U.S. lawmakers take Washington tax reform show on the road [Reuters]
Democratic Senator Max Baucus and Republican Representative Dave Camp, who chair the congressional tax-writing committees, sought ideas on Monday from the owner of Mrs. G's, a 40- employee New Jersey appliance business. There in Lawrenceville, and later at the Hub, a Philadelphia-based technology meeting space with about 50 workers, they spoke of arcane tax subjects from depreciation rules to accounting methods and how to make the tax code better. "What are the most maddening, complex provisions that make you want to pull your hair out?" Baucus asked Debbie Schaeffer, 54, the president of Mrs. G's who led the two through a tour of appliances in the business she took over from her grandmother. "We don't have enough time," Schaeffer's certified public account, Marguerite Mount, chimed in. She then noted the problems of defining small business reflected in section 263(a) of the tax code. "Defining small business and clarity on that would be huge."
President Obama's Plan For Corporate Tax Reform: A 'Grand Bargain' Or Simply Another Name For An Old Proposal? [Forbes]
More than you probably care to know about the POTUS' plan.
FEI Audit Fee Survey: Public/Private Company Audit Fees Continue to Rise [FEI]
In 2012, audit fees paid by companies responding to the survey averaged $4.5 million, representing a four percent increase over their prior fiscal year audit. The number of audit hours required for the responding public companies averaged 16,737. Reasons attributed to the increase of audit hours include acquisitions and the perception that Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) inspections of audit firms have led to an increase in audit work, according to the survey.
PwC replaces Deloitte as auditors of Hargreaves Lansdown [Accountancy Age]
More fierce competition, I see.
Kevin Schroeder has been named Grant Thornton’s Energy Industry Managing Partner and Mark Oster is the new head of NFPs and Higher Ed [GT]
Effective August 1.
Werfel makes IRS budget case at Texas tax preparers meeting [DMWT]
"I believe the state of the IRS budget is an issue that requires some significant time to assess," Werfel said. "Recently, questions were raised about our budget in reaction to recent Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reports regarding IRS expenditures on conferences, training and travel, and some have suggested that deep budget cuts across the IRS are now appropriate." […] Werfel noted, the agency's travel and training budget now is only a small part of the overall IRS budget. How small? Around $90 million for travel and training vs. a total IRS budget of $11.1 billion.
Every Movie Reference The Simpsons Ever Made [Gawker]
I suggest you bookmark this page.