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Risk Management/Internal Audit
BEYOND TRADITIONAL AUDIT TECHNIQUES
Paul E. Lindow and Jill D. Race
Instead of just reviewing required controls, internal auditors can broaden their approach both within and outside the audit process to identify areas for risk management improvements. Here’s a case study on how the internal audit group at California Federal Bank redefined its role to add more value and become key advisers to the company.

Risk Management/Litigation Services
FIVE TIPS TO STEER CLEAR OF THE COURTHOUSE
Paul Sweeney
As litigation costs continue to mount, businesses want to develop efficient strategies to identify and monitor vulnerabilities and avoid lawsuits. CPAs have the expertise to offer clients solutions to several corporate risk management problems.

Practice Management/Marketing
MEET THE PRESS
Stephen Goldfarb and Linda Dunbar
Acquiring a more visible and authoritative public image can help a CPA firm generate new business. CPAs who prepare and send informative news releases—or even invite a reporter to lunch—are taking important steps to establish their name in the marketplace, the authors say.

Work/Life Issues
GET THE RIGHT BALANCE
Susan W. Miller and Thomas A. Doucet
Few CPAs would deny that mission statements, strategic plans and goal setting are necessary to drive a business to success. But applying those concepts to our personal lives and using a mix of commonsense time-management strategies can help put us on the road to achieving more balance between work and home.

Practice Management/Consulting
OFFER FAMILY-BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
Robert B. Scott Jr.
Entangled business and family agendas can breed dynamics that damage a privately held company, its advisers and the owner relatives. Practitioners should be aware of 10 important management issues that sometimes impede such entities and require CPA services.

Technology Workshop
STOP E-MAIL SNOOPS
Maureen Francis Mascha and Cathleen L. Miller
Most e-mail is vulnerable to prying and alteration. Your password does not provide complete protection. However, available software products can add security, and this article tells you all about them.

Corporate Tax
A WEAPON FROM THE PAST
Tina Steward Quinn and Tonya K. Flesher
On several occasions in the last few years the IRS and the courts drew on the principles in a 1935 case to put an end to a corporate tax shelter scheme. CPAs need to warn their clients and employers that the simple concepts in Gregory are still a major weapon against such shelters.

The Fraud Beat
BILLING SCHEMES, PART 1: SHELL COMPANIES THAT DON’T DELIVER
Joseph T. Wells
CPAs who understand the various forms of fraudulent billing can protect their employers and clients by designing effective internal controls to detect and even prevent costly deceptions such as shell company charges for goods and services never received.

News Digest
Accounting…Auditing…Banking…Financial Reporting…International…Securities…Technology…FYI.

The Internet
Smart stops on the Web.

At a Glance: Charts and Graphics
Ho! ho! no!

Businesses set priorities to cut costs.

Tax breaks leave states wanting.

Letters
Adhering to zero tolerance.
Profession’s integrity at stake.
A reader’s solution to Enron-type frauds.
In support of CPAs.
Could five years be a deterrent?
A vote for a four-year degree.
Sees overemphasis on credentials.
Don’t lose sight of enduring values.
More about the decline in accounting majors.
College meets curriculum criteria.
On hedge funds—the good and the bad.
Another look at hedge funds.

Checklist
Boost business referrals.

Tax Matters
Tax Brief: IRS expands replacement property in 1031 exchanges.

Tax Brief: Education expense deduction: “Unemployed” taxpayer may be “employed.”

Line items.

Tax Case: Defining an involuntary conversion.

From the Tax Adviser
The industry issue regulation program.

Technology Q&A
Get the red out of negative spreadsheet numbers…Increase Clipboard’s memory…Expand spreadsheet’s Find and Replace to include entire workbook…Get an ampersand into an Excel header…Back up your Internet Explorer favorites.

Golden Business Ideas
Practical ideas for improving your business.

In This Issue