Usually editors don't get so directly involved in a story. But as a cautionary tale about backing up data, it's difficult to avoid what happened with one home computer with a problem and the Dell attempts to solve it that ended up erasing every data file on the hard drive.

The prevailing attitude toward taking care of sales-and-use taxes looks a lot like the attitude many people have towards payroll processing. That ranges from doing everything yourself to outsourcing everything. In the middle, are all the variants of performing some tasks, but not others. And that probably explains why there’s an array of software and services available, like CCH’s CorpSystem service, which recently joined its software sibling on the market.

The SEC has established a proposed Fair Fund plan via which disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties will be distributed to those who claim they suffered losses from the purchase of variable annuities sold fraudulently by GilmanCiocia, subsidiary Prime Capital Services and four representatives. CEO Michael Ryan and Chief Compliance Officer Rose Rudden have been barred from supervisory capacity in any broker dealer or investment advisor for one year in the same case.