Accounting standards

Accounting and auditing software developer CaseWare is protesting the Securities and Exchange Commission's recent introduction of its IDEA interactive financial-filing system, claiming the name infringes on the trademark of CaseWare's own IDEA software.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged three former senior executives from software developer Embarcadero Technologies with stock options backdating.

United Rentals has agreed to pay $14 million to settle charges that it engaged in financial fraud and a broad range of improper accounting practices.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has released three new guides to help companies make the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards.

The Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008, recently signed without fanfare by President Bush, contains provisions that will, according to insiders, complicate tax returns for years ahead.The tax portion of the bill, the Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008, contains over $15 billion in tax incentives that are offset by a number of revenue raisers.

Congressional tax reformers are taking aim at one of the most cherished tax breaks available to working Americans — employer-paid health insurance coverage.During the latest round of tax reform hearings before the Senate Finance Committee, experts in both taxation and health care presented their case for eliminating — or at least sharply reducing — the federal tax subsidies given for employer-provided health insurance, which now provide the average U.S. taxpayer with nearly $3,000 a year in benefits.

Ernst & Young has settled charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission for $2.9 million alleging a conflict of interest in its audits of three companies.The case involved a series of interviews that Ernst & Young distributed on audio CDs with the chief executives of various companies. The interviews were conducted by executive coach Mark C. Thompson, who was also a board member of three companies audited by the firm.

In a pair of proposals that may eliminate much of the confusion surrounding audits of companies that outsource certain functions, such as payroll processing, the Auditing Standards Board has approved the issuance of an exposure draft that splits Statement of Auditing Standards 70 into two separate kinds of standards.Chuck Landes, American Institute of CPAs vice president of professional standards and services, said that the new standards follow the natural lines of division between types of audits — those of audit clients, and those of “service organizations” that perform outsourced functions.

RULING MAY INCREASE INSURANCE STOCK REFUNDSWashington, D.C. — A recent court ruling by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims could increase claims for tax refunds by insurance policy-holders who sold stock in insurance providers that went public.

Former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt will chair a Governance Leadership Council formed by risk management service provider RiskMetrics.

Comparatively few universities will be educating students in international accounting standards this academic year, despite plans by the Securities and Exchange Commission to impose the new standards on U.S. companies.

The International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation has published a guide to the Extensible Business Reporting Language version of International Financial Reporting Standards.

For months, leaders in the accounting profession have been demanding that the Securities and Exchange Commission give them a "date certain" for the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards, and now they have it, though the date looks more than a little uncertain.

Corporate tax executives need to closely watch other countries' transition to International Financial Reporting Standards as it could affect their global tax planning, warns a report issued by Deloitte.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has proposed transferring guidance from the American Institute of CPAs' auditing literature into its own literature for state and local government accountants.

The American Institute of CPAs and other organizatons expressed their support for the Securities and Exchange Commission's proposed roadmap for moving to international accounting standards.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved a new rule and amendment to an existing rule from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board related to ethics, independence and the provision of tax services.

The Securities and Exchange Commission proposed setting a roadmap for transitioning to International Financial Reporting Standards by 2014.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has scheduled a meeting for this Wednesday to discuss setting a roadmap for the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards.

Chinese accounting standards are converging with International Financial Reporting Standards, but there are still differences in practice, according to a new study by the Institute of Management Accountants.