Earn-out Sale Gets a Speedy Basis Recovery

The global financial crisis was part of the reason the Internal Revenue Service allowed an investment advisory firm to use an alternative method of basis recovery to speed up its recovery. Described in a private letter ruling released last September, the guidance, which concerns a contingent paym...

By Robert Willens • Jan. 18, 2011

Earn-out Sale Gets a Speedy Basis Recovery

The global financial crisis was part of the reason the Internal Revenue Service allowed an investment advisory firm to use an alternative method of basis recovery to speed up its recovery. Described in a private letter ruling released last September, the guidance, which concerns a contingent paym...

By Robert Willens • Jan. 18, 2011

Explore the Trendline➔

Tax policy shifts: What CFOs need to know to stay ahead

Discover how evolving tax policies are creating new opportunities and challenges for CFOs.

By CFO.com staff

Spreadsheets: Highlighting Formula Cells

Editor’s Note: To read more about spreadsheets, share a tip with other readers, or suggest a topic for Bill Jelen to cover in an upcoming column, click here to visit CFO.com’s Spreadsheet Tips Page.Reader Nancy P. wins an autographed copy of Learn Excel From MrExcel from CFO and MrExcel.com for h...

By Bill Jelen • Jan. 12, 2011

Late to the Party: Small Biz

Weak sales are continuing to keep small businesses cautious, according to a monthly barometer of small-business optimism.Based on a survey of business owners done in December, the index released today by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) shows that the moderate recovery being...

By Sarah Johnson • Jan. 11, 2011

Payments to Foreign Issuers May Be Taxed

Programs that make foreign issuers’ stock available in domestic markets are known as American Depositary Receipt (ADR) programs. In an ADR program, an issuer’s stock is placed with and maintained and controlled by a depository institution (DI). The DI, a domestic financial institution, then offer...

By Robert Willens • Jan. 10, 2011

Payments to Foreign Issuers May Be Taxed

Programs that make foreign issuers’ stock available in domestic markets are known as American Depositary Receipt (ADR) programs. In an ADR program, an issuer’s stock is placed with and maintained and controlled by a depository institution (DI). The DI, a domestic financial institution, then offer...

By Robert Willens • Jan. 10, 2011

Guilty of Being a CFO

In securities fraud cases, a finance chief’s expertise should not imply that he or she is guilty of intentional deception, according to a federal appeals court that recently overturned a former CFO’s conviction.The defendant’s “presumed knowledge of GAAP as a qualified CFO does not make him crimi...

By Sarah Johnson • Jan. 10, 2011

Guilty of Being a CFO

In securities fraud cases, a finance chief’s expertise should not imply that he or she is guilty of intentional deception, according to a federal appeals court that recently overturned a former CFO’s conviction.The defendant’s “presumed knowledge of GAAP as a qualified CFO does not make him crimi...

By Sarah Johnson • Jan. 10, 2011

SEC Taps Audit Oversight Chief

Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Schapiro ended a lengthy period of uncertainty regarding the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board when she announced on Friday that the SEC has appointed James Doty, a former SEC general counsel, as PCAOB chairman. In Doty, the accounting over...

By David Katz • Jan. 7, 2011

SEC Taps Audit Oversight Chief

Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Schapiro ended a lengthy period of uncertainty regarding the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board when she announced on Friday that the SEC has appointed James Doty, a former SEC general counsel, as PCAOB chairman. In Doty, the accounting over...

By David Katz • Jan. 7, 2011

Best of 2010: Tax

While Congress and the Obama Administration were making news negotiating the fate of the expiring Bush tax cuts, corporate taxpayers had to keep an eye on several other key tax issues in 2010. High on the list were the contentious disclosure rules governing uncertain tax positions that were issue...

By Marie Leone and David Katz • Jan. 6, 2011

How Not to Create Private-Company GAAP

Dissatisfaction with generally accepted accounting principles is increasing among stakeholders of private U.S. companies. A blue-ribbon panel has tentatively concluded that a new standard-setting body should create a distinct GAAP for private U.S. companies by specifying extensive exceptions to G...

By Bruce Pounder • Jan. 6, 2011

Best of 2010: Tax

While Congress and the Obama Administration were making news negotiating the fate of the expiring Bush tax cuts, corporate taxpayers had to keep an eye on several other key tax issues in 2010. High on the list were the contentious disclosure rules governing uncertain tax positions that were issue...

