Financial reporting

Check out the digital edition of the May 10-23, 2010 issue of Accounting Today by clicking here.

New York - The International Auditing and AssuranceStandards Board has proposed a new assurance standard to address the process ofcompiling pro forma financial information included in prospectuses.

The National Association of State Boards of Accountancy has promoted Ken Bishop to the job of chief operating officer.

A district court has granted a delay in the enforcement of the Federal Trade Commission’s Red Flags Rule governing identity theft prevention for members of the American Institute of CPAs in public practice.

A class-action lawsuit by former shareholders of Lehman Brothers has been amended to add the defunct investment bank’s auditing firm, Ernst & Young, as a defendant.

XBRL US and the Financial Accounting Foundation have inked a three-year agreement to conduct joint research on further developing interactive data tags for financial statements.

The American Institute of CPAs is keeping a close watch on financial reform legislation as the Senate is expected to begin debate on the bill within the next week.

Americans seem to hold a generally favorable view of accountants, according to a new survey.

Our most recent column ("To the SEC: Forget the timetable and stop the runaway train," March 15-April 18) reported that the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board are racing to complete a long list of major projects. We warned that this dash will produce less than the best standards, and promised to describe some specifics, leases in particular.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board have published a report detailing their progress to date on achieving convergence of U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards.

Check out the digital edition of the April 19-May 9, 2010 issue of Accounting Today by clicking here.

A “blue ribbon panel” looking to improve the accounting standards for private companies wants to find out why so many are not strictly complying with GAAP.

The American Institute of CPAs is encouraging more CPA firms and college professors to teach forensic accountants the skills they need to ferret out financial chicanery.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board plan to reconsider the standards for the types of repurchase transactions that Lehman Brothers used to shift $50 billion temporarily off its balance sheet before issuing its quarterly financial statements.

The International Accounting Standards Board has published the results of an international research project on how to account for extractive activities in the oil, gas, and mineral industries.

The International Federation of Accountants has released two downloadable handbooks containing its 2010 code of ethics for professional accountants and pronouncements on auditing, review and other assurance services.

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants has released a draft plan setting out a proposed strategy for the next three years on ways for accountants to deal with conflicts of interest, suspected fraud and other issues.

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International Accounting Standards Board Chairman Sir David Tweedie told a group of European finance officials that the IASB and the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board are on track to converge their standards by June 2011, after which there will be a period of stability in accounting standards.

Check out the digital edition of the March 15 issue of Accounting Today.