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M&A GUIDELINES IN LIMBO The U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission will solicit public comment and host discussions as they jointly consider making changes to the Horizontal Merger Guidelines used by both agencies...

Next Week's Big Deal: September Jobs Report There's a full menu of data next week but the economic report that will by far garner the most attention is the monthlyemployment report.Nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in...

As the calendar soon flips to October, things have the potential to get very interesting in the world of finance. With the impact of the government's stimulus starting to fade in some areas, there's a real shot that some of the upcoming...

REP. SPENCER BACHUS R-ALA. "What we do not need, and what we've had too often, is government policies which encourage harmful business practices ... or, when they went terribly wrong, bless them with bailouts." PHIL POOL FORMER BUYOUT...

High-yield bonds have made an impressive turnaround this year, and while many economic indicators indeed point to improvement, investors fear risk has returned to the high-yield market too quickly, jumping ahead of lagging fundamentals....

After a long and storied banking career, Richard Kovacevich is stepping down as Wells Fargo's chairman by year-end and fully handing over the reins of the company he created to his successor, chief executive John Stumpf. Frederick Cannon,...

The municipal market was unchanged to slightly firmer yesterday. Traders said tax-exempt yields were flat to lower by one or two basis points in spots. "There's not a lot of movement right now, but I think we're leaning a bit toward...

Jobless Claims Fall ##,### To ###,### in Sept. ## Week Initial jobless claims fell ##,### to ###,### for the week ending Sept. ## as the four-week moving average fell to the lowest level since January, the Labor Department reported...

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes again fell this week, extending a string of declines seen over several weeks and recording an all-time low on the one-year index. "The market continues to feel quite strong," said Evan Rourke, portfolio...

When Dallas buyout group HM Capital Partners and three other firms paid $#.# million to settle New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's pay-to-play probe and abide by his code of conduct earlier this month, it raised the stakes in the...

With deal volume still at its lowest level in years, the M&A fee machine has seized up. According to Dealogic, financial sponsors have paid a total of $#.# billion in fees to investment banks from January #### until mid-August, representing...

A series of personnel moves involving bankers who specialize in private placements translates to a vote of confidence in the asset class from investment banks. As first reported by IDD, Moelis & Co. hired Stan Lai as a New York-based...

The commercial paper market, the lifeblood of corporate America and lubricant for capitalism worldwide, is back in working order a year after Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy sent it into paralysis. But while certain segments of CP have...

A wave of fraud in the hedge fund industry arrived over the past year, leaving sinister portfolio managers exposed, unsuspecting investors drowning and forcing billions of dollars in capital to the sidelines. Lost not only was money,...

Changes in the world of corporate debt have led banks to take a more holistic approach when working with high-yield issuers, and even some investor clients. Underwriters like RBC Capital Markets, for example, are offering senior-secured...

The worst of the corporate debt storm may have passed over Wall Street, according to one U.S. rating agency that says the peak in defaults may have already occurred in March. But some market participants warn that it may be too soon...

NEW YORK CITY - The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is conducting an inquiry into "flipping" and the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is too aligned with dealers and needs more public members, regulators said here yesterday....

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - State insurance regulators are exploring alternatives to credit rating agencies to evaluate the risk found in insurance company portfolios, including the possibility of establishing a nonprofit rating organization...

State Street Global Advisors yesterday launched an exchange-traded fund investing in municipal variable-rate debt obligations, capitalizing on what it described as growing demand for VRDOs. The ##th muni ETF, the SPDR Standard & Poor's...

SAN FRANCISCO - The wheels are grinding slowly toward implementation of a landmark California bill authorizing public-private partnerships for transportation projects, with concerns arising from both would-be public and private participants...

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York announced indictments Monday of two men for operating an alleged $## million ATM ponzi scheme. Prosecutors charged Vance Moore II, ##, of Raleigh, N.C., and Walter Netschi,...

