July 2008

Welcome to the July, 2008 issue of Focus on Learning, the monthly newsletter for the CCH Learning Center that provides insights on how to use the Learning Center to your full advantage and updates on new courses and features available to you. In each issue we highlight a course (or series of courses) on a timely topic, and let you know about new courses released in the CCH Learning Center. We also inform you of new useful features, provide helpful tips on existing features, and help you use the CCH Learning Center to meet your professional development and CPE needs.

NEW! Redesigned Learning Center
A redesigned Learning Center is coming to you next month. The goal of redesigning our site is to help you more easily find courses relevant to your learning needs. We also hope you will find the new site easier to navigate.

To better meet your learning needs, our new site will feature Learning Center courses aligned into competency-based curricula. The curricula will list area-specific competencies in a progressive order to help you custom design learning paths to suit your needs or the specific needs to your associates. Users will not be bound to a learning path; they may pick and choose only those courses they need to achieve their personal goals or meet their firm’s curriculum requirements.

In addition, the new site will also provide enhanced search functionality. After the site is launched, you will be able to search for courses by topic, course level, format or by any combination of these criteria. You will still be able to search by key word as you can on the current site.

These are just some of the changes you will see on the new Learning Center. We hope you will find our redesigned site useful and easy to navigate.

New Learning Center Core Library Courses
CCH is committed to keeping you up-to-date and knowledgeable on the latest issues that impact your firm or corporation. Many new or revised courses covering a wide range of topics have been released to the CCH Learning Center Core Library over the past two months, including:

• Amortization Rules (Third Edition)

• Depreciation Course (2008 Edition)

• Fair Value Measurements — SFAS No. 157 and 159

• Like-Kind Exchanges (Second Edition)

• Recent Tax Developments (May-June 2008)

• Tax Breaks for Going Green

New Courses:  Accounting and Audits Specialty Library
Several new courses have been released exclusively to the CCH Specialty Library: Accounting and Audits. This library covers a broad range of accounting and auditing courses including specialized topics.  Courses include:

• Government Auditing Standards: The New Yellow Book

• National Single Audit Sampling Project

• Quality Control and Peer Review

New Courses: State Taxation Specialty Library
Several new courses have also been released exclusively to the CCH Specialty Library: State Taxation. This library provides insights on important or emerging state tax issues, and analyzes their impact on compliance and planning. It provides the guidance you need to stay a step ahead of important state tax issues. New courses released exclusively to this library include:

• California Tax: Net Operating Losses and Net Operating Loss Carryovers (Second Edition)

• Passive Investment Companies: State Tax Planning Strategy

• Sales and Use Tax: Registration and Compliance (Second Edition) (this course is also part of the Sales and Use Taxation Specialty Library)

• Valuation of Real Estate

New Courses: Wealth Management Specialty Library
Several new courses have also been released exclusively to the CCH Specialty Library: Wealth Management. This library provides insights on important or emerging financial and estate planning issues. It addresses a wide range of wealth management issues, from strategic planning to preparing the appropriate tax forms. New courses released exclusively to this library include:

• Boomer Planning (Second Edition)

• CLATs and Private Annuities: Estate Planning Bet to Die Strategies

• Deferred Compensation Developments (Second Edition)

• Exit Plans for Financed Life Insurance

• Health Savings Accounts (Third Edition)

Course Spotlight: Depreciation Course (2008 Edition)
Depreciation is especially challenging because bits and pieces of applicable information must be gathered from a maze of Revenue Procedures, IRS Tables and IRS Regulations. These sources are sometimes old and may include materials not be applicable to your situation. CCH's Depreciation Course pulls the pieces together to provide a comprehensive overview of this difficult topic.

CCH's Depreciation Course (2008 Edition) is a great resource for tax and accounting practitioners who work with businesses. The course is designed to help you understand and apply the basic concepts of depreciation, with particular emphasis on MACRS, luxury cars and listed property, alternative minimum tax, and depreciation recapture Updated annually, this well organized course is thorough and easy to understand. Examples are integrated throughout to further enhance comprehension of this complex area. Topics covered in the course include:

• Code Sec. 197 amortization

• ACRS

• Modified Accelerated Cost Recovery System (MACRS)

• Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)

• Depreciation recapture

• Listed property (including luxury car depreciation caps)

• The Code Sec. 179 Expense deduction

• The Bonus Depreciation Allowance for Gulf Opportunity Zone Property

• Law changes contained in the Tax Relief and Health Care Act

Upcoming Courses
We will release many new courses in the CCH Learning Center in the weeks and months ahead to give you even more choices and more value. Among the new and updated courses that are in development now, look for courses in the following areas soon:

• Accounting and auditing developments

• Audit documentation requirements

• Circular 230

• Estate tax return preparation

• Financial planning

• IFRS and other major changes coming to GAAP

• Kiddie tax

• Life insurance

• Multistate corporate tax issues

• Recent tax developments

• Tax relief in a troubled economy

Audio Seminars
CCH’s wide range of interesting, educational CPE options now includes audio seminars. Each audio seminar allows an unlimited number of users at your firm to get up-to-speed on a hot topic using nothing more than a telephone connection. Plus, participants can earn up to 3 CPE Credits. Learn about upcoming audio seminars here.

CCH’s audio seminars, presented by top experts, are designed to provide you with updated information on the hottest tax and accounting topics. Along with detailed handout materials, each site registering for an audio seminar receives topically-related bonus items such as books, journals, newsletters or self-study CPE courses. Check out the latest Audio Seminars schedule for details on upcoming seminars, including “Revised Form 990 and Governance Disclosures” on August 7^th.

Read Past Issues of Focus on Learning
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