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• PCAOB Thwarted on Foreign Audit Firm Inspections

  February 9, 2010

  At least a dozen major nations – including several of the USA’s top international trading partners – are continuing to slam the door on efforts by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to conduct cross-border inspections of non-U.S. audit firms as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

• PCAOB Redesigns Web Site

  February 4, 2010

  The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has launched a redesigned and expanded Web site.

• PCAOB Offers Q&As on Special Reporting, Succession

  January 12, 2010

  The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has published two sets of staff questions and answers to provide guidance about a registered auditing firm’s obligation to report certain events to the PCAOB in special reports, and the process through which a firm can succeed to a predecessor firm’s registration status.

• California Toughens Requirements for Accountants

  December 31, 2009

  The California Board of Accountancy is requiring CPAs licensed in California to take additional ethics education classes starting in the New Year, and all accounting firms in the state will be subject to peer review.

• PCAOB Creates Academic Fellowship

  December 23, 2009

  The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has established an academic fellowship program to recruit accounting researchers to spend a year at the PCAOB’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.

• IPSASB Has ‘Substantially Converged’ with IFRS

  December 22, 2009

  The International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board said it has achieved its goal of substantial convergence with International Financial Reporting Standards dated Dec. 31, 2008, with a series of new or improved standards.

• FEI Identifies Top Challenges for Finance Execs

  December 22, 2009

  Financial Executives International has written a report listing the top challenges it sees for financial executives next year.

• State CPA Societies Deal with Ethics Violations

  December 16, 2009

  The case of Bernard Madoff’s former auditor, David Friehling, has cast the ethics of the accounting profession into a harsh light and forced his state CPA society to take action.

• 2010: A lot more of the same

  December 14, 2009

  Earlier this year, I was asked to participate in a sort of town-hall-style forum to discuss a number of profession-centric issues.

• Supreme Court Could Prove to Be PCAOB’s Undoing

  December 9, 2009

  The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is facing an uncertain future after several justices on the high court appeared to side with the accounting firm and conservative group that hope to prove the board is unconstitutional.

• IASB Issues Asset Measurement Standard

  November 12, 2009

  The International Accounting Standards Board has published a new standard on classifying and measuring financial assets to determine whether an asset should be measured at amortized cost or fair value.

• Does Transparency Work?

  November 12, 2009

  Persuading businesses to provide better transparency in their financial reports when it works against their interests has serious limitations.

• Madoff Report: SEC’s Schapiro Needs to Review Performance Failures

  September 8, 2009

  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission “never took the necessary and basic steps” that would have led to the agency uncovering Bernard L. Madoff’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme, according to the full report issued Friday by the agency’s Inspector-General.

• Accountant Disciplined for Using High School Grads to Perform Audits

  August 28, 2009

  The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Las Vegas accountant Michael J. Moore and his auditing firm Moore & Associates with issuing false auditing reports prepared by high school graduates who had little to no experience with accounting or auditing.

• Tax Preparer Regulation Stirs Up Hornets’ Nest

  August 17, 2009

  With trillion-dollar deficits, cap-and-trade and nationalized health care on the horizon, the issues involving the possible registering and licensing of tax preparers seem trivial.

• PCAOB Adopts Engagement Quality Review Standard

  July 28, 2009

  The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has voted to adopt a new auditing standard on engagement quality review and to issue a concept release on requiring the engagement partner to sign the audit report.

• IASB Changes IFRS Requirements for First-Timers

  July 23, 2009

  The International Accounting Standards Board has issued amendments to its rules for companies adopting International Financial Reporting Standards for the first time to allow some exemptions.

• More Certainty Needed for IFRS

  May 20, 2009

• GASB statement clarifies fund balance reporting

  May 4, 2009

  Governments have always found it difficult to properly report fund balances when the uses of various fund amounts were restricted in a number of ways.

• Peer Review in need of review?

  April 19, 2009

  Can anything good come out of a $65 billion Ponzi scheme?

