Accounting standards

Small companies in the United States have long complained that it's unfair in terms of costs and time that they're required to meet accounting standards that were written for companies that are many times their size.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued final guidance on transfers of financial assets and repurchase financing, which should have an impact on the mortgage and real estate investment trust industry.

CPAs who are also senior financial executives expressed pessimism in the U.S. economy and expectations of continuing declines, according to a new survey by the American Institute of CPAs.

Since taking over management of the Institute of Management Accountants in January 2004, Paul A. Sharman has established an entirely new direction for the association.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has introduced Financial Explorer, a tool that shows corporate financial performance using interactive data in Extensible Business Reporting Language.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's Advisory Committee on Improvements to Financial Reporting has released a progress report on its work to date.

The Canadian Accounting Standards Board has confirmed that use of International Financial Reporting Standards will be required in 2011 for publicly held profit-oriented companies.

Senator Jack Reed, D-R.I., has written letters to the heads of the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board asking how to improve the transparency of the types of assets linked to subprime mortgages.

XBRL US named Alfred R. Berkeley as the new chairman who will lead the board in 2008.

A former PricewaterhouseCoopers auditor has settled charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission over his audits of video game developer Take-Two Interactive Software.

Two accounting statements from the Financial Accounting Standards Board could have a large impact on accounting firms and their business clients, said accounting firm BDO Seidman.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has a host of complex projects on the docket for 2008. The first half of the year will see a few new documents, while the second half will entail mostly discussions.

A new report finds that the cost of compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 internal control audit requirements for smaller public companies is actually about 14 percent lower than originally estimated.

The Internal Revenue Service hopes that new interim guidance for tax preparers will ease concerns over the expanded preparer penalties and heightened standards of conduct that must be met to avoid the penalties.

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 has introduced a new paradigm of tax strategies for those who are falling behind on their home mortgage payments (or anticipate falling behind as the result of a pending adjustable rate mortgage reset).

The pace of accounting standards convergence is accelerating, and is being driven primarily by an investment community that is rapidly embracing International Financial Reporting Standards.

Larry Rodda, a former principal and managing director of KPMG Consulting, has agreed to pay an $80,000 penalty to the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle charges that he deceived investigators over accounting fraud at Peregrine Systems.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has decided to issue final guidance that would defer for a year the effective date on which private and public entities would have to account for fair value measurements.

An advisory committee to the Securities and Exchange Commission intends to make its decision on Feb. 11 on whether to issue an eagerly anticipated report on improvements to financial reporting.

The IASC Foundation has set four principles for a funding system in 2008 for its activities, which include its work overseeing the International Accounting Standards Board.