Worth Repeating
TRUTH AND TRANSPARENCY: THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S FINANCIAL CONDITION AND FISCAL OUTLOOK
The Honorable David M. Walker
When it comes to the U.S. government’s economic health, current measurement and scorekeeping approaches give an incomplete and misleading picture of the nation’s financial condition. The comptroller general delivers a wake-up call about the fiscal realities that threaten the future of our country, our children and our grandchildren.

Personal Financial Planning
THE RICH TRULY ARE DIFFERENT
Cynthia Harrington
To be successful, CPAs who work with very high-net-worth clients will have to tailor their services to meet this group’s particular needs. They also should be prepared to cope with nonfinancial issues that might affect the relationship.

TIPS FOR WORKING WITH FEMALE CLIENTS
Maureen Nevin Duffy
CPA financial planners who advise women clients need to understand that interacting and communicating with them is different from working with male investors. Understanding this difference is critical to success in this lucrative market.

Personal Financial Planning/Technology
A TECH TOOLS SAMPLER FOR PFP
Sarah E. Phelan
CPA planners can use these tools to provide reliable, cost-effective services to clients. Readers will learn what software leading practitioners favor, how to choose products and which Web sites are handy for answering casual client questions or getting quick data for personal finances.

Fraud—AICPA/FBI Partnership
A JOINT EFFORT TO FIGHT CORPORATE FRAUD
Rick Telberg
In its fight against fraud, the FBI has partnered with the accounting profession to uncover and prevent financial corruption. The agency will be calling on CPAs to act as objective, third-party expert witnesses and is actively recruiting CPAs to become a key part of its team.

The Fraud Beat
FOREIGN ADVANCE-FEE SCAMS
Joseph T. Wells
Have you been offered $35 million lately? The current crop of foreign money frauds are variations of scams that have been around for centuries. Nine out of ten such scams—now mainly sent via e-mail—start with a communication falsely claiming money has to be secreted out of a foreign country.

Litigation Consulting
ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE: CPAs AND THE E-FRONTIER
Carl Pacini, William Hillison, M. G. Fennema and Raymond Placid
In certain litigation-support engagements, CPAs on an attorney’s team can shield confidential client communications. Such privilege may be invalidated by inadvertent disclosure via use of electronic media or devices such as cell phones and e-mail. Here’s how to safeguard client data.

Technology Workshop
A DO-IT-YOURSELF AUTOMATED INVOICING SYSTEM
Jacob M. Rose
Even low-tech CPAs can set up an automated invoice database that eliminates handwritten invoices and connects to bookkeeping software. And it takes less than an hour to learn how to use it.

Income/Estate Tax
THE IMPORTANCE OF IRD
Raymond A. Zimmermann, Pat Eason and Anne Leahey
With income in respect of the decedent becoming more common, CPAs must be fully aware of its income tax consequences to make certain clients don’t miss out on a potentially valuable deduction.

NEWS

Professional Issues
Auditing in the Classroom Is Changing
As the computerized CPA exam launches this month, Professor Nicholas J. Mastracchio Jr. calls on educators to strengthen audit training. The key to better-prepared CPAs is less rote learning, renewed emphasis on ethics and more real-world input, he says.