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Perspectives


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In our Perspectives Series, we write original articles on current developments, post them on our website, and distribute them at no charge to clients.  In this way, we can share our expertise and highlight new issues for forward thinking businesses.

Perspectives
Cleantech Perpective

A Look at the Cleantech Industry - March 2011

In this Perspective, we discuss four topics of current interest to both growing and established cleantech companies: 1603 update, clean energy investment, valuing and leasing solar energy, and investor interest.

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SOCreportsperspective

AICPA Service Organization Control (SOC) Reports - March 2011

The increasing popularity of companies outsourcing business processes  to service organizations, in particular, cloud-computing providers, Internet retailers and health care claims processors, has given rise to heightened concerns surrounding [...]

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Mapping the Road to a New Tax Regime

Mapping the Road to A New Tax Regime - August 2010

Benjamin Franklin once famously quipped that nothing can be said to be certain in this world except for death and taxes.  Though both will come, the how and the when remain a mystery, and in 2010 that is a particularly relevant observation.  A number of new taxes have [...]

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Strategic Acquisitions

Time To Shine: Three Crucial Questions About Strategic Acquisitions - June 2010

Much has been made of the anemic mergers and acquisitions market over the past two years as economic turmoil and tightening of available credit slowed transactions to a snail’s pace.  Profitable deals were [...]

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Preparing for an Exit

Preparing For An Exit - May 2010

As the U.S. emerges from the recession that has plagued the economy during the past 18 months, private equity firms that have been entrenched in their investments are beginning to evaluate exit options in the hopes of earning what is now a long overdue return on their investments. However, there is still a lot of [...]

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Consolidating Variable Interest Entities

Consolidating Variable Interest Entities - Six Steps to Prepare for the New Rules - October 2009

"Variable Interest Entity" is a term that often signals difficult work to come for accountants. Historically, FASB Interpretation No. (FIN) 46R, Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities, dictated a myriad of quantitative and formula driven criteria under which to evaluate [...]

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SAS 70 Report

Obtaining a SAS 70 Report - June 2009

A trend that continues to grow in popularity is the outsourcing of key business processes to service organizations that have aggregated specialized resources and are able to maximize service delivery through a cost structure and economies of scale that often cannot [...]

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 Employee Benefit Plan

Employee Benefit Plan Sponsors and Service Providers - Are You Ready for FAS 157? - April 2009

Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 157,  Fair Value Measurements  (FAS 157), establishes a framework for measuring fair value under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), clarifies [...]

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MA Privacy

The New Massachusetts Standards for the Protection of Personal Information - February 2009

In the wake of security breaches at such high profile companies as TJX and Hannaford Supermarkets, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts enacted a law (201 CMR 17.00) designed to protect state citizens’ personal [...]

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Giving Stock Options A Second Look

Giving Stock Options A Second Look: The Benefits of New Grants at Low Values - February 2009

A confluence of downward trending economic and business events, including the continued decline in stock values during the latter part of 2008 and early 2009, is leading companies toreshape their [...]

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Fraud Prevention

The Four Pillars of Fraud Prevention - How Leaders Can Safeguard Their Organization - October 2008

Fraud is a business epidemic that continues to thrive despite the focus on internal controls made popular by SarbanesOxley.  But company leaders who believe that only large public corporations suffer the setbacks [...]

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Smart Valuation for Smart M&A

Why New M & A Accounting Standards Won't Hurt Your Deal - September 2008

Recent changes to Mergers and Acquisitions accounting has given rise to new questions, confusion, and sometimes even hesitation over completing a deal. Requirements under FAS141R are behind it all [...]

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Towards IFRS

Three Steps Financial Executives Should Take Towards IFRS - August 2008

As if technology and the U.S. economic struggles haven’t made for enough of a roller coaster for international business in the past few years, globalization is really just getting started. More change is to come, and the [...]

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SAS 70 Introduction

Introduction to SAS 70 - June 2008

A SAS 70 Report is designed to provide information and assurance about controls within a service organization to user organizations (customers) and their auditors. The services are conducted in accordance with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants [...]

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E-Commerce Sales Tax

Four Questions Online Sellers Need to Ask About Ecommerce Sales Tax - May 2008

Over the course of two decades, online sales went from fad to fortune to bust, and have now settled in as part of everyday business for a wide variety of small to [...]

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