needs early tomorrow morning
• 4:00: Attacked by partner about a client I haven’t worked on in six months; return is due 9/15, client is out of town for a few days, then spends two days in town before traveling somewhere else until after the return’s due date
• 4:30: Receive tomorrow’s marching orders from Senior
• 4:32: Prepare PBC (provided by client) list for tax return that former coworker didn’t start; notice I’ve worked on six different clients so far today
• 4:50: Total my time by client to see if I can go home
• 5:00: Out the door

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121985665095476825.html

As you may have noticed, my posts for the past few months have had less to do with my life as an accountant than they did with the accounting industry. Sadly, this is due to a lack of work in my office. This slowdown happens every summer, but this year was particularly acute for a variety of reasons. Nevertheless, the last two weeks should allow me to bring the focus back to being an accountant. Currently, I am involved in an agreed-upon procedures engagement, two compilations, a review, and an audit (when it rains, it pours, as they say). In the next few days, I will begin to post on the various projects I’m currently assigned to.

A recent Tax Court decision regarding demutualized insurance companies has wide-ranging implications for holders of stock in the demutualized companies. While the IRS had held that stockholders had no basis in the stock they received when the insurer demutualized, the Tax Court disagreed. For details on the court’s decision, visit http://www.demutualization.biz. This resource was set up by Minnesota CPA Charles D. Ulrich, who has long argued the IRS was wrong.

Today’s Wall Street Journal Tax Report discusses the confusion caused by the alternative minimum tax (AMT) and the difficulty calculating it. As one who has prepared tax returns which include AMT, all I can say think is that this article is pointing out the painfully obvious.

Tom Herman’s article, entitled “How AMT Confuses Taxpayers,” can be found here.