Accounting standards

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight has issued examination guidance regarding Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 159, “The Fair Value Option for Financial Assets and Financial Liabilities.”

James K. Smith, chief financial officer of Phonom Corp., and James Stevenson, CFO of ABS Capital Partners, have joined the Private Company Financial Reporting Committee.

KPMG has established an IFRS Institute to address the needs of companies, investors and academics affected by the transition to International Financial Reporting Standards.

The Private Company Financial Reporting Committee, a joint effort of the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the American Institute of CPAs, is set to meet later this month.

“Keeping Retirement Plans Qualified” in the March issue of Practical Accountant was written just prior to the U.S. Supreme Court decision, LaRue v. DeWolff, in which the Court held that a participant in a defined contribution pension plan may sue a fiduciary under ERISA Section 502(a)(2) when claiming that a fiduciary breach caused a loss of plan assets allocated to the participant’s 401(k) plan account. It was pointed out in the article that employee benefit plan audits have now become not only financial statements, but also compliance audits. The Supreme Court opinion is further indication of that.

Greek accounting firm Savvides & Partners/PKF Cyprus agreed to pay $261,565 to settle charges with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it engaged in fraud in connection with its 1999 and 2000 audits of bankrupt software developer AremisSoft.

The Internal Revenue Service has put out a call for a priority list of items it should address with its upcoming guidance.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will decide next Monday on its plans for any requirements and timeline for public companies to file their financial statements in an interactive data format.

CPAs who conduct valuations in the normal course of their practices are now required to comply with detailed standards.

CPAs who conduct valuations in the normal course of their practices are now required to comply with detailed standards.

Two former Arthur Andersen auditors have settled charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission accusing them of failing to exercise due professional care and skepticism in their 2001 audits of bankrupt telecommunications giant WorldCom.

Lately, it seems like the concepts of fair value measurement and mark-to-market accounting have been taking a lot of blame in the hand-wringing over what is causing the fallout in the credit and mortgage securities markets.

It is my belief that despite the various newsletters, publications and sections on the AICPA Website, what the AICPA is doing that directly impacts its members can be publicized better by the AICPA.

The Internal Revenue Service said it would soon issue guidance to help businesses determine how to use the special 50 percent bonus depreciation allowance included with the recent economic stimulus legislation.

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board has revised the international standards requiring management to provide auditors with a clear written statement that auditors have received all the information they need.

CPAs who conduct valuations in the normal course of their practices are now required to comply with detailed standards.

Racing to find political common ground on estate tax policy before the Bush administration tax cuts expire, congressional leaders are urging Republicans and Democrats to “think outside the box” when considering reforms.Among the alternatives placed on the table for discussion during recent Senate Finance Committee hearings: proposals to tax the beneficiaries of inheritances, rather than estates, as well as options under which estate taxes would be levied based on the heir’s “access to sophisticated tax advice.”

When the Governmental Accounting Standards Board issued Statement 34, requiring government-wide accrual accounting and modified accrual accounting for governmental funds, it improved financial reporting enormously, but inevitably created some confusion.Part of that confusion was over one of the most widely used pieces of government financial information — fund balance. Grappling with vague definitions of “reserved” funds, state and local governments have been reporting restricted net assets and reserved fund balances inconsistently.

Two bills proposed in the Senate last year that take aim at tax havens and the U.S. taxpayers that operate in them have been given greater impetus by the recent European and U.S. probes into accounts in Liechtenstein that were alleged to hide assets from national taxing authorities.S. 396, introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., would prevent American companies from deferring the imposition of a second layer of tax on their foreign-source income if they operate in selected low-tax nations. It would amend the Internal Revenue Code to treat certain controlled foreign corporations created or organized under the laws of a tax-haven country as domestic corporations for tax purposes. It sets forth a list of “tax-haven” countries, and grants the Treasury authority to remove or add a country from the list.

Despite a recently issued safe harbor now available for like-kind exchanges of vacation properties, the Internal Revenue Service continues to keep taxpayers guessing on the precise boundaries of the law itself.Last September, the Government Accountability Office came out with a critical report on like-kind exchanges in which it complained that the IRS needed to give taxpayers more guidance on like-kind exchanges of second homes and vacation retreats. The GAO claimed that the IRS had agreed with its findings and had promised to release more specific guidance. The latest IRS response seems to fall short of that commitment.