New on Checkpoint

Overview

Accounting & Auditing

• PPC Newsletters on Checkpoint
• PPC Accounting & Auditing Update
• PPC Government Update
• PPC Nonprofit Update
• PPC PCAOB Current Developments
• PPC’s Guide to Internal Control Communications – SAS112

FRM

• SEC Filings Navigator

Tax

• Tax Alerts Interface with Ultratax CS
• Ultratax CS integration with PPC
• IBFD International Glossary
• Citation Tracker – Track It

Hidden Gems

• New Login Page
• Import/Export of Quicklinks

Past Enhancements

• September 2007
• June 2007
• March 2007
• December 2006

Overview
This latest release includes many “behind the scenes” enhancements to Checkpoint that make Checkpoint the best and most reliable research tool for the tax and accounting marketplace.

Back to Top

PPC Newsletters on Checkpoint
The addition of PPC Newsletters on Checkpoint rounds out the offering of PPC A&A content on Checkpoint, providing a single, integrated platform for your research and guidance needs.

Features of these newsletters:

• Three newsletters published monthly
• PCAOB newsletters published semi-annually
• Options allows users to select to receive the notification email that a new issue is available
• Newsletter content will be archived on a rolling basis starting with current year to three years

Benefits to users:

• Faster delivery than mail of print version
• Links to source documents and PPC products
• Single, integrated online platform

Back to Top

PPC Accounting and Auditing Update
Each month, The PPC Accounting and Auditing Update delivers six pages of concise, timely articles that keep you informed without wasting your time. The newsletter includes practical guidance on new pronouncements. The articles define the issues and how they affect you, and then tell you what needs to be done and how to do it. The Update includes coverage of hot topics that are important to your bottom line—from the rapidly changing standard-setting environment to ethics issues, to common audit concerns and financial statement pitfalls. The PPC Technology Update, a regular monthly feature, addresses the latest technology issues facing CPAs.

Back to Top

PPC Governmental Update
The PPC Governmental Update is a unique four-page monthly newsletter designed specifically for government accounting professionals and auditors. This newsletter delivers practical solutions to real problems and how-to guidance on applying new standards that affect you right now, such as GASBS No. 34, Yellow Book independence and CPE requirements, and the revised Yellow Book. It has up-to-the-minute information about government accounting, auditing, financial reporting, and single audits, assures you that you will always be "in the know"—able to quickly respond to new requirements, avoid deficiencies, and manage your governmental practice to save time and increase profits!

Back to Top

PPC Nonprofit Update
The PPC Nonprofit Update is the only monthly newsletter that covers accounting, auditing, and tax issues affecting nonprofit organizations. This six-page, monthly newsletter will keep you up-to-date on current developments for nonprofits and show you how to apply the newest accounting, auditing, and tax rules and regulations. Plus, you'll get highlighted tips to put to immediate use, not just a listing of pronouncements, to decipher exactly how the newest developments will affect your nonprofit clients.

Back to Top

PPC PCAOB Current Developments
To ensure you always have the most current information necessary to perform your PCAOB Audits, we've created PPC's PCAOB Current Developments. The Service is offered exclusively to customers of PPC's Guide to PCAOB Audits (not sold separately). Comprehensive current developments e-newsletters are approximately 20 pages long and include both current developments affecting your PCAOB audits and specific revisions to your programs and practice aids. Leave it to us to monitor the standard-setters, synthesize the information you need to know, and summarize it in an understandable format so you can focus your time and effort on client service. This newsletter has already been available as part of the subscription to PPC’s Guide to PCAOB Audits. This release will provide the added feature of email notification when a new issue is available.

Back to Top

New Guide – PPC’s Guide to Internal Control Communications – Applying SAS No. 112
PPC’s Guide to Internal Control Communications – Applying SAS No. 112 is a new guide designed for firms in the professional market that perform audit work SAS 112, Communicating Internal Control Related Matters Identified in an Audit, requires financial statement auditors to evaluate financial reporting control deficiencies identified during the audit and, within 60 days of the audit report date, communicate in writing to management those considered significant deficiencies or material weaknesses. SAS 112 is effective for audits of financial statements for periods ending on or after December 15, 2006. This means SAS 112 is already effective now!

Features of this new Guide:

• Hundreds of illustrative communication examples
• Comments categorized by audit area
• An index of comments
• Guidance and practice aids on classifying and aggregating deficiencies
• Guidance on the form of the report, not just the comments
• Help with specific issues, such as whether preparing financial statements for your client always results in a reportable control deficiency

Benefits to customers:

• Helps auditors understand the new requirements of SAS 112
• Accurately evaluate, aggregate, and classify identified internal control deficiencies
• Prepare internal control communications

Back to Top

SEC Filings Navigator
The SEC Filings Navigator is a NEW time-saving workflow tool that guides the user through each item in each of the commonly used Forms issued by the SEC (10-K, 10-Q, and 8-K) and provides them with summary guidance as well as extensive search templates to quickly identify and understand the critical disclosures required for each item. Users are assured of up-to-date accurate guidance for each item because expert in-house authors continuously monitor, synthesize, and summarize complex, multi-sourced rules and regulations, and link to in-depth, on-point analysis in R&G publications as well as relevant primary source material and productivity-enhancing work-tools. Date sorting allows users to quickly determine changes in compliance requirements from prior periods. SEC Filings Navigator represents a significant advance in the integration of information and work-tools for professionals charged with critical public company reporting responsibilities.

Back to Top

Tax Alerts Interface with Ultra Tax CS
With the second release of the 2007 UltraTax CS disc (on or around December 17, 2007), a great new benefit will be the integration of Tax Alerts and the 2007 UltraTax CS software. This integration will provide the subscribers of both 2007 UltraTax CS software and Tax Alerts with a tool that will help them get answers quickly and efficiently to questions that arise as they are preparing a client’s tax return.

