Roadmap to IFRS—The SEC has released its newest roadmap for the potential use of financial statements prepared in accordance with IFRS. The roadmap deals with various issues, including improvements in accounting standards, education and training relating to IFRS, limited early use of IFRS and more.

CalCPA At Your Fingertips—Looking for information on what CalCPA events you’ve registered for or a listing of all CPE taken from CalCPA or the Education Foundation? Look no further than the Manage My Account function of CalCPA’s website. Have your username and password ready and get started today.

Mortgage Forgiveness—While similar to federal law, California's mortgage forgiveness debt relief law, which covers qualified debt forgiven in 2007 and 2008, contains some important differences practitioners should note.

CCH 2009 Tax Guides Discounts—CalCPA members can order CCH’s 2009 U.S. Master Tax Guide and the Guidebook to California Taxes 2009 at discounted rates. Order your Tax Guides today.

Proposed New Auditor Risk Standards—The PCAOB proposed for public comment a suite of seven auditing standards related to the auditor’s assessment of and responses to risk and related conforming amendments. The proposed standards would provide direction on audit procedures performed from the initial planning stages of the audit through the evaluation of the audit results in forming the opinions in the auditor's report. The comment period closes Feb. 18.

Stimulus Payments Looking for a Home—The IRS is looking for more than 300,000 U.S. taxpayers—including more than 45,000 in California—whose tax refund or economic stimulus checks were returned as undeliverable. Use the IRS Where’s My Stimulus Payment? tool to see if you or a client is on the list.

New budget, new tax laws—From improved compliance to NOL suspension to tax credit limitations, check out which tax laws changed with the recently adopted California budget.

MAP Survey: The Results Are In—Ever wonder how you compare to similar firms when it comes to billing rates, annual compensation, benefits offered or other aspects? Now you can check: download the AICPA’s PCPS/TSCPA National MAP Practice Survey results, which are broken into national and California-specific responses.

SEC Takes Look at Accounting Standards—The SEC is undertaking a Congressionally mandated study on “mark-to-market” accounting that will focus on the effects of such standards on a financial institution's balance sheet, on bank failures in 2008 and on the quality of financial information available to investors, among other areas.

Auditing Audit Firms’ Financial Statements—Privately-held audit firms could be reporting annual financial results under GAAP—and releasing those financial statements to the public—if recommendations by the U.S. Treasury's Advisory Committee on the Auditing Profession are accepted.

Gearing up for LLC Suspension Program—In early 2009, the FTB will begin to suspend/forfeit the rights, powers and privileges of LLCs for non-payment of taxes, penalties or interest and/or failure to file a return. The action is meant to bring LLCs into compliance and reduce the tax gap. Read more.

Market Meltdown? Counsel Your Clients Off the Ledge—This archive of a Sept. 18 webcast is available for free download to CalCPA members. In the hour-long webcast, two leading, nationally recognized CPA personal financial planners review current financial market events and share strategies on how to reach out to clients during this chaotic time. Access the webcast today.

Tax Credit Aids First-Time Homebuyers—First-time homebuyers should begin planning now to take advantage of a new tax credit included in the recently enacted Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008.The credit applies to home purchases after April 8, 2008, and before July 1, 2009.

FTB: New Adjusted Interest Rate—The adjusted interest rate will drop to 5 percent from 7 percent, effective Jan. 1–June 30, 2009. The rate for corporation tax overpayments for the period also will drop Jan. 1 from 3 percent to 2 percent.

Recession Busters—An expert provides tips CPAs can offer their clients during the economic downturn.

Changing Hands—The PCAOB recently adopted rules that govern when a firm would be allowed to succeed to the registration status of a predecessor firm following a merger or other change in the  registered firm’s legal form.

The IRS has a comprehensive Economic Stimulus Payments Information Center providing information on eligibility, instructions on how to receive the payments and more.

Is the state and local income tax deduction an "efficient use of federal resources"? The Congressional Budget Office released a report this month that takes a long hard look at that question.

Changes for Auditors—The PCAOB’s new Auditing Standard No. 6, Evaluating Consistency of Financial Statements, updates the auditor’s responsibilities to evaluate and report on the consistency of a company’s financial statements and align the auditor’s responsibilities with SFAS No. 154.