Bob Scott, executive editor of the Progressive Accountant, and Jill Ward, senior vice president of Intuit's Accounting Professionals Division, discuss Intuit's new ProLine Practice Management application. Intuit introduced the web-based application as a pilot program this month and plans to launch the product fully after tax season.

Dean Yamagata, the audit partner of a prominent California CPA firm, has been suspended from practice before the SEC after that body found he accepted representations by management of a company that incorrectly recognized millions of dollars in revenue even after the firm found, in a 2004 audit, that it couldn't rely on the client's internal control. The SEC censured Moore Stephens Wurth Frazer & Torbet, which was more recently part of Frazer Frost, over the audit.The firm and Yamagata must disgorge $100,000 of audit fees and pay $29,500 in pre-judgment interest.

Gift and estate tax provisions in the newly signed tax bill are expected to trigger  a wave of wealth transfers during the next two years as the wealthy adjust their financial planning strategies, according to Lisa Featherngill, who chairs the American Institute of CPAs' committee for the Personal Financial Specialist credential. She attributed that to an increase in lifetime limits on giving.