Advanta Corp., the small-business credit card lender that earlier this year questioned its own survival and cut off its almost # million accounts, says defaults fell in August for the second consecutive month, reports Bloomberg News....

A U.S. bankruptcy court last week approved a bidding process for the assets of Cynergy Data LLC, the New York-based payment processor says. Cynergy Data and two subsidiaries filed a chapter ## reorganizing petition earlier this month...

Credit card lines nationwide are set to be cut by another $#.# trillion before the economy bottoms, on top of a $#.# trillion cut from the peak, analyst Meredith Whitney predicted Monday, reports Dow Jones. Unless credit loosens up...

While the banking industry as a whole is pulling back on technology spending, community banks are increasing their budgets, especially for payment systems, reports American Banker, a CardLine sister publication. This partially is because...

S# Corp. believes its mobile-banking application designed for Apple Inc.'s iPhone will help community banks and credit unions reinforce their brands by having their logos included among the potential applications customers can use on...

Consumers in New Zealand made ## million credit and debit card transactions in August, up #.#% from ## million during the same month last year, according to Statistics New Zealand, a government agency. The average transaction amount...

JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Chase Card Services today launched Ink from Chase, a suite of cards designed for small businesses. The suite includes Ink Bold, Chase's first pay-in-full charge card. Other products in the suite include Ink, Ink...

Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., two of the nation's largest debit card issuers, have altered their debit card overdraft policies, a source of huge revenues for issuers and the ire for consumer groups and lawmakers. New...

Debit card overdraft fees have for many years been a huge source of revenue for banks, says Leslie Parrish, senior researcher for the Center for Responsible Lending, which began publishing studies years ago about debit card overdraft...

An update to the MasterCard Advisors unit's PortfolioAnalytics tool could help issuers better analyze card-use patterns, MasterCard Worldwide says. The card company updated the tool to incorporate more detailed data. The earlier version...

Safeway Inc. subsidiary Blackhawk Network Monday announced that corporations now can use its Rewards Visa Gift Card for employee-incentive programs. "We see it being used in such ways as employee-recognition programs, sales-team incentives,...

Visa Inc. today announced at the Clinton Global Initiative Conference in New York that it hopes to reach ## million consumers worldwide with financial-literacy information by May #, ####. The effort's centerpiece is the launch today...

ATM manufacturer Wincor Nixdorf AG recently scored its first contract with State Bank of India, which continues to expand its ATM network. Paderborn, Germany-based Wincor Nixdorf sold #,### machines to the bank, the manufacturer announced...

Facing rising printing and postage costs, credit card issuers are taking a close look at the practice of mailing paper statements to customers every month, reports American Banker, a CardLine sister publication. Though very few issuers...

American Express Co. vows to keep its commitment to small businesses in the wake of JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Chase Card Services rolling out a suite of new small-business card products, including a charge card. "We know the importance...

Ready Credit Corp. Tuesday launched a mobile-banking application that enables its prepaid cardholders to manage their funds using Apple Inc. iPhones and iPod Touch devices, according to the Eden Prairie, Minn.-based company. ReadyCard...

International Payments Corp., a San Jose, Calif.-based company, says it is expanding and looking to buy independent sales organizations to build its merchant portfolio. The company, which has hired David McMackin as its CEO, says in...

The majority of respondents to a National Foundation for Credit Counseling survey would feel most at risk for identity theft if a security breach occurred at such institutions as a bank or merchant, according to the Silver Spring, Md.-based...

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Canada's fifth-biggest bank and its largest credit card issuer, says Canadian banks' losses on credit cards may be easing amid signs the economy is improving, reports Bloomberg News. The Toronto-based...

BPC Banking Technologies has introduced software designed to protect consumers from robberies at ATMs, a spokesperson for the Russia-based financial-technology vendor tells CardLine Global, a CardLine sister publication. The vendor's...

