In Brief

NEW GAAP TAXONOMY DEBUTS

Norwalk, Conn. - The Financial Accounting Foundation and the Securities and Exchange Commission have released a proposed 2011 U.S. GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy that public companies will be expected to use when filing their financial reports with the SEC. The deadline for commenting on the new version of the taxonomy is Oct. 30, 2010.

The U.S. GAAP Financial Reporting Taxonomy is a list of computer-readable tags in XBRL that allows companies to tag precisely the thousands of pieces of financial data that are included in typical long-form financial statements and related footnote disclosures. The taxonomy is expected to be finalized in early 2011.

Questions about using the taxonomy for creating and submitting XBRL-tagged data files should be directed to the SEC; contact details and guidance are available at www.xbrl.sec.gov.

The SEC is also seeking comment on certain 2011 non-GAAP taxonomies, which are available on the SEC Web site. Comments should be e-mailed to ask-oid@sec.gov no later than October 31.

E&Y SUED OVER FUND AUDITS

Houston - A group of investors has filed a securities fraud lawsuit against Big Four firm Ernst & Young for its audits of a failed Texas hedge fund, claiming to have lost more than $17 million after the collapse of the Parkcentral Global hedge fund. The Plano, Texas-based fund closed its doors in November 2008, losing more than $2.6 billion. The lawsuit claims that E&Y falsely represented that the firm fairly audited Parkcentral Global, and that the auditor failed in its "watchdog" role to warn relying investors of the risk of fraud and noncompliance by management. An Ernst & Young spokesman declined to comment on the lawsuit.

CORRECTIONS

"What happens if the sun sets on the Bush tax cuts?" (Sept. 13-26, 2010, page 12) said that authority to extend deadlines for presidentially declared disaster areas would sunset in 2011; in fact, subsequent legislation has rendered this incorrect.

Separately, our VAR 100 report (Aug. 16-Sept. 12, 2010, page 24), gave the wrong location for Crowe Horwath; its headquarters is, in fact, in Oak Brook, Ill.

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