Starting January 1, 2012, the Department of Labor will require 401(k) plans to clearly spell out all fees and expenses each quarter so that investors can more readily compare the costs of their holdings and investment choices.

The update suggests new disclosures that the Board believes would help users of financial statements better assess the potential risks faced by those organizations.

Just recently, President Obama signed a bill repealing a tax-compliance mandate that was included within last year’s health care law.

Under the recommendations, a separate private company standards board would be established to make exceptions and modifications for both new and existing standards.

In addition to the changes made for Bonus Depreciation and 1099 reporting, several other items of interest were changed by the recent legislation for 2011 and 2012:

In the early days of cooperatives, the normal practice was to operate at break-even, and if you made a profit, the member business portion of that profit was allocated back to members. Little, if any, was retained. But if you ask a banker today, he’ll say, “you can never have enough retained savings.” There has to be a happy medium.