* Merchant-payment services provider Commerce Online Inc. has added Russ Regan to its advisory board. * TenderCard, a gift and loyalty card company, is using Sonoma Technical Support Services Inc.'s helpdesk support services, Sonoma...

Milberg LLP, a New York-based law firm, this week announced it has filed a class-action lawsuit against St. Louis Park, Minn.-based National Arbitration Forum Inc. for allegedly misrepresenting its independence and hiding its ties to...

Most large card issuers have spent the past year playing defense, but U.S. Bancorp has continued to press its specialty form of offense: product innovation, reports American Banker, a CardLine sister publication. The Minneapolis-based...

U.S. Bancorp executives acknowledge that the recession has taken a toll on their innovation efforts but laud its focus-group efforts to pilot new products, reports American Banker, a CardLine sister publication. "We absolutely are right...

The growing popularity of such smartphones as Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Research in Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry, combined with the increased use of SMS text messages, have contributed to the rise of mobile banking and mobile payments, industry...

Google Inc. is planning to add several features to its Checkout payments system and may be trying to revamp a flawed business model that was scrapped months ago, reports American Banker, a CardLine sister publication. The payments capabilities...

Discover Financial Services' partnership with the Belgian processor Trionis adds to a string of deals this year that have raised Discover's international profile, reports CardLine Global sister publication Cards&Payments. The partnership...

Financial institutions that quickly reimburse their customers for lost funds after fraudulent transactions are more likely to experience better customer retention, according to a study security software provider ACI Worldwide Inc. published...

The amount of funds loaded into closed-loop prepaid card accounts in #### was $###.# billion, up #.#% compared with $###.# billion in ####, Mercator Advisory Group wrote in a report published last week. The strongest growth in the prepaid...

Retriever of Jackson, an independent sales organization based in Jackson, Miss., is visiting each one of its more than #,### merchants as part of its payment-data security program. Cliff Torrence, Retriever CEO and president, tells...

First Citizens' Federal Credit Union on Wednesday announced it is offering personalized Visa check cards with new security features. The new First Citizens check cards feature technology that eliminates the embossing prevalent on today's...

Illustrating another use for prepaid cards to influence behavior, the Forsyth County, N.C., health department Aug. ## and ## handed out $## Wal-Mart Stores Inc. gift cards to county residents who agreed to be tested for syphilis and...

Train riders in France are testing a service through which they can add value to their transit passes with card readers connected to their home personal computers, a spokesperson for Xiring, the France-based company that supplied the...

India's Corporation Bank announced Thursday it is collaborating with ElectraCard Services for establishing its ATM tax service. "The tax-payment service is now available to our customers," a bank spokesperson tells CardLine Global....

An old expression says, "If wishes and buts were candy and nuts, then every day would be Christmas." We've revised it for William Isaac, former head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and author of "Regulating systemic risk is a...

With all options on the table as a result of the unprecedented amount of new federal spending, tax policy has taken on critical importance. In its just-released second volume of Budget Options, the Congressional Budget Office has provided...

COURT ORDERS TEXTRON TO RELEASE TAX PAPERS Boston - In a decision that could have major implications for accountant work-product privileges, a federal appeals court has reversed a lower court decision and ordered aerospace and defense...

Although it's often pointed out that the Internal Revenue Code has become lengthy and complicated due to all of the things that Congress tries to accomplish through the code other than simply raising revenue, it's less often observed...

As CPAs, your clients may ask you to make a referral or recommendation for a financial advisor. Now more than ever, it's important to ensure that this responsibility is balanced by both your personal and professional opinion so that...

CFP BOARD PROPOSES NEW REQUIREMENTS FOR CREDENTIAL Washington, D.C. - The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards is proposing to require individuals who want to become a CFP to prepare an integrated, written financial plan and...

Payroll is one of those applications that no one really wants to do. Yes, it's a vital and necessary set of tasks, but it's also always a potential hornet's nest of complaints and penalties just waiting to be stumbled upon. Still, the...

