Top tax writers renew pledge for tax code revamp

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The heads of the two tax-writing committees in Congress brushed aside 

skeptics on Monday and pledged in an opinion piece published in the Wall Street Journal to seek a bipartisan tax code overhaul despite fierce political headwinds.

Democrat Max Baucus, the Senate Finance Committee chairman, and Republican Dave Camp, who heads the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, renewed their vow to scour the tax code for unfair loopholes and to discuss it all in public.

Any effort to rewrite the tax code faces an uphill fight in Congress, with Democrats and Republicans often miles apart on tax policy. Many lawmakers in both parties advocate tax reform, but offer vastly different visions for change.

Although not stated in the piece, Baucus and Camp have said they want to pass tax reform legislation this year.

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Source: Reuters http://finance.yahoo.com

6 Signs of Recovery6 Signs of Recovery

After facing several challenging years for fundraising, private equity firms are finally seeing an uptick. In 2012, they raised $311 billion, according to data provider Preqin - more than they have in any year since 2008.

"We have reached a new normal," explains Kelly DePonte (pictured), a managing director with placement agent Probitas Partners, which has offices in San Francisco, New York, London and Hong Kong. "The boom period was driven by a highly liquid debt market, which created a frothy private equity market, but that fundraising market was an aberration. Fundraising levels in 2012 were about 15 percent higher than 2011. We are not getting back to 2007 and we shouldn't. We are in a good place now."

As 2013 gets off to a promising start, here are six signs of health in PE fundraising.

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Source: Danielle Fugazy  http://www.themiddlemarket.com

Get Clients to Stay in Touch After Tax Day

As tax season winds down, it may be hard to think about work beyond the imminent and deserved time off, but there are points you can raise with clients to keep them coming to you for the rest of the year, too.

“Have you visited your doctor for your annual physical? Have you seen your dentist once or twice in the past year? Your financial health is as important as your physical health. To stay healthy, you must monitor your health and be aware of any changes. Your financial health needs to be monitored in the same way,” according to a marketing primer from the National Association of Enrolled Agents.

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Source: Jeff Stimpson,  http://www.accountingtoday.com

United States: Nasdaq Proposes New Internal Audit Function Requirement

On March 4, 2013, Nasdaq issued a proposed new rule that, if approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), will require listed companies to establish and maintain an internal audit function.  The proposed rule is open for public comment until 21 days after publication in the Federal Register, but it is expected to be approved by the SEC.  It would make this Nasdaq listing requirement similar to that of the NYSE, which already has an internal audit function requirement. 

By requiring an internal audit function, Nasdaq seeks to ensure that a company's management and audit committee receive ongoing assessments of the company's risk management processes and system of internal control that are provided independently from the company's routine accounting and financial reporting regimes.  A company will be allowed to outsource the internal audit function to any third party (other than its independent auditor), but the audit committee must maintain sole responsibility for oversight, and it may not allocate or delegate that responsibility to another board committee.

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Source: W. Barkley, Randy Eaddy, David Eaton, Aaron M. Aslow, David Stockton, and Monica R. Richey. http://www.mondaq.com

Unleash Your Inner Business Artist

We all spend so much time focusing on our specific role – accountant, chief marketing officer, intern, vice president of supply chain – that we forget to incorporate an identity we all share: artist. Regardless of job title or corporate trajectory, each of us has a bit of “artist” inside; most of us have ignored it for far too long. Real value is generated when we all infuse creativity into our work, at all levels of organizations. This injection of artistry is our responsibility as individuals, as well as our responsibility as leaders, in order to build companies that relish in this creative, innovative (and ultimately productive) culture. Here are a few ways to let your inner artist shine.

Meetings. Most meetings are incredibly boring – someone gives a Power Point presentation and the rest of the room counts the minutes remaining until its conclusion. It doesn’t have to be this way. Switch it up. Start a meeting with a 5-minute drawing session. End the meeting with a 10-minute brainstorm. Play hot potato – start with an easy category (colors, for example) and toss a ball around as every person catches it and names off an example in the category. Move toward the category of what the meeting is focused upon and generate a long list through the game.

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Source: Josh Linkner  http://www.forbes.com

More savers can convert to Roth 401(k)s under fiscal cliff deal

An unexpected provision in the fiscal cliff deal will give workers the option of paying taxes now on their retirement savings instead of later on when they withdraw money from their accounts.

The change -- intended to drum up billions of dollars in government revenue -- allows more employees to convert a traditional 401(k) into a Roth 401(k), a relatively new retirement savings option that front loads the tax liability. Those choosing the conversion would pay taxes on the funds transferred, but any future gains or withdrawals would be tax free.

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Source: Melanie Hicken,  money.cnn.com

The age of ‘gentle optimism’ Cautious optimism reflects relative stability of the markets this year

So far this year advisers appear quietly and cautiously optimistic.

This is not the exuberant optimism that followed the 2009 stockmarket falls, which simply reflected the sweeping relief that financial markets had not quite disintegrated, nor had City traders flung themselves from their office windows in droves.

This gentle optimism is much more welcome and potentially more sustainable than the emotion-led highs and lows of the previous few years.

The latest Celsius report, a quarterly investment sentiment indicator produced by Financial Times Publishing, reveals that advisers have increased risk appetite for equities; increased confidence in growth asset classes and IMA sectors; and increased appetite for a larger number of IMA sectors since last quarter.
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Source: Anna Lawlor,  www.ftadvisor.com