• Economy, legislation threaten to impact S corps

  April 19, 2009

• IRS issues guidance for Ponzi victims

  April 19, 2009

  In the wake of several high-profile Ponzi schemes - most notably, the $65 billion fraud perpetrated by the now-jailed Bernard Madoff - the Internal Revenue Service has issued new guidance for victims of these types of schemes and their tax preparers.

• Economy causes internal audit upheaval

  April 19, 2009

  Among the many changes born of the financial crisis that's sweeping the globe are changes in internal auditing departments

• The spirit of accounting: Premises, premises: Out with the old, in with the new

  April 19, 2009

  About a year ago, we began hearing a clamor that accountants exacerbated the financial debacle by reporting market values in financial statements. In turn, accountants ducked the blame by arguing strongly that the Financial Accounting Standards Board was at fault for requiring investment market values to be reported. These complaints have continued to this day.

• PCAOB Mulls Revising Audit Confirmation Standards

  April 14, 2009

  Board considers changes in the wake of scandals.

• Survey Says Finance Pros Still Want IFRS

  April 9, 2009

  Seventy-five percent of finance professionals support the movement toward a single set of high-quality global accounting standards, according to a new survey by Deloitte.

• IFAC Backs G-20 Financial Reforms

  April 8, 2009

  The International Federation of Accountants has endorsed a set of proposals made at last week's G-20 Summit of world leaders that aim to reform the global financial regulatory system.

• Canada Accounting Board Delays Fair Value Decision

  April 8, 2009

  Canada's Accounting Standards Board said that it has not yet made a decision on whether to change its fair value standards to match up with U.S. standards.

• IRS nixes private collection

  April 5, 2009

• Commentary: Build a better financial statement

  April 5, 2009

  Are you able to get what you need from reviewing financial statements? Do you think there are ways to enhance the usefulness of the presentation of the information?

• International Accounting Monitors Choose Leader

  April 6, 2009

  The Monitoring Board that was recently established to add more public accountability to the International Accounting Standards Board has held its inaugural meeting and picked its first leader.

• FASB Explains Fair Value Changes

  April 6, 2009

  The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a "plain English" summary of the board's actions when it modified the standards for fair value and mark-to-market accounting in response to congressional demands.

• SEC Says Arizona CPA Ran $67M Ponzi Scheme

  April 6, 2009

  The Securities and Exchange Commission has revoked the license of an Arizona CPA and filed charges accusing him of running a $67 million Ponzi scheme.

• Reactions Mixed to FASB Fair Value Compromises

  April 3, 2009

  Accounting experts and industry organizations alternately praised and panned the Financial Accounting Standards Board's decision to loosen the standards for fair value and mark-to-market accounting.

• FASB Compromises on Fair Value

  April 2, 2009

  Under pressure from Congress to act quickly, the Financial Accounting Standards Board voted to approve substantial changes to fair value accounting.

• New SEC Chair

  March 31, 2009

• New Oversight Board Proposed

  March 31, 2009

• Tax Season Essentials

  March 31, 2009

• Tax Briefs

  March 31, 2009

• Accounting & Auditing Briefs

  March 31, 2009

• Support, Questions for IFRS

  March 31, 2009

• FASB Projects Aim to Improve Guidance on Fair Value Estimates

  March 31, 2009

• Report Recommends More Fair Value Disclosures

  April 1, 2009

  A new report suggests that companies adopting the Financial Accounting Standards Board's recent proposals on modifying mark-to-market and fair value accounting standards should provide more extensive disclosures to help investors make sense of the impaired assets.

• Execs Anticipate Major IFRS Transformation

  April 1, 2009

  CFOs at U.S. companies expect that the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards will give them the ability to transform their finance departments, according to a new survey, but the price tag could be high.

• FASB Caves on Mark-to-Market

  April 1, 2009

  The Financial Accounting Standards Board has bowed to pressure from lawmakers and banking interests and put forward a proposal to relax fair value standards.

