December 5, 2006

Newsletter Archives

Unsubscribe

MSCPA Home

> MSCPA Small Firm Networking Roundtables Register today for the very successful MSCPA Small Firm Networking Roundtables! Ideas and every day issues are shared and openly discussed among the participants. Registration is filling quickly for these great events--January 12 in St. Louis and May 9 in Kansas City! http://www.mocpa.org/Content/21056.aspx. > Mark your Calendar for 2007 CPA Day in Jefferson City! Every year, hundreds of CPAs gather in Jefferson City for the annual CPA Day. This is the profession's most visible opportunity to provide a collective voice to Missouri's legislators. Plan now to attend the new evening reception with the legislators, as well as the follow up meetings the next day--January 23-24. http://www.mocpa.org/Content/GovernmentAdvocacy.aspx > Is Your Firm Enrolled In The Peer Review Program? It May In 2008...Are You Ready? Effective January 1, 2008, any public accounting firm that engages to perform a single compilation will be required to comply with the peer review requirements. http://www.mocpa.org/Content/22187.aspx > Check Out the Results of the 2006 PCPS/TSCPA National MAP Survey Nearly 2,000 U.S. accounting firms responded to the 2006 PCPS/TSCPA National Management of an Accounting Practice (MAP) Survey, and Missouri Society of CPAs members can access the results for free.  Thank you to all who participated! http://www.mocpa.org/content/files/pdfs/mapsurvey.pdf > Volunteer To Help An Aspiring CPA! Public Practice CPAs Are Needed For the LEAP Job Shadowing Program National Groundhog Job Shadow Day is a nationwide initiative dedicated to giving students a unique opportunity to "shadow" a workplace mentor as he or she goes through a normal day on the job, getting an up-close look at how the skills learned in school translate into real life work experiences. On February 2, 2007, the Missouri Society of CPAs will mobilize member firms and businesses to open their doors to students. Nationwide, more than one million students and 100,000 businesses participate. http://www.mocpa.org/Content/22277.aspx > Survey Says: E-Filing Not Without New Costs As reported by AccountingWeb , with the first year of mandatory tax return filing complete, a survey shows what the accounting industry suspected--affected companies had to make some investments to comply with the new IRS mandate. http://www.accountingweb.com/cgi-bin/item. cgi?id=102859&d=815&h=817&f=816&dateformat=%B%20%e,%20%Y > GASB Requires Governments to Come Clean on Pollution Remediation Costs Reflecting its intention to ensure that costs and liabilities not specifically addressed by current governmental accounting standards are included in financial reports, the GASB today issued a standard that will require state and local governments to provide the public with better information about the financial impact of environmental cleanups. http://www.gasb.org/news/nr120106.html > Young Accountants: Firms Flunk Compensation Young accounting professionals with four to seven years of work experience under their belts said their accounting firm employers fail to deliver on a wide range of key retention attributes, from technology to culture--but especially compensation. http://accounting.smartpros.com/x55625.xml > Treasury and IRS Issue Notice On Reporting And Withholding For Amounts Includible In Gross Income Under Code Section 409A Last week, the Treasury and the IRS issued Notice 2006-100 providing guidance to employers and payers on their reporting and wage withholding requirements for calendar years 2005 and 2006 with respect to deferrals of compensation and amounts includible in gross income under IRC § 409A and relief from reporting deferrals that are not includible in income during those years. The notice supersedes Notice 2005-94. http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=164598,00.html > New Guidelines for Payroll Deduction Contributions to Charities The Internal Revenue Service announced new guidelines for taxpayers to follow to substantiate donations to charities that were made by payroll deductions. http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=164630,00.html >Group: Sarbanes-Oxley Needs To Loosen Up A group of prominent business executives and academics issued a call last week for government regulators to ease up on the enforcement of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The group, dubbed the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, asserts that some elements of the stringent law, which was passed in the wake of accounting meltdowns at Enron and WorldCom, have threatened the USA's leadership position in the global capital markets. http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2006-11-29-sarbox-usat_x.htm ____________________________________________________________ Sponsored By: Information, Inc. Information Inc.'s handcrafted business intelligence services provide up-to-the-minute information on critical issues. Decision-makers in more than 2,000 major corporations, associations and government agencies worldwide have relied on our comprehensive news services for the past 22 years. To learn how our timely, targeted, custom services can help you compete in the 21st century, go to: http://www.infoinc.com/s tatecpa/contact.html Technology & Productivity Weekly is a membership benefit and is intended for your personal use only. This Week's Headlines In Pursuit of the 'Less-Paper' Office Tech Questions Small Businesses Should Ask Smartphones Are Gaining Ground Virtualization: SMBs Go All the Way Does Your SME Have a Remote Access Strategy? Getting New Reps Up to Speed With CRM VoIP Without the Computer Studies Find Companies Failing to Secure Data on Laptops, PDAs Don't Trash Your Family's Identity; Shred It Away Boosting Business Intelligence With CRM E-Discovery Amendments: Save Your Old Voice Mail

