SmartPros Opinion Polls were created as a sounding board for our members to voice opinions about important and interesting topics facing the profession today. Your opinions and insights are important! Don't forget to sign up to receive our newsletter, which highlights poll results.

POLL RESULTS: LAY SHOULD PAY

Despite Ken Lay's death, prosecutors still plan to collect the fine levied on the Enron founder. From where do you think prosecutors should collect the fine?

*majority of write-in responses said "Lay's estate."

This unscientific online poll included 450 responses captured between Aug. 22, 2006, and Sept. 11, 2006.

HOW DO ACCOUNTANTS RANK?

Recent results of an annual Harris Interactive Poll of 1,020 U.S. adults found that accountants rank 16th in a list of 23 occupations rated by their "prestige."

If Harris Interactive had asked YOU to rank the Accountant occupation, which option would you have chosen?*

Very great prestige	23%
Some prestige	46%
Considerable prestige	20%
Hardly any prestige at all	11%

... and some additional (optional) comments:

"Just as in all professions, there will always be 'bad seeds.' Unfortunately, our media tends to highlight the negative news and pretty much ignore the positive. For that reason, the accounting profession has gotten a bum rap over the past couple of years. However, the majority of accountants are well educated, ethical, talented individuals who do a fantastic job for their customers -- whether they be public, corporate, private or non-profit. Accountants help bind the fabric of our great economy."

"Prestige comes with time, a strong work ethic and long hours of service to our clients; after which prestige is granted."

"Public accounting has lost its ethical base. In today's society, the important goal is to get the client--not service the client well. It appears that a firm's reputation is based on the quality of its marketing/public relations consultant and not its service to clients and the community. I don't believe the atmosphere, in public accounting, was as jaded twenty years ago."

"I think that society at large does hold the accounting profession to high prestige, because of the education and training involved on a subject alien to most people, but I don't think people think the same about the accountants they work with."

*138 respondents between August 4-20 who are "an accountant or [who] serve in that capacity."

ARE LAY AND SKILLING GUILTY?

Before jurors announced their verdict, SmartPros readers answered the Opinion Poll question, "Do you think Lay and Skilling are guilty?"

61% said Lay is guilty of all charges

• 33% said Lay is guilty of some charges
• 6% said he is not guilty

70% said Skilling is guilty of all charges

• 25% said he is guilty of some charges
• 5% said he is not guilty

The poll captured 280 responses from opt-in pollsters between May 8 and May 24, 2006.

DO YOU WATCH THE IRS?

SmartPros asked readers, "Do you keep an eye on IRS news: press releases, testimonies, policy and procedure updates, and other information?" Forty-five percent said, "Yes, regularly," and 48 percent said, "Yes, but only now and then." The remainder replied "No."

Comments (subject to editing):

As some things do tend to "fly under the radar" proposals like selling taxpayer information can get through if enough people aren't aware to protest. I think it is very important to "keep and eye" on the IRS. The taxpayer information item just goes to show how out of touch the IRS can be with the current world. 

We can't operate in a vacuum; we need to know the context of the rules and what is coming at us.
 
It's like following another world. I, personally, don't have any influence. That's why I have to rely on my professional associations to act on my behalf.

Unless one is in the field or doing work related, they need to keep abreast of changing regulations.

To work in any area of the accounting field, you must find time to review the information or guidance the Treasury Department is issuing to the IRS. Some things I agree with and others I do not. I have volunteered to be an active participant in the IRS programs like TAP. If you have a concern, seek out your local IRS representative for tax issues and express your concern and any positive suggestions.

I currently do not have a job in the tax compliance field, having retired 5 years ago, so I no longer keep up with the nitty gritty details as was required and provided for by my employer for 15 years. I have tax burnout and hope I never find myself in a situation where I have to prepare income tax returns.

SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY, SIMPLIFY! I have been teaching university tax courses for over 35 years -- it gets more fun every year!

The IRS has changed dramatically and is moving rapidly back to its directly confrontational approach.

What's coming up sometimes is more important than what's already happening or happened.

Not relevant to me until tax day.

Keeping up with the constant changes is a job in and of itself. Additonally, no one person can possibly hope to know and understand all the chapters for all the varied areas. A simple method must be found that is fair to all US citizens. The Fair Tax would be a good starting place to look.

DO YOU "GOOGLE"?

Of the 235 respondents who participated in this survey, 91 percent said "Yes," they do "google," and just 9 percent said "No." The chart below details what search tasks respondents use Google for.

