We found 2,062 results for "Accounting and Financial Planning for Law Firms"...
Stock Option Backdating
November 28, 2006
Just as the business community began making headway with Congress to reduce Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) obligations, a new type of corporate wrongdoing has been revealed ' backdated stock options used by the executives at many companies and some directors to convert their options at the most opportune times and at the expense of other shareholders and investors. What is troubling is how the boards of directors at so many companies could have approved the backdating or not known about it after SOX and the recent wave of high-profile corporate fraud investigations and prosecutions.
Using Business Plans in Recruiting Lateral Partners
November 28, 2006
Practice group structures, marketing departments, Chief Information Officers, even off-site operations centers ' each of these now commonplace elements of big law firm life is a manifestation of the business focus these firms have adopted. We all see it, with varying degrees of approval. Global law firms now develop and follow business strategies. Slowly, these firms are bringing a similar business focus to their lateral partner recruiting. For partners who think they might switch firms at some point, and for firms doing battle for talent in the lateral market, bringing a business perspective to your analysis can save a lot of time and energy. A properly prepared business plan will prevent the loss of countless (otherwise billable) hours and, more important, help avoid making the wrong move.
Controversy in Mergers on Payments to Departing Partners
November 28, 2006
New York's highest court has agreed to hear a case concerning law firms' ability to withhold capital contributions and compensation from departing partners.
Economic Considerations in Law Firm Blogging
November 28, 2006
According to studies cited by TechnoLawyer, approximately 80,000 new Web logs (blogs) launch every day, including dozens of law-related blogs (blawgs). A dedicated blogger myself (www.lawbizblog.com), I have found the experience to be a powerful form of marketing communication that continually connects me to actual and potential clients in ways I never anticipated.<br>Before members of your firm enter this technological brave new world, however, they should give due weight to the economic benefits and consequences of blogging. Here are some points worth considering.
Continuing Clashes over Cash Balance Pension Plans
November 27, 2006
The fight over cash balance plans is proving to be one for the ages. A hybrid of defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) pension plans, cash balance plans have engendered both confusion and dispute over the appropriate framework for analyzing their compliance with applicable law. Two recent conflicting decisions issued by the same U.S. District Court in New York reveal a continuing absence of clarity about the plans' legality, despite support given in August by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in the <i>Cooper v. IBM</i> decision and by Congress in the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA). <br>This article reviews recent developments, focusing on features of cash balance plans that have proven problematic, and on the prospect for a solution under the PPA.
Offshore Outsourcing: Protecting Privacy A World Away
November 17, 2006
Business Process Outsourcing ('BPO') to offshore service pro-viders has become an integral part of the global economy, finding particular success in the financial services, health care, and IT industries. To cite just a few examples, an estimated 400,000 American IRS tax returns were prepared in India last year, while as much as 30% of all medical transcription is now done overseas. Studies confirm that offshore BPO will not only continue to grow, but accelerate in the years to come. One study projects that by 2010, the world's 100 largest financial institutions will move $400 billion of their cost base offshore, saving an average of just under $1.5 billion annually each. The same survey also forecasts that by 2010 more than 20% of the financial industry's global cost base will have gone offshore.
The Government: Both a Problem and a Solution on Security Breaches
November 17, 2006
As private entities in virtually all industries have faced private data security breach challenges, we also are seeing the parallel rise of security breaches involving government entities. These recent breaches — led by the enormous publicity surrounding the Veterans' Administration loss/theft of a laptop containing the personal information of more than 26 million veterans — have focused attention on the government as both the collector of enormous amounts of personal information and the source of many security problems. With this new attention, the government needs to redouble its efforts to improve overall security and focus leadership attention on developing best practices that can both protect against government breaches and provide useful information to private sector entities facing the same challenges.
China's World Trade Compliance
November 06, 2006
Board of Editors member, Prof. Usha Haley, spoke at the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission Hearing on China's World Trade Compliance. In Part One, she addresses subsidies, their forms and complications. In Part Two, she covers how profitable and available those subsidies are and how profitable companies are that serve the China market.
At the Tipping Point
October 31, 2006
The debate over the issue of whether or not a law firm can have a mandatory retirement age has focused on the threshold question of whether the 'partner' is an 'employer' or an 'employee' under the ADEA. If the partner is a 'bona fide' partner then he or she is an 'employer' and not protected by the ADEA. However, if the partner is not a 'bona fide' partner under the relevant legal principles (which will be discussed later in this article), he or she may be protected by the ADEA and, therefore, able to challenge the mandatory retirement age policy.
The USA PATRIOT Act Renewed: Reassessing Money Laundering Risk in Finance Transactions
October 30, 2006
The federal government is stepping up its aggressive enforcement of anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism ('AML/CFT'). Enforcement actions have already spread beyond 'traditional' financial institutions, such as banks. Regulations that are expected to be promulgated soon will likely embolden these enforcement actions against leasing companies, equipment vendors, finance companies, and other 'financial institutions.' These parties should reassess their compliance risk under the AML/CFT rules. The consequences of these risks are important. For example, the loss of reputation from being brushed with the taint of money laundering can sink a business.
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