Accounting standards

Sandra Harris, who co-headed the Securities and Exchange Commission's Pacific Regional Office for more than 10 years, said that she will leave the regulator for a post in the private sector, though she has yet to announce the specifics of the new job.

Over the last month, at least a handful of lengthy feature stories have come my way about Supreme Court nominee John Roberts -- but the same can't be said about coverage of President Bush's other summertime nominee, Christopher Cox, who was sworn in as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 3.

Troubled mortgage-financing company Fannie Mae said its previously announced financials restatement will probably be completed by the second half of 2006, according to a federal filing.

Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said the government inquiries into accounting at its insurance units are part of an investigation that began in January, and not a new probe.

The Governmental Accounting Standard Board recently published a guide to its statements 43 and 45, both which address post-employment benefits besides pensions.

A sixteenth former Enron executive has pleaded guilty in the Justice Department's investigation into the energy giant's bankruptcy.

California Rep. Christopher Cox, President Bush's nominee for chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, disclosed his stock, mutual fund and other assets in early July, the value of which could range from $2.7 million to $5.9 million.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board have issued an exposure draft of a proposed new standard on business combinations. If approved, the standard should help facilitate global consistency in accounting for transnational mergers and acquisitions.

In a memo to federal regulators, lawyers for American International Group Inc.'s former chief executive outlined a case that the company's $3.9 billion earnings restatement was unnecessary and that any blame lay with its auditor of the past two decades, PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Time Warner Inc. will set aside $3 billion in reserves for shareholder lawsuits over the AOL merger, and in a separate announcement, plaintiff lawyers said that accounting firm Ernst & Young, the company's auditor, has agreed to contribute another $100 million.

The former vice chairman of Cendant Corp. was sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $3.27 billion to the hotel franchise and travel company for his role in an accounting scandal at Cendant's predecessor, CUC International.

The administrators of a Utah college savings plan have settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission for issuing false and misleading information, though the fund's former director will be charged with misappropriating funds.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's advisory committee on smaller public companies has published a series of questions to solicit public input from investors and companies on ways to improve the current regulatory system for smaller companies and to examine the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Tax information providers CCH and RIA both released comprehensive explanations and practical analyses of the tax provisions contained in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2005.

Tax preparation giant H&R Block Inc. has said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it overstated net income for 2003 and 2004 by $91.1 million, due mostly to accounting errors.

California Republican Rep. Christopher Cox will serve as the new chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, after the Senate confirmed President Bush's pick alongside Democrats Roel Campos and Annette Nazareth, who will round out the five-member panel.

The board of the International Federation of Accountants has initiated a global study on how to enhance the quality of the financial reporting supply chain.

Big Four accounting firm Deloitte & Touche LLP and Reliant Energy Inc. will pay $75 million to settle shareholder class-action lawsuits that alleged that the electric company engaged in illegal trading to boost its stock value during the energy crisis of 2000 and 2001.

In a close vote along party lines, the Senate Banking Committee approved a bill to increase oversight of mortgage financing companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as reduce their combined $1.5 trillion investment portfolios by about $600 billion.

As expected, the Senate Banking Committee voted Thursday to recommend confirmation of President Bush's three nominees to the Securities and Exchange Commission.