Audit & Accounting

Concluding six months of pro-bono assistance to the United Nations Development Program on the oversight of tsunami relief and reconstruction work, Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP presented its final report on the project last week.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu announced aggregate revenues for its member firms totaled $18.2 billion for the 2005 fiscal year, a 10.9 percent increase from last year.

Joseph Nacchio, the former chief executive of Qwest Communications during the telecommunications company's multibillion-dollar accounting scandal, was indicted on 42 counts of insider trading for allegedly illegally selling more than $100 million in stock.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox recently met with representatives of the accounting and financial reporting software industry to express support for integrating interactive data capabilities into existing accounting and financial reporting software.

KPMG International published its 2005 Annual Review, which includes final combined revenue and growth figures achieved by KPMG member firms.

Like its U.S. counterparts, the Canadian Public Accountability Board says that the Big Four firms have more work to do in order to improve audit quality and consistently meet professional standards. It was the board's third public report on its continuing inspections of accounting firms.

A CPA with radio personality Howard Stern's accounting firm has settled insider trading charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The accounting support fees imposed on corporations by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will be slashed by nearly 20 percent next year, under the organization's recently released 2006 operating budget.In announcing the new budget plan for the coming year, PCAOB officials said that the board will charge publicly traded companies a total of $109.3 million in accounting support fees during 2006 - down from the $136.1 million assessed in 2005.

FIRST VIRTUAL DISMISSES PWC: Video software concern First Virtual Communications Inc. dismissed auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers and subsequently engaged Squar Milner Reehl & Williamson as its new independent accountant.In January, First Virtual filed for Chapter 11 protection. In August, the company filed a liquidation plan that proposed a reverse merger, whereby First Virtual Communications would acquire the assets of newly formed U.S. Dry Cleaning and change its name to U.S. Dry Cleaning Corp.

GLOBAL BENCHMARK EN ROUTE FOR FINANCIAL PLANNERS: The upcoming International Standards Organization's 2222 standard is now in a final ballot, with the objective of achieving and promoting a globally accepted benchmark for individuals who provide the professional service of personal financial planning. This would be the first truly non-technical service standard for financial services.According to Stuart Kessler, managing director of RSM McGladrey Inc. and the chair of the ISO's blue ribbon committee on financing planning, "ISO 2222 will specify the ethical behaviors, competences and experience required of a professional personal financial planner. It describes and addresses the various methods of conformity assessment and specifies requirements applying to each of them."