The newly released 2006-2007 Internal Revenue Service Priority Guidance Plan, designed as the agency's own blueprint for its guidance projects during the coming year, ranges in scope from consolidated returns to tax-exempt bonds.The Guidance Plan contains 10 more projects than last year's plan, and includes projected rulings on corporations and shareholders, employee benefits, executive compensation, excise taxes, exempt organizations, estate and gift taxes, partnerships, S corporations, and international issues.

A recently released exposure draft from the American Institute of CPAs contains two different interpretations under the institute's independence rules.

A new accounting bulletin from the Securities and Exchange Commission addresses how prior year misstatements should be considered when quantifying a current year's misstatement.

The AFL-CIO wants to know more about the role that the major accounting firms might have played in the handling of stock options grants the government is now investigating.

In a move to keep the United States ensconced as the financial capital of the world, a newly formed commission will recommend changes to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other regulatory mandates it judges to encumber domestic capital markets from remaining competitive.

The Employee Benefits Security Administration, part of the Labor Department, is seeking comment on its plans to update guidance on the independence of accountants who audit employee benefit plans.

The Canadian government has pledged $1 million over the next five years to the International Federation of Accountants' board that governs public company accounting.