Rick Telberg 's Insider: 'Tis the Season to Go Electronic
Feb. 12, 2001 (SmartPros) -- With the nation's top tax prep companies going electronic, the days of sharp distinctions between what's online and offline, virtual and real, digital and paper-based may be coming to a close. Convergence is coming.

CPAs Beware: Dot-Coms Don't Know What They Don't Know
Nov. 30, 2000 (SmartPros) -- More and more tax and accounting professionals are finding that getting their piece of the so-called New Economy riches isn't that much different from winning in the Old Economy.

Industrial Age Accounting Fails the Information Age
Nov. 21, 2000 (SmartPros) -- Today's accounting model is woefully out of date, and reform can't wait. What are accountants going to do about it? The marketplace is making demands that cannot be ignored.

AICPA Cognitor Concept Divides the Profession
Oct. 28, 2000 (SmartPros) -- The debate at the Fall Council meeting of the American Institute of CPAs over the creation of the so-called Cognitor cuts to the heart of the accounting profession and has left many CPAs and non-CPA accountants reeling, divided, angry and confused.

Council Meeting Could Test AICPA Leadership
Oct. 19, 2000 (SmartPros) -- Those expecting major breakthroughs at the upcoming Council meeting of the American Institute of CPAs may be disappointed.

Battle for Mid-Market Accounting Software Heats Up
Oct. 12, 2000 (SmartPros) -- Old-line players in business and accounting software for mid-sized companies are struggling to muscle up as a new breed of competitor looms on the sidelines.

Tax Professionals Decide: Make the Net a Threat or Opportunity
Sept. 25, 2000 (SmartPros) -- As tax season approaches, tax professionals are being faced more than ever with a decision about the Internet: Is it a threat or an opportunity?

Tax Simplification? Hah! It's All Politics As Usual
Sept. 12, 2000 (SmartPros) -- IRS ombudsman Val Oveson delivers some straight talk tax practitioners need to hear: Paranoia in Washington, inertia at the IRS, the inevitability of e-filing, and a radical plan for overhauling depreciation rules.

Andersen Family Feud Teaches Painful Lessons
Aug. 9, 2000 (SmartPros) -- Joe Forehand was exultant as he brandished Andersen Consulting's arbitration victory over Arthur Andersen. "They'll be celebrating in the streets of 48 countries tonight," he said.

What We Think We Know About You
Aug. 3, 2000 (SmartPros) -- If you are reading this, you are mostly likely an American male in your late 30s, a CPA working in a local accounting firm. And you are reading this while working at your office.

Levitt Tries Writing History on the Backs of the Big Five
Aug. 2, 2000 (SmartPros) -- Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt appears to be attempting to undo almost two decades of regulatory complacence by taking an implacable line on auditor independence. Clearly fed up with three years of arrogance and foot-dragging by the Big Five accounting firms, Levitt is seeking to rent asunder auditing from consulting.

Good Accounting Isn't Rocket Science. Or Is It?
July 28, 2000 (SmartPros) -- Don't let anyone ever tell you that accounting mistakes don't matter, that paper losses aren't real, that paper profits are, or that sound accounting principles don't matter. Accounting matters. And good accounting makes a difference.

The 'Death Tax' Won't Die; Expect Instead a Political Maneuver
July 26, 2000 (SmartPros) -- Like so much about the United States tax code, the estate tax may be beyond repair. But few except posturing politicians expect it to happen anytime soon.

Deloitte Battles for Staff with Pseudo Stock Options
July 21, 2000 (SmartPros) -- Deloitte & Touche is earmarking $70 million this year and up to a $250 million over the next few years in stock option-like bonuses to battle staff turnover at the firm.

Bar Association Spurns Multi-Disciplinary Practices
July 19, 2000 (SmartPros) -- By a 3-to-1 margin, the ruling legislature of the American Bar Association last week reaffirmed its strong stance against multidisciplinary practice.

CPA Firms Lead the Way as Business Incubators
July 12, 2000 (SmartPros) -- Business incubators, those hothouses of entrepreneurial fervor and investment, have been springing up across the nation. But they're nothing new to many accountants.

