|
FASB Proposes Guidance on
Nonprofit Endowments
The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has issued a
proposed FASB Staff Position on the endowments of nonprofit
organizations that could impact how assets are recognized and how
donor-restricted funds are utilized.
 Return to Top
FASB Webcast on
Codification Scheduled for March 13
The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) will host a
webcast on the move to codification of U.S. GAAP. The webcast, available
at no charge, is scheduled for Thursday, March 13, 2008. Viewers will have
the opportunity to email questions to panelists during the event. The
Codification is an on-line research system that organizes by topic all
authoritative U.S. GAAP. The Codification is in the verification phase,
which means that it is not yet authoritative. During the verification phase,
constituents are encouraged to use and provide feedback on the Codification.
Return to Top
GASB Acts to Improve the
Reporting of Fund Balance Information
On Friday, February 29, the Governmental
Accounting Standards Board (GASB) issued an Exposure Draft of a
proposed GASB
Statement, Fund Balance Reporting and Governmental Fund Type
Definitions. The proposed Statement is intended to improve the usefulness of
information provided about fund balances by providing clearer, more
structured fund balance classifications, and by clarifying the definitions
of existing governmental fund types.
Return to Top
Board Proposes New
Auditing Standard: Engagement Quality Review
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
(PCAOB)
proposed a new auditing standard on engagement quality review and a
conforming amendment to the Board’s interim quality control requirements.
The proposed standard provides a firmer framework for an engagement quality
reviewer to objectively evaluate the significant judgments made by the
engagement team and the conclusions reached in forming the overall
conclusion on the engagement and in preparing the engagement report. The
proposed standard has a 75-day comment period, ending May 12, 2008.
Return to Top
Interest Rates Drop
for the Second Quarter of 2008
The IRS announced today that
interest rates will drop one percentage point for the quarter beginning
April 1, 2008. The interest rates announced today in
Revenue Ruling 2008-10 are computed from the federal short-term rate
based on daily compounding determined during January 2008.
Return to Top
Special Economic
Stimulus Letters Reach Mailboxes in March
More than 130 million American households will
begin receiving Internal Revenue Service letters this week reminding them to
file a 2007 tax return in order to receive a
2008 economic stimulus payment. The mailings by the IRS will continue
throughout the month. The informational notice, titled Economic Stimulus
Payment Notice, alerts people that they may be eligible for a one-time
stimulus payment of up to $600 ($1,200 married filing jointly) starting in
May. There also is a $300 per child payment for qualifying children younger
than 17.
Return to Top
IRS Changes Muni Bond VCAP
Program, Seeks Comments
Last Thursday, the Internal Revenue Service
announced updated procedures related to the
Tax Exempt Bond Voluntary Closing Agreement Program (TEB VCAP). The IRS
is also soliciting comments from the public on ways the program could be
refined and expanded.
Return to Top
10 Ways to Trim Your IT
Budget
There are a number of ways that organizations can cut their IT budgets
while causing a minimum amount of pain for themselves and their employees.
One way organizations can reduce the amount of money they spend on IT is by
putting off unnecessary upgrades of operating systems and productivity
applications.
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.
Return to Top
| 
.gif)
Return
to Top