MFA Interior Header - Alerts and Insights

General Business


| More |
Posts in General Business

The Red Flag Rule: Up For Discussion Again … This Time by the SEC and CFTC

March 14, 2012
Michelle Mackey, MFA Cornerstone Consulting

The topic of “red flags” initially came about through the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003. The Red Flag Rule, adopted by the Federal Trade Commission in 2007, called for “creditors” to implement [...]

Read more   0 comment(s)

MA Privacy Compliance – Time’s Up!

March 7, 2012
Lisa Whittemore , MFA Cornerstone Consulting

I believe that over the past two years, we have effectively communicated to you the requirements of the MA Privacy Act through articles, blogs and in-person discussions. A brief reiteration for those who missed it: [...]

Read more   0 comment(s)

Independent Contractors or Employees? Rectifying Prior Misclassification of Workers under the IRS’ New Amnesty Program

January 26, 2012
Shannan G. Cuddy

The IRS recently introduced a new amnesty program entitled the Voluntary Classification Settlement Program (VCSP) that permits taxpayers to voluntarily reclassify workers as employees for federal employment tax purposes [...]

 

Read more   2 comment(s)

R&D Tax Credit Documentation is Critical

January 6, 2012
Erin Carmody

As I emphasized in an earlier post, the R&D Tax Credit represents an excellent opportunity for companies that make investments to improve their business, yet many remain unaware of the fact that they could qualify. When claiming the credit, however, it important to bear in mind that [...]

Read more   0 comment(s)

What Crowd Funding Legislation Reform Means for Entrepreneurs

November 23, 2011
Travis Drouin

Earlier this month, the House of Representatives passed several bills relating to small business financing, including the headline-making “Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act” (HR 2930), intended to ease decades-old regulations regarding crowd funding. [...]

Read more   1 comment(s)

Charities Must Notify Attorney General of Major Changes

November 2, 2011
Joyce Ripianzi

As funding dries up and some Massachusetts charities begin planning for a regrettable, but inevitable restructuring or cessation of operations, they need to bear in mind that [...]

Read more   0 comment(s)

What Makes a Great Audit Committee?

September 28, 2011
Christine Schneider

Your audit committee can serve as a powerful tool for your company, and its potential to do so is determined by the expertise of the individuals that comprise it. [...]

Read more   0 comment(s)

The 5 Principles of a SOC 2 Report

September 21, 2011
Matt Pettine, MFA Cornerstone Consulting

The new SOC (Service Organization Control) 2 reports provide information and assurance relating to a service provider’s non-financial control environment and are most commonly based upon a combination of one or more of the Trust Services Principles.

Read more   0 comment(s)

You Might Qualify for the R&D Tax Credit – Yes, You.

September 7, 2011
Erin Carmody

The U.S. government distributes billions of dollars in research and development (R&D) tax credits each year – but the money isn’t just for research labs. [...]

Read more   3 comment(s)

Liquidation Diligence and the Importance of Acting Quickly

August 10, 2011
Steve Jones

When the economy is down, bankruptcies are up. Consequently, as protection against the impending costs associated with this increased risk, lenders should be focusing their attention not only on the quality of collateral but also on just how [...]

Read more   0 comment(s)

Internal Controls Assessments: You Have Now Reached a Comfortable Cruising Altitude

July 27, 2011
Lisa Whittemore, MFA Cornerstone Consulting

When a business is first founded, the President has their hand in each and every business process. They make the widgets. They sell the widgets. They collect the cash for the widgets.

Read more   0 comment(s)

State Sales Tax Nexus Requirements – What Every Company Should be Considering

July 13, 2011
Shannan G. Cuddy

Businesses that sell products or services in interstate commerce, whether online, by catalog, over-the-phone or in-person, face challenging multi-state sales tax compliance issues.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Staying in Shape for Retirement

June 29, 2011
Jim Guarino

Everyone agrees that planning for retirement is important—so why do so many of us choose to avoid the issue year after year?

