My Warm Fuzzies Have Gone Cold I did some reading on my boat this weekend. I’m not a big fisherman, I like to just cruise to a nice spot, drop anchor and relax. Well, after reading I may pull my investments and put the money under my mattress. Last week’s blog discussed the issue of…
Share “To SRO or Not to SRO?” That is the question. It seems there has been much in the news about whether to have the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), FINRA (Financial Investment Regulator Association) or an SRO (self-regulating organization) perform annual examinations of registered investment advisers. InvestmentNews, an online publication, did a survey about…
The Journal Summer 2012 M&A Accounting ASC 805: A Quick Look By Baskar Venkatraman, CPA, CFE, CISA, CITP Many factors contribute to an acquisition transaction, but the accounting and reporting treatment that a potential merger and acquisition (M&A) transaction receives can be instrumental in the final decision of how to structure and when to consummate…
So You Want to Be a Trader? About 15 years ago or so, a friend of mine told me about a stock. He said it can’t miss. So I looked up the company and saw it was manufacturing parts for the Palm Pilot. I decided to invest and within 24 hours I had sold the…
The deductibility of accrued liabilities — like state capitals and women — can be a bit tricky. In general, whether an accrued expense is deductiblefor tax purposes is governed by I.R.C. § 461 Specifically, I.R.C. § 461(h) and Regulation § 1.461-1(a)(2)(i) provide that an accrued expense is deductible in the tax year in which all…
SEC’s NEW FORM PF In October 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) adopted Rule 204(b)-1 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 to require registered investment advisers (“RIAs”) that advise more than $150 million in assets under management to periodically file Form PF. The purpose of this form as stated by the SEC is…
AHA and HFMA Urge Treasury To Withdraw Form 990, Schedule H, Part V In a May 16th, 2012 letter to Emily McMahon, Acting Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of the Treasury and Joseph H. Grant, Acting Commissioner, IRS Tax-Exempt and Government Entities Division, the American Hospital Association (“AHA”) and Healthcare Financial Management Association (“HFMA”) have urged…
Preparing for the Perfect Storm: 401(k) Fee Disclosures Bernie Leone [email protected] Email Dave As you are reading this, today may or may not be a sunny day, but in the world of 401(k) plans, a major storm is brewing and the chance for heavy rain is 100%. You may have even heard about this storm…
Why You Should Audit Your Employee Benefit Plans Now…Really Now Last year I wrote about the government actually taking a leadership role to rout out fraud and improper payments through new initiatives imbedded in the Affordable Care Act. Reducing unnecessary costs and routing out fraud from the healthcare system has been elevated to a high…
Facebook IPO While this blog deals with the financial services industry and not investment strategy or even one stock, I would be remiss if I, too, didn’t jump on the Facebook blog bandwagon. With everyone gearing up for the huge Facebook IPO last Friday, one would think that things would go smoothly. Brokers were ready,…