Audit & Accounting

The Institute of Internal Auditors has established a Canadian Council, a group of 18 members from throughout the country, to address issues specific to the region's internal auditors.

Agents won't be allowed to challenge whether casino comps to high-rolling patrons qualify for treatment as promotional expenses, according to a memo released by the Large and Mid-Size Business Division of the Internal Revenue Service.

Following the old saw that "What goes up must come down" - and vice versa - advisors who employ a strategy of buying cheap like it when market sectors decline.By the same token, some economic-minded advisors are continually on the lookout for market laggards in the expectation that the next swing might trend upward. Top performers over the recent past are the likely suspects for future price declines, say experts.

It's summer vacation time, and we're following our tradition of digging into the files and reprinting columns from the past. This one from June 2003 deals mostly with the accounting for stock options.In those days, of course, there was a lot of Chicken Little shouting that the mandatory expensing of stock options would destroy free enterprise and the rest of Western civilization. Everyone jumped on the bandwagon to save options and to keep financial statements from being polluted by bad numbers.

In an effort to increase charitable giving across the U.S., the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund, an independent public charity within the donor-advised fund program of financial services conglomerate Fidelity, has rolled out the Charitable Investment Advisor Program.Fidelity's new offering allows independent investment advisors to provide discretionary investment management to the Gift Fund for contributions made by the advisors' clients.

An individual who is an active participant in a qualified retirement plan cannot make deductible contributions to a traditional IRA unless her modified adjusted gross income is below certain specified levels.The level depends on the type of income tax return the individual files. For single taxpayers and heads of household, the otherwise allowable deduction is phased out ratably in 2006 and later years, when the taxpayer's MAGI is between $50,000 and $60,000.

Keeping up with the rules and regulations that govern our professional existence is a challenging endeavor, but, relatively speaking, it could be worse.Consider the environment in other countries. In France, for example, students participating in a graduate-level accounting program in a business school must learn three sets of standards. Yes, three!

The American Institute of CPAs praised a new law that will prevent states from taxing the retirement income of non-resident partners last week.

In a significant move toward unifying a number of related standards and harmonizing them with a new international standard, the Auditing Standards Board has voted out a proposed statement on quality control.It was one of three exposure drafts issued for comment by summer's end.

The Securities and Exchange Commission requested that the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board delay issuing guidance related to backdating stock options.According to reports, the PCAOB had planned to issue an alert to accounting firms about the topic, which would have advised auditors about grant issues they should examine in audits. The regulator reportedly asked the board to delay issuing the guidance until the commission completes its own work on a proposed rule to revamp disclosure of executive pay.