Audit & Accounting

The Securities and Exchange Commission said it has settled with six former executives and employees of Riverstone Networks who had been accused of inflating revenues at the communications router maker after they agreed to pay penalties and fines.

An appeals court judge has affirmed that KPMG should not be held liable for malpractice under Illinois law after one of its audit clients acquired a dot-com company and subsequently went bankrupt.

McGladrey & Pullen has been sued for $550 million by a bankruptcy trustee for Sentinel Management Group.

A jury deadlocked last week in the second trial of former Arthur Andersen partner Daniel F. Stulac over the firm's audit of Peregrine Systems.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Canadian pharmaceutical company Biovail and its former CEO and CFO and two current senior executives with engaging in fraudulent accounting schemes and making a series of misstatements to analysts and investors.

Software developer Compliance Coach introduced CompliancePal, a product intended to help businesses comply with new rules for safeguarding against identity theft.

Former KPMG tax partner Robert Pfaff has been indicted on new charges alleging he participated in a tax shelter scheme involving the Big Four firm and a company located in Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Melvyn Weiss, former partner in the law firm Milberg Weiss, has agreed to plead guilty to a racketeering charge accusing him of paying kickbacks to plaintiffs in class-action cases.

The Financial Accounting Standards Board has issued a statement intended to improve financial reporting on derivative instruments and hedging activities.

The International Accounting Standards Board has issued a discussion paper, "Reducing Complexity in Reporting Financial Instruments," intended to be the first step in developing principles-based standards that are less complicated than existing standards for reporting on derivatives and other investments.