• Volcker to Lead Tax Reform Effort

  March 26, 2009

  The Obama administration will ask the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, to form a task force to recommend an overhaul of the tax code, according to reports.

• Geithner Proposes Sweeping Overhaul of Financial Regulation

  March 26, 2009

  Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner proposed a sweeping revamp of government regulatory powers over the nation's financial system highlighted by establishing a single agency "with responsibility for systemic stability over the major institutions and critical payment and settlement systems and activities."

• Toxic Asset Superfund

  March 25, 2009

  Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner did his best at filling in the blanks on the Obama administration's plan for cleaning up the so-called 'toxic assets' clogging the balance sheets of banks.

• Geithner Petitions Lawmakers for Broader Takeover Powers

  March 25, 2009

  In a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner asked lawmakers to grant the Treasury Department more power to seize failing financial firms.

• Grant Thornton Launches Hedge Fund Services Unit

  March 23, 2009

  Global CPA and business-advisory firm Grant Thornton is gearing to launch a new practice unit -- hedge fund internal control, governance and regulatory compliance services.

• Restatements Drop to Five-Year Low

  March 23, 2009

  Financial restatements in 2008 dipped 49 percent from the prior year, the lowest level in the past five years, according to a report compiled by proxy researcher Glass Lewis.

• AICPA Supports International Monitoring Board

  March 19, 2009

  The American Institute of CPAs said it backs the creation of a monitoring board that would link the International Accounting Standards Board to government regulators in different countries.

• Boards Try to Reconcile Lease Accounting Standards

  March 19, 2009

  The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board are working together on resolving the knotty problems involved in lease accounting.

• PCAOB Ups Accounting Support Fee $5.6M

  March 18, 2009

  The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has raised the aggregate 2009 fee it assesses to public companies and other issuers to $157.4 million from $151.8 million.

• IRS Will Accelerate NOL Refunds Under New Provision

  March 18, 2009

  The Internal Revenue Service says that small businesses with deductions exceeding their income in 2008 can use a new net operating loss tax provision to get a refund of taxes paid in prior years. The IRS says it will work to issue refunds within 45 days or less "to the degree possible."

• Lawmakers Rally to Restore Uptick Rule

  March 18, 2009

  Lawmakers continue to apply pressure to the Securities and Exchange Commission to reinstate a Depression-era rule that prevents traders from short-selling stocks whose share prices are falling.

• FASB Issues Fair Value Proposals

  March 18, 2009

  The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a pair of proposed fair value staff positions written to provide additional guidance regarding measurements and impairments of securities, after coming under pressure at a congressional hearing to ease mark-to-market accounting standards.

• Madoff's Auditor Arrested

  March 18, 2009

  David Friehling, the accountant who ran the tiny auditing firm that serviced Bernard Madoff's broker/dealer firm, has been arrested and charged with securities and investment advisor fraud.

• Small business to face closer audit scrutiny

  March 15, 2009

  The nation's small businesses are squarely in Washington's crosshairs - targeted for more rigorous, more painful scrutiny by both federal tax enforcement officials and the nation's auditing standard-setters.

• FASB staff fills gap in SPE disclosures

  March 15, 2009

  As the Financial Accounting Standards Board tinkers with amendments to its Statement 140 and Interpretation 46R, the FASB staff has issued a staff position that expands disclosures about corporate involvement with variable-interest entities and transferred financial assets.

• How much should financial reports tell?

  March 15, 2009

  One of the many problems the ongoing financial crisis has brought to light is the fact that generally accepted accounting principles do not necessarily give investors all the information they need to foresee the perils that a company faces. And though auditors have to certify that an entity is a "going concern," they do not have to note that the concern is going over a cliff.

• The Spirit of Accounting: Escaping the minimum GAAP compliance syndrome

  March 15, 2009

  We have a perennial puzzle we just can't explain to our satisfaction.

