Accounting and Finance News Stories

Credit Unions, Community Banks Duke It Out Over Planned Rule
Wall Street Journal
A long-standing rivalry between U.S. credit unions and community banks has been reignited by a government push to boost credit-union membership. The proposed rule from the National Credit Union Administration, credit unions’ federal regulator, could be completed by this fall.

Wall St. Pauses After 2 Days of Gains
New York Times
United States stocks barely budged on Thursday as investors moved cautiously after two days of large gains. Utilities and phone companies rose the most because of a decline in bond yields. Chemical companies and banks surrendered some of their recent gains.

AICPA members weigh in on IRS service levels
Journal of Accountancy
Long wait times to reach an IRS representative on the phone shortened somewhat this filing season, compared with 2015, but the quality of the IRS’s responses is lacking. Overall, a new AICPA survey shows satisfaction with the agency’s service remains low: 43% of those surveyed indicated they were either somewhat or very dissatisfied with the level of service they received during the past tax filing season.

Why Diversity And Inclusion Will Be A Top Priority For 2016
Forbes
With all the press we read about diversity, inclusion, women in leadership, and the need to be open minded about religious and cultural differences, one might ask “is 2016 going to be the year of diversity in business?” I believe the answer is yes: this topic has been raised in the public eye and research now proves that companies with great diversity outperform their peers by a significant margin.

Companies Get Smaller Slice of Economic Pie
Wall Street Journal
As if it wasn’t bad enough for investors that the economy has been growing slowly, they are also getting a shrinking share of it. Growth probably wasn’t as weak in the first quarter as initially reported, but it was still plenty weak. Economists expect updated figures from the Commerce Department Friday will show real gross domestic product, which adjusts for inflation, grew at a 1% annual rate, better than an earlier estimate of 0.5%.

Business Investment Lags, but Housing Sales Surge
New York Times
Business spending intentions in the United States weakened in April for a third straight month, and contracts to buy previously owned homes surged to a 10-year high, data released on Thursday showed. Another report showed that the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell last week, supporting views that economic growth is gaining speed.

Higher Taxes Don't Scare Millionaires into Fleeing Their Homes After All
Accounting Today
When it comes to taxes, millionaires have short fuses. Ratchet up their rates and they'll blow you off and move to a low-tax, or no-tax, state. Or so goes one argument against taxing the rich: States that levy a “millionaires tax” risk chasing those millionaires away to Florida, Texas and other places with no income tax.

CEO Bonuses: How Pro Forma Results Boost Them
Wall Street Journal
Earnings before the bad stuff can do good things for executive pay. Last year was tough for many companies, so many asked investors to imagine what things would have looked like if the tough things had never happened. This led to the biggest divergence since 2009 between pro forma results, which exclude items such as restructuring charges and stock-based compensation, and results under generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP.

IRS Proposed Regulations Under Section 305(c)
The National Law Review
In April, the IRS issued proposed regulations interpreting deemed distributions under Section 305(c). Specifically, the proposed regulations would clarify the amount and timing of deemed distributions that result from an adjustment to the right to acquire stock.