Read more   1 comment(s)

10 Steps to Prepare for a SOC Report Audit

June 6, 2011
Rob Busch, Michelle Mackey and Matthew Pettine

A Service Organization Control (SOC) report can help your company meet requests you receive from your clients on behalf of their auditors, gain a competitive edge, and benchmark against best practices. [...]

Read more   0 comment(s)

What You Need to Know About the Davis-Bacon Act and Employee Benefit Plans

May 11, 2011
Scott Tuxbury, New Wealth Advisors — Retirement Plan Advisory Practice

Many companies don’t feel they can competively bid on federally funded contracts because they cannot afford the increase in employee payroll [...]

Read more   1 comment(s)

Leveraging Controls for 3rd Party Assurance Reports

May 2, 2011
Joseph Landry

Have you been contemplating obtaining a service auditor’s report in order to meet the assurance needs of your customers and/or your customer’s auditors? [...]

Read more   0 comment(s)

Evolving State Tax Trends to Watch: “Economic Nexus" and the Growing Popularity of a Single Sales Factor Apportionment

April 13, 2011
Shannan Cuddy

In what has been called the worst economic crisis since the Depression, states are scrambling to make up for massive shortfalls in tax revenue. [...]

Read more   0 comment(s)

A Closer Look at the Benefits of the Refundable AMT Credit

April 6, 2011
Jim Guarino

For those of you who paid alternative minimum tax (AMT) more than three years ago, you may be entitled to some much-needed relief. [...]

Read more   0 comment(s)

Attention All Landlords - The IRS Intends to Scrutinize Your Rental Income More Closely

March 15, 2011
Jim Guarino

Back in 2008, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that over 50 percent of taxpayers (with rental real estate activity in the 2001 tax year) [...]

Read more   0 comment(s)

States Continue to Target Internet Retailers with "Amazon Nexus" Rule

March 2, 2011
Shannan Cuddy

Illinois recently joined Colorado, New York, North Carolina and Rhode Island in aggressively targeting out-of-state Internet retailers that utilize in-state [...]

Read more   0 comment(s)

Just Another Winter in New England... How to Account for a Building Collapse

February 9, 2011
Joyce Ripianzi and Mike Piessens

Close to 100 roofs have buckled and collapsed under the weight of heavy snow and ice in the past week, including the building of [...]

Read more   0 comment(s)

New 1099 Requirements Hit Landlords Hard

February 2, 2011
Jim Guarino

As MFA reported in April of 2010 (Get Your Paper Trail Ready; Expansion of 1099 Use Coming in 2012), the passage of the health care bill [...]

Read more   0 comment(s)

Checklist for the Sale of a Business

January 19, 2011
Travis Drouin

We received a lot of great feedback last month from my post Checklist for Newly Formed Entities – thank you all for the emails, tweets, etc. All of your feedback got me thinking though [...]

Read more   1 comment(s)

2011 Means Greater Transparency for 401(k) Plan Sponsors

January 12, 2011
Scott Tuxbury, New Wealth Advisors — Retirement Plan Advisory Practice

Back in July of 2010, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued revised disclosure rules for providers of services to 401(k) and other retirement [...]

Read more   0 comment(s)

Part 2: GAAP is GAAP - An Argument Against Separate Private Company GAAP

September 7, 2010
Travis Drouin

GAAP for private companies is a hot topic that can be looked at from varying perspectives. With that in mind, we offer this second entry of a two part blog series presenting both sides of the issue.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Get Your Paper Trail Ready; Expansion of 1099 Use Coming in 2012

June 29, 2010
Julie Viola

Interesting to note with all the attention that has been focused on the healthcare reform law, a minor change with a major impact is dodging the spotlight.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Deferring the Roth IRA Conversion Tax — A No-Brainer? Not So Fast!

June 22, 2010
Jeff Arsenault

In past MFA blogs on the subject of Roth IRA conversions, we’ve discussed how to determine if a Roth conversion makes sense for you; [...]

Read more   0 comment(s)

Don’t Ignore the HIRE Act: Tangible Tax Benefits Await Employers

June 15, 2010
Julie Viola

Through many of my conversations with CFOs, controllers and owners of mid-market and smaller companies, I’ve noticed a running theme that more emphasis should be placed on the tremendous opportunities afforded by the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act [...]