CPE 2006 For CPAs in Public Practice Please note: All courses listed are 8 CPE hours unless otherwise noted. Seminars: Analyzing Your Company's Financial Statement (Winter Cluster) December 12, 2006-- St. Louis, MO 4 CPE Credit Hours Cash & Tax Basis Financial Statements--Alternatives to GAAP & Reporting Requirements (Winter Cluster) December 12, 2006-- St. Louis, MO 4 CPE Credit Hours Cash Flow Statements: Preparation & Presentation Options (Winter Cluster) December 12, 2006-- St. Louis, MO 4 CPE Credit Hours Financial Forecasting: Planning For Success (Winter Cluster) December 12, 2006-- St. Louis, MO 4 CPE Credit Hours Hottest Tax Developments for 2006 (Winter Cluster) December 12, 2006-- St. Louis, MO 4 CPE Credit Hours Real World Business Ethics: A Case Study Approach (Winter Cluster) December 12, 2006-- St. Louis, MO 4 CPE Credit Hours S Corporations: Strategies from Formation to Termination (Winter Cluster) December 12, 2006-- St. Louis, MO 4 CPE Credit Hours Accounting for Deferred Income Taxes (SFAS No. 109) (Winter Cluster) December 13, 2006-- St. Louis, MO 4 CPE Credit Hours Advanced Issues in the Purchase & Sale of Closely-Held Businesses (Winter Cluster) December 13, 2006-- St. Louis, MO 4 CPE Credit Hours Controller's Update: Latest Trends for Today's Financial Manager (Winter Cluster) December 13, 2006-- St. Louis, MO 4 CPE Credit Hours Efficient Small Business Audits (Winter Cluster) December 13, 2006-- St. Louis, MO 4 CPE Credit Hours Key Issues for Compilation & Review Engagements (Winter Cluster) December 13, 2006-- St. Louis, MO 4 CPE Credit Hours Planning & Budgeting: Mapping the Company's Future (Winter Cluster) December 13, 2006-- St. Louis, MO 4 CPE Credit Hours Reporting & Disclosure for Small Businesses: Problems & Solutions (Winter Cluster) December 13, 2006-- St. Louis, MO 4 CPE Credit Hours Taxation of LLCs, LLPs, LPs & Other Partnerships (Winter Cluster) December 13, 2006-- St. Louis, MO 4 CPE Credit Hours The Identity Theft Epidemic:  What You Need to Know to Protect Your Employees, Your Clients and Yourself December 14, 2006--Kansas City, MO 2 CPE Credit Hours Cash & Tax Basis Financial Statement--Preparing & Reporting December 18, 2006--Kansas City, MO Small Business Retirement Plan Review: New Roth 401(k)s, KEOGHs, Traditional 401(k)s, IRAs, SEPs, & SIMPLEs (SBRP-K) December 18, 2006--St. Louis, MO How to Explain & Present Financial Information to Non-Accountants December 18, 2006--Cape Girardeau December 19, 2006--St. Louis, MO Auditor's Risk Assessment Process: Tackling the New Risk Assessment SASs December 19, 2006--Kansas City, MO Surgent McCoy's Gold Mine of Great Tax Strategies for the Real Estate Investor December 19, 2006--St. Louis, MO The Leadership Secrets of Football's Master Coaches December 20, 2006--St. Louis, MO Current Ethics Issues for CPAs December 20, 2006--Overland Park, KS 2 CPE Credit Hours How to Conduct a Review under the AICPA Practice-Monitoring Program December 27-28, 2006--Springfield, MO 16 CPE Credit Hours __________________________________ Technology Tip of the Week Provided by the MSCPA Information Technology Committee Insert A Picture (Company Logo) In The Header In Microsoft Excel 2002 XP 1. From File menu choose Page setup. 2. Select the Header/Footer tab. 3. Click Custom Header. 4. Select Left area. 5. Click the Picture icon (second from right). In the Insert Picture dialog box, search for and select the logo or picture you want to add. 6. Click Insert, Click OK. More... To view recently archived issues of "Technology Tip of the Week," go to: http://www.mocpa.org/Content/22269.aspx __________________________________ ______________________________ Contact Us For comments or questions, contact: Dawn Martin - dmartin@mocpa.org To view online: http://www.mocpa.org/Content/files/ newsletters/news120506.html For technical assistance, contact: Christy Aven -caven@mocpa.org To update your e-mail address: Please include your old e-mail address, new e-mail address and MSCPA member ID (if known) and send it to member@mocpa.org. Please note: This newsletter may contain commercial material. Missouri Society of CPAs 540 Maryville Centre Drive, Suite 200 St. Louis, MO 63141 Ó 2006 Missouri Society of Certified Public Accountants - All Rights Reserved