Accounting standards

When President Bush signs the FSC/ETI bill, the days of small business owners and professionals such as doctors and lawyers expensing luxury SUVs are over.Writers of the 600-page measure closed a tax break that allowed business owners to save as much as $33,000 on the purchase of a $1000,000 vehicle, according to Tax Analysts.The Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 created the break by increasing from $25,000 to $100,000 the amount that small businesses can expense in the first year for buying a vehicle weighing 6,000 pounds or more.The incentive was originally written to assist farmers and contractors to invest in larger equipment, but the floodgates opened when it was discovered that luxury SUVs also qualified.The amendment reduces the SUV deduction to $25,000, while still allowing the farmers and contractors the break.

Members of the Financial Accounting Standards Board voted Wednesday to give public companies another six months to implement the board's proposed standard for expensing employee stock options.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil fraud charges against Dutch grocer Royal Ahold and three of its former executives in connection with an accounting scandal involving the overstatement of hundreds of millions of dollars of earnings.

The International Accounting Standards Board and the Accounting Standards Board of Japan announced that they have started talks about a joint project to minimize differences between international financial reporting standards and Japanese accounting standards.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has released a proposed bulletin that seeks to clarify accounting requirements for employers' contributions to pension and other post-employment benefit plans.

Consumer favorite Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. said that the ongoing probe into its accounting practices by the Securities and Exchange Commission has become a formal investigation.

The Department of Justice charged eight former executives of software maker Peregrine Systems Inc., the company's former outside auditor and two of its outside business partners with conspiracy to commit a multi-billion dollar securities fraud.

A coalition of analysts at 17 socially responsible investment firms representing over $147 billion in assets has banded together to call on publicly traded companies worldwide to start reporting annually on their key social and environmental policies, practices and performance.

As part of efforts to ensure the accuracy of Social Security numbers on wage statements, the Internal Revenue Service should consider revising its rules for waiving the penalties associated with filing statements with inaccurate numbers, the Government Accountability Office said this week.

The Securities and Exchange Commission warned American International Group Inc. that it is mulling a civil action against the insurance company for possible securities laws violations related to three press releases that the commission says are misleading.

Former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Arthur Levitt Jr. and former CNN chair Walter Isaacson have been named to the board of the Global Center for Leadership & Business Ethics, an independent entity established to recognize individuals and organizations with extraordinary business ethics and leadership qualities.

The Justice Department has added perjury and obstruction of justice charges to the criminal case against Richard M. Scrushy, the former chief executive and chairman of scandal-plagued HealthSouth Corp.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a proposal that would allow filers to submit financial data in eXtensible Business Reporting Language, or XBRL.

The International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation Trustees have tapped Australian Stock Exchange chief Richard G Humphry to serve as a trustee from the Asia-Pacific region.

Class-action specialist Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP has filed suit against beleaguered mortgage financing concern Fannie Mae, charging the company with violations of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 and making false and misleading statements that ultimately led to a "scandal of tremendous proportion."

The American Institute of CPAs has launched the third of its planned Audit Quality Centers.

In a move aimed at reducing the paperwork burden for small businesses, the Internal Revenue Service said it would boost the number of small businesses eligible to file a simplified expense form.

The regulator charged with overseeing mortgage concern Fannie Mae appears to be considering a shake-up of its top management to clean up the beleaguered firm.

Fund research provider Morningstar Inc. said it is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission related to incorrect total return data that Morningstar published earlier this year for a single mutual fund.

On the heels of a pair of settlements to resolve the company's $2.2 billion accounting scandal, two former top executives of software maker Computer Associates International Inc. pleaded not guilty to criminal charges.