Read more   0 comment(s)

Financial Reform: Panacea or Paper Tiger?

June 8, 2010
Mike Piessens

On May 20, 2010, the Senate approved an extensive financial regulatory bill, while a similar bill had passed the House back in December.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Estate Planning Perks: Everyone in the “Speakeasy” Before it Closes

June 1, 2010
James Guarino

When tax revenues plummeted during the Great Depression, Congress needed a new source of revenue to avoid huge deficits.

Read more   0 comment(s)

More SOX Relief in the Works?

May 18, 2010
Michelle Mackey

The SOX debate continues…. As noted in a recent Compliance Week post, the Senate is gearing up to take on financial reform, and the SOX 404 regulation discussion is emerging again; this time though it’s being debated by Congress and not by the SEC.

Read more   0 comment(s)

CFOs Seeing Steps to Recovery… Are You?

May 4, 2010
Travis Drouin

One of the best things about my role as a certified public accountant in a vibrant economy such as Massachusetts is how I get to meet and work with companies of all sizes, across a broad range of industries.

Read more   0 comment(s)

IRS Provides Guidelines for Small Business Health Care Tax Credit

April 27, 2010
Julie Viola

An Accounting Today post pointed us to a link worth sharing: the IRS’ new informational pages on the small business health care tax credit.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Fair Share Contribution Audits - Did the Changes Impact Your Business?

April 13, 2010
Joyce Ripianzi

Employee Benefit Plans have become a greater area of concern for the Massachusetts Division of Unemployment Assistance, especially with regard to the “fair share contribution” (FSC) requirement of the Massachusetts Healthcare Reform Act.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Estate Planning Benefits of a Roth IRA

April 6, 2010
James Guarino

2010 certainly offers some new and interesting financial planning opportunities for high net-worth individuals.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Who’s Ready for IFRS? Anyone…Anyone…Hello?

March 23, 2010
Travis Drouin

If procrastination is an art, the Museum of Fine Arts should set aside a wing for IFRS.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Loss Carrybacks Extended to Five Years

March 16, 2010
Craig Eaton

Although there is some evidence that the credit market is loosening, it is clear that the harsh lending environment of the past two years has taken a toll on a wide range of businesses.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Arbitrage Strategy and Roth IRA Conversions

March 9, 2010
Carl Famiglietti

I would like to highlight an interesting perspective for those who hold within their IRA accounts unregistered securities or investments in limited partnerships such as private equity, venture capital and mezzanine: using an arbitrage strategy.

Read more   0 comment(s)

IRS to Consider Closer Look at FIN 48

February 23, 2010
Craig Eaton

More changes may be on the way for the now infamous FIN 48, the guidelines for reporting uncertain tax positions.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Roth IRAs: Divide and Conquer

February 16, 2010
Jeff Arsenault

As my MFA Partner Jim Guarino mentioned in a November 2009 blog post on Roth IRA conversions, starting this year all taxpayers — regardless of income levels — can now convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA.

Read more   0 comment(s)

IRS Changes Fees for Some Nonprofit Requests

February 9, 2010
Joyce Ripianzi

I wanted to bring to our readers’ attention changes to some fees for nonprofits, as the IRS updated amounts for various exempt organizations’ user fees.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Important Tax Information for Haiti Relief Donations

February 2, 2010
Joyce Ripianzi

We applaud any and all efforts to assist the recovery in Haiti, and the IRS is also doing its part to ease the burden on taxpayers and organizations that want to help.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Planning Around the Estate Tax Repeal in 2010

January 26, 2010
James Guarino

Here we are in late January, and we find ourselves between year-end tax planning and the actual filing period for most individuals.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Minimizing Risk With Internal Controls Audits

January 13, 2010
Will Andronico

A recent fraud case caught my attention as it brought to life the concern I expressed in a November post (Small companies may get SOX audit relief).

