Audit & Accounting

The Financial Accounting Standards Board and the International Accounting Standards Board appear to be growing tired of trying to resolve their many disagreements after 10 years of ups and downs in their relationship, and the main question now seems to be whether it will be an amicable split.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has published a staff alert cautioning auditors to beware of the risks of material misstatements in the financial statements they audit in today’s volatile economic environment.

Financial Accounting Standards Board chair Leslie Seidman advocated a cautious transition to International Financial Reporting Standards during a speech Tuesday in which she said the board should retain its control over U.S. GAAP.

The Internal Revenue Service has been doing a better job of auditing small corporations in recent years, according to a new government report, but potential quality concerns remain.

IMGCAP(1)]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 private companies of accounting standards geared more to the needs of public companies and their financial statement users.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will delay its eagerly anticipated decision for a few more months on whether or not to incorporate International Financial Reporting Standards into the U.S. financial reporting system.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has struck a deal with Dutch regulators to carry out joint inspections of auditing firms.

BDO International said Friday the worldwide revenue of its network of accounting firms increased 7.36 percent for the year ended Sept. 30, 2011, to $5.672 billion, mainly due to growth in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

SEC WARNED AGAINST CONDORSEMENT APPROACH

IMGCAP(1)]It's difficult to regulate good management practices, yet those in power - Congress, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and various self-governing standards bodies - are bound to continue to attempt to make good management practices the rule, rather than the exception.