Accounting standards

DePaul University's College of Commerce has launched the Center for Global Accountancy Education, Benchmarking and Research Center, which will work to improve financial accounting in the developing world by policing three specific areas: international auditing standards, financial reporting and accounting education.

After filling the top slot at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board by naming Mark W. Olson as chairman in June, Securities and Exchange Commission chair Christopher Cox filled another gaping vacancy in July - the position of SEC chief accountant.Late last month, Cox named former Ernst & Young partner and California banking regulator Conrad W. Hewitt as the nation's top accountant, a post that had been empty for nearly 10 months since the departure of Don Nicholaisen.

In response to widespread criticism of the cost and burden of implementing Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, on internal controls, the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission has issued comprehensive guidance and principles that should help smaller companies comply.In a July Webcast that introduced the new guidance, COSO chairman Larry Rittenberg emphasized that it does not specify prescriptive solutions to internal control problems.

Taking a big step toward erecting a stronger foundation beneath the world's accounting standards, the International Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board recently issued a joint document suggesting a more clearly defined objective of financial reporting, and more clearly delineated qualitative characteristics of decision-useful financial information.The preliminary views document, the result of Phase A of the boards' conceptual framework project, eliminates small but crucial differences in the basic building blocks of the accounting principles promulgated by the boards. Decisions at this fundamental level will ripple through accounting principles established over the course of decades, and could necessitate amendments to current standards.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that Diego Tomás Ruiz, a long-time business executive with Spanish-language media group Univision Communications Inc., will serve as its new executive director.

A number of prominent economists and finance experts have lent their names to a call to repeal a stock option-reform measure adopted last year by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The former chief executive of Comverse Technology Inc., who was charged last week with conspiracy related to backdating stock options, is now being regarded as a fugitive by the federal government.

Erik R. Sirri, an economist with expertise in the structure of securities markets, has been named the new director of market regulation at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced plans to create its own Web tools to allow investors and analysts to manipulate interactive data to analyze mutual fund and corporate information.

Have you ever monitored the progress of a large municipal construction project and noted how many times the completion deadline is pushed back?

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged former Endocare Inc. chief executive Paul Mikus and chief financial officer John V. Cracchiolo with accounting fraud.

As expected, the Securities and Exchange Commission will likely grant smaller public companies and most foreign private issuers an extension on having to comply with the internal controls provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Fannie Mae said that it believes its internal accounting review is finally over, and that its anticipated restatement will be much less than its previous $2.4 billion estimates.

The Securities and Exchange Commission won't challenge a federal appeals court ruling overturning independence rules for hedge fund directors.

Martha Stewart and Peter Bacanovic -- of domestic multimedia empire and ImClone Systems stock trading fame -- have agreed to settle civil charges of insider trading brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Keeping up with the rules and regulations that govern our professional existence is a challenging endeavor, but, relatively speaking, it could be worse.Consider the environment in other countries. In France, for example, students participating in a graduate-level accounting program in a business school must learn three sets of standards. Yes, three!

The American Institute of CPAs praised a new law that will prevent states from taxing the retirement income of non-resident partners last week.

In a significant move toward unifying a number of related standards and harmonizing them with a new international standard, the Auditing Standards Board has voted out a proposed statement on quality control.It was one of three exposure drafts issued for comment by summer's end.

The Securities and Exchange Commission requested that the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board delay issuing guidance related to backdating stock options.According to reports, the PCAOB had planned to issue an alert to accounting firms about the topic, which would have advised auditors about grant issues they should examine in audits. The regulator reportedly asked the board to delay issuing the guidance until the commission completes its own work on a proposed rule to revamp disclosure of executive pay.

New guidance stressing efficient application of effective internal controls over financial reporting was released in mid-July by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.The guidance, titled "Internal Control over Financial Reporting - Guidance for Small Public Companies," was released with a Webcast that was attended by over 1,750 participants.