Read more   0 comment(s)

March Deadline for Massachusetts Privacy Law

January 5, 2010
Matt Pettine

One of the most significant tasks introduced in 2009 was presented by new guidelines under the Massachusetts Privacy Law, which requires a slew of changes to administrative and security processes.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Capturing Strategic Opportunities in a Reshaping Market

December 16, 2009
Carl Famiglietti

No doubt, American Businesses have seen one of the worst economic maelstroms in over 50 years.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Preparing for Uptick in Deal Flow with FAS 141R in Mind

December 8, 2009
Bill Duratti

We’re taking a close look at FAS 141R as it relates to M&A, especially in light of the traditional year-end wrap-up of deal flow and our upcoming webcast on FAS 141R this week.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Proposed Revamped Accounting Standard May be the Lease of Your Worries

December 1, 2009
Mike Piessens

The FASB and IASB have been involved in a joint project on leases, with the objective of creating a common standard on lease accounting to ensure that assets and liabilities from lease contracts are properly recognized in the balance sheet.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Small Companies May Get SOX Audit Relief

November 23, 2009
Will Andronico

On the heels of a study that points out the imbalance in proportionate costs for small companies to comply with SOX, Accounting Today reports that The House Financial Services Committee voted that small and midsized public companies should be exempt from Sarbanes-Oxley audit requirements.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Panel Yields Key Insight into Manufacturing Issues

November 18, 2009
Travis Drouin

I shared - and gained - valuable insight participating in a panel entitled “What keeps you up at night?  Solving strategic financing challenges for today’s lean manufacturers for the Greater Boston Manufacturing Partnership last week.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Do New Revenue Recognition Rules Smooth Out Life Science and Biotech Wrinkles?

October 30, 2009
Pam Sintros

Earlier this month we wrote about how the new revenue recognition rules are having an impact in the technology sector, but it doesn’t end there.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Obama Backs Down on Multinational Tax Law - For Now

October 21, 2009
Craig Eaton

Excellent write-up in the Wall Street Journal on the saga surrounding the tax code for multinational companies.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Revenue Recognition’s Real Life Impact

October 14, 2009
Michelle Kupka

We recently issued an alert about FASB’s new rules regarding “Revenue Arrangements with Multiple Deliverables” and “Applicability of AICPA Statement of Position 97-2 to Certain Arrangements That Contain Software Elements.”

Read more   0 comment(s)

Financial Literacy Emphasized by CPAs

September 17, 2009
James Guarino

Back in April, we highlighted Financial Literacy Month with the belief that a better understanding of finance will help people navigate this uncertain climate.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Changes on Horizon for Revenue Recognition on Multiple Element Arrangements

September 8, 2009
Mike Piessens

So you want to recognize revenue on your multiple element arrangement sooner?…Well, the FASB genie looks like it may actually grant that wish…but nothing comes for free…

Read more   0 comment(s)

New Delivery Option for MFA’s Business Insights!

September 3, 2009
Matthew Boyle

MFA’s Business Insights blog is growing in popularity, and we want to make the most of the insight and information we can share with you.

Read more   0 comment(s)

With Deadline for Massachusetts Privacy Law Looming, Security Lapses Continue

August 11, 2009
Matt Pettine

We’ve gone into detail in the past about the new Massachusetts Privacy Act that will take effect next year, and this Boston Business Journal story on data security breaches at Citigroup and Bank of America struck us as the deadline for compliance comes into sight.

Read more   0 comment(s)

View From the Top, With Insight from AICPA President and CEO Barry Melancon

August 6, 2009
Matthew Boyle

During MFA’s annual Education Week this summer, we were lucky enough to get some time with Barry Melancon, President and CEO of the AICPA.

Read more   0 comment(s)

IFRS Education is Still the First Step

July 16, 2009
Travis Drouin

Perhaps in response to slow adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) among private companies, a new “quick guide” has been issued that condenses the standards to 230 pages or less.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Upcoming Webinar on FASB Codification

June 22, 2009
Mike Piessens

FASB is coming up on the launch of its “codification” effort, as it streamlines rules into more of a single-source organization.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Deadline Looms for Massachusetts Privacy Law

June 16, 2009
Joyce Ripianzi

We’ve been keeping close track of the Massachusetts Privacy Law, with some recent comments specifically about the compliance work nonprofits will need to perform.

