The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is closing in on a proposed new audit standard governing engagement quality reviews by accounting firms.That standard, which appears on track to be advanced during 2006, is part of an ambitious agenda of audit standard-setting activities for the coming year that was outlined by PCAOB staffers during a recent meeting of the board's Standing Advisory Group.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued another exposure draft on accounting for earnings per share, adding what may be the final tweaks to an amendment of Statement 128.The revised edition has few changes from the original ED that was issued in December 2003, but the board considered at least one change - it involves amending the computational guidance for calculating the number of incremental shares included in diluted shares when applying the treasury stock method - to be substantive enough to require another exposure draft for public comment.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Securities and Exchange Commission to protect the country's investors. The SEC went on to create the Financial Accounting Standards Board to give investors standardized financial reports.And now FASB has taken the next step toward investor protection by establishing an Investor Task Force.

The Financial Accounting Foundation, overseer of the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board, recently named Robert J. DeSantis to the newly created post of president and chief operating officer.DeSantis, a seasoned corporate executive, financial officer, public accountant and attorney, was, most recently, chief financial officer of DSL.net, a broadband communications provider. He also served as executive vice president at Tellium Inc., a manufacturer of optical switching solutions, and held senior posts at both GTE Corp. and Big Four audit firm KPMG Peat Marwick.

Three executives at Mercury Interactive Corp. resigned after an internal investigation revealed that the company had allegedly manipulated stock options over the past decade.

RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. announced chairman and chief executive James N. Stanard resigned in light of investigations into the company's earnings restatement.

As part of its program to improve the clarity of international standards, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board of the International Federation of Accountants has issued exposure drafts of four proposed standards in a new drafting style.