The Latest

Brad Smith, an Indianapolis-based CPA, has created two add-in products for Microsoft Word that he is selling to help accountants and regular Word users employ formulas more easily in the word processor's tables.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's Standing Advisory Group met to discuss reports addressing the audit implications of International Financial Reporting Standards in SEC filings, as well as changes in market responses to financial restatements post-Sarbanes-Oxley.

Gerrit Zalm, the former deputy prime minister and finance minister of the Netherlands, has been selected as the new chairman of the trustees of the International Accounting Standards Committee Foundation, which oversees the International Accounting Standards Board, in a sign of the growing influence of the European Union on the standards-setting process.

Sage’s move to remove its top American management wasn’t unusual. It was dramatic. But it was not unusual in the sense that the leadership of much of the accounting software market has changed. Mike Braun replaced a CEO at Intacct who was sent packing. Steve Bennett is retiring from Intuit to be replaced by SVP Brad Smith.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has issued staff guidance on auditing internal controls in smaller public companies, allowing less complex companies to adjust more easily to a recently issued auditing standard for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance.

Wolters Kluwer Tax and Accounting has signed an agreement to buy TeamMate from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

U.S. businesses are reporting a drop in the number of lawsuits filed against them and the number of lawsuits they are filing as well.

Grant Thornton, the U.S. member firm of Grant Thornton International, posted a 12 percent rise in fiscal 2007 revenues to reach $1.036 billion.

A majority of U.S. companies are being victimized by economic crime, with losses totaling $223 million, according to a new study.

The Social Security Administration said monthly benefits would increase 2.3 percent for more than 54 million Americans in 2008.