TFOG Monday 7/23/12 CFTC Public Meeting on Tech + SEC Rule

TFOG 7/23/12 CFTC Meeting and SEC Rule:


CFTC: Meeting notice Technology Advisory Committee 7/26/12 - Public Meeting on Tech

SEC: Commission Guidance Regarding Definitions of Mortgage Related Security and Small Business Related Security - Interp and Comments.

1. CFTC:

[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 141 (Monday, July 23, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Page 43064]
[FR Doc No: 2012-17856]

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COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION


Meeting; Technology Advisory Committee

AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

ACTION: Notice of emergency meeting of technology advisory committee.

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SUMMARY: The CFTC announces that on Thursday, July 26, 2012, the CFTC's
Technology Advisory Committee (``TAC'') will hold an emergency public
meeting at the CFTC's Washington, DC headquarters, from 10:00 a.m. to
4:00 p.m. The TAC will focus on possible technology solutions to, among
other things, enable futures commission merchant customers, self-
regulatory organizations and the CFTC to verify in near real-time the
accuracy of the amount of funds held in customer segregated accounts.

DATES: The meeting will be held on July 26, 2012, from 10:00 a.m. to
4:00 p.m. Members of the public who wish to submit written statements
in connection with the meeting should submit them by July 19, 2012.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will take place in the Conference Center at the
CFTC's headquarters, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street NW.,
Washington, DC 20581. Written statements should be submitted to:
Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st
Street NW., Washington, DC 20581, attention: Office of the Secretary.
Please use the title ``Technology Advisory Committee'' in any written
statement you may submit. Any statements submitted in connection with
the committee meeting will be made available to the public.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laura Gardy, Commodity Futures Trading
Commission, Three Lafayette Centre, 1155 21st Street NW., Washington,
DC 20581, (202) 418-5354.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This emergency meeting of the TAC is being
held in response to the Commission's July 10, 2012 complaint against
Peregrine Financial Group Inc. (PFG), a registered futures commission
merchant (FCM), and its owner, Russell R. Wasendorf, Sr., alleging
fraud by misappropriating customer funds, violations of customer fund
segregation laws, and making false statements in financial statements
filed with the Commission. The filing of the complaint was triggered by
a National Futures Association (NFA) audit conducted earlier this month
which revealed that despite PFG's representations that it held in
excess of $220 million of customer funds, in fact, PFG held
approximately $5.1 million.
    This meeting will focus on technological solutions to providing the
CFTC, self-regulatory organizations, and futures commission merchant
customers direct access to customer segregated account information in
order to help eliminate the possibility of theft and misappropriation
of customer funds. The TAC will explore related technological and legal
issues through panel presentations and open discussion. The meeting
will be open to the public with seating on a first-come, first-served
basis. Members of the public who wish to listen to the meeting by
telephone may do so by calling a toll-free telephone line to contact to
a live, listen-only audio feed. Call-in participants should be prepared
to provide their first name, last name and affiliation. Additionally, a
video recording of the meeting will be published through a link on the
CFTC's Web site.
    All written submissions provided to the CFTC in any form will also
be published on the Web site of the CFTC.
    Domestic Toll Free: 1-866-844-9416.
    International Toll: Under Related Documents to be posted on
www.cftc.gov.
    Conference ID: 8311506.
    Call Leader Name: Michael Jones.
    Pass Code/Pin Code: CFTC.

 Authority: 5 U.S.C. app. 2 Sec.  10(a)(2)

 By the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
 Dated: July 17, 2012.
Sauntia S. Warfield,
Assistant Secretary of the Commission.
[FR Doc. 2012-17856 Filed 7-20-12; 8:45 am]

SEC: 2012-17763



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TFOG - Executive Order on Small Business, Medicare Final and Interim Rule, SEC Final Rule - Technical Amendment, FRS Fed Open Market Committee, HUD SHOP Awards 2011

Today from Our Government:

Executive Order on Small Business:
Making It Easier for America’s Small Businesses and America’s Exporters to Access Government Services to Help Them Grow and Hire

Medicare Final Rule: Medicare Program; Medicare Shared Savings Program: Accountable Care Organizations:

This final rule implements section 3022 of the Affordable Care Act which contains provisions relating to Medicare payments to providers of services and suppliers participating in Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) under the Medicare Shared Savings Program. Under these provisions, providers of services and suppliers cancontinue to receive traditional Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) payments under Parts A and B, and be eligible for additional payments if they meet specified quality and savings requirements.

