Finance

The American Institute of CPAs has published Disaster Recovery: A Guide to Financial Issues, in cooperation with the American Red Cross and the National Endowment for Financial Education.

Executives from the nation’s largest banks pledged their cooperation and commitment to President Obama and his administration in order to begin the recovery process.

President Obama and his top economic advisors have determined that neither General Motors nor Chrysler have put forth acceptable plans to receive more bailout funds, which could effectively shut down the two auto giants.

Frank Brosens, a founding partner at hedge fund concern Taconic Capital Advisors, has withdrawn his nomination as overseer of the $700 billion bank bailout program.

Both the House and Senate Budget Committees have finalized the markup of budget proposals that are similar to the administration budget proposal.

A searing report from the Government Accountability Office has charged the Small Business Administration with poor controls and oversight that resulted in a number of companies receiving undeserved funds from a program designed to boost small businesses in underserved communities.

As part of its previously announced Power to Get More Done Initiative, which aims to help firms deal with the shaky economy by giving them money to hire extra staff and invest in their business, financial and tax software provider Intuit has announced the co-sponsors and judges for the effort.

While confidence both in the U.S. economy and national leadership remains at low levels, many CFOs are taking action to protect their businesses, as 70 percent of financial executives surveyed revealed they are exploring strategies such as salary and benefits freezes and layoffs, while 58 percent have reported less confidence in President Barack Obama’s ability to deal with the financial crisis since he took office.

The Obama administration will ask the Economic Recovery Advisory Board, led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, to form a task force to recommend an overhaul of the tax code.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner proposed a sweeping revamp of government regulatory powers over the nation’s financial system highlighted by establishing a single agency “with responsibility for systemic stability over the major institutions and critical payment and settlement systems and activities.”

Despite the economic slump, a high number of executives are continuing to pursue divestitures or carve-outs, according to a survey conducted by Deloitte Corporate Finance.

More than 40 percent of internal auditors within the financial services sector felt that better risk management practices could have helped prevent their organization’s current financial situation, according to a just-released study from the Institute of Internal Auditors.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner did his best at filling in the blanks on the Obama administration’s plan for cleaning up the so-called “toxic assets” clogging the balance sheets of banks.

In a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner asked lawmakers to grant the Treasury Department more power to seize failing financial firms.

From Accounting Technology editor Bob Scott’s most recent popular e-letter “Consulting Insights" comes this Random Thought: “I’ve decided if I were a public official, I would run government like a business, meaning I would invest in financial instruments, treat my employees as disposable, and pay out enormous and unmerited bonuses.”

About 89 percent of the 150 audit committee members at a recent KPMG conference said that the financial crisis had caused their company’s board or audit committee to change the nature and scope of its oversight.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has asked Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to account for their retention bonus programs while the entities were losing money and even after they accepted taxpayer-funded bailouts.

The Congressional Budget Office has revised its projection of the 2009 deficit, adding another $400 million and bringing the total to a numbing $1.7 trillion.

The Obama administration has revealed the latest measure in its colossal financial rescue plan, enticing private investors to buy up to $1 trillion in troubled assets carried by banks.

Ernst & Young and Swiss bank UBS have been sued by a group of investors in Luxembourg who put money in a fund that directed 95 percent of their assets to Bernard Madoff’s firm.