On Friday, two members of the House Ways and Means Committee, Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Mike Thompson, (D-CA) introduced H.R. 2466, The Small Business Efficiency Act of 2011. Similar bills have been introduced several times in the past, but failed to advance.

The bill outlines rules that would allow professional employer organizations, or PEOs, that have earned IRS certification to collect and pay federal employment taxes for their small business customers. “Our legislation provides small business owners the flexibility to do what they do best – deliver quality products and services to their customers and expand their businesses, instead of worrying about reams of government paperwork,” said Representative Brady in a statement.

To qualify, the PEOs would need to undergo a financial review and post a bond of up to $1 million to guarantee payment of employment taxes, according to govtrack.us. more

According to a recent S&P report, U.S. companies have about $3 trillion in debt coming due between now and 2015. About one-third of that is considered speculative. Looking just at non-financial companies, about $535 billion of speculative debt will come due in just 2014 and 2015.

Smaller debt issuers may find it difficult to refinance, as banks continue to lend conservatively, as discussed in this post on the findings of the most recent Pepperdine Capital Markets Surveys. Many middle-market companies that have debt have not yet been able to extend it, Deloitte reports. more

If your company’s retirement plan isn’t following the rules, the IRS is increasingly likely to notice. That’s the conclusion of a recently released report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, or TIGTA. Given the nearly 900,000 retirement plans in existence today, that’s key.

The Employee Plans function within the IRS is charged with determining if retirement plans are complying with the tax-exempt provisions of the Internal Revenue code, as well as according to the terms of the plan document. For instance, they check that plan sponsors are making contributions as required and that assets exist to satisfy the liabilities. This is important both for corporate finance execs who want to be confident that their plans are operating legally, as well as for employees participating in the plan. more

In a press conference earlier this week, White House press secretary Jay Carney discussed LIFO, or the method of accounting for inventory in which the last products in are considered the first out. His remarks indicated that this is one area the Administration is looking to change, given that it can allow companies to report lower profits than they otherwise would. “So what we’re calling for is an end to a provision that would allow, for example, an oil — an energy company to sell a barrel of oil today, for the sake of argument, for $100, even though it bought that oil two years ago or three years ago for $40. Okay, that’s fine, $60 profit — but only report the profit as $2 because the last time they bought a barrel of oil it was $98,” he said.

Businesses that use LIFO accounting aren’t too thrilled with the idea. In March, The LIFO Coalition, representing more than 100 trade associations and companies, wrote to Congress, urging them to reject any repeal of LIFO. “LIFO is a well-accepted method of accounting used by hundreds of thousands of businesses to track their inventory costs and accurately measure their income for tax and financial reporting purposes, and repeal would have a severe, unfair, and long-lasting negative impact on economic growth and job creation,” their letter said. Among the members of The LIFO Coalition are the American Forest & Paper Association, the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The proposal isn’t playing well with Republicans, either, as this Dow Jones story points out. more

Judging by the initial public offerings (IPO) that already have come to the market this year, along with investment bankers’ predictions for the remainder of the year, the economy is indeed looking up. “If the investment bankers’ predictions play out, it will be a good year,” says Wendy Hambleton, partner in the capital markets area with accounting firm BDO. BDO recently surveyed 100 capital markets executives to get their thoughts on the market for IPOs during the second half of 2011.

More than half of the investment bankers surveyed predicted continued growth in the number and size of IPOs during the second half of 2011. Nearly 60 percent of respondents forecast an increase in the number of IPOs with 18 percent predicting a substantial jump. Only 13 percent anticipate a drop, and 28 percent said the market would remain unchanged.

If history is any guide, the number of IPOs indeed will jump. In seven of the last eight years, the number of IPOs increased in the last six months of the year, BDO reports. more