DATES:These regulations are effective on January 3, 2012

Medicare: Interim Final Rule with comment period.

SUMMARY:
This interim final rule with comment period establishes waivers of the application of the Physician Self-Referral Law, the Federal anti-kickback statute , and certain civil monetary penalties (CMP) law provisions to specified arrangements involving accountable care organizations (ACOs) under section 1899 of the Social Security Act (the Act) (the Shared Savings Program), including ACOs participating in the Advance Payment Initiative. Section 1899(f) of the Act, as added by the Affordable Care Act,authorizes the Secretary to waive certain fraud and abuse laws as necessary tocarry out the provisions of section 1899 of the Act.

DATES: Effective date: These regulations are effective on November 2, 2011. Comment date: To be assured consideration, comments must be received at one of the addresses provided below, no later than 5 p.m. on January 3, 2012

SEC Final Rule: Technical Amendment to Delegation of Authority to the Director of the Division of Trading and Markets

SUMMARY:
The Securities and Exchange Commission (‘‘Commission’’) is making a technical amendment to the rule that delegates authority to the Director of the Division of Trading and Markets to grant exemptions upon specified terms,conditions, and periods to persons subject to Rule 17f–2 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934(‘‘Exchange Act’’).

DATES: Effective Date: November 2,2011.

FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM Federal Open Market Committee; Domestic Policy Directive of September 20 and 21, 2011

HUD Announcement of Funding Awards for the Self-Help Home ownership Opportunity Program (SHOP) for Fiscal Year 2011

ACTION: Announcement of funding awards.


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11-2 Pres Doc


11 2 1 Medicare Prog



11 2 11 Medicare Final




SEC Rule Tech Amend



11-2 FRS Open Market



Hud

TFOG - Proposed Rules of Relevance to Business: IRS Retail Inventory Method and SBA Size and Integrity

TFOG - Today from Our Government of relevance to Business are 2 Proposed Rules

1. Proposed Rule Impacting IRS Retail Invetory Method - Open for Comment through 1/5/2012

2. Proposed Rule Impacting SBA Small Business Size and Integrity - Open for Comment through 11/7/2011

You can see these proposals below and to the degree that they impact your Business you can interact with them via the Rule Making Process or through your elected representation. Proposed Rules are not yet Final and are generally subject to Public Interaction and commentary in the evaluation process - if these rules impact your business - this is your last pre-implementation opportunity to interact with the rule as it impacts your Business, Non Profit or Individual Finances / Operations.

Note: You May need to refresh inside the Doc is you see symbols or format issues, doing so will restore the Text to readable format.


Proposed Rule IRS Retail Inventory Method



Proposed Rule SBA Small Business Size and Integrity


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DCarsonCPA.com is the web presence of Dean T. Carson II, CPA we are working SMART to support your Business, Non Profit and Individual needs and aspire to be of inspirational support and a part of the solution set of ideas for growth in the Economy.

Fixing the Supplier Portal - A Brief Introduction to some concerns in the Vendor Supply line for Larger and Mid-Sized Financial Companies.

Status = Draft under Review but shared for current economic relevancy on Expenses and Jobs facilitation:

I have observed Accounts Payable (A/P) and Vendor Management for years now on Expenses, with hands on expertise from the ground up, the knowledge and insight that grows  from working on a cross section of Fortune 500, medium and boutique Entities. Accounts Payable is of key importance and is a widely overlooked area in Accounting Operations considering that by my estimate 80% or more of your Financial Statements are being built out from A/P. As you gain experience working in the operations, management and re-engineering of Expenses you gain an appreciation for the key points where you can find efficiency and many people work around, rather than with the efficiency they can gain in Accounts Payable. Potentially becase it's better understood when you've worked with it.

