Audit & Accounting

Nearly two weeks after the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s audit inspection team cited Deloitte & Touche for audit deficiencies, the oversight body’s report on PricewaterhouseCoopers criticized a number of 2005 audits performed by that Big Four firm.

Though revenues from the U.S. Government rose 12 percent over fiscal 2006, to $2.4 trillion, the future costs for social insurance programs such as Medicare and Social Security will be trillions more than initially projected.

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board released an exposure draft on pensions that would bring current disclosure requirements for governments and governmental pension plans into line with those recently issued for other post-employment benefits.

Tax research and products provider RIA, a Thomson business, has upgraded its proprietary Checkpoint service, adding a research tool that can be used for tax and auditing simultaneously.The "bridge" comes in the form of RIA sister company PPC's e-Practice Aids, Microsoft Word and Excel versions of all of the editable practice aids in the related PPC Guide, including those from WG&L, and materials from the Securities and Exchange Commission.PPC's e-Practice Aids work with paperless engagement software or with Word and Excel."One thing we heard from our customers, tax people were saying 'There was a reason we work in taxes, because we didn't want to do auditing'" said Ron Burkett, RIA's director of product management, in response to Sarbanes-Oxley. "It helps them bridge over to something they may not be that familiar with."Checkpoint is featuring a series of other enhancements as well, including a customized home page capability, which allows users to customize their research platform by selecting from a list of predefined views including accounting and auditing; corporate finance; tax; and estate and retirement planning, and decide their significance. In addition, users can create their own home page by selecting the content panes based on content they subscribe to that best fits their research needs. For more information about Checkpoint, visit http://ria.thomson.com or call (800)-950-1216.

Morrison, Brown, Argiz & Farra LLP announced that it has acquired the Miami-based practice of Freeman, Buczyner & Gero.FBG partners Alan Freeman and Jacqueline Gero will join as partners of MBAF, bringing with them their staff of about a dozen employees.

Noted professional and college football coach Lou Saban was at the helm of the Denver Broncos who, on opening day in 1971, were unexpectedly giving the then-powerhouse Miami Dolphins the fight of their lives.

When I was a kid, sometime around the Battle of Gettysburg, I had run up a pretty good comic book collection. I was addicted to comic books and had first editions, first issues of Batman, Superman, Joe Palooka, Little Lulu, and The Katzenjammer Kids, to name a few. The dimes I got from my grandparents went a long way then.But, alas, you know exactly what happened to them, don’t you? I left for four years of college, plus a couple of years in the service (it was mandatory at that time), and by the time I came home (along with many of my neighborhood friends), those cartons in the garage? Well, where they are, I’m unsure but it could have been income in retirement.

Resolutions relating to improving personal finances in the New Year will likely hold steady year-over-year, according to an unscientific survey.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. has hired Stephen Cutler, the former chief of enforcement at the Securities and Exchange Commission, as its top legal officer.Cutler, 45, left the SEC last year after playing a central role in the agency's investigations into historic corporate fraud and trading abuses. Since leaving the SEC, Cutler has been working at Washington-based Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, where he is a partner and co-chairs the securities practice. Cutler will begin working at the bank in February as its executive vice president and general counsel.

Fannie Mae has filed a lawsuit against former auditor KPMG, accusing the Big Four firm of 17 counts of negligence and breach of contract.