Audit & Accounting

As expected, the Securities and Exchange Commission this week postponed for a year the final phase-in period for rules that would shorten the amount of time that larger companies, known as "accelerated filers," have to file their quarterly and annual reports.

Annual Sarbanes-Oxley compliance costs averaged $16 million -- a jump of 77 percent from last year, according to a survey of corporate boards by RHR International and Directorship.

Deloitte ranks highest in satisfaction with tax firm performance among the Big Four, according to a study of tax firm performance by J.D. Power and Associates.

So much for a one-time project: Companies will spend an estimated $5.8 billion on meeting Sarbanes-Oxley Act requirements in 2005, with more than a third planning to increase SOX spending next year, according to AMR Research.

Corporate governance software and services provider Axena Inc. has expanded into Europe.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is reaching out to smaller accounting firms and small public companies with a new initiative to provide information about the board's inspections process and the impact of new auditing standards.

Compliance software provider Axentis has named Ken Sexton as its chairman and chief executive.

Smaller companies could get a reprieve from the Securities and Exchange Commission on filing internal control documentation, according to published reports.

The Council of the International Federation of Accountants, a group that sets international standards on ethics, auditing and assurance, education, and public sector accounting, has named PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Graham Ward, CBE, MA, FCA, as its new president for a two-year term.

Randolph C. Blazer, the chairman and chief executive of BearingPoint, who led the former KPMG Consulting unit through its split with KPMG LLP and its transition to a public company, has resigned.