CPA Shortage?

Boston Business Journal features a story on the difficulty public accounting firms are having in finding new talent. To handle this situation, firms are having to seek alternate methods in finding new CPA's such as going through recruiting firms. Doug Farrington, a managing director in the Boston office of UHY Advisors says, "We have no choice but to deal with recruiters because candidates often are going straight to them instead of straight to the firms." There are several factors that are causing this shortage. Students that were once considering going into accounting when they are in school are opting for a finance degree instead. There is also a surge in demand for accountants to handle the programs to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley within public companies.

To read the full story, go here:
http://www.paradigmshiftpr.com/areafirms.htm

The Future of Sarbanes-Oxley

Sarbanes-Oxley has been in existance for five years now and the August 27th story in Forbes explains where its been and where it's going. The guidelines have not only taken effect in the U.S. but in foreign countries too. Sanjay Anand, chairman of the Sarbanes-Oxley Institute, an independent consulting group, has spent 80% to 90% of his time consulting in a foreign country in 2006.

To read the full article, go here:
http://www.paradigmshiftpr.com/documents/AsSeenIn-Forbes.pdf

Valuation Standards

In an August 14th story in Compliance Week entitled, “More Sparring Over Fair Standards for Valuation,” by Tammy Whitehouse, the reporter covers the issue of increased importance of Sarbanes Oxley rules and valuation guidelines. Northeastern University's professor of Accounting David Sherman expresses his thoughts on the accounting practice of valuation. “If you think about what people hoped for from Sarbanes-Oxley, fair value accounting has provided more room to manage earnings than we’ve ever had before,” said Professor Sherman. “There is less opportunity to game the values if you determine fair value with empirical data and market transaction data. As people move toward more empirical data and [have] less reliance on models, we’re going to see fewer disputes about what the fair value is. True market data has a wonderful way of resolving disputes.”

Sarbanes-Oxley Woes

In an August 12th story in The Daily Herald, the reporter explores the recent happenings and difficulties that smaller companies that have to comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley rules are having. After five years, the bigger fortune 500 companies are in complience but the smaller corporations are having a hard time reaching complience even after getting a two year extension.
Sanjay Anand, chairman of the Sarbanes-Oxley Institute, believes that restatements are going double next year.

To read the full article, go here:
http://www.paradigmshiftpr.com/corporatecheckups.htm