Yes	59%
No	26%
Why bother?	15%

87 responses between Feb. 3-28, 2006

DOES COMPLEX ACCOUNTING CAUSE FRAUD? 
Results

Do you think "complex" accounting rules give companies the opportunity -- or make it easier for them -- to commit accounting fraud?

125 responses:

Yes. Complex accounting rules make it easier to commit fraud.	54.4%
No. It has nothing to do with the complexity of the rules and all to do with business ethics.	43.2%
None of the above	2.4%

*Online survey conducted Dec. 27, 2005 - Feb. 3, 2006

IS YOUR BUSINESS (OR EMPLOYER OR WORKFORCE) PREPARED FOR A CRISIS? 
Results

155 responses:

Yes	28%
No	57%
Not sure	15%

WITH "FAIR SALARY" AS THE CRITERIA, HOW DO YOU RATE YOUR SALARY?
Results

369 responses:

Excellent	8%
Good	28%
Fair	47%
Poor	16%
Not sure	1%

About 200 SmartPros readers chimed in on whether KPMG "got off easy" when it agreed to a $456 million fine and to have its business practices overseen by an outside monitor to settle allegations that it sold illegal tax shelters. A whopping 74 percent of you said "yes" -- KPMG did get off easy. Just 17 percent said no, and nine percent weren't sure.

The poll ran on SmartPros Accounting between August 29 and September 3. 

Here are some of the opt-in comments made by respondents (comments are unedited):

Are you kidding me. 456M is not a small sum.

They always settle to avoid court action. AA did the same thing for years. KPMG will be the next Anderson.

They have agreed to settle but was what they did criminal? The IRS opinion differs with KPMG. Have you ever not agreed with the IRS?

The period for being monitored should be longer than December 2006.

Does the evidence prove wrong doing in this activity, then by all means they are getting off too easy. Is the evidence only circumstantial then maybe it is the right amount in order to send the message that there will be no tolerating of wrong doing.

At $300,000 per partner, including audit partners, plus criminal indictments of senior executive tax partners, you can't say this was getting off easy.

KPMG got off way too easy - the penalty did not fit the crime, especially if you consider what happened to AA&Co. for a much less egregious offenses - and the only one that resulted in a conviction was subsequently overturned on appeal. To allow KPMG to remain viable and in businees is a travesty.

If this was a smaller firm it would be out of business and people would be going to jail. I'm tired of seeing the Big 4 get off easy. The tax folks at these big firms sell these shelters and then it's the tax staff in industry that have to try and defend these issues before the IRS.

Don't have enough information on the allegations to determine whether the DOJ even has authority to prosecute them. I don't like the idea of the DOJ going after tax preparers on general matters. Encourage those clients that were damaged by KPMG's actions to sue them in civil court. Who gets the $456 Million?

The word "Public" should be taken out of the designation "Certified Public Accountant". Inclusion of this word only serves one purpose and that is to confuse and mislead the general public.

COULD YOU BLOW THE WHISTLE?
Results

Employees who have an established protocol to follow in order to report questionable accounting practices are more likely to "blow the whistle" than employees who don't have a protocol to follow, a recent SmartPros Opinion Poll reveals.

Of the 98 respondents who answered the online survey in August 2005, 64 percent of employees with an established ethics/whistleblower program would report questionable accounting. Without such a program, only 43 percent would report questionable accounting.

Does your employer have a process in place that would allow you to report questionable accounting?

No	36%
Yes	51%
Not sure	13%

If your employer has a process in place, are you comfortable going to your superiors to report questionable practices?

No	28%
Yes	64%
Not sure	8%

If your employer does not have a process in place, are you comfortable going to your superiors to report questionable practices?

No	51%
Yes	43%
Not sure	6%

TAX REFORM 
Results

In a recent poll (Aug. 1 - Aug. 7), SmartPros readers shared their two cents about proposed tax reform.

Of the nearly 200 respondents, 48 percent said a new code should shift taxes away from savings and towards spending, 13 percent want to retain the existing income tax while dramatically simplifying some of its most snarled provisions, and just 6 percent agree with the value-added tax. The remaining 33 percent said none of the above options was a best choice. Those who chose "none of the above" overwhelmingly said the Fair Tax is the way to go.  (See below for original survey question and options.)

