Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 Reduces Negative Tax Consequences from Foreclosures

During the recent U.S. real estate boom, some lending institutions abandoned all caution. Lending policies for subprime mortgages became extremely lax. Dubious loans—such as the so-called “Ninja” (no income, no job or assets) loans—became increasingly commonplace. This may be why U.S. homeownership rose from 65% to 69% between 1996 and 2005. Rising market values obscured otherwise bad loans. Now that the market has cooled considerably and real estate values have plummeted, the result has been a significant number of foreclosures and an international credit slump. Full Story

Bringing Accountancy into the 21st Century

For almost 10 years, the New York State Society of CPAs (NYSSCPA) has been pushing for necessary accounting reform in the state of New York. Last year, we were only a few details away from a comprehensive proposal that could have been introduced for a vote. In each of the last five legislative sessions, the New York State Senate passed accounting reform legislation with unanimous support from both parties—accounting legislation that was primarily crafted by the Society’s board of directors. The interested parties got together and narrowed our differences even more over this past year. The bones and muscle of our original proposal are still present. Full Story

An Analysis of the GAO Study on Audit Market Concentration

The objectives of a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) study were to evaluate the market concentration for audits of public companies, to consider the ability of small and mid-sized audit firms to reduce such concentration, and to analyze other proposals for reform. The study consisted of a random sample of 595 of the roughly 6,000 publicly held U.S. companies of all sizes as well as interviews with interested parties, including public companies, audit firms, investors, academics, and regulators.
Full Story