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House Bill Prohibiting
Credit Scoring in Hiring Process Exempts CPAs
The MACPA Government Relations team, including the Legislative Advisory
Group and Association staff, secured an amendment to
House Bill 4887 on behalf of the CPA profession. The legislation
prohibits employers from using a credit score as a factor in employment
decisions. The amendment secured by the MACPA exempts CPAs, CPA firms and
those employed by licensed firms and individuals from the proposed measure.
In other words, CPAs would be allowed to use credit scores as a factor in
the hiring process. The measure passed along essentially party-line votes by
the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. It now meets an unknown
fate in the State Senate.
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New FASB Statement
Clarifies Insurance Contracts
The Financial Accounting Standards Board
(FASB) issued
FASB
Statement No. 163, Accounting for Financial Guarantee Insurance
Contracts. The new standard clarifies how FASB Statement No. 60, Accounting
and Reporting by Insurance Enterprises, applies to financial guarantee
insurance contracts issued by insurance enterprises, including the
recognition and measurement of premium revenue and claim liabilities. It
also requires expanded disclosures about financial guarantee insurance
contracts. The Statement is effective for financial statements issued for
fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2008, and all interim periods
within those fiscal years, except for disclosures about the insurance
enterprise’s risk-management activities. Disclosures about the insurance
enterprise’s risk-management activities are effective the first period
beginning after issuance of the Statement.
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National MAP Survey - AICPA and Texas Society
Seek Participants for Benchmarking
Survey
The Private Companies Practice Section of the AICPA and the Texas Society of
CPAs launched the fifth national Management of an Accounting Practice Survey
for 2008. Small- and medium-sized firms are invited to participate. The
survey can be accessed online at
map.pcps.org. When used as a management tool, local and regional CPA
firms can benchmark their management policies and financial results against
other firms. Survey respondents will answer questions on practices in key
performance indicators, such as billing rates, chargeability ratios and
compensation. All participants will receive a free summary report that
compares their firm’s results with national averages. More detailed reports
are available for purchase or free to PCPS members. The survey will close on
July 11 and results will be available in September 2008. For more
information, read the
press release.
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Provision in
Extenders Bill Would Equalize Taxpayer and Preparer Reporting Standards
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on May 21 that includes a
provision the accounting profession and the AICPA have supported that would
equalize the
tax return reporting standards for tax preparers and taxpayers. The
language is included in H.R. 6049, the Renewable Energy and Job Creation
Act of 2008, which is commonly known as the tax extenders bill.
AICPA President and CEO Barry Melancon said legislation is the only way to
correct a flawed law passed by Congress in May 2007 that raised the tax-return reporting standards for tax return preparers to a level higher than
that required of taxpayers.
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Sign up for a Chance at
Free Tuition
Visit the Michigan Education Trust
website to enter to
win a free semester of tuition for a student in your life. Michigan
residents, 18 years of age and older, can enter to win a one-semester
Michigan Education Trust Full Benefits contract through August 31, 2008. MET
will announce the winner of the random drawing during College Savings Month
in September. No purchase is necessary to win the MET contract and the
winner will have 60 days from notification to name a student beneficiary.
For more details, click
here.
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Keep Summer Fuel Costs
From Burning Your Budget
Memorial Day Weekend unofficially marks the start of summer, with hotter
days and family road trips following close behind. Because the costs of
cooling your home and filling up your car can add up, the Federal Trade
Commission offers tips to save you money. Saving Starts @ Home: The Insider
Story on Conserving Energy, available at
www.ftc.gov/energysavings, offers energy conservation tips to help
consumers save money in every room of the house. For example, for the attic,
the FTC explains the ABCs of insulation. Among other tips for the kitchen,
consumers find advice on using the newly redesigned EnergyGuide labels
available for all appliances. At
www.ftc.gov/savegas,
consumers can find tips for improving fuel efficiency from bumper to bumper
on a car. For example, in the trunk the FTC advises that an extra 100
pounds of weight can reduce fuel economy by up to 2 percent. Under the hood,
replacing clogged air filters can increase gas mileage up to 10 percent.
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