The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it has filed and settled financial fraud charges against bank holding company Doral Financial Corp.

Accounting for derivatives has never been easy, but the Governmental Accounting Standards Board has proffered some thoughts on how it might be done, and 85 concerned industry professionals generally agreed - but not completely.GASB project manager Randy Finden said that the bulk of the board's complex preliminary views document could be boiled down to two sentences: "Put all derivatives in the balance sheet at fair value. Fair-value changes will be reported as gains and losses in income, except for hedging gains and losses, which will be reported on the balance sheet as deferrals."

The selection by an entity of its company structure, its fiscal year and its method of accounting are the three main mechanisms that a company can employ in performing substantial tax planning, according to Nicholas Crocetti, CPA, a partner in CBiz Accounting Tax & Advisory."The concept of an accounting method is much broader than what many people believe," he said. "Most companies employ a number of accounting methods. First, they have an overall method of accounting - for example, the cash method, accrual or some form of hybrid method. Additionally, companies need accounting methods for every timing item they encounter in their business, such as how to account for inventory, bad debts, vacation pay and self-insured medical expenses."

A previous article discussed several of the new terms that the new risk assessment standards have introduced to the audit process (Sept. 4-17, 2006, page 36). The following discussion expands on that by addressing in more detail some of the more significant differences between the requirements of the new risk assessment standards and past audit practice.* Audit plans and programs. The audit program is now called the audit plan, but it is still required. The auditor must develop an audit plan in which the auditor documents the audit procedures to be used. The audit plan is more detailed than the audit strategy, and includes the nature, timing and extent of audit procedures to be performed, including risk assessment procedures and planned further audit procedures.

As part of the recently signed pension bill, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service will have to better define what constitutes "good" condition for donations of clothing or household items.The IRS can deny deductions for donated items such as furniture, appliances, linens or electronics if the items aren't in appropriate condition.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a standard providing guidance for using fair value to measure assets and liabilities.

Billionaire tycoon Ricardo Salinas Pliego and the Securities and Exchange Commission reached a settlement last week, marking the end of the first lawsuit against a foreign company under the corporate governance rules of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.