Read more   0 comment(s)

M&A Deal Structures and the Value of NOLs

June 9, 2009
Craig Eaton

Interesting focus lately on a couple of areas that relate to M&A in this environment; companies are getting more creative about deals and thereby run the risk of triggering tax issues that weren’t as prevalent in the bull market days.

Read more   0 comment(s)

New IASB Guidance on Fair Value

June 2, 2009
Travis Drouin

The International Accounting Standards Board made another attempt to bring order to the global uncertainty around fair value.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Multinational Tax Rules to Bring Revenue Home

May 26, 2009
Rosanna DiFilippo

Interesting red flag thrown up by CFO magazine in its recent article on the new administration’s multinational tax plan.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Laser Focus on Credit Risk for Lenders

May 12, 2009
Carl Famiglietti

In the wake of the highly publicized stress tests on U.S. banks, there is no shortage of commentary on concerns about credit and the environment in which banks and borrowers are operating today.

Read more   0 comment(s)

FIN 48, A Challenge for Nonprofits

May 5, 2009
Joyce Ripianzi

Nonprofits should be ready to adjust this year to new guidelines around FIN 48, a regulation that calls for improved disclosure of uncertain tax positions.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Thoughts on the Future of Multinational Tax Policy

April 22, 2009
Rosanna DiFilippo

An interesting look ahead, flagged for us by our peers at TaxProf Blog: Mihir A. Desai (Harvard Business School) has posted a new paper on evolving tax policy for companies operating overseas.

Read more   0 comment(s)

May 15 Deadline for MA Life Science Tax Incentive Applications

April 7, 2009
Rosanna DiFilippo

A reminder that May is fast approaching, and with it comes the deadline for companies to apply to be considered for the Massachusetts Life Sciences Tax Incentive Program.

Read more   0 comment(s)

April is Financial Literacy Month

April 2, 2009
James Guarino

April is National Financial Literacy Month, bringing into focus the major concern we have in this country around understanding finance.

Read more   0 comment(s)

A Return to Basics: The Customer Focus

March 25, 2009
Travis Drouin

There’s nothing like a recession and economic crisis to get us all thinking about costs, efficiencies and productivity.

Read more   0 comment(s)

FASB Staff Positions Focus on Fair Value

March 24, 2009
Will Andronico

As noted on the FEI blog, FASB is taking more steps towards addressing fair value.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Form 990 for Nonprofits: It’s No Longer a Draft

March 17, 2009
Joyce Ripianzi

The IRS gave it’s official blessing to the new form 990 that is required filing for nonprofits.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Proper Tax Planning Will Tap Opportunities for Many Taxpayers in 2009 and 2010

March 11, 2009
James Guarino

The recent passage of the Stimulus Package (American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009) creates a wealth of tax planning opportunities for 2009 and 2010.

Read more   0 comment(s)

More Push-Back on IFRS

March 4, 2009
Travis Drouin

No surprise to see that the saga around IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) lives on.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Massachusetts Delays Compliance to New Privacy Standards

February 24, 2009
Richard Pacheco

In November of last year we called attention to pending changes to the privacy law in Massachusetts that protects state residents’ personal information, and we’ve also just come out with a Perspectives article that details the steps to compliance.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Aligning Stock Option Valuation with the Market

February 10, 2009
Bill Duratti

As we continue to adapt to the downturn, there are a number of factors around the valuation of companies that are coming into play and, in the end, motivating leaders to re-value options.

Read more   0 comment(s)

SEC Says No SOX Delays for Small Companies, But Extends SOX Survey Deadline

January 29, 2009
Peet Rapp

Last week, new SEC head Mary Schapiro made it clear that small companies will have to comply with SOX.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Fair Value Tug-of-War Continues

January 26, 2009
Will Andronico

The question of whether fair value is, well, “fair” could be sorted out sometime soon, although the priority placed on addressing the issue remains in question.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Disaster Prevention During Winter in New England!