The Tax Alerts service can now function as an inexpensive portal to Checkpoint. Tax Alerts Developments and Client Services can be used as a starting point for the practitioner’s research. For this feature to function the practitioner will need to subscribe to both Tax Alerts and the 2007 version of UltraTax CS, and the integration is free to all subscribers.

Back to Top

UltraTax CS Integration with PPC’s 1041 Deskbook
In partnership with Creative Solutions, direct access to the most authoritative guidance in the industry for Form 1041 is now just a click away with PPC Deskbooks and UltraTax CS. Simply click on the PPC icon from any data entry tab section on any input screen in UltraTax CS Form 1041 software and go directly to the relevant key issues, illustrations and practice aids in PPC’s 1041 Deskbook – at no additional cost provided you also subscribe to the 1041 Deskbook on Checkpoint. The key issues, illustrations and practice aids (including elections, filled-in forms, checklists and worksheets) in each Deskbook have been expertly mapped to data entry tab sections to make reporting your answer just as easy as finding it.

With PPC’s 1041 Deskbook on Checkpoint and UltraTax CS, users can:

• Generate clean, accurate, worry-free returns.
• Easily and efficiently verify the accuracy of information on a return.
• Confidently resolve complex tax issues by linking directly from any input field in any tab section on any input screen in UltraTax CS to the relevant key issues, practice aids and illustrations in PPC Deskbooks.
• Identify tax saving moves and future planning engagements.
• Rely on advanced diagnostics to pinpoint errors and keep clients out of trouble.
• Capitalize on the integration between UltraTax CS, other engagement and practice management software from Creative Solutions, and PPC Deskbooks to streamline return preparation, strengthen quality control systems, and move closer to a paperless tax office.
• Reduce research time and increase profitability.
• Increase staff productivity.

Back to Top

IBFD International Glossary
IBFD's International Tax Glossary has now been added to Checkpoint, further rounding out the IBFD offering on Checkpoint. With the addition of 400 new terms and some 300 new or substantially revised descriptions, this latest edition of the IBFD International Tax Glossary continues to provide users with the broadest possible coverage of the language of taxation. This online version is updated yearly with new and updated terms.

Features include:

• More than 2,000 tax terms, clearly and concisely defined in English.
• Alphabetical listing of some 400 English terms together with their French, German, Spanish and Dutch equivalents.
• Cross-referenced listing of terms indicating similar, related and contrasting terms.
• Abbreviations and bibliographical references to aid further research.
• A unique list of tax-related organizations, with brief descriptions and Internet addresses.
• Expanded coverage of terms relating to customs, VAT, capital taxes, transfer pricing and EU tax law terminology.
• A separate extensive list of tax-related organizations in some 40 countries.

The International Tax Glossary will be accessible on Checkpoint both from the Table of Contents and Search screens. In the Table of Contents, it will be located within IBFD Materials:

The IBFD International Tax Glossary will be assigned product code WITG, and will cost $165.00 for one user.

Back to Top

Citation Tracker – Track It
Citation Tracker is subscription-sensitive functionality that allows Checkpoint users to follow developments on Federal tax cases or IRS Rulings and Releases by turning on Track It for that case or ruling and receiving email notification when it is cited in a newly reported Federal tax case or IRS ruling/release. The following IRS Rulings and Releases documents are available for Track It: Rev Ruls, Rev Procs, Notices, Announcements, PLRs, TAMs, FSAs, SCAs, CCAs and AODs. Citation Tracker gives subscribers an up to date list of new Federal tax cases or IRS rulings that cite to the document they are tracking. To activate Citation Tracker click the “Track It” top line link in the case or IRS Ruling/Release that you want to track. The case or IRS Ruling/Release will be tracked for 1 year unless the user clicks the Turn Off button. If they want to extend tracking for a case or ruling beyond 1 year, they can do so by clicking the Extend button.

Citation Tracker is included in the following product codes at no charge: WTAXC, WTAX, WTAXE, WTAXP, WTAXI, WTXEZ, WTXPZ, WEB5, WEB5K, WCRP1, WCRP2, WCRP3, WEB4, W4Sxx, W4CIT, W3CIT, W3EPD, WPENC, WPENZ, WPBEC, WESPC and WESPZ.

In addition to the email alerts, when a user opens the tracked document on Checkpoint, they will see a list of the last 30 days of citations in the left pane, if any, to the tracked document.

Citation Tracker will be available soon as an add-on to other products for $495 for a single user.

Back to Top

New login page
A bright new, easy to use login page has been created. Once in Checkpoint, the noticeable items will be a different shade of "blue", the area with Tabs has different shading around it and the color of the text is different; all links are a dark blue with a mouseover of red.

Back to Top

Import/Export of Quicklinks
Quicklinks can now be shared between users with the new Import and Export Quick Link from Checkpoint.

To export Quick Links, follow these steps:

• Click on "Edit” on the “My Quick Links" pane on the Home Tab
• Click on the "Export Quick Links" under “Edit My Quick Links” on the left-pane

Follow the on line instructions to create an HTML document which contains your current list of Quick Links.

Once you have exported your Quick Links, you can import these Quick Links into any Checkpoint ID by way of the HTML document.

To import Quick Links:

• log into the receiving Checkpoint ID and go to Edit My Quick Links and click on "Import Links"
• You will be presented with two options, either "Replace" or "Merge"
• "Replace" substitutes the current list of Quick Links with the link from you HTML document, while "Append" adds them to the existing list of Quick Links.
• To either Replace or Append Quick Links select "Browse" and locate the appropriate HTML file from your computer's hard-drive.

Back to Top