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Granholm Signs
New Laws Expanding Rights of Deaf & Hard of Hearing
Under new state laws, employers, state and local governments, and businesses
providing a variety of services to the public are now obligated to provide
for effective communication for the deaf and hard of hearing. Such entities include public and private
schools and colleges; doctors' offices, hospitals and pharmacies; banks,
hotels, restaurants and theatres. Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed legislation
last week that requires the use of
qualified sign language interpreters who possess state or national
certification in all accommodations required under the Americans with
Disabilities Act of 1990, making the scope of Michigan's law comparable to
the federal law. Public Act 23 and Public Act 24 amend the Deaf Persons'
Interpreters Act (PA 204 of 1982), which limited the application of
interpreter standards to court and administrative hearings and was not
sufficiently clear on the standards. Reasonable notice is required if a
qualified interpreter is needed.
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Texas
Governor Signs CPA Mobility Bill
Eliminating unnecessary red tape for out-of-state
CPAs who practice in Texas,
House Bill 2144 was signed into law by Texas
Gov. Rick Perry on June 15. The law, which carried the support of the
27,000-member Texas Society of CPAs, requires out-of-state CPA firms to have
a Texas license to perform audits on Texas companies. For all other
services, CPAs with qualifications that are substantially equivalent to
those in Texas may practice in the state without notice or license.
Accordingly, the CPA becomes subject to Texas laws and rules, including the
jurisdiction of the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy. Texas is the
seventh state to ease restrictions on interstate CPA practice joining Ohio,
Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, Virginia and Tennessee.
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GASB
Proposes Standards for Reporting Government Derivatives; Defines Elements of
Financial Statements
In two separate
actions last week, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB)
proposed new standards for how state and local governments should report
their involvement in derivative instruments and issued a statement defining
the basic elements of state and local government financial statements.
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AICPA
Issues Statement on Standards for Valuation Services No. 1
On June 21, the AICPA released a
new valuation services standard, Statement on Standards for Valuation
Services No. 1 (SSVS No. 1) “Valuation of a Business, Business Ownership
Interest, Security, or Intangible Asset.” The standard provides guidelines
to CPAs for developing estimates of value and reporting on the results. It
applies to AICPA members who perform an engagement that estimates the value
of a business, business interest, security or intangible asset for numerous
purposes, including sales transactions, financing, taxation, financial
reporting, mergers and acquisitions, management and financial planning and
litigation. The effective date applies to engagements accepted on or after
January 1, 2008. A
copy of the standard has been posted to the AICPA web site.
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New “Life
Cycles” Help Tax-Exempt Organizations Comply with the Law
On June 28, the IRS launched four new "Life
Cycles" — web-based information tools — to help guide
tax-exempt organizations through the federal tax rules and requirements
that pertain to them. The new tools, patterned after existing life cycles
for public charities and private foundations, provide easy navigation
through the IRS Web site for:
• Social welfare organizations — under Internal Revenue Code section
501(c)(4).
• Labor organizations — 501(c)(5).
• Agricultural and horticultural organizations, such as farm bureaus —
501(c)(5).
• Trade associations and other business leagues — 501(c)(6).
Each life cycle provides a graphical snapshot of five stages organizations
typically go through during their existence: starting the organization;
applying for tax-exempt status; filing required returns and other documents;
maintaining compliance; and terminating the organization.
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SEC
Establishes Advisory Committee to Make U.S. Financial Reporting System More
User Friendly for Investors
Last Wednesday, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox
announced the establishment of an advisory committee that will examine the
U.S. financial reporting system with the goals of reducing unnecessary
complexity and making information more useful and understandable for
investors. The SEC Advisory Committee on
Improvements to Financial Reporting
will study the causes of complexity and offer recommendations to make
financial reports clearer and more beneficial to investors, reduce costs and
unnecessary burdens for preparers, and better utilize advances in technology
to enhance all aspects of financial reporting. One aspect the advisory
committee will focus on is how technology can help address accounting
complexity by making financial information more useful to a greater number
of investors.
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CFOs Pare Back
Expectations for Capital Spending, Hiring and Prices
American companies are forecasting single
digit percentage increases in capital spending, hiring, and the prices of
their products over the next 12 months, according to a recent
survey of
CFOs conducted by Financial Executives International and Baruch
College’s Zicklin School of Business. However, these expected increases are
trending downward from earlier forecasts. In the 2Q07 “CFO
Outlook Survey,” the weighted expected increases for the next year average
2.3 percent for capital spending, 4.1 percent for hiring, and 1.9 percent
for product prices. These anticipated increases are lower than the CFOs have
forecast in earlier quarterly surveys.
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SMB's Enthusiasm for Converged Communications Swells
A recent report from Access Markets International Partners indicates more small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs)
in the United States are turning to Internet Protocol (IP) communications as
the technology comes down in price and becomes easier to use. To read this article in its entirety
and learn much more about developments in technology, access
Technology and
Productivity Weekly, the MACPA's electronic technology newsletter for
industry professionals, sponsored by Information, Inc.
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