Your Accounts Payable staff is a key and integral part of your Accounting Operations that benefits from the training and tools you give them to work with - we'll discuss it more on the road ahead. This Entry is Focused on Supplier Portals, as a starting point for Vendor relations and efficiency. A Supplier Portal is an origin point for Vendor Relations that subsequnetly evolve to create Vendor Expenses that will in turn be entered to Accounts Payable and at that point become a key part of your Entities Financial Statements through Expenses.

Correctly implemented Supplier Services Portals save Acconts Payable Operations time for Operations on IRS W-9 Form 1099 requirements (add efficiency on Taxes and Financials).

One of the efficiencies gained with the Supplier Portal is the automated ability to cover IRS W-9 Reporting Requirements in support of 1099s at the begining of the process. Historically W-9s have always been a drag point and time consumptive drain on resources as Vendor Management pursued Vendors to complete files on new vendors each year in the 1099 process. That's one improvement that is surely appreciatted by Accounts Payable and Tax Staff in Entity Operations. Like any process it's alway harder to get what you need after a transaction has expired - so where vendors had brief interaction following up on W-9s would become a time draining process, especially when your prime objective was other end of year needs. With the advent of vendor portals that mandate W-9s this process can be automated and add greater efficiency to poerations.

But what are the Challenges for the Supplier (Vendor) and the Entity in Economically Efficient sourcing (of suppliers)?, The Other Business Case for Efficient Portals - Matching a Buyer and Seller with better price points to save on resources through convenience and broadened competition.

Recently more directly using Portals from the perspective of an incoming Supplier, I became focused on the inefficiency of Supplier Service Portals in their current iterations. The Concept of a Supplier Portal is a strong one with great potential, however in execution Supplier Service Portals have a ways to go.  For the past couple of days I have been specifically dealing with this problem so I wanted to bring it in for consideration.

This entry is still in the work up phase, and  I'll draw in examples soon - but my own experience in business is really enough in sufficiency to readily support this one with prima facie evidence of experience with the portals. And the easy to reach economic inference that there is costly inefficiency still remaining to be engineered in the Vendor Services interface/ automation pipeline.

At the core of any Business are the Economics of Efficiency, it's the area that Management Consultants and Accounting and Finance Professionals continually revisit for re-engineering so it's suprising that such a fertile opportunity for re-engineering has not been covered yet - but then again not. Let's explore this a bit if we may.

Consider the Financial Services Industry where Technology takes a key role, and the match up between a Buyer and Seller is measured in nano-seconds for efficiency and time is at it's greatest value. This is the Revenues End of a Financial Services Business where the time value of information results in gains and losses and the leader with the best information insight makes the best gains on Trades. On the expenses end of this same Business is an archaic system of matching Vendors (Suppliers) to workflow that is only marginally improving in these challenging times.

In it's fundamental functionality a Supplier interface works as a portal to upload data - but what happens thereafter still seems an open area for efficiency Engineering in the match up of  a Buyer and Seller with Economic Efficiency. This is clear to understand when you consider that the connection between Vendors and a Financial Entity. Vendors drive Expenses at a fairly healthy level of Financial Services Expenses in the P&L behind Employment Costs and Facilities. Opportunities to find efficiency by connecting Financial Services businesses to Medium and Small sized Domestic Solutions can be a key step in added savings for Corporations especially with the current supply of Labor and the need to grow new start ups in the Economy.

The Re-Engineering of Supplier Services Portals can work to a dual benefit - in the first case to help the Corporation competitively shop for better value, second case to promote the development of competitive medium and small sized supplier services that can reduce Corporate Expenses and Increase Corporate Profitability.

In the greater pursuit of maximizing shareholder wealth, finding renewed efficiency and effectively utilized automation in vendor portals is an open avenue for continued engineering in challenging times to reduce costs through broader and more competitive options on supplier services / vendor support.

We will be workshopping this post but the essence of the post is to place the thought on the table for you better consideration - sometimes the observation is so fundamental  in it's truth that you dimish the point if it becomes overstudied - seeing is believing in this case and experiencing is knowing. We have seen it and experienced it as a process that while great in concept is ready for additional engineering to fully utilize and meet savings for Corporations through greater vendor competition, supplier diversity or what other title you may wish to place upon it.