BOSTON, April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Financial Executives International
(FEI) filed an amicus curiae "friend of the court" brief on April 4th in
support of a court decision to protect certain tax work papers and
supporting notes from disclosure to the IRS. Arguments in the appeal of the
U.S. vs. Textron opinion issued last August are expected to be held this
summer in the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
On August 29, 2007, the Federal District Court in Rhode Island held
that the tax accrual work papers of Textron, Inc., (NYSE: TXT) based in
Providence, RI, were protected by attorney work product protection and
denied the IRS access.
The petition was jointly filed by FEI's Committee on Taxation and
Committee on Corporate Reporting and prepared by the law firm Miller &
Chevalier. The Committees argue that the lower court decision appropriately
balances the competing interests of the IRS, the investing public, and the
fairness considerations that protect attorney work product. This
appropriate balancing should permit companies to share candid assessments
of potential litigation claims with their outside auditors, for example,
without fear that such information would be accessible by competitors or
adversaries.
Matt Miller, FEI's Director of Tax and Economic Policy said, "Our
member companies take seriously their obligation to prepare financial
statements that fairly reflect their financial position, but in meeting
this obligation they should not be compelled to disclose information that
would be used unfairly by a litigation adversary, including the Internal
Revenue Service."
A copy of the FEI brief is available at:
http://www.financialexecutives.org/eweb/dynamicpage.aspx?site=_fei&webcode=
adv _detail&key=df9cf8be-51a3-4864-b9fb-e292eb264cdf (please copy and paste
the preceding link into your Internet browser)
About Financial Executives International (FEI)
Financial Executives International is the leading advocate for the
views of corporate financial management. Its 15,000 members hold
policy-making positions as chief financial officers, treasurers and
controllers at companies from every major industry. FEI enhances member
professional development through peer networking, career management
services, conferences, teleconferences and publications. Members
participate in the activities of 85 chapters, 74 in the U.S. and 11 in
Canada. FEI is headquartered in Florham Park, NJ, with additional offices
in Washington, DC, and Toronto. Visit http://www.financialexecutives.org for more
information.
SOURCE Financial Executives International
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Related links:
http://www.financialexecutives.org
CONTACT:
Nicole Madison, FD, +1-212-850-5647,
nicole.madison@fd.com
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