Carried Interest: What Is It and How Should It Be Taxed?

On June 22, 2007, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) joined others to introduce legislation that would ensure that investment fund managers who take a share of a fund’s profits as compensation for investment management services—known as “carried interest”—would be taxed at the ordinary income tax rate.
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Rethinking Sarbanes-Oxley

In 2002, scandals at companies like Enron, Adelphia, Tyco, and WorldCom cast a cloud over the accounting profession. Every day seemed to bring new details of malfeasance. Investor confidence in U.S. financial markets was severely shaken. It was easy to wonder: Can any company be trusted? What emerged from the scandals was a bill named after its two chief sponsors, Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.) and Representative Michael G. Oxley (R-Ohio). Full Story

Have We Created Financial Statement Disclosure Overload?

There is much discussion in the accounting profession regarding the complexity of current accounting rules. A paper presented by the major accounting firms said: “Rules increase complexity and actually can decrease the meaningfulness of information.” I believe that the crux of the problem is this: There is just too much disclosure. Financial reports, especially footnotes, are too long. Full Story