The Internal Revenue Service warned taxpayers to beware of several current e-mail and telephone scams that use the IRS name as a lure.The goal of the scams is to trick people into revealing personal and financial information, such as Social Security, bank account or credit card numbers, which the scammers can use to commit identity theft. Typically, identity thieves use a victim's personal and financial data to empty the victim's financial accounts, run up charges on the victim's existing credit cards, apply for new loans, credit cards, services or benefits in the victim's name, file fraudulent tax returns or even commit crimes. Most of these fraudulent activities can be committed electronically from a remote location, including overseas. Committing these activities in cyberspace allows scammers to act quickly and cover their tracks before the victim becomes aware of the theft. The most recent scams brought to IRS attention are the rebate phone call, in which a bogus IRS employee tells the consumer he is eligible for a sizable rebate for filing his taxes early; a link for a refund that is e-mailed to tax-exempt organizations bearing the supposed signature of the IRS Exempt Organizations business division; and an e-mail inviting recipients to click on a series of links to download information on changes in the tax law, but which downloads malware onto the recipient's computer. A new scam, not seen before by the IRS, notifies the recipient by e-mail that his or her tax return will be audited. The e-mail instructs the recipient to click on links to complete forms with personal and account information that the scammers will use to commit identity theft.

David B. Duncan, former global engagement partner for Enron at the defunct audit firm Arthur Andersen, agreed to an injunction by the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle charges that he broke securities laws when he signed false and misleading audit reports.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has voted to adopt Auditing Standard No. 6, "Evaluating Consistency of Financial Statements," and an accompanying set of amendments to its interim auditing standards.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said it has issued settled administrative orders against eight auditors who improperly issued audit reports on the financial statements of public companies while the audit firms were not registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board plans to consider adopting an auditing standard on evaluating the consistency of financial statements at a meeting on Tuesday.

The Securities and EXchange Commission has issued a final rule on accepting financial statements prepared by foreign companies in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards without reconciling them with U.S. GAAP.The SEC noted that it was accepting statements prepared in accordance with IFRS as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, leaving out regional variations such as those approved by the European Union.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox plans to propose another year’s delay in imposing Sarbanes-Oxley Section 404 requirements for small public companies.In testimony before the House Small Business Committee in mid-December, Cox said that he thought the additional delay would allow regulators to assimilate the results of a study now underway on the costs of 404 compliance. “I intend to propose to the commission that we authorize a further one-year delay in implementation for small businesses in order to base our decision on final implementation of Section 404(b) on the best available cost data,” he said.