Audit & Accounting

The KPMG tax shelter case got underway with jury selection and a drastically reduced set of defendants.

CaseWare IDEA Inc. and Audimation Services Inc. have released IDEA Version 7.2, the latest version of their software to give accounting and financial professionals additional capabilities to assist with audits, detect fraud and meet documentation standards.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has set up a new unit to speed the move to interactive financial reporting by public companies.

Parente Randolph has acquired the Pittsburgh office of Terry & Stephenson, bringing the total number of staff members in Parente's Pittsburgh office to more than 35.

Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan has acquired investment research company Glass, Lewis & Co., for $46 million, bringing ownership of the proxy advisory provider back to North America.

ATM machine maker Diebold has been in talks with the Office of the Chief Accountant at the Securities and Exchange Commission about its practice of recognizing certain revenue on a "bill and hold basis."

The Center for Audit Quality (CAQ) is living up to its name, as it has issued three white papers in response to the so-called “liquidity crisis” that began in the subprime mortgage-related markets and, according to CAQ, has spread to other corners of the credit markets with “a potentially pervasive impact on public companies generally with respect to investments held.”

'Truth" and "accounting" should not be concepts that are terribly hard to reconcile - unless you're also trying to bring "government" into the formula.Uniting those three ideas has been Sheila Weinberg's goal ever since she had a baby. Not that the baby had anything to do with it, but motherhood gave her some time off from her career as a CPA.

During my extended stay in college, my idea of prudent financial planning was to put enough aside to order extra cheese at Pizza Hut on Friday nights. Several decades later, Friday is still pizza night for me, and I've upgraded a bit since then. Now, in a week without any unforeseen expenses like a brake job or a cut and highlights for my wife and daughters, I can splurge on a double order of garlic knots.My rather modest financial portfolio aside, I saw recently that financial planning perks have swelled among the chief executives of Fortune 100 companies. Last year, more than 74 percent of Fortune 100 companies disclosed that their CEO received financial planning-related perks, versus just under 30 percent in 2005.

IBC JETTISONS KPMGFinancial holding company International Bancshares Corp. said that its audit committee has dismissed KPMG as its auditor and replaced the Big Four firm with McGladrey & Pullen.