SHORT INTERESTS: TIPS, TRENDS, OBSERVATIONS

CPAs: Code’s too taxing

If the approach of April 15 makes you more aware than usual that you’re fed up with the Internal Revenue Service and the ever-increasing complexity of its code, you’re in good company. RIA Group of New York polled 467 certified public accountant tax practitioners — the people who make their living trying to understand the tax code for the rest of us — and found that 41% of them believe the whole thing is like a ’64 Chevy II: It needs a radical overhaul .

Their most common recommendation, as reported in the Journal of Accountancy: Simplify the #$@&*% thing. A fifth of those favoring an overhaul plumped for a flat tax and almost 10% wanted a national sales tax.

One accountant had a extremely practical suggestion: “Make it a statutory requirement that all members of Congress prepare their own tax return.”

Jungle warfare

A London online financial bookstore is taking a potshot at its American competition. Commenting on the lofty stock prices of Internet-related companies in America, Global Investor Bookshop is running a contest called the Hot Air Challenge that asks people to predict the stock price of Amazon.com on April 30.

First prize is a balloon flight with a champagne breakfast, plus something called an Ultimate Investor’s Trading Kit, worth $1,000. It includes a one-year subscription to “Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities” and a $500 gift certificate to Global’s bookshop.

The 100 runners-up will receive a copy of Charles MacKay’s 1841 history of money manias, “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds,” and a red panic button for the “inevitable correction in net stock prices.” It is, unfortunately, functionless.

Global calls the contest a “gentle dig” at Amazon.com, whose shares in 1998 grew 966% in value. Amazon.com’s stock currently sells in the $160s, off from its peak of $199 in January. Applicants thus far see the stock dropping even lower: the average entry is $129. To apply, go to Global’s web site at www.global-investor.com. An Amazon spokesman says: “We’re focusing our attention on our customers, not on what our competitors are doing.”

Goldman, student aid

And the winner is…Goldman Sachs Group LP. The white-shoe investment bank was named 1998’s Outstanding Sponsor by the Robert A. Toigo Foundation. The honor was given to the New York firm last weekend in Washington, based on its “outstanding leadership, financial contributions and commitment” to the foundation, which is marking its 10th year of helping minority students at the nation’s top business schools to pay for their tuition and to find summer internships and jobs. It has a 98% placement rate, says Sue Toigo, the foundation’s president.

Goldman Sachs used 12 fellows of the foundation as summer interns and hired six fellows full time. It has donated more than $98,000 to the foundation since 1990, and has sponsored fellows’ travel to the foundation’s orientation program in New York City.

The foundation is sponsored by more than 150 companies, including Putnam Investments of Boston, Invesco Capital Management of Atlanta and State Street Global Advisors Inc. of Boston — which, in turn, have a ready pool of talent to hire.