• IRS Issues Guidance For Ponzi Scheme Victims

  March 16, 2009

  Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Doug Shulman has announced guidance for Ponzi scheme victims and their tax preparers. The guidance, which Shulman emphasized is not specific to the Madoff case, is in the form of a revenue ruling and a revenue procedure.

• FASB Gives Cautious Response to IFRS Roadmap

  March 13, 2009

  The Financial Accounting Standards Board and its parent organization, the Financial Accounting Foundation, sent a comment letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission giving a thumbs-up to the proposed roadmap to International Financial Reporting Standards, but they urged more consultation and study.

• Melancon Speaks out on Top Accounting Issues

  March 12, 2009

  American Institute of CPAs' president and chief executive Barry Melancon reiterated his organization's stance that fair value accounting was not a primary cause of the current economic distress and that the private sector -- rather than Congress -- should continue to set accounting standards.

• Congress Pressures FASB to Revise Mark-to-Market

  March 12, 2009

  Financial Accounting Standards Board Chairman Robert Herz was pressed to make changes in mark-to-market accounting standards in as soon as three weeks during a contentious congressional hearing.

• IFRS Roadmap Slams into Reverse

  March 11, 2009

  The adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards in the U.S. looks to be increasingly in doubt.

• Shareholder Meetings Likely to Be Contentious

  March 10, 2009

  Accounting firm BDO Seidman anticipates that shareholder meetings this year will be dominated by concerns about excessive executive compensation, recession plans and credit concerns.

• Bernanke Foresees Accounting Rule Modifications

  March 10, 2009

  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that accounting standards need to be modified to deal better with valuing illiquid assets.

• Early Adoption of IFRS Appears Unlikely

  March 9, 2009

  Many financial executives in the U.S. have begun the initial stages of convergence with International Financial Reporting Standards at their companies, but early adoption in 2009 for qualifying companies will be difficult, if not impossible, due to the significant time requirements, according to a new report.

• Quality Control Tips for Small, Midsized Audit Firms

  March 9, 2009

  To help small and midsized accounting firms cope better with implementing international auditing standards, the International Federation of Accountants has published a "Guide to Quality Control for Use by Small- and Medium-sized Practices."

• ACCA Challenges Global Leaders to Endorse IFRS

  March 9, 2009

  The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants wants world leaders who attend the G20 summit next month to endorse International Financial Reporting Standards, and to leave fair value accounting alone.

• Congress Proposes New Accounting Overseer

  March 6, 2009

  Two members of the House Financial Services Committee have introduced a bill that would establish a new Federal Accounting Oversight Board and probably loosen mark-to-market accounting standards.

• Tax Reserve Disclosures Fall Short

  March 5, 2009

  One third of public companies did not satisfy the minimum requirements of disclosure of their tax reserves last year as required by new rules put in place by the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

• PCAOB Tries Again on Audit Quality Review

  March 5, 2009

  The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has re-proposed for comment a standard for auditing firms to use for reviewing their audit reports internally by a second or concurring partner before they are issued.

• SEC Pressured on Chief Accountant Pick

  March 4, 2009

  Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro has been under pressure not to appoint a leading critic of International Financial Reporting Standards as a permanent chief accountant, according to a former official who filled that post.

• Make Financial Statements Less Frustrating

  March 3, 2009

  Are you able to get what you need from reviewing financial statements?

• Auditing Clarity Project Completed

  March 3, 2009

  The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board has completed a project aimed at updating and clearing up ambiguities in auditing standards.

• AICPA Adds Four Members to Auditing Board

  March 3, 2009

  The American Institute of CPAs has appointed four new members of the Auditing Standards Board.

• Buffett Addresses Mark-to-Market

  March 2, 2009

  Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett said in his annual letter to shareholders that he endorses mark-to-market accounting, even though it helped produce the worst financial results for his company in the 44 years he has been running it.

• Financial Crisis Advisory Group to Meet Again

  February 26, 2009

  The next meeting of the Financial Crisis Advisory Group is scheduled for March 5 as accounting leaders and regulators sort out issues related to the recession.