There are many reasons companies engage in software implementations. Sometimes, it's because they've either outgrown the existing system or it has become obsolete. Other times, it's because they've been forced to downsize and need a...

XBRL TAGS ALIGNED TO FASB CODIFICATION Washington, D.C. - The Financial Accounting Standards Board and XBRL US have completed their work in revising the XBRL U.S. GAAP Taxonomy to reflect the FASB Accounting Standards Codification that...

At a time when the global economy is full of uncertainty and no one knows how long U.S. recession conditions will persist, businesses are watching the bottom line closely. At times like this, no one in the company plays a more important...

Two of the hottest terms in computing these days are virtualization and cloud computing. Are these two terms the same? Are they mutually exclusive? Does one depend on the other? This article will demystify the terms and help the reader...

Ensuring meaningful accountability requires management, and there is a crisis of under-management in most accounting firms. In his book It's OK to Be the Boss, Bruce Tulgan explains how many leaders and man­agers struggle with the entire...

CPA firms across the country are developing creative and diverse approaches to attract, retain and support women professionals. In doing so, they're also improving work and work/life balance for all employees. The effect of this activity...

PLANTE & MORAN GETS SOCIAL WITH ITS TRAINING Plante & Moran will be offering a course in how to use the social networking site LinkedIn during orientation for entry-level staff. "Leveraging LinkedIn: Tips to Better Utilize Social Networking...

"Ignore what the school tells you what you need to get tenure; do what the market says is valuable." That's the advice accounting doctoral students received from Dr. Jennifer Joe, a professor at Georgia State University, during a recent...

For years, collaboration has been a necessary evil in public accounting. Larger firms farmed out extra work to smaller firms. Larger firms tolerated this because it meant getting help with an audit, or completing tax work for smaller,...

It would be hard to fathom a more difficult economic terrain to navigate than the one that the nation has found itself in over the past ## months. Trillions have evaporated from investor portfolios and home foreclosures have hit unimaginable...

How soon can we get this recession behind us, and get back to having a normal economy? It's the question on everyone's mind these days, so we thought we'd put it to the candidates for the Top ### People - specifically, we asked them...

Mark Albrecht CEO, XCM Solutions and Xpitax Between his software solutions and his thought leadership on firm workflow, Albrecht remains at the forefront of a revolution that is slowly making its way through firms large and small. Career...

We asked the T### if there was too much outside pressure from politicians and industry on the setting of accounting standards, and a majority said there was. Some, though, felt that it was necessary. In the U.S. there have been certain...

Our roster of the Top ### People is fluid; it changes every year as its members change positions, and as new voices gain prominence in dealing with new issues. With that in mind, we're constantly on the lookout for new faces and up-and-comers...

Every year, we ask candidates for the Top ### Most Influential who they think has the most influence. While we had roughly the same number of candidates offer their opinions this year (###, against ### last year), they named far fewer...

SOFTWARE, HARDWARE & SERVICES Socrates on Taxes Intuit ProLine Tax Research Intuit Inc. and BNA Tax & Accounting www.intuit.com If knowing what you don't know is the beginning of wisdom, then tax preparers are practically philosophers,...

ARIZONA Debra A. Hunter, a shareholder at Hunter Hagan & Co. Ltd., Scottsdale, has been elected president of the Americas Region of the International Association of Practicing Accountants. CALIFORNIA John Dunleavy, who led both the...

ALABAMA Tidwell spins out from Reznick Details: Reznick Group's Birmingham office has formed a separate firm, Tidwell Group, managed by the office's former managing principal, Barry Tidwell. All ## employees of the office, including...

ALABAMA Barfield Murphy Shank & Smith, Birmingham, has received the Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility for the second year, and has been included in Inc. Magazine's #### list of the #,### fastest-growing...

