The Latest

The House of Representatives passed a bill to shore up oversight of home mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the federally backed businesses that have been mired in accounting scandals and restatements.Under the legislation, a new, independent regulator will be created to oversee the businesses, and a portion of their profits will be set aside for an affordable housing fund (capped at $520 million). In the first year, the money would be earmarked for victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced that Martin F. Baumann will succeed Phil D. Wedemeyer as director of its Office of Research and Analysis.

A federal court in Portland, Ore., sentenced a former Oregon chemical company executive to serve 18 months in prison and pay a $50,000 criminal fine following his conviction on two counts of filing false federal income tax returns.Trevor Smith, the former vice president of sales for Raisio Western North America, was convicted in March on charges of filing false returns for the 1999 and 2000 tax years. While employed at Raisio, federal prosecutors said that Smith received approximately $350,000 in kickback payments from the former general manager of Georgia-based Chemical Products Technologies. Those payments were related to Raisio’s purchases of a pulping additive used to increase pulp yield, and were not claimed by Smith on his returns.

The New York State Society of CPAs has installed David A. Lifson as its new president, while the Virginia Society of CPAs has selected Monique T. Valentine as chair of its board of directors for the upcoming year.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox announced that five former chairmen of the commission will join him for a roundtable discussion today.

While such issues as mobility, Sarbanes-Oxley 404, peer review and private company financial reporting continue to impact the accounting profession, keeping the CPA pipeline filled remains the profession’s No. 1 priority, American Institute of CPAs president and chief executive Barry Melancon told attendees at the institute’s spring meeting of its Governing Council.

Two accounting firms with presences in Long Island and New York -- Nussbaum, Yates & Wolpow PC and Berg Klein Salomon LLP -- announced that they will merge.

Financial Executives Research Foundation, the research affiliate of Financial Executives International, released the results of its first annual executive compensation study at FEI’s 2007 Summit in Boston.

Grant Thornton LLP has launched an India Tax and Business Services Gateway, which will assist U.S. companies interested in either establishing a presence or structuring investments in India.

The Supreme Court has ruled that only the U.S. Tax Court can review refusals by the Internal Revenue Service to reduce interest payments on people who underpay their taxes.