Bulloch, DuPertuis, Schulman, Seger & Co.

The Federal Reserve has said many times that it wants to keep interest rates low for a long time. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the central bank’s interest-rate-setting committee will meet with Janet Yellen, the new chairwoman, to finalize a policy statement and update economic forecasts. The Fed is scheduled to release the policy and economic forecast at 2 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday, and Yellen will hold a press conference at the end of the deliberations at 2:30 p.m.

“Public companies demanding audit fee relief have won the upper hand the last several years, paying less even when they pose greater risk of intentional misstatements and filing more restatements as a result — except when there’s an ex-auditor on the board.”

“Fraud and scams cost Americans more than $1.6 billion last year. According to a report from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), there were more than 2 million cases of fraud in 2013, down slightly from the previous year. On average, there were 500 complaints per 100,000 residents in the 50 states. Eight of the 10 states with the highest rates had at least 600 complaints per 100,000 residents. Florida led the nation with nearly 1,000 total complaints per 100,000 people. Based on data published by the FTC’s annual Consumer Sentinel Report, 24/7 Wall St. identified the 10 states with the most fraud complaints.”

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“About two-thirds of nearly 1,000 business owners surveyed recently by Pepperdine University’s Private Capital Markets Project expect to transfer their ownership in the next 10 years. But will those owners be able to sell the fruits of their years of labor for an acceptable amount? Maybe, maybe not.”

The Internal Revenue Service has issued guidance for employers whose 401(k) plans offer Roth IRA accounts for the rules governing rollovers by participants younger than retirement age.

“Whether fraud is intended or not, a robust review of your vendors can diminish potential losses. Acts of fraud happen all too frequently. Fortunately, understanding and using data maintained in a master vendor list provides opportunities to detect suspicious activity and identify areas where internal controls can be strengthened.”

“The surging stock market helped boost average 401(k) balances to yet another record high in 2013. But many young and low-income workers are not doing such a great job of keeping that cash in their accounts.”

“As a result of softer same-store sales and customer traffic levels, the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index registered a moderate decline in December. The RPI — a monthly composite index that tracks the health of and outlook for the U.S. restaurant industry — stood at 100.5 in December, down 0.6 percent from November and the first decline in three months.”

“The Washington-based lender sees the world economy expanding 3.2 percent this year, compared with a June projection of 3 percent and up from 2.4 percent in 2013. The forecast for the richest nations was raised to 2.2 percent from 2 percent. Part of the increase reflects improvement in the 18-country euro area, with the U.S. ahead of developed peers, growing twice as fast as Japan.”