Accounting standards

Qwest Communications International Inc.'s former finance chief, Robin Szeliga, pleaded guilty to insider trading last week.

According to the Association of Government Accountants, federal accountability and reporting is trending upwards.

Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp. said Wednesday that its new auditor, KPMG, will need more time to review the company's financial statements for 2002-2004.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board published a draft of a proposed interpretation, "Accounting for Uncertain Tax Positions," yesterday. The draft seeks to reduce the diversity in practices associated with recognition and measurement in the accounting for income taxes.

Corporate officers or authorized agents can now sign employment tax forms by facsimile, including alternative signature methods such as computer software programs or mechanical devices.

Harley-Davidson announced that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating shareholder complaints that the motorcycle manufacturer engaged in channel stuffing.

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

The executive stock option settlement initiative launched in February has received a strong turnout, according to the Internal Revenue Service. The initiative provided corporate executives and their companies a means to resolve an abusive tax transaction involving the transfer of stock options to family controlled partnerships.

After nearly two years of deliberation, the Securities and Exchange Commission dismissed an administrative proceeding against two former partners of Arthur Andersen & Co. last week.

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc., the studio behind "Shrek" and "Shark Tale," announced on Monday that the Securities and Exchange Commission has launched a probe into trading of its stock and the release of its first quarter results in May.

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. named Douglas R. Muir, a consultant to the company since December 2004, as the company's new chief accounting officer on Friday.

Better than one in every eight U.S. corporations that have undergone the more rigorous audits mandated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act during the past year have been flagged for ineffective internal controls over their financial reporting, officials at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board disclosed during a recent meeting with the organization's Standing Advisory Group.

Since Sarbanes-Oxley regulations went into effect for large enterprises, holding executives accountable for their company's financial records, the spotlight has been slowly turning towards nonprofits.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has taken a long look at an international standard on accounting changes, found it better than the American standard, and promptly adopted the gist of the international position.

Some taxpayers apparently believe that the ability to claim a charitable deduction for donation of an automobile ended on Dec. 31, 2004. The advertisements on the radio would make one believe that nothing has changed, and that you can still claim a deduction for donated automobiles just as before Jan. 1.

One of contemporary accounting's most persistent issues has taken a turn toward resolution as the American Institute of CPAs and the Financial Accounting Standards Board agreed to consider creating some kind of generally accepted accounting principles for privately held, for-profit companies.

Every so often, people and organizations mistakenly become so self-satisfied that they stumble into assuming their own infallibility, often accompanied by smug statements. Inevitably, events turn these boasts to dust.

An online filing error has revealed that the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board authorized a probe into a 2003 audit performed by Big Four accounting firm Deloitte & Touche LLP.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed paperwork last Thursday to again challenge a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule requiring that a mutual fund's chairman and three quarters of its directors be independent of the company.

A top litigation counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission will step down in August to become head of regulatory affairs for Merrill Lynch in New York.