A new study based on unpublished Internal Revenue Service data shows the rich are different when it comes to paying taxes: They hide more of their income.

The previously unreported study estimates that taxpayers whose true income was between $500,000 and $1 million a year understated their adjusted gross incomes by 21 percent overall in 2001, compared to an 8 percent underreporting rate for those earning $50,000 to $100,000 and even lower rates for those earning less. (The "net misreporting rate" as the IRS calls it, includes both underreported income and inflated deductions.)

What is accounting? Why should you learn accounting principles?

This is the introduction to a series of 17 videos on various aspects of accounting. They're available on YouTube and labeled as follows:

Accounting 101 Part 01
Accounting 101 Part 02
Etc.

An Ernst & Young staff accountant discusses the "number cruncher" stereotype and her new role as boss after a recent promotion

Dollars and Sense: An interview with Jim Schell of Opportunity Knocks, a consulting company based in Bend, Oregon; Nani Waddoups of R. Wagner Arts, an interior finishing company based in Portland, Oregon; Chris Schatte of Texoma Lawn and Garden in Vernon, Texas.

At Hot Studio, a San Francisco-based design company, the rule is thumb is to always be frugal.

A large percentage of startups fail within the first five years of operation. Others hang on but struggle to grow past the microenterprise stage. One key remedy: better bookkeeping, says George Malina, of consulting firm Sikich.

This accounting presentation uses creative methods to describe Nike's Annual Report.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is mandatory. all organizations, large and small, must comply.

Check out this website that is intended to assist and guide. It provides information, and identifies resources, to help ensure successful audit, and management. If you are entirely new to the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, this information should prove to be of substantial value.

Business executives and managers have to develop at least basic skills in financial management. Expecting others in the organization to manage finances is clearly asking for trouble.

Basic skills in financial management start in the critical areas of cash management and bookkeeping, which should be done according to certain financial controls to ensure integrity in the bookkeeping process. Executives and managers should soon go on to learn how to generate financial statements (from bookkeeping journals) and analyze those statements to really understand the financial condition of the business.

Financial analysis shows the "reality" of the situation of a business–seen as such, financial management is one of the most important practices in management. This topic will help you understand basic practices in financial management, and build the basic systems and practices needed in a healthy business.

If you can read a nutrition label or a baseball box score, you can learn to read basic financial statements. If you can follow a recipe or apply for a loan, you can learn basic accounting. The basics aren’t difficult and they aren’t rocket science.