Audit & Accounting

Call for Submissions: Top 100 Firms and Regional Leaders

Check out the digital edition of the January 2012 issue of Accounting Today.

The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants could eventually merge with the American Institute of CPAs, according to CIMA’s chief executive.

A federal court in New York has conditionally certified a national collective action lawsuit accusing KPMG of violating federal labor laws by denying overtime pay to thousands of entry-level audit employees.

New York State’s Accounting Reform law makes quality reviews of the attest services of accounting firms mandatory as of Jan. 1, 2012.

The Financial accounting Standards Board recently approved a revised accounting standard that requires contributing non-governmental employers to provide more information about their financial obligations to multi-employer pension plans.

AICPA SETTLES COPYRIGHT SUIT

A college classmate of mine who was an unabashed Europhile often lectured anyone within shouting distance about how many of the famous trends throughout history - whether in clothing styles, literature, art, cuisine or automobile design - inevitably began in Europe before gradually making their way across the Atlantic. His ultimate goal was to travel throughout that continent and, with any luck, have a manuscript chronicling his adventures published. Sadly, he fell well below his Hemingway-esque ambitions - save for a protruding stomach and bushy beard - and last I heard he was operating a bookstore/café somewhere outside Lyon.

Many of us on the Blue Ribbon Panel on Standard-Setting for Private Companies believed we were on the verge of an historic change that would have relieved millions of privatecompanies of accounting standards geared more to the needs of public companies and their financial statement users. That's why there is so much disappointment over the fact that the recent proposal by the Financial Accounting Foundation rejected the cornerstone of the panel's recommendations - to create a new standard-setting board that would have the authority to establish modifications in Generally Accepted Accounting Principles that reflect differences for private companies.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has released its latest review of interactive data financial statement submissions and found that filers are making progress.