The IRS has announced that it is encouraging business taxpayers, among others, to submit tax issues involving a controversy or dispute to its Industry Issue Resolution, or IIR, program. If you’re interested, you’ll want to hurry; issues must be submitted by August 31, 2011 to be included in the next review.

To be sure, this isn’t just an opportunity to rant about taxes; instead, the objective of the program is for the IRS to help resolve tax issues that impact significant numbers of taxpayers by developing improved guidance. more

The IT systems you consider mission-critical almost certainly remain mission-critical today. But are there other systems that should be receiving similar attention and protection too?

A new study by Springboard Research sponsored by Intel may lead you to expand your idea of what constitutes mission-critical. The study found the idea of mission-critical computing is expanding from historical definitions to a far broader spectrum of workloads and applications.

What are your truly mission-critical systems? Certainly ERP and transaction processing systems remain mission-critical. Is CRM mission critical? How about procurement? Or HR? Or Finance itself? more

Guest post by Minah Hall, director of True Partners Consulting

The stock market looks more like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride every day. Just as we’re all reviewing our portfolios and investment strategies, states are reviewing and revising their strategies for future investment. Gone are the days of states waiting for businesses to come to them with proposed expansions and job creation… or even job retention. Their new approach is more aggressive (and ultimately more enticing).

Some states are openly targeting their neighbors. For example, after Illinois raised its corporate and personal income taxes , many states put Illinois in its crosshairs. Indiana, for example, implemented an “Ill-inoyed” PR campaign. Along interstates, in print media and on the internet, ads from Indiana Economic Development Corporation told Illinois corporate citizens the Grass really is Greener on the other side of the border. Moreover— more

Forty years ago this week – on August 15, 1971, to be exact – the U.S. abandoned the gold standard and fixed exchange rates that had been in place since the Bretton Woods agreement of 1944. Ever since, pundits and analysts have debated the wisdom of the move and the impact. “Lots of folks say it was a bad decision, and led to high inflation and interest rates, along with low growth,” says Tony Carfang, partner and director with Treasury Strategies, Inc. “Others say the high inflation, rates, and low growth came from the Great Society and all the social welfare spending.”

Further muddying the debate is the fact that former President Nixon, along with moving the U.S. off the gold standard, also issued 90-day wage and price controls, as he outlined in this address to the nation. In addition, in the mid-1970s, OPEC cut production of oil by about five million barrels per day, boosting oil prices. Between 1972 and 1974, the price of crude oil quadrupled from about $3 to more than $12 per barrel, as these graphs from WTRG Economics show. “Even with hindsight, it’s hard to untangle the spaghetti,” Carfang says. more

More CFOs are taking on increasing human resources (HR) management responsibilities.

For someone who tracks the growing risk of a global skills gap, this is good news. Or is it?

“Financial leaders are becoming more involved in all aspects of company operations, often to ensure greater financial controls across the enterprise and offer input on pricing, cost cutting and business restructuring,” said Paul McDonald, senior executive director of Robert Half Management Resources. more