March 2007

Dear CCH Learning Center Subscriber,

Welcome to the March 2007 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 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:

• Alternative Minimum Tax for Individuals (Second Edition) 

• Choice of Business Entity 

• Depreciation Course — 2007 Edition 

• Derivatives and Hedging — Overview of Statement 133 

• Education Tax Incentives: Opportunities and Strategies (Third Edition) 

• Fair Value Measurements — SFAS No. 157 

• IRS Enforcement Programs 

• LIFO Business and Tax Considerations 

• Recent Tax Developments (January-February 2007) 

• Roth IRAs (Third Edition) 

• SAS 112: Internal Control 

• S Corporations: Formation and Liquidation (Second Edition) 

• Tax Research: Secondary Sources of Federal Tax Law 

New Courses — Specialty Libraries
In addition to the titles listed above, several new courses have been released exclusively to various CCH Specialty Libraries. These new Libraries cover a broad range of courses in specialized topics including accounting and audit, international taxation, sales and use taxation, state taxation, and wealth management. New courses released exclusively to these libraries include: 

• Accounting and Audit: Specialty Library 

  • Real Estate Accounting: An Introduction 
    

• State Taxation: Specialty Library

  • Business Tax Incentives 

  • Tax Research: Researching State and Local Tax Law 

• Wealth Management: Specialty Library

  • Business Succession Planning: The Debenture Solution 

Course Spotlight
Advancing its long-term objective of measuring all financial assets and financial liabilities at fair value, the FASB issued Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 133, Accounting for Derivative Instruments and Hedging Activities, in June 1998. The culmination of a six-year process, Statement 133 replaced existing pronouncements and practices with a single, integrated accounting framework for derivative instruments and hedging activities. CCH’s Derivatives and Hedging course takes an organized approach to reviewing this complex statement.   

Derivatives and Hedging reviews Statement 133, as amended several times over the past few years. It specifically addresses the accounting for derivative instruments, including certain derivative instruments embedded in other contracts, and hedging activities. This introductory course discusses Statement 133 as amended by FASB Statements No. 137, No. 138, No. 149, No. 155, and No. 156. Topics covered include:

• Defining a "Derivative Instrument" 

• Identifying Embedded Derivative Instruments 

• Hedge Accounting 

• Fair Value Hedges 

• Cash Flow Hedges 

• Net Investment Hedges 

• Interest-Rate Swaps 

• Disclosures 

• Selected Interpretations

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

• Consolidated returns

• FASB Statement No. 140

• Life Insurance

• Multistate tax issues

• Pension plans

• Postmortem planning

• Recent tax developments

• Roth 401(k)s

• Sales and use taxation

• Self-adjusting GRATs

• Streamlined Sales Tax Project

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 “Fundamentals of the Revised State Trust Accounting Rules” on May 3. 

Learn and Earn CPE While You Work
The CCH^® Learning Center Core Library and CCH^® Tax Research NetWork™ are now more deeply linked than ever. New two-way integration allows you to easily move back and forth between Learning Center courses and Tax Research NetWork content.  

CCH introduces just-in-time learning. If you subscribe to both the Learning Center and Tax Research NetWork, you have long been able to link to the Tax Research Network from a Learning Center course. Now, powerful new integration allows you to learn more about a topic you're researching on Tax Research NetWork by linking to a related course in the CCH Learning Center Core Library — and earning valuable CPE credit while you do your work. 

You can refresh your knowledge on a specific tax area, or brush up on a particular topic. You don't have to take an entire course at one time. Just get the information you need and return to your research work. The CCH Learning Center saves your place so you can go back at a later time and complete the course for CPE credit. This work-learning process is seamless, convenient and highly productive. Use it while tackling a client tax problem, preparing for an engagement or any of the many other research activities you do every day.