The Latest

More than 65 percent of the CFOs and 70 percent of the audit committee members surveyed by accounting firm Crowe Chizek cited managing enterprise risk as the biggest challenge facing their organizations over the next 12 months.

A Utah attorney was sentenced to 120 months in prison and 36 months of supervised release after he was convicted of participating in a $20 million offshore tax fraud conspiracy.

Inventor Gilbert P. Hyatt received a jury award of more than $388 million after suing California's Franchise Tax Board for its conduct in auditing him more than a decade ago.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said it would distribute millions of dollars to investors harmed by market-timing trading violations in mutual funds managed by Putnam Investment Management and Janus Capital Management.

Stefano Vranca, a principal at Rothstein Kass’s Beverly Hills, Calif., office, sees lawsuits in the entertainment industry up close.As head of the firm’s litigation and forensics practice, he often handles royalty reviews and negotiations for various movie studios. Vranca has noticed an increasing reliance on “creative accounting” by businesses of all types as the economy goes sour and companies try to eke out revenues whatever way they can.

Due to a technological glitch, the entry-level software review that appeared in the July 7-20, 2008, issue of Accounting Today (page 20) was an outdated version. The updated review is available online under the Accounting Today link at www.WebCPA.com. We apologize for the error.

Accounting firm J.H. Cohn has combined practices with Frederic Kantor & Co., a Manhattan-based accounting firm serving high-net-worth individuals and families in entertainment and the creative arts.The merger came on the heels of J.H. Cohn’s combination with Good Swartz Brown & Berns in Southern California. No cash was exchanged in the business combination, according to marketing director Amy Koeppl.

H&R Block ended an eight-month search to fill its president and chief executive posts as the tax-prep giant, headquartered here, appointed former McDonald’s Corp. executive Russ Smyth to those positions.Smyth, who formerly served as president of McDonald’s Europe, succeeds Alan Bennett, who has served as interim CEO since November 2007. Smyth was scheduled to assume the Block helm August 1.

Congressional auditors have uncovered a series of security breaches at the Internal Revenue Service that may jeopardize taxpayer funds, the privacy of IRS records, and the physical safety of employees at the tax service.In a report to Congress, auditors from the U.S. Government Accountability Office revealed a series of troubling practices, including the failure of managers at many Taxpayer Assistance Centers to adequately guard against internal theft by larcenous IRS employees.

IRS STEPS UP ENFORCEMENTWashington, D.C. — The Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division increased its enforcement activities last fiscal year after they fell behind in fiscal 2006, according to a new report. The Treasury Department’s inspector general said that the number of investigations initiated by the division increased 7.8 percent in 2007, compared to a decrease of 8.5 percent in the previous year. In addition, the number of investigations recommended for prosecution increased 4.3 percent in 2007, compared to a decrease of 4.9 percent the previous year. The numbers of subjects convicted and sentenced in 2007 increased by 6.7 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively, compared to decreases of 6.1 percent and 3.6 percent in fiscal 2006. Nearly 65 percent of the division’s time was spent on tax-related cases, an eight-year high.