January 14, 2009
Peet Rapp

December’s ice storm caused major power outages in communities in the north central MA, southern NH and ME areas.

Read more   0 comment(s)

See You Next Year...

December 24, 2008
Carl Famiglietti

We at MFA wish you all the best in the Holiday season, and we look forward to resuming our blog entries in 2009.

Happy Holidays!

Read more   0 comment(s)

XBRL Is In The Books

December 18, 2008
Travis Drouin

The SEC voted yesterday to make XBRL the official standard for communicating business and financial information.  As XBRL Blog Magazine reports, the mandate comes out of a roundtable held by the SEC, and might require compliance for companies reporting as early as June 2009.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Mark-To-Market Here To Stay?

December 10, 2008
Travis Drouin

The SEC’s study of mark-to-market accounting is winding down, and Compliance Week’s Tammy Whitehouse published some interesting insight into the initial comments made by SEC Chariman Christopher Cox.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Goodwill Impairment Top of Mind For Year-End

December 3, 2008
Bill Duratti

As we head for the New Year, identifying goodwill impairment is fast becoming a crucial activity for year-end filers and, indeed, for public and private companies at all stages of reporting.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Massachusetts Privacy Law Calls for Tighter Information Security

November 25, 2008
Peet Rapp

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts enacted a law in September protecting state citizens’ personal information.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Where Does Corporate Investment Policy Rank For You?

November 19, 2008
Travis Drouin

Despite the current economic environment, many companies still have healthy balance sheets and cash reserves to manage.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Change is Coming: A New President with New Tax Plans

November 12, 2008
Craig Eaton

As I sat late Tuesday evening on November 4th watching the President Elect, Barack Obama, deliver his victory speech, a reality became apparent that the Bush administration is actually approaching its close and a new administration will be entering Washington.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Sarbanes Oxley Compliance: Small Publics Enter the Fray

November 5, 2008
Peet Rapp

After 5 successive years of delays, fiscal year 2009 will mostly likely be the year of reckoning for non-accelerated filers.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Bailout Goes Beyond Banks: Benefits For Taxpayers

October 29, 2008
Craig Eaton

At this point, everyone has heard of the new Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (EESA), more commonly known as the “Bailout Plan.”

Read more   0 comment(s)

Before You Cut, Collect

October 22, 2008
Travis Drouin

We have said before that despite the difficult market environment, “hunkering down” may invite even more trouble.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Fraud, Front and Center

October 16, 2008
Richard Pacheco

Big news from Duane Reade, as the drug store chain is facing fraud charges that allegedly account for a $17.5 million overstatement of pre-tax income. Interesting, but more important are the fraud cases that we are not seeing publicized.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Liquidity and The Capital Markets

October 6, 2008
Travis Drouin

On Tuesday, September 23rd, the Financial Management Association of New Hampshire (”FMA of NH”) hosted its first event entitled “Preparing for a Successful Liquidity Event in Today’s Volatile Markets“.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Navigating the Turbulent Business Climate

September 22, 2008
Carl Famiglietti

The volatility on Wall Street last week was another in a long line of events that is making for an historically unstable economic environment.

Read more   0 comment(s)

FAS 141R: Will Revised M&A Accounting Standards Kill Deals?

September 17, 2008
Bill Duratti

New M&A guidelines under FAS 141R are taking effect in 2009, and there’s been some talk about how it might impact the deal process.

Read more   0 comment(s)

IFRS To Be a Reality?!

September 3, 2008
Travis Drouin

Well, it looks like we may be on our way.  After years of false starts and conjecture about U.S. adoption of - or complete convergence with - International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), the SEC issued a press release on August 27th entitled “SEC Proposes Roadmap Toward Global Accounting Standards to Help Investors Compare Financial Information More Easily."