It's worth noting that several of the 48 percent of respondents who selected "broadly restructure the code to shift taxes away from savings and towards spending" correctly considered this the Fair Tax initiative. With this taken into consideration, the majority of respondents believe the Fair Tax is the way to go.

Here are some of the (unedited) comments from respondents who like the Fair Tax option:

National Retail Sales Taxes - aka FairTax (HR25) Income taxes punish good behaviour (hard work and savings) VATs are too insidious - they're hidden at each step of production and are too easily manipulated by government with little or no notice to the public - also too transparent to public, who don't realize how much they're actually paying. If we're going to shift taxes away from savings and towards spending, it has to be done 100% - no exceptions. Shift the entire tax structure to spending habits, and everyone in the US (citzens, foreigners, illigal aliens) become taxpayers - no favorites.

The Tax Reform plan that makes the most sense, BY FAR, is the FairTax Act (HR 25/S 25). Let's quit "debating" the subject... the answer is obvious: Enact the FairTax and move on to other areas of needed reform such as Immigration control, beefed-up National Security, paydown the National Debt, steady reduction of tax rate, etc. GoTo: http://www.geocities.com/cmcofer/ft-up.html

Repeal all forms of Federal income taxation and replace it with the consumption tax proposal currently before Congress, the Fair Tax Act of 2005, H.R.25 & S-25. This bill is a grassroots proposal that has been well designed using data collected from a focus study conducted on we the citizens of the USA. It is innovative, fair and uncomplicated and a lot more. We the people can again feel as though our government is of the people, by the people and for the people. It will release our entrepreneurs from the shackles placed on them by the Income Tax Code. Our economy will blossom like never before while keeping our jobs at home and bringing off-shore banking account monies back to help build our infrastructure. Our future generations will never again be asked to file a tax return, nor pay a huge part of their income on hidden taxes, nor pay some one else's taxes -- those of corporations and businesses who pass their taxes on in the price of their products. Get with it folks.

The author [Ed Ketz] is correct - the FairTax offers the greatest promise for real tax reform. With globalization sweeping the planet, it is worse than senseless to retain a tax system which puts US producers at a disadvantage vs their international competitors.

Original survey question and options:

According to BusinessWeek.com*, the most likely tax code reform includes the following options. Which do you agree with?

*Three Roads to Reform. BusinessWeek.com.  August 1, 2005.

ARCHIVE

 Are you following the legal battles over accounting malpractices, such as WorldCom, HealthSouth or Tyco?
Yes - 85%
No - 15%

Do you think it's overhyped?
Yes - 18% 
No - 82%

Which of the following will be the most challenging issue for you (and/or your employer) in the new year?

30% - Employee recruitment, training, and retention
23% - Sarbanes-Oxley compliance
23% - Tax law changes
7% - Technology spending
5% - Stock option expensing
12% - Other 

According to Troy Waugh in 101 Marketing Strategies, continuing education can be used for marketing. Waugh says 1) Let your clients know about your commitment to training 2) Obtain skills that will attract clients 3) Learn more marketing and selling skills.

Does your company employ any of these methods?
47% -  Yes
34% -  No
19% -  I don't know

Where are you in your career?
SmartPros asked readers to gauge how they feel about their career path.

Which answer best describes how you feel about your career?
33% - I strive to reach my goals, even if I fall short sometimes
20% - I feel like I need to start all over
16% - I have neutral feelings about my career
16% - I feel in complete control of my career
14% - I've strayed off course

Do you dream of striking out on your own and becoming your own boss? 
67% - Yes
20% - No
  9% - I'm already my own boss

Are you going to look for a new job in the next 12 months?
59% - Yes
19% - No
22% - Maybe

How many hours a week do you read?
SmartPros asked readers to share how often they read for business or pleasure. Your responses:

For pleasure:

24% - 1-2 hours per week
21% - 3-4 hours per week
21% - 5-6 hours per week
26% - 7+ hours per week
7% - Are you kidding? Who has the time to read for pleasure?!

For business:

29% - 1-2 hours per week 
30% - 3-4 hours per week
19% - 5-6 hours per week
23% - 7+ hours per week

For pleasure, you like the classics; some of your favorites include Jane Eyre, Great Expectations, Anna Karenina. Not many respondents shared a favorite business-related book, but some did list 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

SmartPros asked its members, "When do you plan to sit for the CPA exam?" Their responses:

21% - April-May 2004
22% - July-August 2004
23% - October-November 2004
18% - 2005
  7% - 2006 or later
  9% - not sure