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This symbol identifies articles in the home study CPE program.

Personal Financial Planning
REAL ESTATE IS HOT…DON’T GET BURNED
Maureen Nevin Duffy
Clients buying and selling new homes have to deal with a wide variety of issues, including affordability, financing and contract negotiations. Here’s what CPAs can do to help their house-hunting clients get the best deal.

Marketing/Practice Management
TELL US MORE
Denise Nitterhouse and Gerald Berstell
CPAs can use customer case research (CCR) to learn details about why, when and how a client chose their firm for accounting, tax or consulting services. The inside perspective clients provide about who and what influences service selection can help a firm strengthen its market position.

Practice Development
MEYNERS PAYS FOR PERFORMANCE
Phaedra Brotherton
This is part two of a multipart series in which the JofA chronicles a major business development initiative at Meyners and Co. of Albuquerque, New Mexico. This article describes how the firm links pay to performance to reinforce employee commitment to the practice’s growth.

Practice Development/Small Business
MOM-AND-POP SHOPS
Rick Telberg
America’s small businesses make up the bulk of the nation’s enterprises (70%), and most CPAs already have one or more such clients, providing them with management, succession and financing advice as well as traditional tax, accounting and consulting support. Here are 15 pointers for CPAs who want to improve business and service in the mom-and-pop sector.

Corporate Tax
DEDUCTIBILITY OF BUSINESS AIRCRAFT
Karen C. Miller and Tonya K. Flesher
Employee travel on company-owned planes is increasing. There are steps CPAs can recommend businesses take to make sure they will be able to deduct this expense for tax purposes.

Education/Practice Management
ONLINE CPE—GETTING EASIER ALL THE TIME
Robert A. Seay, Holly R. Rudolph and Margaret N. Boldt
Since the JofA last covered Web-based continuing education in 1998, offerings are better than ever. There are more vendors, more courses and a wider range of subjects. And now you can register, pay and get test results right away—all online.

Technology Workshop
MAKE EXCEL A LITTLE SMARTER
Lois S. Mahoney and Charles Kelliher
Spreadsheets don’t always do what users want them to do—taking numbers or names from separate cells and placing them in one cell, for example. But with a little effort, you can teach Excel to perform that and many other tricks.

News Digest
Accounting…Audit…Financial Reporting…Fraud...Government Accounting…Privacy…Professional Issues…Technology…FYI.

The Internet
Smart stops on the Web.

At a Glance: Charts and Graphics
Once usually is enough.
Private companies react to Sarbanes-Oxley.
Same time, this year.

Letters
Auditors don’t create corporate environment.
Revisiting temporary CFOs.
Active management vs. indexing.
A student member’s views on the profession.

Checklist
Help middle-market companies get funding.

Tax Matters
Tax Brief: Divorce decree no substitute for form 8332.
Tax Case: Taxing the sale of a business.

From the Tax Adviser
Deductions for bonus plans.

Technology Q&A
Combine data from two cells into one…Move Internet Explorer’s temporary files to a different drive…Let Outlook send your contact data…Calculate the number of days between dates…Confirm that numbers match…Open a screen when you can’t access the “handles”…Enter data into scattered cells…Retrieve archived data.

Inside AICPA
Mary Montoya honored for public service.
William W. Holder named outstanding educator.

Golden Business Ideas
Practical ideas for improving your business.

In This Issue