Read more   0 comment(s)

Simplifying Revenue Recognition

August 27, 2008
Travis Drouin

I’ve heard some describe the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as the accountant’s version of the full employment act.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Fraud Prevention Guidelines - Staying Alert on Your Home Turf

August 20, 2008
Richard Pacheco

New guidelines on fraud prevention tactics were issued this summer in a joint effort by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the AICPA, and the Institute of Internal Auditors.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Keeping an Eye on Massachusetts Tax Reform

August 13, 2008
Doug Sweazey

This summer marked the passage of some noteworthy tax reform in Massachusetts that will be on our minds as year-end strategies start to take shape.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Discussion Heats Up On IFRS

August 6, 2008
Travis Drouin

A June forum on International Financial Reporting Standards (”IFRS”) held in New York saw some urgency around getting the United States aligned on timing and action steps for making a transition to IFRS.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Getting Ready For XBRL

July 30, 2008
Travis Drouin

If you haven’t heard of XBRL before, don’t worry, many others haven’t either.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Transparency in Business

July 21, 2008
Travis Drouin

My inaugural blog for MFA has me thinking about transparency in business.

Read more   0 comment(s)

New York’s Battle Over Ecommerce Sales Tax

July 15, 2008
Rosanna DiFilippo

The world of e-commerce sales tax has been active of late, complete with high profile legislation that could in the end impact the way sales tax is applied to online retailers across the country.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Q&A on Economic Stimulus Act

July 8, 2008
Doug Sweazey

The federal government’s Economic Stimulus Act is best known for its individual rebates, but there are components that are designed to jumpstart business spending as well.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Q&A On Ecommerce Sales Tax

June 23, 2008
Rosanna DiFilippo

Even without the recent headlines regarding Amazon’s lawsuit against New York, eCommerce Sales Tax has become a pressing issue for companies that sell online.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Transfer Pricing and Cross-border Business

June 16, 2008
Rosanna DiFilippo

Business is global – and so are taxes. Companies that are connected by common control and share resources across borders need to ensure they address transfer pricing when goods or services change hands.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Opening the Conversation

June 9, 2008
Carl Famiglietti

For decades, we have made it our business to connect with our clients and our community.

Read more   0 comment(s)

Tags
XBRL GAAP Nonprofit Audit Audit Commitee GAAS Service Organization Control Report SOC SOC 1 SOC 2 SSAE 16 R&D Tax Credit investment investment environment Form 990 990-EZ 990-T Tax-Exempt Information Tax Roth IRA 401(k) Internal Controls widgets Nexus State Sales Tax Multi-state sales tax Goodwill Impairment SAS70 reporting ERISA Davis-Bacon Act Department of Labor SALT single sales factor SAS 70 SOC Reports IRS Real Estate eCommerce Sales Tax Dodd-Frank Act SEC Financial Reporting 1099 Health Care Reform Act Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Small Business Jobs and Credit Act Exit Planning Due Diligence Pension Protection Act of 2006 Employee Stock Purchase Plan ESPP Form 3921 Form 3922 ISOs Section 6039 409A business advisory business faqs fair market value newly formed entities Employee Retirement Income Security Act Fiduciary Responsibilities ISAE 3402 AICPA Blue-Ribbon Panel FAF NASBA Bush-era tax cuts capital gains tax child tax credit gift tax tax rate FASB IASB Topic 840 Mary Shapiro proxy voting system public company Healthcare Reform Act HIRE Act IFRS private companies public companies clawback provisions revenue recognition FAS 157 Topic 820 M&A acquisitions Tax Credits Payroll Tax Estate Tax SOX 404(a) 404(b) internal controls CFOs economy Health Care Tax Credit audit fair share contribution Massachusetts Health Care Reform Estate Planning Loss Carrybacks arbitrage strategy FIN 48 uncertain tax positions nonprofit Haiti Relief Donations Qualified Disaster Relief fraud prevention Massachusetts Privacy Law 201 CMR WISP fair value valuation FAS 141R leases accounting standards ASC 840 manufacturing life sciences biotech Multinational Tax technology finance wealth management Fair Value reporting standards codification NOLs credit credit risk banks lenders due diligence loans nonprofits Tax Incentive Life Sciences American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act Economic Stimulus stock options Reporting Standards Valuation Economy Public Companies Fraud Prevention IPO Transfer Pricing Vaulation 141R Revenue Recognition eCommerce Sales Tax Stock Options