Audit & Accounting

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board, a unit of the International Federation of Accountants, has approved a revised standard that the governing body says will enhance audit quality via stricter requirements for documentation.

The European Parliament approved the controversial Eighth Directive, a sweeping reform measure that mandates new oversight rules for auditors.

In a ruling that may affect the future of state job creation strategies across the nation, the Supreme Court will rule on how states can use tax incentives to entice large concerns such as car companies to make capital investments.

Wolters Kluwer Corporate & Financial Services will provide the Internal Revenue Service with online access to capital gain and loss information on publicly traded securities.

Without the release of all pertinent documents by San Diego's pension board, attorney's office and firefighters union , auditor KPMG says that its review of the city's 2003 year could drag on even longer.

The Norwegian branch of KPMG International will pay $53.6 million to eight banks in order to settle damages over one of the country's worst bankruptcies.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox will recuse himself to avoid any appearance of impropriety in the agency's investigation of Cox's former congressional colleague, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.

The board of trustees of the Financial Accounting Foundation appointed telecomm executive Robert J. DeSantis as president and chief operating officer.

It was a deal years in the making, though industry observers say that it didn't have to be.In striking an agreement to escape a potentially fatal criminal indictment for its sale of legally questionable tax shelters from 1996 to 2002, KPMG will pay a $456 million fine to the federal government and essentially spend the next 16 months on probation. The firm has also agreed to close its tax business for high-net-worth individuals within six months.

Years of lower equity risk premiums have prompted advisors to begin looking beyond the traditional modern portfolio theory for strategies that can produce heftier returns.Enter the core/satellite design - defined as a commitment to longer-term investing in "core" vehicles, combined with satellites of frequently changed assets that can add to returns.