SEPTEMBER ##: Financial Institutions Conference, Illinois CPA Society. Wyndham Hotel, Lisle, Ill. Contact: www.icpas.org or (###) ###-####. ##: International Tax Update, Networking Seminars Inc. Willard InterContinental Hotel, Washington,...

Adam Wolf is the type of guy you'd want to bring along to a networking event or have as a guest at a dinner party. He's got a plethora of stories to tell, is a fast (and smooth) talker, and naturally knows how to bring people who would...

Emeryville, Calif.-Accounting and financial services provider LECG's planned merger with Smart Business Advisory and Consulting will create a formidable consulting entity with #,### employees and annual revenues approaching $### million....

Growth opportunities for CPA firm-based wealth management services may be stronger than ever today as clients (and prospects) begin emerging from their psychological bunkers following the financial meltdown. That, at least, is the hopeful...

As you may have noticed, this issue spotlights our annual Top ### Most Influential People selections, one of the most anticipated features in the Accounting Today editorial calendar - if driven more by ego than anything else. I won't...

The movement to register tax return preparers is picking up steam as representatives of various professional, government and taxpayer groups are weighing in on the issue. Internal Revenue Service commissioner Doug Shulman, in recently...

Las Vegas-Front-burner issues such as partner compensation, maintaining growth in a shaky economy and honing "soft skills" headlined twin conference agendas at the recent Forum for Women in Accounting and Forum on Recruiting and Retention...

KROEKER OFFICIALLY SEC CHIEF ACCOUNTANT Washington, D.C. - The Securities and Exchange Commission has appointed James L. Kroeker as chief accountant. Kroeker will replace Conrad Hewitt, who retired from government service in January,...

Aside from the headaches of having to fundraise during a time when more donors are keeping their checkbooks closed, now not-for-profits have to contend with a new Form ### - one that many say is tedious, time-intensive and generally...

Washington, D.C. - In a sweeping pact that will help uncover hidden Swiss bank accounts held by American taxpayers, UBS will turn over the names behind #,### accounts as part of an agreement between the U.S. and Swiss governments. The...

Yes, the economy is in a crisis. Yes, the stock market has tanked, Bernie Madoff is a shameful situation and clients are in trouble. And yes, you are still your clients' most trusted advisor. Now, more than ever, your firms need your...

Regarding your editorial "Tax Tsunami" (Accounting Today, Aug. ##-##, ####, page #), the temperature has been cooling for the last several years. There is not widespread agreement among knowledgeable scientists that global warming even...

To act rather than react is crucial to surviving the contracted marketplaces and financial conditions dictated by the current economy. Thousands of business entities are on the brink of financial disaster and will eventually close their...

COS. PLAGUED BY RISK MANAGEMENT GAPS New York - Almost two thirds of companies in a recent survey by Ernst & Young said that they do not plan to commit more resources to risk management over the next ## to ## months, despite problems...

In the past, tax-exempt organizations that sponsored a ###(b) retirement plan had minimal or no reporting requirements and were not required to have a formal plan in place. Starting with the #### plan year, however, nonprofit organizations...

NEW PCAOB REPORTING RULES Washington, D.C. - The SEC has approved rules requiring public accounting firms registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to report events such as legal proceedings and changes in a firm's...

Eastman Kodak Co.'s shares were pummeled on Thursday, a day after it unveiled plans to raise as much as $### million through a deal with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. Shares of $#.# billion market-capitalized Eastman declined #.#% to $#.##...

Stephen Gaines has left KPMG Corporate Finance, where he had been head of U.S. corporate finance for the last eight years. His last day at the firm was yesterday. Gaines, who worked out of KPMG Corporate Finance's Baltimore office,...

Moelis & Company continues to use the ruin of Wall Street to step up its recruiting efforts with top talent from the bulge bracket. Most recently, the mid-market advisory firm named Andrew W. Horrocks, a UBS Investment Bank veteran,...