Just for Fun

New York state needs money, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevension, we're all fat and unhealthy -- or, as they put it, "obesogenic."

Hence the proposed "soda tax," a revenue-raising device made easier to sell to the public through its targeting of the products blamed for what's considered a national epidemic of obesity. (Because that had nothing to do with us, or our appetites.)

Financial desperation aside, it was a surprise to see an e-mail from New York's executive, Gov. David A. Paterson, in my inbox last night. The e-mail address seemed valid, so I started to read. It wasn't until the third paragraph that I became a bit confused:

"I have been a physician in New York for 30 years."

There are winners and losers in every situation -- even in Enron's collapse and the ongoing financial crisis.

Two of those winners: New York Times reporter/editor Andrew Ross Sorkin and playwright Lucy Prebble.

Financial Executives International blogger Edith Orenstein has cooperated with Steven Zelin and the Maryland Association of CPAs on a music video created in the virtual platform SecondLife. To the tune of "If I Were a Carpenter," "If I Were an Auditor," sung by Orenstein and Zelin, also features several of Orenstein's blogger friends as characters in the background. Check it out here.

More than two dozen workers at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have been investigated for looking at porn during work hours over the past two years.

If you've ever wanted to feel like a 1960s-era NYSSCPA chapter president -- or own a piece of NYSSCPA history --  you just missed your chance, offered up by an antiques seller last month on eBay. The late Irving Brooks was the third president of the Utica Chapter.

New York is getting a snowy end to 2009 -- a year of new rules, recovery and reform. The last day of the year is a good time to look back at what the past 12 months have brought to the nation, to the individual ... and to the noble profession of accountancy.

The year 2009 kicked off with a major shift in the rules regulating the profession, while at the same time the nation welcomed its first black president. Collective agony over the Madoff affair was still fresh, and the price of Yankees tickets was a major topic of discussion. Effects of the financial crisis born in 2008 had begun to level off.

Here's a look at some of the other milestones we reached on the road to 2010:

January

• The accountancy reform law is approved by lawmakers and signed by Gov. David A. Paterson.
• The nation gets a new president.
• The GAO criticizes the Treasury for its lack of oversight of the TARP program.
• The FASB formally defers FIN 48.
• Everyone's upset about the Madoff fraud and other Ponzi schemes.
• National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson speaks at a FAE conference.
• Former Senate Majority Leader Bruno finds himself in hot water.

Finally, 2009 -- a year of big losses, few raises and rampant unemployment -- is about to end, and the folks at CNN Money are already trying to predict the winners and losers of 2010.

Among the winners: tax accountants.

As the financially astute are no doubt aware, the U.S. has quite a bit of debt, in the same way that the Pacific Ocean has quite a bit of water. While we’re nowhere near the levels of, say, Japan, which has the largest public debt on Earth, the amount of money the U.S.

In honor of Halloween, we present succession-planning horror stories. For more on succession planning, check out this Wednesday’s Practice Management Conference, featuring a panel of partners from small, mid-size and large firms sharing their succession-planning expertise, moderated by member Robert Fligel.

Vincent Price may have inspired these creepy tales…but are they based on true stories? You be the judge!!

Narcie's Woe

Becoming a CPA was a great choice. You know that. But now, the profession is getting its due from CNN Money, which has placed a career as a CPA as #6 on its list of the 100 best jobs in America.

In its explanation, the list calls the profession "recession-proof," noting that businesses began hiring more CPAs after major accounting scandals earlier this decade "and a host of new corporate accounting rules going into effect soon should ratchet up demand further."Drawbacks that precluded a #1 nomination include non-negotiable deadlines and the dreaded "busy season."