Information Age Hazard: A Little Bit of Knowledge in a Non-Accountant's Hands
July 10, 2000 (SmartPros) -- Computers and the Internet are arming clients with more information than may be good for them.

Accountants Find New Opportunities in Small Business
July 6, 2000 (SmartPros) -- Accountants are, by nature, problem solvers. But those who can also spot new opportunities for clients, especially in the small business market, are finding a bonanza of new opportunities.

Accounting Education Gets Blamed for Failing to Stem the Profession's Brain Drain
July 3, 2000 (SmartPros) -- Some college accounting professors appear to be poised to recommend that accounting education and recruitment begin in high schools. While none of the supporters of the idea asserts that it's the only remedy for the profession's brain drain, it has stirred some passion and debate.

Levitt Appeals to Traditional CPA Values in New Auditor Rules
June 30, 2000 (SmartPros) -- The proposed independence rules from the Securities and Exchange Commission are less radical than the Big Five might have you believe.

Software Companies Want Your Accounting Data on The Web
June 27, 2000 (SmartPros) -- With the heavyweights moving into the remotely hosted software business, it's only a matter of time before it takes hold. And the time is fast approaching.

Accountants Blaze the Trail in a Networked World
June 26, 2000 (SmartPros) -- Gather a few top accountants around a table and let them talk.

It Would Have Taken Only One Good Accountant to Blow the Whistle at CUC
June 23, 2000 (SmartPros) -- The biggest and longest-running accounting scandal in history may have started and gone undetected for more than 14 years because the accountants thought that it was their job to cook the books.
CPAs Get a Reminder on How to Be an Auditor
June 22, 2000 (SmartPros) -- Few accountants are even vaguely aware that the Public Oversight Board exists. If you haven't heard much about it, don't be embarrassed. The POB has never done much of note.

Who Cares About Accounting Standards? Ask the Europeans
June 21, 2000 (SmartPros) -- It may seem far away, but the European Commission has unveiled an ambitious plan to mandate that companies throughout Europe follow a common set of accounting standards.

Political Battle Between Lawyers and CPAs Exposes Secrets of the UAA
June 20, 2000 (SmartPros) -- In the national battle to get the Uniform Accountancy passed in all 54 jurisdictions, New York state had been looking as if it would become an important and bloody battleground. But a colossal misstep by the Big Five over the issue of combining law and accountancy practices has set back the UAA juggernaut.

SEC Blinks; Big 5 Walk on Independence
June 19, 2000 (SmartPros) -- So the Big Five have agreed to report past violations of independence rules in exchange for amnesty from the Securities and Exchange Commission. It is, essentially, a plea bargain.

Death Knell or Opportunity? You Decide
June 16, 2000 (SmartPros) -- The relationship between the practicing professional and the client is being redefined by the technologies of the information age. No longer is the bond built solely on professional services rendered. The name of the game is information. And the client can get it anytime, anywhere, from almost anyone. The respected professional may no longer be the client's first choice.
Fads or Trends? Choose Right and Choose Success
June 15, 2000 (SmartPros) -- Distinguishing between passing fads and lasting trends can spell the difference between life and death in this business. Dan Sautner has spent a lifetime making the right calls. In 1982 he was the second person at Canada's Clarkson Gordon, now Ernst & Young, to use an Apple II on audits. The experience convinced him that the economics of the profession were about to change profoundly and he set out with a partner to create what is today the 300-unit chain of Padgett accounting shops.

Small Business Begins to Embrace the Internet
June 14, 2000 (SmartPros) -- It's been said that the business of America is business. In fact, the business of America is small business. And it's the nation's local accountants who keep them humming.

Clients Clamor for More from CPAs
June 13, 2000 (SmartPros) -- CPAs are looking at huge untapped opportunities to expand their practices by offering business clients a wide array of new services, products and advice, according to new market research.

Professional Values Mean Professional Value
June 12, 2000 (SmartPros) -- At perhaps no other time in the century-long history of the accounting profession have the opportunities for success been so broad and deep. It's a great time to be an accountant.