The International Accounting Standards Board has published its preliminary views on accounting for insurance contracts in a discussion paper.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is soliciting nominations and re-nominations for members of its Standing Advisory Group. Created in 2003, the 31-member SAG assists the audit firm overseer in carrying out its standards-setting responsibilities. The PCAOB is currently seeking nominations and re-nominations annually to fill 15 positions. Appointments are for two-year terms. Nomination forms are available on the PCAOB Web site, www.pcaobus.org. The deadline for submissions is June 15, 2007. Appointments will be announced by the end of October, and the new terms will begin in January 2008. The group, chaired by the PCAOB chief auditor and director of professional standards, Thomas Ray, meets roughly three times a year.

In the ongoing movement toward the convergence of U.S. and international accounting standards, President Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have sealed an agreement that would clear a path toward a unified set of accounting standards by 2009. The agreement will establish a "Transatlantic Economic Council" to help lower regulatory barriers between the U.S. and the European Union. The council, will co-chaired by White House economic adviser Allan Hubbard and European Commission vice president Guenter Verheugen and will submit annual reports on the progress top both EU and U.S. leaders. The signing comes as the Securities and Exchange Commission is mulling whether to allow foreign companies registered in the U.S. to file their statements using international financial reporting standards in lieu of generally accepted accounting principles.

Financial Executives International, a 15,000-member body of chief financial officers, controllers and other c-level financial executives, has thrown its support behind the Senate's efforts to modify Sarbanes-Oxley's Section 404. In a letter to Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the chairman and ranking Republican, respectively, of the Senate Banking Committee, FEI president and chief executive Michael Cangemi lauded their leadership in "allowing the SEC and the PCAOB to resolve the challenges of improving Section 404." Cangemi told Dodd and Shelby that FEI's position is that "Section 404 needs to be made more efficient. However, we remain encouraged that the forthcoming SEC and PCAOB guidance will achieve a greater balance in the implementation of the annual compliance process of Section 404." FEI's letter comes on the heels of an overwhelming 62-35 defeat in the Senate of an amendment put forth by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., which would have made 404 compliance optional for companies below a certain market cap. Shortly thereafter, the chamber voted unanimously 97-0 to approve an amendment from Dodd, suggesting that the SEC and the PCAOB forge ahead with their previously announced plans to develop guidance for smaller filers to make SOX more manageable.

Thomson Tax & Accounting has released "PPC's Guide to Audits of Nonpublic Companies," which helps integrate the requirements of the newly released risk assessment standards that go into effect for financial statement audits beginning on or after Dec. 15, 2006. The new tome fuses two existing products -- "PPC's Guide to Audits of Small Businesses" and "PPC's Guide to Risk-Based Audits" - into a single guide for all nonpublic, non-industry-specific audit engagements. The manual includes checklists, forms and audit programs to help firms transition their audit approach to reflect the new standards. The guide is available in a variety of formats including TTA's proprietary Checkpoint platform. The risk-assessment guide also contains in-depth coverage of new requirements for communicating internal control deficiencies under SAS No. 112 and communicating with those charged with governance under SAS No. 114.

Norwalk, Conn. -- The Financial Accounting Foundation, overseer to both the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, appointed Girard Miller and Jan I. Sylvis to five-year terms on GASB. Their terms begin July 1. Miller and Sylvis will succeed outgoing GASB board members Cynthia Green and Edward Mazur, respectively. Miller previously served as president of Janus Funds and chief operating officer of asset manager Janus Capital Group. Sylvis currently is the chief of accounts for Tennessee's Department of Finance & Administration, where she serves as state controller.

Former Senator Paul Sarbanes, D-Md., who, as the head of the Senate Banking Committee, co-authored the sweeping Sarbanes-Oxley reform act said he supports developing additional guidance for smaller filers but, not surprisingly, dismisses exempting those companies from compliance with the legislation's rigid Section 404. "Stop and think about that for a moment," said Sarbanes in a speech before attendees at a conference on financial reporting and governance presented by Pace University's Lubin School of Business, here. "That would mean that you would be exempting 80 percent of public companies from compliance."