By David Katz and Marie Leone • Jan. 6, 2011

How Not to Create Private-Company GAAP

Dissatisfaction with generally accepted accounting principles is increasing among stakeholders of private U.S. companies. A blue-ribbon panel has tentatively concluded that a new standard-setting body should create a distinct GAAP for private U.S. companies by specifying extensive exceptions to G...

By Bruce Pounder • Jan. 6, 2011

Spreadsheets: Conditional Format a Chart

Editor’s Note: To read more about spreadsheets, share a tip with other readers, or suggest a topic for Bill Jelen to cover in an upcoming column, click here to visit CFO.com’s Spreadsheet Tips Page.Reader John P. wins a copy of Charts and Graphs: Microsoft Excel 2010 from the MrExcel Library for ...

By Bill Jelen • Jan. 5, 2011

Why Some Foreign Stock Purchases Flunk the Tax Code Test

On September 16, 1992, 21st Securities, acting on behalf of Compaq Computer, purchased 10 million Royal Dutch Shell ADRs (American depositary receipts) from the “designated seller,” which was a client of 21st Securities. Immediately after the purchase, 21st Securities sold the ADRs back to the se...

By Robert Willens • Jan. 3, 2011

Why Some Foreign Stock Purchases Flunk the Tax Code Test

On September 16, 1992, 21st Securities, acting on behalf of Compaq Computer, purchased 10 million Royal Dutch Shell ADRs (American depositary receipts) from the “designated seller,” which was a client of 21st Securities. Immediately after the purchase, 21st Securities sold the ADRs back to the se...

By Robert Willens • Jan. 3, 2011

Spreadsheets: Protecting All Worksheets

Editor’s Note: To read more about spreadsheets, share a tip with other readers, or suggest a topic for Bill Jelen to cover in an upcoming column, click here to visit CFO.com’s Spreadsheet Tips Page.Reader Ebrima S. wins an e-book of Learn Excel 97-2007 from CFO and MrExcel for his question: “I fr...

By Bill Jelen • Dec. 29, 2010

Spreadsheets: Protecting All Worksheets

Editor’s Note: To read more about spreadsheets, share a tip with other readers, or suggest a topic for Bill Jelen to cover in an upcoming column, click here to visit CFO.com’s Spreadsheet Tips Page.Reader Ebrima S. wins an e-book of Learn Excel 97-2007 from CFO and MrExcel for his question: “I fr...

By Bill Jelen • Dec. 29, 2010

The Elusive Definition of Research

Through the years, we have found that one of the most-elusive concepts contained in the Internal Revenue Code is the notion of “research.” Nevertheless, the importance of ensuring that a given activity constitutes research cannot be seriously doubted. After all, a corporate taxpayer may treat res...

By Robert Willens • Dec. 28, 2010

The Elusive Definition of Research

Through the years, we have found that one of the most-elusive concepts contained in the Internal Revenue Code is the notion of “research.” Nevertheless, the importance of ensuring that a given activity constitutes research cannot be seriously doubted. After all, a corporate taxpayer may treat res...

By Robert Willens • Dec. 28, 2010

It’s Official: Seidman Is FASB Chair

Leslie F. Seidman, a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board since 2003 and acting chairman of the board for the past three months, has been named chairman of FASB. The announcement was made on Thursday by the board of trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), FASB’s paren...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Dec. 23, 2010

Best of 2010: Accounting

In the realm of accounting, no one moved more rapidly this year than the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board. The two standard-setting bodies set forth an aggressive agenda that called for a dozen or so new rules to be issued by 2011.Their aim was...

By Marie Leone and David Katz • Dec. 23, 2010

It’s Official: Seidman Is FASB Chair

Leslie F. Seidman, a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board since 2003 and acting chairman of the board for the past three months, has been named chairman of FASB. The announcement was made on Thursday by the board of trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), FASB’s paren...

By CFO Editorial Staff • Dec. 23, 2010

Best of 2010: Accounting

In the realm of accounting, no one moved more rapidly this year than the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board. The two standard-setting bodies set forth an aggressive agenda that called for a dozen or so new rules to be issued by 2011.Their aim was...

By David Katz and Marie Leone • Dec. 23, 2010