Audit & Accounting

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board released a copy of its annual inspection of Grant Thornton, noting several deficiencies in the firm's audits of five clients.

CPAs who conduct valuations in the normal course of their practices are now required to comply with detailed standards.

Two former Arthur Andersen auditors have settled charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission accusing them of failing to exercise due professional care and skepticism in their 2001 audits of bankrupt telecommunications giant WorldCom.

Lately, it seems like the concepts of fair value measurement and mark-to-market accounting have been taking a lot of blame in the hand-wringing over what is causing the fallout in the credit and mortgage securities markets.

Piano maker Steinway Musical Instruments has opted to tune out Deloitte & Touche as its outside auditor and replace the Big Four firm with UHY, after its audit committee decided UHY offered a better price.

An Oregon federal court has permanently barred John Fitzgerald of Portland and his three daughters - Marilyn Dial, Martha Farr Sharp and Karen Gray - from marketing a tax fraud scheme involving sham nonprofit corporations that customers used to evade federal taxes, the Justice Department said.

House Approves Taxpayer Assistance and Simplification Act

It is my belief that despite the various newsletters, publications and sections on the AICPA Website, what the AICPA is doing that directly impacts its members can be publicized better by the AICPA.

The Internal Revenue Service said it would soon issue guidance to help businesses determine how to use the special 50 percent bonus depreciation allowance included with the recent economic stimulus legislation.

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board has revised the international standards requiring management to provide auditors with a clear written statement that auditors have received all the information they need.