• Ric Rosario

  February 26, 2009

  Ric Rosario is stepping into some big shoes at Camico Mutual Insurance Co.

• Schapiro approved as SEC chair

  February 23, 2009

• Olson calls for simplification aid to taxpayers

  February 23, 2009

  National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson urged Congress to simplify the U.S. Tax Code and recommended measures to reduce the burden on taxpayers who are struggling to pay their bills.

• In brief

  February 23, 2009

• The post-IFRS world

  February 23, 2009

  From my vantage point on the other side of the Atlantic, I was delighted to see the Securities and Exchange Commission publish its roadmap to adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards. I just hope the U.S. constituents are as pleased as I am and that we can make some real progress towards global accounting standards.

• The spirit of accounting: Convertible debt: Progress at a glacial rate

  February 23, 2009

  Page 330 of our 2002 book, Quality Financial Reporting, includes this comment: "No one should accuse accountants of being glacial; after all, glaciers move."

• Survey Favors IFRS Adoption

  February 23, 2009

  As the debate over adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards heats up in the U.S., KPMG has released a survey indicating support for IFRS among investors, analysts and corporate executives who prepare financial statements.

• NASBA Wants SEC to Withdraw IFRS Roadmap

  February 20, 2009

  The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy is urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to withdraw its proposed roadmap for transitioning to International Financial Reporting Standards.

• PCAOB Starts Registering Broker-Dealer Auditors

  February 20, 2009

  The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has issued guidance on the recent requirement for registration of auditors of privately held broker-dealers.

• Gillan Named Senior Advisor at SEC

  February 19, 2009

  The Securities and Exchange Commission has appointed former Public Company Accounting Oversight Board member Kayla Gillan as senior advisor to new Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Schapiro, effective immediately.

• Businesses Not Ready for Government Investigations

  February 17, 2009

  Approximately 80 percent of companies are not ready for government or regulatory investigations, according to a new survey.

• FASB Initiates Fair Value Projects

  February 17, 2009

  The Financial Accounting Standards Board has added a pair of agenda projects aimed at improving the application guidance used to determine fair values and disclosure of fair value estimates.

• Financial Crisis Group Debates Accountants' Role

  February 13, 2009

  An international group of accountants, regulators, bankers and business luminaries met to discuss the impact of the financial crisis and the implications for financial reporting.

• IASB Chair Meets with New SEC Chair

  February 12, 2009

  The International Accounting Standards Board wants the U.S. to remain committed to its roadmap for transitioning to International Financial Reporting Standards and is making the case directly to the new SEC chairman.

• Financial Accounting Foundation Elects New Chair

  February 12, 2009

  The Financial Accounting Foundation has chosen John J. Brennan, chairman of mutual fund giant Vanguard Group, as its new chairman and a member of its board of trustees.

• SEC Begins XBRL Mandate for First 500 Companies

  February 11, 2009

  The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun requiring 500 of the largest companies to start filing their financial statements in an interactive data format.

• SEC Chair Wants to Beef up Enforcement

  February 9, 2009

  Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro announced plans to make it easier for SEC staff to bring enforcement actions and indicated that the Financial Accounting Standards Board would further modify fair value accounting standards.

• KPMG Manager Joins SEC Chief Accountant Office

  February 9, 2009

  The Securities and Exchange Commission has appointed Robert Malhotra as a senior advisor in the SEC's Office of the Chief Accountant.

• Madoff Reaches Partial Settlement with SEC

  February 9, 2009

  The Securities and Exchange Commission said that Bernard Madoff has consented to a proposed partial judgment imposing a permanent injunction on him.

Related Articles

• IN BRIEF

• PCAOB Thwarted on Foreign Audit Firm Inspections

• PCAOB Redesigns Web Site

• PCAOB Offers Q&As on Special Reporting, Succession

• California Toughens Requirements for Accountants

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