50 years ago in The Tax Adviser.

Here are some highlights from the February 1970 issue:

Professional corporations

The IRS has conceded that professional associations will generally be treated as corporations for tax purposes. But the Service stated that "obviously, however, the government must reserve the right to conclude differently in any case that reflects special circumstances not present in O'Neill or Kurzner." This hedging, coupled with possible adverse Treasury proposals and recent court developments on other fronts, makes careful planning and evaluation of potential risks a must before forming a professional corporation.

--Arthur F. Shenkin, CPA, "The Professional Corporation, "p. 84. Shenkin was a partner with the firm of Stone, Gray and Co. in Denver and served on the AICPA Estate Planning Committee.

Computer-assisted audits

The availability of these [computer] programs to extract information directly from magnetic tape or other machine-readable media provides the auditor with a flexible kit of tools to assist him in his examination, and obviates the necessity of searching voluminous printouts....

The system we have been experimenting with is one developed by Haskins 8c Sells and is called the "Auditape System."

In its simplest form, the Auditape System gives the auditor the capability of selecting, manipulating, and printing information from masses of data stored on magnetic tape of punched cards....

We plan to continue to use and...